Free For All: A Must-See Movie Before Election Day

A BUZZFLASH REVIEW
by Meg White

Stolen elections are no longer an Internet based conspiracy theory. There's cold, hard proof of dirty dealings on the first Tuesday of Novembers all over the country. But every time someone tries to talk about it, the story gets lost in the boring minutia of election law, or in the confusion of state-by-state differences.

Not so with Free For All. This down-to-Earth movie about a self-described regular "dude" breaking down the esoteric and complex issues surrounding voter fraud is a must-see this election season. With the help of a hip soundtrack and engaging visuals, John Wellington Ennis connects the dots between the stealing of the 2000, 2004, and 2006 elections.

Watch the movie for free here.

In order to tell the story, Ennis talks to tons of experts (including our friend Greg Palast, whose latest BuzzFlash exclusive can be found here) from every political stripe. But his unique voice and clear logic always comes through in the end. At one point, Ennis literally reads the writing on the wall:

"So, let me get this straight: If the biased officials don't block your registration, they can purge you from the voting rolls. Or intimidate you. Or send you to the wrong location. Or they'll make you wait in line. And then ask for your I.D., but then confuse you with guidelines because of some stupid laws that give you a provisional ballot that won't count, because of the untrained poll worker, or if you're lucky you may get to vote on an electronic voting machine. And then what if your candidate just concedes before all of the suppression comes out? What's the point?"

Ennis points out that tales of stolen votes are underneath countless scandals and stories in the corporate media. But, because the scandal is the part that bleeds, that's the part that leads. As a result, few people know what Jack Abramoff, the U.S. attorney firing fiasco, and the "don't tase me, bro" guy have to do with election fraud.

Ennis keeps coming back to the unanswerable question of, "What is truth?" While he unsurprisingly doesn't get a definitive answer to that question, he does answer a lot of other ones. How does one "cage" a vote? What are all these ominous warnings you keep hearing about registration fraud? How come exit polls are suddenly inaccurate? What's HAVA? What's a provisional ballot and how is it being used to disenfranchise voters?

These questions (and many, many more) clearly encompass a lot of information, and this is where the mainstream media that tries to cover this story tends to fall short. But Ennis brings it all home in an understandable, comprehensive way. And just when you're ready to wallow in your misery and spend election day in bed, he tells you what you can do to stop it.

So watch it for free and help save democracy by ensuring a fair vote.

A BUZZFLASH REVIEW

Also read the latest BuzzFlash interview with Greg Palast, "Will the GOP Steal Another Election in 2008? BuzzFlash Talks with Greg Palast About Republican Voter Suppression," at: http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/interviews/129

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