Grand Lake marquee speaks to voting fraud
by Peggy Stinnett for the Oakland Tribune
ALLEN MICHAAN, owner of Oakland's beautiful art deco movie house, caught our attention right after that controversial Gore vs. Bush election in the fall of 2000.?

?Remember the Florida election? It went down in history. That was when the marquee at the Grand Lake Theater at Grand and Lakepark avenues delivered a message to be seen by thousands of gawkers on Interstate 580.

As people drove by the brilliant neon marquee, they gasped, smiled or laughed. There were a few who gritted their teeth. "This is America. Every vote should be counted." Can someone put that on a theater marquee? They can if they own it.

Michaan has done it regularly ever since then. His current message warns of a new election danger: manipulation of electronic voting machines. Does everyone love his left-leaning messages? "Oh, no," says Michaan. "But I like the hate mail and it doesn't bother me.

Twenty-to-1 are in favor of what I put on the marquee." That's Michaan, not afraid to say what he thinks. A true believer in free speech. After the first message was such a success, Michaan decided to put new ones up about once a month.

It's an attraction that has become another fun feature of the theater. Here are some of the messages that his outdoor audiences have enjoyed. As you read them, think hard to remember the many crises we've been through in the past three years.

They are arranged by subject matter, not by chronological order. Elections: "In a true democracy, the president is elected by counting votes and winning." "Happy Presidents Day not for presidents appointed by the Supreme Court due to election fraud." "Exercise one of your remaining constitutional rights.

Vote Tuesday." (November 2002)

"Happy Presidents Day for all elected presidents."

Iraq war:

"No war for oil."

"Congratulations to Dick Cheney and Halliburton on your glorious financial victory in Iraq."

"Honor our troops, bring them home. Peace is patriotic."

"Bush said bring it on. We say bring them home."

"Bush said bring it on. 478 troops dead. Iraqi deaths?

"2,500 troops injured."

"Peace on earth, good will to all."

Patriot Act:

"The First Amendment is not lost. True American patriots speak out and stand against corrupt government."

Energy crisis:

"There is no energy shortage. This is an ethics shortage."

The current message, which is intriguing:

"Touch screen voting is fraudulent. Demand absentee ballots.

Blackboxvoting.com."

We know it's election season when we get a message like that, so I went to the Web site.

There are several pages devoted to the news clips and comments that the electronic voting touch-screen system designed for the forthcoming American election is flawed and could undermine the integrity and trustworthiness of the democratic process. This was reported in British newspapers and the New York Times.

The allegation is that electronic votes cannot be scrutinized the way paper ballots are because they are recorded as computer code and can't be checked for the "intent" of the voter, a Stanford University professor is quoted as saying.

He alleges that such a system is vulnerable to fraud by employees of the machine's manufacturers, who could rewrite the software to rig an election, according to the Web site.

It may sound pretty farfetched to most people, but almost nothing is impossible in this age of technology.

Even without electronic manipulation, we had a president appointed by the Supreme Court, something almost no one ever imagined could be possible in the United States.

Which reminds me of one more message at the Grand Lake theater. "Imagine!" The name of the memorable song by John Lennon.

E-mail Peggy Stinnett at pstinnett@angnewspapers.com.