Vote Fraud Info

Kerry Files Motion to Protect Ohio Vote Evidence

2004-12-28T05:09:00.000-08:00

Unlike those mysterious WMD, this is evidence Dubsy would not like you to see. I'm sure there is a little clause in the Patriot Act II that allows for the president to burn any evidence he likes...along with kicking down your door and charging you with domestic terrorism...with no evidence.

William Rivers Pitt from Truthout reports:

This afternoon, an attorney representing the Kerry/Edwards presidential campaign filed two important motions to preserve and augment evidence of alleged election fraud in the November election. The motions were filed in the matter titled Yost et al. v. Delaware County Board of Elections and J. Kenneth Blackwell (Civil Action No. C2-04-1139) with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. The document is titled "Motion Of Intervenor-Defendant Kerry-Edwards 2004, Inc. For A Preservation Order And For A Leave To Take Limited Expedited Discovery."

The purpose of the motions is twofold: A) To preserve all ballots and voting machines pertaining to the Yost matter for investigation and analysis; and B) To make available for sworn deposition testimony a technician for Triad Systems, the company that produced and maintained many of the voting machines used in the Ohio election. The technician has been accused of tampering with the recount process in Hocking County, Ohio, though other counties are believed to have also been involved. Any officers of Triad Systems who have information pertaining to said tampering are likewise subject to subpoena for sworn deposition testimony.

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Ohio secretary of state hopes to dodge deposition in challenge of presidential vote

2004-12-28T04:43:00.000-08:00

Blackwell:"Dubya won fair and square, yup, uh-huh, that's right."

Tax-Payer:"Really, well then you won't mind answering some questions then will you?"

Blackwell:"Well, uh...I...what I mean is...uh...see, it's that...uh...honey do you have my passport?"

Tax-Payer:"Just a few simple questions, why all the secrecy?"

Blackwell:"Can someone get me a gag order, maybe a terror alert...darn, where is Ashcroft and Ridge when you need them. Oh yeah, never mind the passport honey, I have a judge instead."

(Rule #1: DENY DENY DENY. Unless we decide to invade another country to plunder and pillage(hint:Iran), that should take your mind off of things)

The secretary of state, who declared President Bush the official winner in Ohio, is seeking a court order to keep himself from being interviewed as part of a court challenge of the Nov. 2 vote.
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Political parties are most corrupt institution worldwide according to TI Global Corruption Barometer 2004

2004-12-27T06:57:00.000-08:00

From Transparency International via the UN Observer:

In six out of 10 countries, political parties are given the worst assessment.
Governments must enhance efforts to fight graft, starting with ratification of
UN Convention against Corruption.
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UN Observer

Vote firm had remote access to vote

2004-12-27T06:38:00.000-08:00

Raw Story via Blue Lemur, updates the triad conspiracy. Take a look at the letters.

The ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) issued a followup letter to the president of Triad Election Systems Thursday, noting that he had confirmed that Triad Election Systems had remote access to voting machines controlled by local Board of Elections, RAW STORY has learned. The letter follows below.
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Daily Vigil at Senator John Kerry's House, 12/28 - 1/5 Coalition Against Election Fraud

2004-12-27T06:31:00.000-08:00

There will be a daily vigil from 12:30-1:30 p.m. at Senator John Kerry's
house at Louisburg Square on Beacon Hill in Boston, starting Tuesday,
December 28 - Wednesday, January 5. On New Year's Eve only the vigil will
be from 4:00-5:00 p.m.

- We are asking Senator Kerry not to certify the electoral college vote on
January 6, 2005 and to encourage other Senators and Representatives not to
certify.

- We are asking Senator Kerry to support any other Senators and
Representatives who are planning not to certify.

This vigil is sponsored by the Coalition Against Election Fraud
You can direct questions to us at vigil@caef.us
Contact: Sheila Parks, Coalition Against Election Fraud
617-524-2223
cell: 617-512-5529

SUGGESTIONS FOR SIGNS

- Senator Kerry, Vote No On Certification

- Senator Kerry, Do Not Certify The Electoral Vote

DIRECTIONS to Senator Kerry's house: There is a large American flag
hanging in front of the house and a Christmas wreath on the front door....

FROM THE RED LINE:

Get off at Charles Street/MGH stop and walk down Charles Street. Take a
left onto Pinckney Street (there is no street sign on the left, but there
is a street sign on the right). There is a Starbucks and
Upstairs-Downstairs store on the corners of Pinckney and Charles where you
will be turning left. Walk up Pinckney until you get to Louisburg
Square. His house is on the uphill corner of Pinckney and Louisburg Square.

FROM THE ORANGE LINE:

Get off at Downtown Crossing and walk toward Park Street station. Then
walk up Park Street, heading toward the State House and Beacon
Street. Turn left onto Beacon Street. Directions continued below.

FROM THE GREEN LINE:

Get off at Park Street Station and walk up Park Street, heading toward the
State House and Beacon Street. Turn left onto Beacon Street. Directions
continued below.

CONTINUED DIRECTIONS FOR BOTH ORANGE AND GREEN LINES:

Then walk along Beacon Street about one block, to Joy Street. Turn right
onto Joy Street. Turn left onto Pinckney and walk a few short blocks until
Louisburg Square.

PLEASE FORWARD THIS WIDELY. See you there.

The Coalition Against Election Fraud
www.caef.us

No Stolen Democracy

BIG HALF-TRUTH: No Evidence of Election Tampering from Computer Repair

2004-12-27T06:24:00.000-08:00

NewsClipAutopsy has been covering the media attention(lack of) and has some interesting analysis and observations on Keith Olberman.

Keith Olberman is now rethinking his conclusion: "Thus the evidence of a “fix” in Hocking is almost nil." He has also provided us with a juicy bit of new information which helps make up for his sloppy reporting earlier (emphasis added by Newsclip Autopsy).
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Kerry votes switched to Bush and ballots pre-punched for Bush

2004-12-27T06:17:00.000-08:00

If you haven't seen the MiaMedia website, please visit for more news, action opportunities, and media you can share.

http://miamedia.com/votergate

Recount Interest Grows, Online and Offline

2004-12-27T05:51:00.000-08:00

The VoteCobb website sees a surge...even during the holidays.

Daily recount updates from the VoteCobb.Org website.

The "bush believers" are waking up, there is no mandate. Again, as Time put it, "for reshaping reality to match his design".

Much like the Ukraine, a transparent re-vote will prove what kind of mandate this regime has. NONE.

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Evidence of Fraud and Disenfranchisement in Ohio

2004-12-27T05:19:00.000-08:00

Please see Ray Beckerman's site for a long list(partial) of fraud.

This post is intended as a resource tool for those doing factual research on Ohio election 2004 (a) fraud, (b) disenfranchisment, (c) voter suppression, (d) recount obstruction, and (e) vote machine tampering. It makes no pretense at comprehensiveness, but is merely an attempt to compile links which have been posted on this site which are primary sources of evidence, or which summarize, analyze, or point to, such sources.
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FEENEY ATTORNEY THREATENS HOMETOWN PAPER WITH LEGAL ACTION!

2004-12-25T07:05:00.000-08:00

Bradblog keeps up with the 3 "F words": Florida, Feeney, and Fraud.

So we have Ohio covered(judge, sec. state, and diebold), but in Florida, there is definitely NO conflict of interest there(judges, election officials, congressman, governor, and sec. of state)...now that's a nice christmas present. I guess the rest of us get coal...at least we'll have something to keep warm with, considering the coming dollar waterfall.

Intimidating Letter Faxed to Seminole Chronicle Charges Story on Feeney was 'False and Defamatory'

Feeney Attorney Uses Unrelated and Questionable 'Ethics Investigation' as Sole Basis for Claims

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What can I do? Join the Media Blitz

2004-12-25T06:45:00.000-08:00

We've been getting allot of emails, most of the questions are "what can I do?".

Are you sick of trying to find breadcrumbs on one of the most important issues to face Americans since it's inception. We were too, so we started this blog, attended rallies, documented speakers via video, and we will be in D.C. Jan. 6th, but here's what you can do, give the gift that keeps on giving, join the media blitz!

It feels much better then being an angry "republican" or disgruntled "democrat"(or whatever the flavor of the month is).

For an introduction on the censorship of US corporate media, please see:

"The Myth of a Divided America"

Once you are convinced that the US corporate media DOES NOT have your best interest in mind and only cares about the bottom line(no matter who it hurts and/or kills), here are some steps you can take, while we still have the power to do so.

Be the Media!

Coming Up For Air: Kerry Preparing Grounds to Unconcede

2004-12-25T05:56:00.000-08:00

A report from BreakForNews.com:

Election Challenge likely on Jan 6th

If you haven't been following John Kerry closely, get ready to hear of surprising developments. The vote-defrauded, potential president-in-waiting has just indicated through his lawyer that the validity of George Bush's reelection is no longer a given.
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Every vote DID NOT count...see for yourself

2004-12-25T05:08:00.000-08:00

These are the votes that the Ohio Recount — under Ohio law — was not allowed to consider, because they were never counted. These are the "spoiled" ballots, the rejected provisional ballots, the people who were not allowed to cast a vote.
Thousands of Ohio voters, including elderly and disabled, and parents with children, were forced to wait in line for hours in the rain and the cold. As the video shows, many of these men and women, after standing in the rain for hours waiting to vote, were turned away, given provisional ballots, or had to leave and could not vote at all.

These are the people whose children stand on the front lines in Iraq. Who will speak for these people? Who will defend and protect them on our own shores?

Please contact your representative and senator (especially Republicans) and demand a full Congressional Investigation of the massive disenfranchisement of minority voters in Ohio and elsewhere.

It is time to end this shameful chapter in American history once and for all.

Still Separate and Unequal in America
Video Link

VoteCobb.Org

Cobb Asks Federal Court to Preserve Evidence in Ohio Recount "Voting Machines in Multiple Counties May Have Been Tampered With"

2004-12-25T05:01:00.000-08:00

More from CommonDreams.org

WASHINGTON -- December 24 -- Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb asked a Federal Court yesterday to preserve a wide range of evidence, including voting
machines and election records, to ensure the integrity of the Ohio presidential recount. Cobb's attorneys filed a Motion for a Preservation Order and for Leave to Take Limited Expedited Discovery in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio where recount litigation is pending.

"It is time for the federal judiciary to step in and ensure the integrity of the recount in Ohio, something which Ohio's blatantly partisan Secretary of State is either unwilling or thoroughly incapable of doing," said Cobb. Papers filed with the court state that "voting machines in multiple counties may have been tampered with during the recount by an employee of Triad Governmental Systems, Inc.-the company whose computer program tallied the punch-card votes cast in 41" of Ohio's 88 counties. The most widely reported of these instances took place on December 10, in Hocking County, Ohio, when a Triad representative reprogrammed a computer used for tabulating votes and instructed the county's Deputy Director of Elections to create a "cheat sheet" so "the count would come out perfect and we wouldn't have to do a full hand recount of the county."

Douglas W. Jones, a computer voting expert and the former Chair of the Iowa Board of Examiners for Voting Machines and Electronic Voting Systems, said in an affidavit filed yesterday that the Hocking County incident "threatens the overall integrity of the recount.and the ability of the presidential candidates.to properly analyze, inspect and assess the ballots and the related voting data from the 2004 presidential election in Ohio."

The Jones affidavit also states that as "a general rule, the tabulating systems room of a voting office should be viewed as a sensitive secure area. No one should have unsupervised access to ballots, official election records, or the machinery used to perform the official tabulation or recount of the ballots." The Cobb campaign has also learned of questionable ballot security procedures in Ashland, Greene and Coshocton counties. Improper interference with voting machines may also have taken place in Union, Monroe, Lucas, Belmont, Fairfield and Harrison counties. All of these instances are cited in yesterday's filing."It seems like the Three Stooges have been put in charge of security for the Ohio recount," said Cobb-LaMarche Media Director Blair Bobier. Legal documents filed in the Ohio recount litigation, along with detailed reports from official recount observers can be found on the Cobb-LaMarche website, http://www.votecobb.org. Information about the Green Party can be found at http://www.gp.org.

Link

Blackwell Continues to Dodge Questions

2004-12-25T04:50:00.000-08:00

A judge, a sec. of state, and a voting machine company in your back pocket...conflict of interest - check. Stolen election - NO WAY!

"If President Bush counted the votes himself...then, maybe, I might agree with you."

In GOP We Trust...

Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb said today that Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell has refused to answer questions about the recount process and about a multitude of problems with the underlying presidential election in Ohio."Mr. Blackwell's conduct is insulting and inexcusable. He has refused to answer clarifying questions about the recount process and has also refused to answer questions posed to him in writing by a number of members of Congress," said Cobb.

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ILCA Joins PDA in Endorsing Rainbow/PUSH Rallies

2004-12-25T04:45:00.000-08:00

The International Labor Communications Association is working with a broad coalition of organizations, including Rainbow/PUSH, Progressive Democrats of America, and ReDefeatBush.com to promote rallies in Columbus, Ohio, on Jan. 3, and Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6.

"Millions of Americans are losing faith in our political system," said ILCA President Martin Fishgold. "And millions are losing faith in the media to tell them what's going on. We've heard more on our televisions about voting problems in the Ukraine than about what's happening in Ohio. People have been disenfranchised, made unable to vote, and prevented from verifying that their votes are counted. Working people sacrificed to win the right to vote. Any loss of that right must be opposed, and the labor media must work to organize that opposition, because the corporate media will not."

How many Americans are aware that the official overseeing the Ohio election was also running the Bush-Cheney campaign in that state? That members of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee have held hearings looking into some of the many thousands of complaints from Ohio voters? That the ranking Democratic member of that committee has written to the Ohio Secretary of State with 34 questions, of which he agreed in his response to answer zero? That many scholars and statisticians have concluded that the discrepancy between the exit polls and the official results in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida can only plausibly be explained by election fraud and/or discriminatory voter suppression? That voters in highly Democratic precincts in Ohio often had to wait several hours to vote, while heavily Republican precincts had plenty of machines and workers in place? That electronic voting machines malfunctioned in many precincts? That in one precinct, a machine gave George W. Bush 3,893 extra votes out of a total of 638 votes cast?

How many people have heard that in Democratic areas in Ohio, voters were required to show identification even though they were not first-time mail-in registrants, that voters who requested absentee ballots and never received them were barred from voting in person, or that other voters were wrongfully purged from the rolls? Who's been told, not just that Scott Peterson and Michael Jackson are on trial, but that approximately 93,000 ballots were not counted in Ohio, not including unknown thousands of provisional ballots? Who is aware that many Ohioans who voted in the right building but had been directed to the line for the wrong precinct had their votes thrown out?

Do most Americans know that one Ohio county barred observers from its counting of ballots on grounds of "homeland security"? That in various other precincts and counties, more votes were counted than voters signed in to vote? That in one county, thousands of first-time voters in 2004 with no signatures on file supposedly registered on the same day in the non-election year of 1977? That another county added thousands of votes for Bush and none for Kerry after 100 percent of precincts had already been added?

For that matter, how many Americans are aware that there is a recount underway in Ohio? That some counties are complying with the requirements of the recount while others are not? That Ohio's electors have cast their votes for Bush regardless of the fact that the votes are still being counted? That the U.S. Congress is expected to take up the matter of the 2004 election on January 6th, and that numerous House Members and probably some Senators will challenge the results?

"The corporate media would like us to concentrate on our holiday shopping," Fishgold said. "The labor media has a responsibility to make information known that is critical to the health of our democracy. The ILCA is using its website at ILCAonline.org to help, and the ILCA supports the January 3rd and 6th rallies."

PDF FLYER For Rally info

Link

Progressive Democrats of America to join Rainbow/PUSH Coalition and other Grassroots Organizations to Hold Pro Democracy Rally in Ohio

2004-12-25T04:43:00.000-08:00

For Immediate Release:
Tim Carpenter, www.pdamerica.org

CHICAGO - (December 24, 2004) – The Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, along with Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) and a coalition of grassroots organizations from across the nation, announced plans for a “‘Pro Democracy Count Every Vote Rally,” in Columbus, Ohio, on Monday, January 3, 2005.

The rally, which will be held at the Capitol Theater, 77 S. High Street, across from Ohio State Capitol, begins at 2 p.m. Coalition partners include Progressive Democrats of America, Ohio Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs-Jones, Moveon.org, the anti-war coalition United for Peace and Justice, Ohio State Senator Joyce Beatty, CASE Ohio and others.

Organizers said the rally, which is being held just days before the Electoral College convenes to confirm the election results, is an effort to keep the spotlight on the deepening investigation of voter irregularities that occurred in Ohio during the Nov. 2nd presidential election as well as to give birth to a new Pro Democracy Movement.

“The vote recount in Ohio is underway. The election challenge lawsuit has been filed. Subpoenas are being prepared. Depositions are being planned. Hearings spearheaded by Congressman John Conyers are bringing forth new evidence of voter machine manipulation. And now Sen. Kerry has joined in the recount fight. We must have a thorough investigation of voter irregularities and the voter machines BEFORE Congress certifies the Electoral College vote on January 6th” said Rev. Jackson.

“January 3rd will be the beginning of a new Pro Democracy Movement in America,” said Rev. Jackson. “Forty years ago, the Voting Rights Act was passed as a result of an independent, mass civil rights movement. We will carry forward that tradition in 2005, and continue the fight to count every vote and make sure every vote counts.”

During the rally, organizers said, they will continue to seek the thorough investigation of voter irregularities and the voter machines. More than half of the votes cast in Ohio and the nation were recorded on electronic voting machines owned by Republicans with no audit trail. The groups want forensic computer analysts to investigate the machines.

Tim Carpenter of PDA, explaining why PDA has joined the cause said "We cannot expect to promote democracy around the world when we cannot even guarantee the right to vote in the state of Ohio.” There are outstanding lawsuits, testimonies, and growing data proving votes were deliberately suppressed in Ohio. Until these issues can be fully aired by a Congressional investigation, we ask that Senators of conscience stand with the many members of the House who will contest the vote." PDA has initiated an online petition effort urging Senators to stand with the House Representatives, challenge the vote count, and avoid a repeat of the 2000 silence from the Senate.

Rev. Jackson concluded, “We need a one person, one vote democracy – the direct election of the President – that will motivate a 50-state campaign inclusive of the entire nation, not just 20 battleground states. That’s why we support Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr.’s (D-IL) bill, which calls for a constitutional amendment on the right to vote for all US citizens – presidential elections with one set of rules where the individual right to vote is protected by the US Constitution.”

BuzzFlash.com

Presidential election is Ohio's top story in 2004

2004-12-25T04:27:00.000-08:00

You would think that electors challenging the presidential election for the first time in history...would be one of the nation's top stories.

Not much to see here...because once again, it would be better for America if we remained in our glass protective domes with our "eyes closed tight".

President Bush's narrow win in Ohio easily topped the state's most memorable stories of 2004.

That's funny, because according to Karl Rove, et al...Bush has a mandate. Like Time magazine said..."for reshaping reality to match his design...George W. Bush is our person of the year".

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Hearings expose conspiracy in November voting

2004-12-25T04:12:00.000-08:00

As the dark iron oil curtain lifts, more recognize the string that is holding this country together. Take a deep breath, sit up straight in that chair, shed your ties to political factions and strengthen the bonds that have held AMERICANS together through the best of times...and the worst of times. We need each other now more then ever. No single party can promise that unity.

From Martha Grevatt in Cleveland:

"The last round was marked by significant fraud and that it therefore can't be upheld as a fair result."

What could this statement be referring to? State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher was directing his comments to the recent election in Ukraine. The real fraud took place much closer to home: in Ohio.

Public hearings in Cleveland, Akron, Columbus, Cincinnati and Washington, D.C. have torn off the veil of media and government denial. Hundreds of witnesses have given sworn testimony, pointing to a deliberate and coordinated effort to disenfranchise tens and maybe hundreds of thousands of Ohio voters, primarily African Americans.

The year 2004 saw an unprecedented number of new voter registrations among African Americans, and a record voter turnout was anticipated. The Bush campaign saw this as an obstacle to securing a critical win in Ohio. Thus began the construction of what one witness called "Ohio's first poll tax."

Tens of thousands of new registrations were not entered at all or not entered properly on the rolls. Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell withheld Help America Vote Act funds needed to maintain a current and accurate database and to train poll workers, whose job was further complicated by a new procedure on provisional ballots.

Provisional ballots are given to registered voters whose names do not appear on the rolls where they showed up to vote. The new rule required that they be submitted at the correct precinct or they would be discarded.

Blackwell, who also chaired the Bush-Cheney campaign in Ohio, didn't act alone. Ahead of the elections, the Ohio Republican Party, in collusion with the Republican National Committee, illegally profiled Black voters, seeking to have tens of thousands of urban voters disqualified. When that failed they secured a court's permission to have one challenger per precinct, or several at every poll, intimidating voters.

Racist poll challengers

Statutes permitting partisan challengers have been overlooked for decades. "The Ohio statute, originally codified in 1831, was amended in 1859 to permit challenges based upon a voter's possession of a 'visible admixture of African blood,'" testified Judith Browne, acting co-director of the Advancement Project.

"In 1868, the law was again amended to include questions for challenged voters about their racial identity and the racial composition of their neighborhoods. In 2004, there was serious concern that the discriminatory nature of these statutes would be resurrected."

These concerns proved to be well-founded. In Hamilton County, which includes Cincinnati, only 55 percent of white voters had Republican challengers at their polling places, compared to 89 percent of Black voters. Voters in predominantly Black precincts were eight times more likely to be challenged than voters in predominantly white ones. The challenge rate was three times higher for Black voters in Cuyahoga County, which contains Cleveland.

Another racist tool involved the distribution and condition of voting machines, possibly discussed during a private meeting on Election Day between Bush, Blackwell and Franklin County Board of Elections Director Matt Damschroder.

Damschroder delivered an excess number of voting machines to the suburbs while inadequately supplying the predominantly Black precincts in Columbus. Of those precincts, 59 out of 74 had less than one machine per 300 voters; in the suburbs 58 out of 73 had more than one machine per 300 voters.

In Cuyahoga County fewer machines were available for the November election than were used in the primaries. All over the state machines were kept in storage while others malfunctioned. This led people to wait in line in driving rain as long as 10 hours. It may never be known how many had to leave without voting, but one poll watcher who testified suggested 8,000 in the Youngstown area alone were disenfranchised this way.

Rep. John Conyers, holding hearings on the issue in Washington, has blasted the Bush team for its "campaign of deception." Prior to the election, voters received bogus letters with Board of Elections letterheads and/or calls from impostors posing as elections officials, directing them to the wrong polls or telling them they couldn't vote. Fliers were spotted stating that only Republicans were voting on Tuesday, Democrats on Wednesday.

Misinformation that convicted felons could not vote was disseminated widely. Absentee voters received letters stating their ballots were no good because they had supposedly given the wrong address.

At the polls both new and longtime voters found their names missing. At least 500 such names were presented before a Cuyahoga County hearing sponsored by the AFL-CIO. Some people were sent from poll to poll, each time waiting in the rain to vote, and some gave up. Confusion reigned supreme when they were offered provisional ballots, not knowing if they were in the correct precinct or not, or if their vote would be counted.

One man was threatened with the charge of voter fraud because he had erroneously filled out a provisional ballot in the wrong precinct and, realizing it wouldn't be counted, was trying to fill out another in the correct precinct.

Adding to all of this were polls opening late or closing for lack of pencils, cars being ticketed or towed, leaflets threatening to arrest voters with outstanding traffic warrants or owing back child support, provisional ballots being trashed, and any number of unreported dirty tricks.

Now tens of thousands of the 155,000 provisional ballots disqualified on technicalities, along with 92,000 "spoiled" ballots, may never be counted. They were not included in the statewide recount completed Dec. 17 (after Bush electors were already sworn in).

In a classic Catch-22 situation, the disregarded ballots were not included in the recount because they were never counted in the first place!

Machine politics

This report would be incomplete without discussing the voting machines and the people who sell them.

In August 2003, Walden O'Dell, CEO of Diebold Inc., stated that he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president." Ohio-based Diebold manufactures optical scan machines and the touch-screen electronic voting machines that were used in four Ohio counties. They give no paper receipt.

A Johns Hopkins University study reports that Diebold's software contains "stunning flaws" and that results can be altered at the polls or by remote control. Scores of voters were in fact stunned when they voted for Kerry and then saw the screen read a vote for Bush.

ES&S supplied a few Ohio counties with touch-screen machines and manufactures 60 percent of all the voting machines used in the U.S. ES&S began in the 1980s, when brothers Bob and Todd Urosevich founded DataMark with funding from William and Robert Ahmanson. The Ahmanson family has funded the Heritage Foundation; the Discover Institute, whose focus is un-discovering evolution; and the Chalcedon Institute, which advocates the death penalty "for homosexuals and drunkards."

DataMark became American Infor ma tion Systems, with Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel as chair. It then bought out Business Records Corp., partially owned by Carolyn Hunt of the right-wing Hunt oil family, to become ES&S. With Hagel at its helm, the company provided 80 percent of the voting machines used when Hagel first won the Nebraska Senate race.

Founder Todd Urosevich remains a top executive at ES&S, but not so his brother--Bob Urosevich now heads up Diebold Election Systems!

Diebold technicians were involved in questionable "servicing" of optical scanners in Toledo prior to the recount.

According to sworn testimony by the Hocking County Board of Elections deputy director, a technician from TriAd illegally tampered with computers and instructed her on how to create a "cheat sheet" to make sure the recount matches the official results. TriAd manufactured the punch card machines used in 41 of Ohio's 88 counties. Its founder, Tod Rapp, is a long-time contributor to Republican and right-wing causes.

Where's Kerry?

One would think Sen. John Kerry and the Democratic Party would be on the front lines of challenging this deliberate undermining of basic democratic procedures. Exit polls, which University of Illinois statistician Ron Baiman testified have a 55,000,000-to-1 chance of being wrong, showed Kerry the victor in Ohio. But in fact, the recount only took place after the Green and Libertarian parties challenged the official results.

Kerry has yet to speak at any of the rallies or hearings, but is halfheartedly backing the legal challenges, now that the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rep. John Conyers put the Ohio election in the national spotlight.

Kerry, Bush and their respective parties are both part of the same anti-democratic capitalist system. They both support the war against Iraq, and their positions on same-sex marriage, an issue instrumental in securing the Bush vote in Ohio, are almost identical. They both recognize that racism, including the denial of suffrage, is indispensable to maintaining capital's power over labor.

Kerry, like Gore in 2004, would sooner hold back the seething anger than mount a real challenge to centuries of racist oppression.

Despite Kerry's vacillation, none of these violations has gone unchallenged.

Packed hearings have brought to light the damning statistics but also the raw emotions around this horrible act of profiling. Hundreds of people from around the country volunteered and contributed over $100,000 for the recount.

A rally at the State House in November featuring the Rev. Jesse Jackson drew 900 outraged people. Activists continue to demonstrate, and have set up a tent city outside Secretary of State Blackwell's office.

Jackson was back in Columbus Dec. 13, while the Bush electors were being sworn in, for the filing of one of many lawsuits seeking to decertify the "official" Ohio election results.

The fight for the basic right of suffrage, to complete the unfinished revolution cut short by the defeat of Reconstruction, is a just fight deserving the utmost solidarity. Its best hope is to link up the fight over the Bush (s)election with the fight to overturn the whole Bush (and Kerry) program of war, bigotry and exploitation.

Link

No Fact Left Behind - Brad Friedman Calls Out the 1/2 Truths

2004-12-24T07:26:00.000-08:00

Brad Friedman(bradblog.com), has been analyzing the media lack of attention and 1/2 truths for weeks. Worth a look.

Any reporter (and there were three that contributed to this short piece!) that mentions Blackwell in anyway -- much less in a way that actually paints him as someone who gives any kind of a damn about solving election problems in Ohio! -- and yet doesn't point out that he was also THE OHIO CO-CHAIR OF THE COMMITTEE TO RELECT BUSH/CHENEY should have their Journalist License immediately and permanently revoked, and sentenced to a lifetime of writing 24/7 on a green blog for no money at all.

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Woman Starts Hunger Strike in Front of Senator Wyden's Office

2004-12-24T07:16:00.000-08:00

Reported by TruthInVoting.org & Fairness By Beckerman.

A woman not associated with Truth In Voting (Sarah) has started a hunger strike and silent vigil outside the building where Senator Wyden's Eugene office is located. If you would like to show your support, please stop by the 151 West 7th building any weekday between 3 and 6 pm and say hello and stand with her in solidarity. She is asking the same thing we are: that Sen. Wyden "refuse to ratify the Congressional certification of the Electoral College on Jan. 6th, 2005." She has indicated that she will fast until the day of that vote.

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In Ohio, almost 1 in 50 votes for president don't count

2004-12-24T06:58:00.000-08:00

- Here's something that has been largely overlooked amid all of the complaints about voting irregularities in Ohio during the Nov. 2 election:

Nearly 97,000 ballots, or 1.7 percent of those cast across the state, either did not record a preference for president or could not be counted because the voter selected more than one presidential candidate.

An analysis by Scripps Howard News Service found that Ohio recorded the second-highest number of missing votes in the country, behind California. Elections experts say a large number of missing votes in a high-profile race like president should raise a red flag that something may be amiss.

Secretary of State Ken Blackwell said it's difficult to know what happened because the numbers don't include a breakdown of how many voters simply chose not to vote for president or how many picked more than one presidential candidate.

But he said the data reinforces his belief that the state must move away from punch-card ballots and toward electronic machines that prevent voters from picking more than one candidate in the same race.

Voters in 68 of Ohio's 88 counties used punch-card ballots in November. Electronic voting machinery must be in place in every county in Ohio by May 2006.

On the other hand, Blackwell said, some voters probably chose not to vote for president because they didn't like either of the major candidates on the ballot.

"Given human nature, when you're talking about 5.8 million people casting a vote, it wouldn't be too far-fetched to think that you have a small percentage of people who would say, 'A pox on both of your houses,' " Blackwell said.

"I just hear, as I crisscross the state talking with voters, some people don't think they have a clear choice and they think it's (between) tweedledee and tweedledum. Sometimes they just take a pass and focus on those issues and candidates that they know and that they see have a clear difference."

The number of missing votes in Ohio increased over the last presidential election. This year, there were 96,580 missing votes, compared to 93,991 four years ago. Blackwell attributed the increase to the fact that nearly 1 million more voters cast ballots in this year's contest than four years ago.

As for percentages, the number of missing votes in Ohio actually declined. Four years ago, 2 percent of all ballots cast in Ohio did not register a vote for president or could not be counted because of double-voting. This year, that number dropped to 1.7 percent.

The three Ohio counties with the highest percentage of missing votes were Coshocton County, where 1,365 ballots, or nearly 8 percent of all ballots cast, did not register a vote for president; Van Wert County, which reported 698 missing votes, or 4.5 percent; and Holmes County, which had 570 missing votes, or 4.48 percent.

Mary A. Fry, director of the Coshocton County Board of Elections, attributed the number of missing votes in her county to a mental health issue that was on the ballot. Voters were asked to approve a property tax levy on which the proceeds would go to mental health programs in the county.

"A lot of people voted on a mental health issue and nothing else," she said.

In Van Wert County, elections officials said the problem could be traced largely to a voting machine in one precinct. Some 400 votes had to be thrown out after elections workers in one precinct borrowed a punch-card reader from another precinct.

The order in which candidate names appear on the ballot in Ohio is rotated from one political jurisdiction to another. But elections workers forgot to rotate the ballot when they borrowed the punch-card reader in Van Wert County, making it impossible to determine which presidential candidate the voter was trying to vote for, said Carlo LoParo, spokesman for the Secretary of State's office.

Holmes County traditionally has a high number of missing votes because the county has a large Amish population, said Lisa Welch, director of the Holmes County Board of Elections.

"Traditionally, our Amish do not vote on candidates, they only vote on issues," Welch said. "They do not feel it's their right to judge men."

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Also see the extensive collection, of vote fraud articles at whatreallyhappened.com

GIGO - Garbage In, Garbage Out

2004-12-24T05:00:00.000-08:00

GIGO,...that's tech talk for those of us who love to trust machines.

Quite simply, if you put garbage into the machine, it spits out garbage. So, any recount - random or not - using machines, can be easily tampered with to show whatever you want. Now, sprinkle some partisan sugar on top and wysiwyg...what you see, is what you get.

The best part, if your a US taxpayer...YOU paid for it. We could create some jobs just by using the millions to hire independent election workers to hand count ballots. Instead, we spend millions on a system, that not only has all sorts of partisan politics involved, it doesn't work! ($2.6 Million dollar fine to Diebold should tell you that much)

Is this really rocket science?

Some more from truthout:(PS.no $charge$ for GIGO)

Video Supporting Ohio Vote Fraud Claim Revealed

On Friday, December 10 2004, Michael from TriAd called in the AM to inform us that he would be in our office in the PM on the same day. I asked him why he was visiting us. He said, "to check out your tabulator, computer, and that the attorneys will be asking some tricky questions and he wanted to go over some of the questions they maybe ask." He also added that there would be no charge for this service.

He arrived at about 12:30PM. I hung his coat up and it was very heavy. I made a comment about it being so heavy. He, Lisa Schwartze and I chatted for a few minutes. He proceeded to go to the room where our computer and tabulation machine is kept. I followed him into the room. I had my back to him when he turned the computer on. He stated that the computer was not coming up. I did see some commands at the lower left hand of the screen but no menu. He said that the battery in the computer was dead and that the stored information was gone. He said that he could put a patch on it and fix it. My main concern was - what if this happened when we were ready to do the recount. He proceeded to take the computer apart and call his offices to get information to input into our computer. Our computer is fourteen years old and as far as I know had always worked in the past. I asked him if the older computer, that is in the same room. could be used for the recount. I don't remember exactly what he said but I did relay to him that the computer was old and a spare. At some point he asked if he could take the spare computer apart and I said "yes". He took both computers apart. I don't remember seeing any tools and he asked Sue Wallace, Clerk, for a screwdriver. She got it for him. At this point I was frustrated about the computer not performing and feared that it wouldn't work for the recount. I called Gerald Robinette, board chairman, to inform him regarding the computer problem and asked him if we could have Tri Ad come to our offices to run the program and tabulator for the recount. Gerald talked on the phone with Michael and Michael assured Gerald that he could fix our computer. He worked on the computer until about 3:00 PM and then asked me which precinct and the number of the precinct we were going to count. I told him, Good Hope 1 # 17. He went back into the tabulation room. Shortly after that he (illegible) stated that the computer was ready for the recount and told us not to turn the computer off so it would charge up.

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Kerry to Enter Ohio Recount Fray

2004-12-24T04:52:00.000-08:00

Truthout delivers an update:

2004 Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry will file today, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, papers in support of the Green Party/Libertarian Party recount effort. Specifically, Kerry will be filing a request for expedited discovery regarding Triad Systems voting machines, as well as a motion for a preservation order to protect any and all discovery and preserve any evidence on this matter.

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No Holiday For Vote Thieves

2004-12-24T04:38:00.000-08:00

A very good roundup of all the issues and links to more.

From the Black Commentator:

“No, I think the Senate is going to go along with an inquiry this time,” said Conyers. “I don't think they would embarrass themselves to let this happen two times in a row… I just don't think the Senate would get caught in that position.” Conyers is careful not to name names, claiming he hasn’t spoken directly to a single Senator, but adding, “there are Republicans who support what I'm doing who haven't been willing to come forward.”
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