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."

More

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.

More

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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Massachusetts electors pass unanimous resolution calling for an investigation

2004-12-23T07:07:00.000-08:00

From the Coalition Against Election Fraud(CAEF.US):

We are pleased that the Massachusetts electors have passed a unanimous resolution calling for an investigation into the voting irregularities in the 2004 Presidential election.

The following is a motion made by Tom Barbera and the other Massachusetts electors. The electors passed the motion unanimously. Mr. Barbera received a standing ovation after he read it out loud.

I move that we, the duly sworn electors of Massachusetts, call on Congress and especially the honorable members of our MA congressional delegation as follows:

We believe that as electors we have a unique opportunity and obligation to insure that justice does not again become so delayed as to be denied. We call on the Congress of the United States and most especially our own honorable representatives, the members of the Massachusetts Congressional delegation to:

1. Act to commit Congress to investigate all voting complaints that might have any validity that they receive.

2. Act to commit Congress to remedy any voting rights violations or electoral fraud verified by its own agents or through the courts.

3. File in Congress and commit their resources to passage of systematic remedies.

Tom Barbera made his own statement as he cast his vote for President and Vice President:

We believe in one nation under God and we recognize as in the words of the great leader Martin Luther King Jr. that "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." And we recognize our obligation as citizens of one nation to stand up for the equal rights for all members of our national community. We do believe that all people are created equal, and we hold precious the sacred right to vote, which our forefathers enshrined in the very Constitution that we have just sworn as electors to uphold and as citizens of Massachusetts, where we count every vote.

CAEF.US

Wheel of VOTER Challenge IV: $.1K

2004-12-23T06:55:00.000-08:00

Since our elections are quite humorous(ie:a joke), why not laugh your way to the end of fair elections.

From the Bellaciao Collective:(Robin Baneth)

New Wheel of VOTER "Challange" IV: $.1K, Last of 2004?

Due to the popularity (Ohio fax number created below!) of the last three Wheel of VOTER Challenges 2004 -- in which paper-trail voting is unanimously preferred, indisputable machine hackability, and absence of any Democrat Diebold IT personnel -- we at WVC headquarters now offer the following $100 opportunity for our easiest challenge yet:

We will send a $100 cashier’s check to the first FIVE Ohio Republicans who claim that they:

a) Waited longer than 3 hours to vote in 2004 General Election.
b) Are registered Republicans in Ohio.
c) Voted in a Republican precinct in a Republican Ohio County.
d) Can name one other Republican at a different Republican precinct that waited over 3 hours to vote.

Your name and identifying information will be NOT be made public in any way without your permission. Your identifying information will be held strictly confidential. A signed non-disclosure agreement will be provided. Non-identifying information, such as precinct, county, gender, and race will be published at WVC discretion.

To win:

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Congressman Conyers Has Questions for Triad

2004-12-23T06:46:00.000-08:00

Via Ray Beckerman's Blog:

Congressman Conyers wrote a December 22nd letter to Triad's president, Brett Rapp, asking a series of questions about Triad's conduct and intentions:

PDF LINK

Ohio electoral fight becomes 'biggest deal since Selma' as GOP stonewalls

2004-12-23T02:55:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately for the GOP, this is what happens when you have a free press that isn't being fed by the pentagon. They actually report. So when will we start jailing the journalists? Let's face it, facism is popular, soon you will understand how the German people "had no idea"...out of sight, out of mind.

COLUMBUS -- As Republican officials stonewall subpoenas and subvert the recount process, Rev. Jesse Jackson has pronounced Ohio's vote fraud fiasco "the biggest deal since Selma" and has called for a national rally at "the scene of the crime" in Columbus January 3.
More

Also, more on "vote flip-flopping", that we mentioned the other day. You remember "flip-flop" right?

Gotta love the corporate PR spin/attack/anti-activist lobbyist/damage control firms, like...Qorvis (who were just investigated by the FBI), or maybe Dezenhall resources .

New vote flipping report from FreePress.org:

Default settings in Mahoning County

in certain counties in Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, Texas, and New Mexico where touch screen voting machines were used, there have been complaints from voters who selected Kerry on the touch screen and saw their votes change to Bush on a summary screen. In addition, there was a specific problem with the Sequoia AVC Edge machine (not used in Ohio) where voters actually saw preselected default choices presented to them.

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Mainstream Media Refuses to Release Exit Poll Raw Data

2004-12-23T02:25:00.000-08:00

If you've been reading here, you probably already feel that hole in your stomach. But, just in case you think the corp. double-speak media actually cares for the well being of American taxpayers and not their bottom line...read on. Let me remind you that between Reagan and Clinton, media ownership laws were loosened to the point that a handful of companies control everything you see, read, and here(except here...free speech, neat concept huh? What were those kooky founding fathers thinking). I wonder why "slam dunk" Tenet recently came out of his shell of disgrace to proclaim that the internet is like "the wild west"..."eventually, it will have to yield to governance and control"...slam dunk?...sadly no, just another airball.

TV Networks finally display their true colors

For those watching the growing body of evidence concerning election fraud in our past presidential election, one question has remained: Why don't we hear about this on the evening news?

As of yet it's been hard to explain why the controversies in Ukraine make the headlines, but when similar problems are discovered at home, you have to scour the Internet to find the information.

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It Can't Happen Here

2004-12-22T08:04:00.000-08:00

By Rep. Ron Paul

In 2002 I asked my House colleagues a rhetorical question with regard to the onslaught of government growth in the post-September 11th era: Is America becoming a police state?

The question is no longer rhetorical. We are not yet living in a total police state, but it is fast approaching. The seeds of future tyranny have been sown, and many of our basic protections against government have been undermined. The atmosphere since 2001 has permitted Congress to create whole new departments and agencies that purport to make us safer- always at the expense of our liberty. But security and liberty go hand-in-hand. Members of Congress, like too many Americans, don't understand that a society with no constraints on its government cannot be secure. History proves that societies crumble when their governments become more powerful than the people and private institutions.

Unfortunately, the new intelligence bill passed by Congress two weeks ago moves us closer to an encroaching police state by imposing the precursor to a full-fledged national ID card. Within two years, every American will need a "conforming ID to deal with any federal agency -- including TSA at the airport. Undoubtedly many Americans and members of Congress don't believe America is becoming a police state, which is reasonable enough. They associate the phrase with highly visible symbols of authoritarianism like military patrols, martial law, and summary executions. But we ought to be concerned that we have laid the foundation for tyranny by making the public more docile, more accustomed to government bullying, and more accepting of arbitrary authority -- all in the name of security. Our love for liberty above all has been so diminished that we tolerate intrusions into our privacy that would have been abhorred just a few years ago. We tolerate inconveniences and infringements upon our liberties in a manner that reflects poorly on our great national character of rugged individualism. American history, at least in part, is a history of people who don't like being told what to do. Yet we are increasingly empowering the federal government and its agents to run our lives.

Terror, fear, and crises like 9-11 are used to achieve complacency and obedience, especially when citizens are deluded into believing they are still a free people. The loss of liberty, we are assured, will be minimal, short-lived, and necessary. Many citizens believe that once the war on terror is over, restrictions on their liberties will be reversed. But this war is undeclared and open-ended, with no precise enemy and no expressly stated final goal. Terrorism will never be eradicated completely; does this mean future presidents will assert extraordinary war powers indefinitely?

Washington DC provides a vivid illustration of what our future might look like. Visitors to Capitol Hill encounter police barricades, metal detectors, paramilitary officers carrying fully automatic rifles, police dogs, ID checks, and vehicle stops. The people are totally disarmed; only the police and criminals have guns. Surveillance cameras are everywhere, monitoring street activity, subway travel, parks, and federal buildings. There's not much evidence of an open society in Washington, DC, yet most folks do not complain -- anything goes if it's for government-provided safety and security.

After all, proponents argue, the government is doing all this to catch the bad guys. If you don't have anything to hide, they ask, what are you so afraid of? The answer is that I'm afraid of losing the last vestiges of privacy that a free society should hold dear. I'm afraid of creating a society where the burden is on citizens to prove their innocence, rather than on government to prove wrongdoing. Most of all, I'm afraid of living in a society where a subservient populace surrenders its liberties to an all-powerful government.

It may be true that average Americans do not feel intimidated by the encroachment of the police state. Americans remain tolerant of what they see as mere nuisances because they have been deluded into believing total government supervision is necessary and helpful, and because they still enjoy a high level of material comfort. That tolerance may wane, however, as our standard of living falls due to spiraling debt, endless deficit spending at home and abroad, a declining fiat dollar, inflation, higher interest rates, and failing entitlement programs. At that point attitudes toward omnipotent government may change, but the trend toward authoritarianism will be difficult to reverse.

Those who believe a police state can't happen here are poor students of history. Every government, democratic or not, is capable of tyranny. We must understand this if we hope to remain a free people.

Link

Investigating Ohio

2004-12-22T07:50:00.000-08:00

Rep. John Conyers isn't ready to declare the election stolen, but he'll continue to dig into the droves of complaints -- and fight to fix the broken U.S. election system

For those who believe that the 2004 election was stolen by George W. Bush, Karl Rove and an unholy alliance of party operatives and voting-machine impresarios, a 75-year-old Democratic congressman from Detroit has emerged as the last best hope for American democracy. Almost alone in official Washington, Rep. John Conyers has insisted that the nation understand -- and then correct -- the problems that plagued the 2004 vote.

More(requires subscription)

Voter Fraud Protest in Austin

2004-12-22T07:33:00.000-08:00

This news is from last week, but we thought people would like to see what Texans are doing. See some Video and Photos of their No Stolen Election Rally.

Many Houstonians made their way to Austin on Sunday Dec. 12 to attend a rally and march to keep this year's presidential election debacle in the spotlight. The corporate media has blacked disturbing information on wide spread voter intimidation, errors and fraud. Speakers included Houston activist Pokey Anderson, David Van Os, a democrat who ran for the Texas State Supreme Court and Radio host Alex Jones. The 150 in attendance heard warnings of an election system mechanism is owned and operated by the opposition party.

Video 1

Video 2

Photos 1

Photos 2

Link

Challenge the Nov 2 vote - Action required

2004-12-22T07:17:00.000-08:00

From Portland Indymedia via Contest the Vote.

Ask your senators and the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary to Stand Up and Support an Election Investigation
Questions are swirling around whether the election was conducted honestly or not. We need to know -- was it or wasn't it?

When Congress reconvenes in January, at least 14 members of the House of Representatives will challenge the validity of the 2004 election. They will request an immediate investigation into many problems and irregularities encountered in the election.

According to the Electoral Count Act of 1887, one senator and one House Representative are required to contest an election prior to inauguration. We have the representatives; we still need a senator. Please let your senators know that you want them to stand up with House Representatives and contest the vote.

The signed petitions will be delivered to each senator in person by a coalition of representatives from a variety of concerned organizations and individuals. We will also deliver copies of signed petitions from all states to the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary to encourage them to hold formal hearings on the 2004 election. our senators and the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary:

ContestTheVote.org
Please copy and pass this message on.

Thanks.

Link

Just One Senator!

2004-12-22T07:13:00.000-08:00

Some info from Democrats.com, contacts, updates on letters, what you can do.

Just One Senator!
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Terry McAuliffe fights for DNC legitimacy

2004-12-22T06:37:00.000-08:00

No really, if you give us some more money, we can fix it...no, really, trust us this time.

"We can't expect people to come and make a record vote turnout again if they don't feel comfortable that we are protecting their right to vote."

So next time, we'll make sure that 100% of the votes are counted by machines and none will be the wiser.

DNC Launches Investigation Into Election Anomalies
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Ohio Sec. of State Blackwell Leaves Election Board Chair..."Wondering"

2004-12-22T06:16:00.000-08:00

Why should we trust the republican and democratic "parties" again?...George Washington would of laughed at this two party shell game.

'A lot of the problems and allegations could have been avoided if the Secretary of State hadn't made the rulings he did in the last few days leading up to the election'

Burke and Anthony both seemed to stress the problems created by Blackwell's many directives and opinions in the days right before election day. 'Why, since Blackwell has been Secretary of State since 1998 did he wait until 37 days before election day to make this ruling [changing the way we count provisional ballots]?' Anthony wondered.
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Almost No Recounts Were "Random"

2004-12-22T05:49:00.000-08:00

What do you expect from the two parties that have monopolized our liberty, is the fog starting to clear for you? In the last 24 hours the only reports from mainstream news have been damage control and white house propaganda.

Qui bono?..."all is well, go back to bed America"

Eight days after the recount has started, almost all counties have completed their recounts — at least, in their opinion. But the Ohio Recount effort is far from over. Please visit our new County Reports file to see the true stories of the recount. For example:
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What is Ohio trying to hide about vote?

2004-12-22T05:39:00.000-08:00

You have barely scratched the surface with your coverage of the vote recount in Ohio.

U.S. Rep. John Conyers, senior Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, recently issued the statement, "The recount effort is simply a search for the truth of what happened during the 2004 presidential election in Ohio. We have now repeatedly seen election officials obstruct and stonewall this search for the truth. I am beginning to wonder what it is they are trying to hide."

I'd like to know myself.

Link

Votergate is in full effect, nationally and at home

2004-12-22T05:34:00.000-08:00

RALLY FOR COUNTING ALL THE VOTES
Thursday Dec. 23, 2004 2:00PM
202 'C' Street San Diego Downtown Civic Center Plaza.
Come out and support the 5,000+ voters that have been disinfranchised by a bubble. More than 5,000 voters can't be ignored!
From the Voters for Donna Frye and the Supporters of Democracy
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Ohio Voting Bombshell

2004-12-22T05:17:00.000-08:00

We apologize for no updates yesterday, we are busy promoting awareness and if you care at all about our great country and the slippery slope we are travelling down, please contact us and share your story, tell us what your doing. We want to make a central location for people with links and information.

As you can see, this is a volunteer effort. We are spending our own time and money. We don't want your money and won't ask. We hope that you will share this site so people can make their own decision and get the facts.

It should be apparent now, that the only mainstream TV news that will carry this story...are the people that are trying to discredit and/or contain the damage. It's a secret they don't want you to know. Like the story below or maybe this.

Legitimacy of Ohio Vote Recount Called Into Question After Probe

By Ken Hoop

After several weeks of utilizing Ohio election laws to demand a recount, Third Party presidential candidates David Cobb of the Green Party and Libertarian Michael Badnarik have achieved their first tangible success. Two stunning affidavits recently filed have made it virtually impossible for GOP Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell to tidily sabotage the recount process.

Truthout.org, the congressional offices of Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), and other sources have web site postings of the affidavits of Sherole Eaton, deputy director of the Board of Elections in Hocking County, and of Evelyn Roberson, a participant in the Greene County recount.

Cobb first alerted Conyers to these affidavits in congressional hearings held in Columbus, Ohio, Dec. 13. Conyers then sent letters to FBI special agent in charge of Ohio, Kevin R. Brock, and the Hocking County prosecutor, Larry Beal, on Dec. 15.

Conyers letter states:

As part of the Democratic staff’s investigation into irregularities in the 2004 election I have learned that Sherole Eaton, a deputy director of the Board of Elections in Hocking County, Ohio has first hand knowledge of inappropriate and likely illegal election tampering in the Ohio presidential election in violation of federal and state law. . . . Similar actions may be occurring in other counties in Ohio. I am therefore asking that you immediately investigate this alleged misconduct and consider immediate impoundment of election machinery to prevent any further tampering.

Conyers then points out that Ms. Eaton asserts that on Dec. 10 Michael Barbian Jr., a representative of Triad GSI, unilaterally obtained access to Hocking County voting machines and records. He proceeded to “modify the computer tabulator, learn which precinct was planned to be the subject of the initial test recount and made further alterations based on that information and advised the election officials how to manipulate the machinery so that the preliminary hand recount matched the machine count.”

Ms. Eaton first relayed this information to Green Party representatives and then completed, signed and notarized an affidavit describing this course of events.

The affidavit of Ms. Eaton claims technician Barbian also explained how to post a “cheat sheet” on the wall so that only Hocking County workers would know what it meant, so that those conducting the hand “recount” of the pre-ordained precinct could make the final results correspond with the published computer count.

This shows that vote fraud gumshoes like the Collier brothers, the authors of the book Votescam: The Stealing of America, and Jim Condit Jr., of votefraud.org, were correct in charging that hand recounts of a pre-designated small fraction of ballots are meaningless because those precincts must be selected weeks in advance, removing the element of randomness.

Votecobb.org charges that officials in many counties know which precincts are slated for recount well in advance. Board of Election officials and their vendors can ensure any recount matches initially published results.

Both affidavits swear that one private company, Triad, services the computerized systems in these two counties, confirming Christopher Bollyn’s AFP reports of several weeks past.

The Dec. 15 New York Times carries a Tom Zeller story stating, “Among other things, Ms. Eaton says in her affidavit that a representative of Triad Governmental Systems, the Ohio firm that created and maintains the vote-counting software in dozens of Ohio counties, made several adjustments to the Hocking County tabulator last Friday in advance of the state’s recount.”

Triad in fact is utilized in 43 of 88 Ohio counties.

Election officials in 99 percent of the 3,100-plus counties in the United States use private companies—Triad, Diebold Election System and Software (ESS) and Sequoia, and a few other minor players. These corporations maintain that their software is proprietary and the courts have allowed these companies to keep their software secret from the public.

What makes this so disturbing was highlighted by veteran reporter Ronnie Dugger in the August 2004 Nation magazine: “On Nov. 2, millions of Americans will cast their votes for president in computerized voting systems that can be rigged by corporate or local election insiders. Five out of every six [American voters] will consign their votes into computers that unidentified programmers, working in the main for four private corporations and the officials of 10,500 election jurisdictions could program to invisibly falsify the outcomes.”

As the Colliers noted in Votescam, the computers that spoke in November 1988 held in their inner workings small boxes that contained secret codes that only the sellers of the computers could read. The programs were regarded as “trade secrets.”

The sellers of the vote-counting software zealously guarded their programs from everyone on the dubious grounds that “competitors could steal their ideas if the source codes were open to inspection.”

In his letter to the FBI and Hocking County prosecutor, Conyers stated that the actions of the Triad technician appeared to violate several Ohio laws, including one that requires that during a period of canvassing (recount), all interaction regarding ballots must happen in the presence of all relevant officials in that county.

To compound Triad’s problems, Ohio Secretary of State Blackwell issued instructions on Friday Dec. 10 that the state was in a period of canvassing and at least one Democrat and one Republican should be present for any phase of the recount.

Lawyers working with the Green and Libertarian candidates have added “election tampering” to the civil suit filed against the state of Ohio, AFP has learned.

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Stolen Election-Lost Democracy: Report From Ohio

2004-12-20T10:14:00.000-08:00

This comes from Twin Cities Indymedia, via Ohio. Part One can be found here.

The evidence is mounting that this election, just as the last one, had been stolen. What makes this one even more stunning is the brazen nature in which it had been stolen. Add to this the nature of how it had been stolen, with the possible use of manipulated machines as well as the silence from the media and the leadership of the Democratic Party. Many observers have noted the common feeling that the democratic process is slipping away right in front of us.

This is the second part of this Indy Media Journalist and Official Observer for the Green Party's David Cobb Re-count effort in Ohio.

We met them everywhere. People who were angry, who knew that something very wrong had happened in the last election. Typical reactions were such as the young waitress who served us in Dianne's Restaraunt in Sandusky, a town in Seneca County, Ohio.

She approached us after we entered Dianne's to eat and strategize our efforts for the re-count. Eli Anthony, Noca Timassy and myself were seated at a booth, bedecked in bright orange scarf, hat and wearing our Green Party Ohio Election Re-count team buttons. She asked if we were helping in the Re-count effort underway. When we answered that we were, she thanked us profusely and also spoke of her anger. She, like many there, knew that something had gone very wrong in this election. They understood that the exit polls did not match the result in the presidential race, even thought they did match all the other races. We met many others like her, all over our designated area. The stench of a corrupted election was everywhere.

We also met the Erie County head of the NAACP. We heard stories of voter intimidation and where minority communities had few machines, causing folks to stand for hours, often in the rain even as other whiter and more affluent communities had no such problem. Even more damning were the reports that there were voting machines lying unused in storage containers in Colombus, Ohio. However we discovered that things were to get much worse.

Tuesday, we had been at the Board of Elections Headquarters for Seneca County. There, while we had a few problems such as the "random" pick of pricincts already being chosen before observers were present, none the less it had gone fairly well. In Seneca, we watched and had explained that the ballots were opened in a locked storage facility and needed a key from both the Republican and Democratic secretaries to be opened, thereby ensuring integrity of the ballot access.

On Wednesday, our focus was the media and our team talked to some local media including a newspaper from Sandusky. Later we went to the local library where I filed my initial Indy Media report. By this stage we had already been hearing some of the reports from Greene, Lucas, Hocking and other Counties. We also taped an interview with the local co-ordinator Noca Timassy, Eli Anthony and myself which Noca promised would be edited and appear on the local cable access. Noca promised that she would send a copy, when finished so that we could also screen on our own cable access.

Later that evening we recieved reports of David Cobb, Green Party candidate and other observers personally witnessing "technicians" from the Triad Company approach them, while they were auditing a machine in Hocking and other Counties. These "technicians" stated that they had to change a battery in the machine. In the proccess of changing the battery, some were observed removing other parts from the Triad machines. He was challenged but since observers had to legal authority to actually stop a count or even contest actions such as this, the individual in question left. Even more appalling was reports from Cobb of the same individual approaching them to "change the battery" after the team started to check another machine that was counting another county.Apparently the only ones with actual authority were the Member of the Board of Election Committee. They did nothing to challenge the technicians in question or their questionable behavior. Triad of course produce machines that count the optiscan ballots and have reportedly close ties to the Republican Party. We can report though, that after Cobb and others testified at the Conyers hearings, that an investigation has been opened into voter fraud by both the FBI and local authorities. We can watch this development with interest.

We also recieved reports of individuals who had been approaching Board of Elections offices in other parts of the state after they were closed late at night. In this instance, while observers were watching one office, an unknown individual was seen attempting to enter the office. When challenged by an observer, who had been watching the office from a distance for any irregularities, the person in question mysteriously stated " hey, we all make mistakes" and then left. After this incident, there was a statewide call for us to watch our local Board of Elections offices. Our team went to Eire County and we did not see anything out of the ordinary but since we had to report there the next morning, we had to leave later that night. But we did have local people who would "drive by from time to time" and keep an eye out. It would have to do because we would have a big day tommorrow.

Also there is the reports of other observers experience in Greene County, to the south. In one instance Katrina Sumner arrived at a Board of Elections office the day before and was stunned to find it wide open. After calling it in, she testified to the Conyers hearing in Colombus, Ohio. After she testified, she recieved threating phone calls, from individuals who told her that she was at a variety of locations and that they were watching her. Later she had the tires on her car slashed.

8:00 am we arrived at the Offices of the Erie County Board of Elections. While the workers there were very helpful and willing to assist, we experienced problems immediately. The first thing was that the boxes of ballots were already out on the table. There had been no observer present to watch the ballots removal from a secure location. At 8:07 the team of Green party Observers made our first objection, that the random pricinct selection, with observers present had not been made. Like other places in the state, the pick of pricincts to do a hand count, to represent a 3% total of the state had already been chosen. This means that by definition it was not a random count. The Republican Board member, Chris Marinko over-ruled us immediately. The count went on.

Then Board member Marinko called, in a very angry tone, an "emergency meeting" of the Board. There he was heard to make comments such as "I can't believe we have to do this shit", "do we have to do this Green Re-count", and to the Democratic lawyer present " We could never be Green's, we have too much money and we like our big houses and SUV's way to much". It must be noted here that the Democratic Party lawyer specializes in corporate law. During this and later events Democratic Party Board of Elections Chairman, Dave Gasse sat passively on. Marinko was quickly to earn the title "the Little Prick" from the members of the Green Party Election Observer Team.
We were also to hear later that Chairman Gisse was " about as useless as shit" from a constituant. While Gisse was the Chairman, it was obvious that Marinko was really the one who was "wearing the pants" in Eire County. It was already turning interesting in Eire County.

Then we began the Logic and Accuracy Test of the optiscanner machine. This machine was manufactured by AIS and so was not a Triad, but troubles were to develop. At first it appeared that a test deck had already been run Nov 14th and obviously we questioned this. We wanted a test run done in front of us observers and they did indeed do this. But upon further questioning, we found some details that upon further analysis may prove to be troubling. The reason that there had been a "test run" done Nov 14th was that there had been a new chip placed in the machine at this date. This begs the question as to why there were new chips added to this machine Nov 14th, after the election but before the re-count, especially knowing that the re-count was going to be done. The explaination may be innocent, but it will take others, more knowledgably of the AIS machinary than the Observer Team to rectify this potential problem.

Upon completion of the hand count of the selected pricincts #2 and #41 of Eire County, the machine did it's count. For a minute we were all stunned because the count was off. The Democratic lawyer and Eli Anthony demanded a full hand re-count of the entire county, but after some deliberation it was decided to do another hand count, which the board could do, according to procedure. The second hand count matched the machines total. Of interest though was that the operators of the machines, workers for the board made the comment that "oh, the machine may be off because I forgot to press the button for the overvotes" as a way to explain the descrepancy. Observer Anthony from the Green Party team raised an objection that this was never rectified but it was ignored by the board.

Another thing that we observed was the number of votes that were not originally counted because they had been filled in by pen. Apparently when the bubble was filled by pen, the machine would reject them. By the end of the count Kerry would recieve an additional 17 votes and Bush 4 more. Each of these were filled in with pencil by Board members, therby ensuring that it would count. We were curious as to why these had not been done the first time, during the Nov 2nd Election. We also noted the large number of overvotes, where the voter had filled in more than one selection for president, therby nullifying that vote. Of interest was that the vast majority of overvotes were Kerry/Nader/other votes. Very few were Bush overvotes, even though the ballot had two other conservatives, the Constitution Party and Libertarian Party candidates. There is no way to verify if there had been any intentional " additional filling" of bubbles by unknown others.

It must be noted here that Ohio's Secretary of State, the person directly responsible for mmaintaining the integrity of the voting proccess is none other than Ken Blackwell. Blackwell, a Republican, is no ordinary Secretary of State. As a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, many believe that Blackwell has experiences in subverting the democratic proccess elsewhere. Places such as Venezuala, where it is suspected that the Council on Foreign Relations helped foster the attempted coup of popular Venezualian president, Hugo Chavez. This could very easily be a case of the chicken truely coming home to roost.

Finally, the re-count was finished at 4:00 pm. The staff at the board had been very friendly and transparent and we observers got on well with them. perhaps they, like us were "not rich with big houses and SUV's". After a quick interview with the local, Republican friendly newspaper, a lsat dinner with Noca at Dianne's, Eli and I were off home to the twin cities.

Since coming home, more has become evident. Apart from the almost complete silence in the "mainstream" corporate media, apparently we are now hearing that even thought there are now serious concerns that the entire democratic proccess for the future is at risk, the reason that the Kerry campaign will not speak out is because of their fear that they will be portrayed as "whiney loosers". The media has stated that they are not reporting it due to Kerry remaining silent and Kerry remains silent because of his fear of the reactions in the media to him speaking out. It is a self perpetuating cycle of political cowardice by both the leadership of the Democratic Party and of the media.

Our democracy is at risk and we deserve better than this. We should not accept these "chickens coming home to roost". It is now our job to reclaim our right to vote and become involved in the democratic proccess. The Democratic Party and the Corporate Media might be afraid but we, like many in Ohio are not afraid. We are angry and will not stand idly by, while our democracy starts to slip away from us. We will claim it back, despite the cowardice of the so called leadership, or lack there-of, of the Democratic Party along with the complicity of the corporate media.
See also:
http://www.votecobb.org
http://www.buzflash.com
Link

Vote "Flipping" in Florida

2004-12-20T09:05:00.000-08:00

"Vote Flipping":(touch one candidate, it records another)

The present writer was in Florida on Election Day, as a poll watcher for Election Protection Coalition, a non-partisan group concerned with preventing a repeat of the 2000 election debacle. What he saw first hand persuaded him that fraud had occurred on a massive scale--- in Florida, Ohio, and probably in other battleground states.

At his polling site, a largely minority area in Hillsborough County, half as many voting machines were in use as had been used for the earlier primary. Across town, the same situation prevailed. Long lines forced many potential voters to choose between their civic duty and privilege (voting) and their work and family responsibilities. Hillsborough County was the tip of the iceberg, as it turned out; the same happened all throughout Florida and Ohio. But in predominantly Republican neighborhoods, plenty of voting machines were on hand, lines were normal, and everyone who wanted to vote, did.

I saw another apparent anomaly. A touch-screen voting machine “flipped” a woman’s vote from John F. Kerry to George W. Bush. The woman was visibly upset, but it seemed to us poll watchers like a mere computer glitch, no different than a super market checkout machine that records an incorrect price for lettuce. It seemed that way, at least, until reports came in from all around the country about other electronic vote flipping. In Youngstown, Ohio, it went on all day without the machines being fixed.

Was a rash of faulty computers to blame? Possibly. Except that almost without exception, every switched vote went in the same direction…from Kerry to Bush.

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Ohio: "I think the exit polls are the smoking gun"

2004-12-20T08:20:00.000-08:00

He's says things are going smoothly, then he says this.

"I think the exit polls are the smoking gun," he said. "I don't know how it was done. But statistically they couldn't have been that far off."

Whiddon, now a church treasurer in Pennsylvania, is the Green Party's Southeast Ohio Regional Coordinator for the presidential recount.

"The Diebold systems are terrifying," he said, and leave Ohio wide open for statewide fraud. "It is clear, it is absolutely clear and technically possible, that if you have the intent, if you have the money, if you have the technical expertise, and if you have the time, these systems can be hacked."

Though that does not guarantee fraud, he said, it does mean leave a door open for fraud.

"If I were a citizen of Ohio, I would be demonstrating in the streets," Whiddon said.

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RECOUNT UPDATE: BOMBSHELL AFFIDAVIT?

2004-12-20T07:44:00.000-08:00

But what you are hoping for you already have: concrete evidence that our election system did not function honestly. You have the exit polls, you have the 10 hour lines, you have the fact that so many Dems were forced to cast provisionals, you have the statistical analysis done by Berkley of the Florida voting, and the reality that 40 million people voted on paperless e-voting machines, most of which were made by a man committed to delivering the election to Bush..
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More articles and information:

VoteFraud.org

A mainstream media voice and an ES&S whistleblower

2004-12-20T06:52:00.000-08:00

Cannonfire has found some interesting leads:

Many of you are wondering: Where are the investigative reporters looking into the possibility of vote fraud? Why is the mainstream media ignoring the precarious state of democracy?

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VERMONT ELECTORS DENOUNCE UNCONSTITUTIONAL RESTRICTION OF RIGHT TO VOTE

2004-12-20T05:16:00.000-08:00

Dec. 15 (EIRNS)--VERMONT ELECTORS DENOUNCE UNCONSTITUTIONAL
RESTRICTION OF RIGHT TO VOTE; CALL FOR CONGRESS TO TAKE UP
VALIDITY OF OHIO VOTE. The following resolution is in the process
of adoption by the three certified electors of the state of
Vermont. It is expected to be released to the public on Monday.
The full text follows:

- Resolution -
WHEREAS our democracy depends on fair elections; and
WHEREAS troubling questions have been raised about the
integrity of Ohio's 2004 presidential election by many members of
Congress; and
WHEREAS the Ohio vote was marred by significant
irregularities, discrepancies, anomalies and other problems as
disclosed by US Representative John Conyers, and a number of
members of the House Judiciary Committee and elsewhere in the
Congress, and
WHEREAS the Government Accounting Office is undertaking a
systematic and comprehensive review of election irregularities in
Ohio, Florida, New Mexico and certain other states, the Congress
having received about 57,000 complaints about voting machine
breakdowns, inaccuracies, intimidation, suppression and other and
similar violations of voter rights, and
WHEREAS unequal and discriminatory voter access and
treatment, as may have occurred in Ohio and elsewhere, violate
the Equal Protection guarantee of the Constitution's Fourteenth
Amendment and would call into question the validity of Elector
certification from Ohio and certain other states under the
Electoral Count Act (3 USC S5) and the teachings of Bush v. Gore,
and as a result the Congress could decide that Elector votes from
Ohio and certain other states were not "regularly given" by
properly certified Electors under the Act (3 USC S15), and
WHEREAS the Congress could determine the validity of
Electoral college votes from Ohio and certain other states
following receipt by the Senate President of Objections from at
least one member of the house and one member of the Senate, and
WHEREAS as citizens and Electors, we are committed to fair
elections and equal voting rights for all,
THEREFORE IT IS RESOLVED that that Senators Jeffords and
Leahy and Representative Sanders (1) give due and sufficient
consideration to the results of the ongoing investigation of
voting irregularities in Ohio's 2004 presidential election; (2)
support the GAO's inquiry into and review of thousands of reports
of systemic and other 2004 voting and election deficiencies; (3)
sponsor or otherwise support legislation (a) mandating paper
records, trails, or backups for all absentee ballots under the
Help America Vote Act (HAVA), (b) uniform rules for the issuance
and tabulation of provisional and absentee ballots under the Help
America Vote Act (HAVA), and (c) sufficient funding for full and
fair implementation of HAVA; and (4) if warranted by evidence of
widespread violations of voter constitutional rights in the 2004
election in Ohio and certain other states, as now appears, under
3 U.S.C S15 on the ground that such Electoral certifications are
invalid and that, as a result, these Electoral votes were not
regularly given by qualified, legal elections.''
Link

Election 2004: Smooth or Shameful?

2004-12-20T04:52:00.000-08:00

Large

Large

Badnarik Feels the Libertarian Squeeze

2004-12-20T04:35:00.000-08:00

No one is safe.

The decision by 2004 Libertarian presidential candidate Michael Badnarik to play a leading role in the Ohio presidential recount is causing a bubbling controversy within the Libertarian Party itself as many members ask why Badnarik embarked on a venture that will cost taxpayers money without changing the outcome of the election.

Once again, the bogus "tax payer cost" line. Let's see, we're giving up millions to private companies, loyal to the Bush administration(who have been fined for VOTING SECURITY), to count our votes. Who cares who wins, who cares who votes, why even vote? We can just let the machines do it for us! Cuckooo-Cuckoo

Both supporters and opponents of the suit agree that Libertarians have good reason to be suspicious of Ohio election officials. In November 2003, Republican Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell used a technicality to throw out more than 60,000 ballot access petition signatures collected by the Ohio LP, a ruling that left Libertarians stunned and angry.

Specifically, Blackwell said the petition forms were illegal because a space had been added for signers to put their last names, and because a sentence about the legal penalty for falsification was slightly different from the state's mandatory language.

Ohio Libertarians point out that Republican Party officials have made a concerted effort to keep Libertarians off the ballot to protect GOP candidates, and note that Blackwell also chaired the Bush-Cheney campaign in Ohio. The state LP had spent two years and about $50,000 collecting the signatures, which would have let all candidates appear on the ballot with a partisan label, including Badnarik. As a result, Badnarik had to appear on the Ohio ballot as an "other party" candidate.

At the time, Ballot Access News publisher Richard Winger said the decision proves that Ohio officials are "hostile" to third parties.

"Ohio's action in disqualifying a petition with over 60,000 names, just because the format and wording are slightly different from the approved form is unheard of in other states," he said.

Barbara Goushaw-Collins, co-director of the Badnarik campaign, says the track record of Ohio elections officials, combined with the voting irregularities reported after the election, is sufficient to justify a recount.

"The major complaint is that we're doing this because we don't like Republicans -- which is flat-out silly," she said. "Our job as Libertarians is to challenge government power. This is a state where they arbitrarily pitched tens of thousands of our petitions, and we're the only ones trying to keep the system honest.

"This recount action is perfectly consistent with who we are and what we do. If not us, who? If not now, when?"

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MN Elector Votes For Edwards

2004-12-20T04:27:00.000-08:00

In a state that Kerry won, an elector votes for Edwards.

From December 13th:

St. Paul (AP) An unknown Minnesota Democrat earned a footnote in history Monday by casting one of the state's 10 Electoral College votes for John Edwards, the Democratic vice presidential running mate for John Kerry.

The Edwards vote apparently gives Minnesota its first ever "faithless elector," the dubious name for Electoral College members who snub the candidate who won the state's popular vote in the general election. Kerry, who beat President Bush in Minnesota but lost overall, wound up with nine of the state's electoral votes.

No one claimed credit for the Edwards vote. Several electors said they suspected that someone unconsciously mixed up the two Johns on the ticket rather than purposefully made a political statement.

"If it was meant to be a protest-type vote I would be upfront and say `This is how I voted,' said elector Frank Simon of Chaska. "It doesn't seem like anyone is coming forth to say that."

Added elector Michael Meuers of Bemidji: "I'm certainly glad that the Electoral College is not separated by one vote."

Bush is due to receive 286 electoral votes; Kerry was slated to get 252, but the Minnesota vote will reduce that total. It takes 270 votes to win the presidency.

Electors around the country meet in state capitols on the same day to vote. Democrats made up the Minnesota slate because Kerry received 1,445,014 votes to Bush's 1,346,695 in November.

Minnesota's voting began shortly after noon. Electors wrote their candidate's name on an 81/2-inch-by-11-inch sheet of paper and put the ballots in a pine box. Once all votes were in, Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer and an aide pulled them out, counted them and announced the total. A tally sheet was sent to Congress, which announces nationwide totals in January.

It may never be known who cast the Edwards ballot. The ballots aren't signed.

In response to public information requests, Kiffmeyer's office released copies of the ballots along with other documents bearing signatures of the electors. Some electors had distinguishable handwriting, but comparisons involving the Edwards ballot were inconclusive.

Kiffmeyer, a Republican, said she was shocked to see the Edwards vote when counting the ballots. She also thought that it was in error.

"It just shows the humanness of the process," she said. Even if an elector came forward to admit a mistake, it is too late to change the ballot, she said.

Edwards received all 10 Minnesota votes for vice president in a separate round of balloting.

In October, The Associated Press contacted electors and was able to reach all 10 Republicans and eight of 10 on the Democratic roster. All said they would unequivocally support their party's candidate if called on to vote.

Minnesota is not among the states where political parties require their electors to take formal pledges that they'll back the ticket. In some states, electors can be hit with fines and misdemeanor charges for bucking the popular vote.

Faithless electors are rare. The last case resembling the Minnesota balloting was in 1988, when West Virginia elector voted for Democratic vice presidential candidate Lloyd Bentsen over presidential candidate Michael Dukakis. She then backed Dukakis for vice president.

The Web site of the nonprofit Center for Voting and Democracy, which documents faithless electors in history, doesn't show any previous incidents involving Minnesota electors. Neither did several other Web sites on the topic.

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More result shifts?

2004-12-20T04:24:00.000-08:00

Note on Vote Total Changes: The presidential vote totals as of December 13 are lower than they were previously, for Nader, Badnarik and the Socialist Workers Party. This is because the official New York results (newly released) show lower vote totals for those three candidates, than the unofficial totals announced on election night. However, both Kerry and Bush went up in New York.

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Votergate Links Added

2004-12-20T03:52:00.000-08:00

More Links added to the sidebar:

The VOTERGATE Resource Center - MiaMedia

Stolen - This Far and No Further

Election Fraud 2004 - 3,000 LINKS

Researchers Call Electronic Voting System Flawed

2004-12-20T03:12:00.000-08:00

Remember when...from July 25, 2003:

The electronic voting system believed to be developed by Diebold has serious weaknesses that could lead to election fraud, according to computer researchers at The Johns Hopkins University and Rice University. The researchers claim the system could "easily" allow someone to cast multiple votes in the same election.

More

And also reporting the recent $2.6 Million dollar fine.

Diebold to Settle with California

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Tom Feeney - In his own words.

2004-12-20T03:05:00.000-08:00

Florida is a national leader in election reform. Much of the credit goes to state legislators who helped position Florida to make the necessary changes in the state's voting processes and technologies. That commitment has paid off, despite the criticisms and insults from partisan leaders who are ill-informed and have made every attempt to derail voter confidence and undermine our entire elections process.

As time goes on, I expect that Florida will continue to improve its voting systems and processes -- particularly as technology continues to evolve. But the argument that printers should be attached to touch-screen voting machines in the counties that use them is unrealistic as of today. Such companion technology does not currently exist, and in all likelihood will not exist by the November election.

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Vote Fraud: Only Chumps and Compulsive Gamblers Keep On Playing in a Rigged Game

2004-12-20T03:00:00.000-08:00

As the Bush Machine rolls on -- through Orwellian "Patriot" Acts, Intelligence "Reforms" and "Clear Skies" Initiatives, adding treason to treason, felony to felony, unconstitutional domestic acts to violations of international law, "crimes against all humankind" to crimes against the biosphere; as it authorizes torture, domestic surveillance, and terms the Geneva Convention "quaint" -- progressive pundits waffle on with exhortations to hopefulness, ideological mea culpas, adjurations to linguistic reframing, advocating emulations of the right, and statistical analyses based on flawed polling and fraudulent vote counts, I find myself wondering: How long are these people going to keep on playing in a rigged game?

The grassroots democratic drama of the 21st century is unfolding in Ohio
(not to mention New Mexico, Nevada, and oh yes, the Ukraine), blacked out
by the same pusillanimous establishment media that went along with alleged
Iraqi WMDs and al qaeda links; blacked out the CIA's role in bringing crack
cocaine to the country's ghettos (and apparently drove rare honest
journalist Gary Webb to an alleged "two-shot suicide"); and ignored by the
flaccid, complicit and supine DNC, Kerry/Edwards camp and Congress. They're
all acting exactly like the collusive wife in an abusive relationship.

The progressive strategists and operatives prattle on about the "White
Elephant" of the "race factor" in the 2004 election (duh!), but no one
seems to notice the gaggle of 500-pound gorillas sitting in the corner of
the national living room. Please, look at the data, citizens. The
election was stolen -- just like in 2000, 2002 and so many more before.
The system is rigged. Don't get over it; get with it! You can't win in a
rigged game. Stop playing. Change the game.

As that great American political sage, W. C. Fields put it, "There comes a
time when we must seize the bull firmly by the tail and stare the situation
squarely in the face." There's not enough space here to do more than
summarize the growing mountain of evidence that supports the rigged game
conclusion. The historic Conyers Committee is piling it up as we speak.
It's easy to find. If you haven't already, google "vote fraud," citizen.
Read it and weep. The incriminating facts are readily available all over
the internet and the "alternative media."

Please, don't be like my friend, a staunch Kerry volunteer, who hasn't
looked at the Ohio story because he reads the New York Times, watches the
News Hour and dismisses all contrary data a priroi as the delusions of the
"chattering class," "paranoid conspiracy theorists" and "whining losers."
The fact is, he doesn't want to know. His whole political paradigm would
fall apart like it did when he found out there's no Santa Claus.

But, to grasp the bull - even timorously - by the tail: the Voting
Integrity Project ( http://www.usvip.org ) points to ten factors that must
lead any fair person to question the "official" tally and insist upon an
objective recount:

1. Systematic, Widespread Voting Machine Irregularities
2. Highly Irregular Intervention by Federal Authorities
3. Impossible Vote Totals ( Some with a 1-in-250,000 chance of being
accurate, according to expert statisticians! )
4. Openly Partisan Election Officials
5. Openly Partisan and Untrustworthy Vendors of Election Machinery
6. Unexplained Exit Poll Disparities ( Exit polls were correct where there
was a paper trail and incorrect (+5% for Bush) where there was no paper
trail. )
7. Unreliable and Inadequate Numbers of Voting Equipment in Poor and
Working Class (non-Republican) Areas
8. Anomalous and Atypical Voting Pattern Changes from 2000 to 2004
9. Uncounted Ballots, Double Un-matching Sets of Tally Tapes and
Uncooperative Officials in Many Areas
10. Widespread Illegal Voter Suppression Activities

Susan Truitt, of the Citizens Alliance for Secure Election (
http://www.caseohio.org ), one of the plaintiffs in one of the several
suits being brought in Ohio to challenge the tally, has stated that, with
just the verified irregularities and violations her organization has
documented, the election plainly goes to Kerry. The 20 Ohio Electors who
voted for Bush did so with zero legitimacy and a second Bush term based on
their vote will be equally illegitimate. Think about that for a minute.
If this is not a constitutional crisis, I don't know what is.

All power to Badnarik and Cobb and Arnebeck and Truitt and Fitrakis and
Bonifaz and Conyers and Waters and Jackson and Curtis and Harris and all
those brave citizens contesting the highly dubious tally in Ohio, Florida
and elsewhere. With a judiciary stacked against them all the way to the
same Supreme Court that perpetrated the first Bush coup in 2000, their
chances of successfully litigating and reversing the outcome, having it
recognized by the judiciary, the Congress, the corporate media - not to
mention the Bush regime itself - will be a political accomplishment of
miraculous proportions and will no doubt require a Ukraine-scale turnout of
the citizenry to make it stick. May it be so!

However, failing a successful judicial, political, congressional and
popular revolt, we are dealing, for the indefinite future, with a fascist,
theocratic police state - and I use the terms precisely, not rhetorically.
("Fascism should more properly be called "corporatism,' since it is the
marriage of government and corporate power," said Mussolini, who ought to
know.) Making Howard Dean head of the DNC and commissioning George Lakoff
to "reframe" the party's "message" and PR material would be a necessary,
but hardly sufficient response.

A political system more crooked than a Las Vegas casino cannot qualify as a
"democracy," much less as the "leader of the free world." And those who
continue to play in it look to me like conscious or unconscious colluders,
or just plain chumps. Until you accurately diagnose and acknowledge the
disease, you cannot even begin to cure it.

And the disease we're dealing with - as originally diagnosed by that astute
political physician Swami Beyondananda - is "Electile Dysfunction"
complicated by advancing "Truth Decay."

The beginning of the cure, (necessary, but not sufficient), as prescribed
by political healers, like the ladies of Code Pink and other groups, is
enactment of a Voters' Bill of Rights: to wit:

1. Provide a Voter Verified Paper Trail for Touch-Screen Voting Machines
2. Create Independent, Non-Partisan and Transparent Oversight
3. Celebrate Our Democracy: Election Day as a National Holiday!
4. Maximize Voter Access
5. Count Every Vote!
6. Re-enfranchise Ex-Felons
7. Implement Instant Runoff Voting (IRV)
8. Provide Public Financing for Elections and Equal Air-Time
9. Ensure Third Party Candidates Easier Access to the Ballot and Debates
10. Abolish the Electoral College
( Sign on at:
http://www.codepinkalert.org/National_Actions_Voter_Bill_of_Rights.shtml )

My simple point is this - until a majority of progressive activists and
intellectual opinion-makers drop the delusions and cop to the fact that we
are playing in a game intentionally and adroitly rigged against us, we will
not win, we will not govern, we will not be prepared to govern, because we
will not deserve to govern. Good losers -- like John "Quick Concession"
Kerry and the "professional losers" of the DNC -- will predictably go on
losing. Just like the chain-smoking, gin-sipping, polyester-clad grandma
pumping endless quarters into the slot machine.

"I don't have that much time here in Washington," Bush told a White House
"economic summit" the other day. If this really is a nation of laws, he
should have a lot less time than he thinks. ( Yes, citizens. We must dare
to think such thoughts, if we are to be worthy of Jefferson, Franklin and
Paine. )

There's a "Block Bush Constitutional Insurrection" rally and demo being
organized by RedefeatBush.com from 10am - 4pm, January 6, at Upper Senate
Park, Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. when the electoral college vote is
delivered to Congress. The Ohio recount will be done by then. We should
have learned enough from the lawsuits and investigations to know the truth.
Got democracy? See you there.

==================================
( For more info on the Block Bush, a Constitutional Insurrection on
January 6, 2005:
www.answercoalition.org and
www.VoterMarch.org/j20hq/index.html on January 20th. Methinks Coronation
Day is too late to protest.)

Link

Ohio Recount Stirs Trouble

2004-12-20T02:50:00.000-08:00

As a statewide election recount got underway in Ohio last week, a Democratic congressman called on the FBI to impound vote-tabulating computers in at least one county and investigate suspicions of election tampering in the state.

Rep. John Conyers (D-Michigan), ranking Democrat of the House Judiciary Committee, sought the investigation after an Ohio election official disclosed in an affidavit (.pdf) that an employee of Triad Governmental Systems, the company that wrote voting software used with punch-card machines in 41 of Ohio's 88 counties, dismantled Hocking County's tabulation computer days before the recount and "put a patch on it."

More from Wired

Cover-Up using Mass Hypnosis Campaign:Vote Zealots UnderMine Confidence

2004-12-20T02:42:00.000-08:00

From Portland Indymedia:

Lead editorial from Cleveland Plain Dealer NewsElites progamming
efforts to 'tenderize' the populace with insidious perception
management & reality control campaign. The 4-man team piously SPEWS
deceptive, ignorant, crude reasoning in a blatant, though, pathetic
attempt to marginalize and ridicule the inteGRITy of Americans
valiantly Defending the Vote & Free, Fair and Honest Elections.
What do you expect from the Oligarch's wayward misinformation
ministers? but to, in blind denial, Project blame for a crisis of
confidence, legitimacy onto the very Democracy Watchers- who are
working hard to clean, straighten out, Reclaim and Renew Civic
respect for this Country's Ideals. WE Refuse to REWARD criminal
conduct with regards to Our Civil Rights & the Right to Civil
Elections- the absolute Bedrock of Constitutional Governance...(cont)..

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Irregularities in Ohio

2004-12-20T01:58:00.000-08:00

From the Harvard Crimson:

The Buckeye state remains a reminder of this year’s flawed presidential election

While Harvard students mull over the split ticket outcome of the recent Undergraduate Council presidential elections, Ohio residents are still technically waiting for the results of another election—their Electoral College delegation for last month’s presidential race. Six weeks and one major Eastern European voting scandal later, what happened on November 2 in the Buckeye State remains unclear. Though Bush’s victory is not realistically under scrutiny, Ohio voters deserve a quicker and more thorough examination of the election results than they will receive.

Considered to be one of the most crucial swing states, the spotlight disappeared from Ohio quickly after news outlets called the state’s 20 electoral votes for President Bush. But both before and after the election, multiple Ohio newspapers reported on a string of voting irregularities, including serious concerns about how thousands of votes were counted. Many of these worries stem from the balloting machinery in Ohio: while only about 12 percent of the nation votes by punch card, the infamous ballot system that muddled the 2000 presidential election in Florida, about three-quarters of Ohio residents do. And of the 88 counties in the state, only one switched from punch cards to a new system after the last election.

That lack of change comes in spite of evidence that not all votes were counted four years ago. A report by the Columbus Dispatch found that of ballots cast in a typical Ohio precinct during the 2000 presidential election, only a sliver—less than two percent—did not have a vote for president recorded on them. But in poorer areas like Ohio’s Appalachia region, presidential votes are much less likely to be recorded; and in predominantly black precincts, presidential votes went uncounted at nearly three times that rate. No one knows why, or seems even vaguely interested in finding an answer.

And in the 2004 election, the irregularities continued, with several reports of tabulation glitches producing phantom votes for the presidential candidates. The original count finds a gap of two percent separating Bush and Kerry in Ohio—not terribly close, and certainly not narrow enough to trigger an automatic recount under state law. Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, the overseer of the Ohio elections and a Republican who ardently supported Bush’s re-election campaign, has been adamant in his stance that the elections in Ohio were fair, and that a recount would be a waste of state tax money. But Blackwell opined that a recount would cost just $1.5 million—not that much in the grander scheme of government spending, and a small price to pay to insure citizens’ faith in the election process.

Much to Blackwell’s chagrin, a federal judge did order a recount in Ohio. The court declined, however, to speed up the timetable of the recount or delay the Electoral College convention. As a result, Ohio’s electoral delegation met in Columbus last Monday—before the recount is completed and regardless of whatever irregularities are uncovered—to certify Bush as the winner. But until the state government takes a serious interest in why votes are going missing, the losers of this election are the voters.

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What Counts in Ohio Recount

2004-12-19T17:04:00.000-08:00

The Christian Science Monitor takes a couple of timid steps and reports 1/2 truths.

Tellingly, the recount challenge doesn't come from the Democratic Party, but from the Green and Libertarian parties, which don't stand a chance of winning Ohio even if Bush actually lost the state.

Recounting un-random precints, selected ballots behind closed doors, people running around Ohio stonewalling, blocking, and harassing election workers. Nothing to see here.

Sworn affidavits, court motions, thousands of complaints, lawsuits, exit poll anomalies(just like Ukraine), etc. Did we miss something? What's more important? Who wins, or the vote? Let's get real.

What about this press release.

That doesn't mean individual Democrats aren't crying foul. The Rev. Jesse Jackson, for instance, has implied that some of Ohio's new electronic voting machines were set to record votes for Bush by the company that manufactured them because the firm's president supported Bush.

Now we know that the company does a little more then "supporting" president Bush, considering they just got busted with a fine of $2.6 Million.

That charge may be a bit extreme, but it's worth watching the more credible challenges and recount as a useful exercise to help all states further improve their election machinery. Reconfirming Bush's victory will also help many disaffected Democrats move beyond faulting their loss on the voting system, and allow the party to get on with repairing itself.

Let's start with telling people ALL the facts.

For widespread vote fraud to have occurred in Ohio, the major parties would have had to conspire together. Each of the state's counties has a bipartisan election board made up of two Republicans and two Democrats with authority over polling places and machines used. That's a pretty strong rebuke to those who allege voter fraud on a scale that would've given the state to Sen. John Kerry.

Maybe it wouldn't be so hard after all. 2 foxes guarding the hen-house are better then one.

That's not to say that long lines and touch-screen voting machines that didn't produce a paper trail (as in Ohio) aren't problems that need fixing. American elections must be an example for other nations. Giving Ohio's vote count a clean bill of health would help that cause.

Example for other nations? Yes, we're setting a great example. Out of sight, out of mind. Considering there will probably be a 1/2 million people protesting at the inauguration(like the RNC), Rumsfeld is being charged with war crimes, and we have mainstream media looking the other way...I would say we've got a long way to go to set an example for the world.

Dissapointed in the CSM...

More

Wealthy Interests Try To Hijack Democratic Process

2004-12-19T06:39:00.000-08:00

by Gary Houser

In an unbelievably blatant move to serve the interests of wealthy individuals and corporations in Ohio, Gov. Taft has called for a special session of the state legislature. In a classic example of "doublespeak", Taft and the Republican leadership are using the false pretense of "campaign finance reform" to mask one of the biggest giveaways of political power in Ohio history. If rammed through, their bill would completely undermine the democratic ideals of this state and hand essential control over the political system to these wealthy interests.

A special session has not been called since 1976. The purpose of such sessions is to address an emergency situation. Instead of addressing an emergency, Gov. Taft is creating one.

Apparently, the notion of campaign finance reform held by Taft and Republican leaders is to do away with it. Rather than reduce the influence of money over elections, this proposed bill (HB/SB 1) drastically increases it by quadrupling the amount of money that can be given to candidates from $2500 to $10,000. Even more outrageously, another section would effectively dismantle a nearly 100 year-old law aimed at preventing corporations from using their vast commercial treasuries to overwhelm the electoral process.

While some Ohio Democrats are rightly opposing the quadrupling of spending limits, they appear to be missing the most insidious and dangerous aspect of this mockery of reform. Because of a loophole large enough to drive a Mack truck through, there would be NO LIMIT WHATSOEVER on the amount of money corporations could spend on what are called "electioneering" ads.

Corporations could advocate for or against candidates and ballot measures to the tune of MILLIONS OF DOLLARS if they so choose. The $10,000 figure pales next to the amounts that could be spent on these ads. In order to not be counted as a direct contribution, these ads would focus on the issues related to a candidate or ballot measure and simply avoid explicit use of the words "vote for" or "vote against." By pursuing this end run, they could batter or praise as much as they wish.

For two reasons, it would appear that the timing of this move is no accident. Ohio's perenially key role in presidential elections was highlighted even further this year. In the wake of four more years of a president closely aligned with corporate interests, this is a stunningly transparent move to consolidate corporate control over this key swing state. Secondly, this attempt at a power grab has been planned to occur at precisely the time when the resources of many Democratic Party and progressive groups are tied up with the re-count issue.

The 'commercial treasuries of corporations' refers to the proceeds from the sale of corporate products. When a customer buys a product, he or she is not giving that corporation permission to influence the outcome of an election with that money. It would be unethical for a corporation to use this money in such a way. Yet this is precisely what would be allowed by HB 1/SB 1.

Some perspective is needed regarding the magnitude of the changes being promoted. A hundred years ago, our ancestors in Ohio had compelling reasons to fight hard to achieve citizen controls over corporations. For decades, legislation favoring commercial interests was being routinely passed as a "payback" for campaign contributions. The preamble of the 1908 law stated that its purpose was "to prevent the corruption of elections and political parties by corporations." This law to safeguard democracy is a great legacy that these citizens left for us. The fate of that legacy is now in our hands.

At a time when polls consistently reveal a serious concern about big money and politics, non-profit public interest groups and the small donation levels of working class people would not be able to compete with the flood of wealthy money that would be released. The strategy of proponents is to rush this bill through a special session before the public even has a chance to recognize the enormity of what is happening.

The importance of stopping this "blitzkrieg" disguised as campaign finance reform cannot be overstated. All who support a democratic process are strongly urged to immediately contact their representatives and senators and speak out against this bald-faced power grab by corporate interests in our state. We must not allow the brave efforts and protective legacy of those Ohio citizens who stood up to corporate power 100 years ago to be squandered.

-Gary Houser has been involved in efforts to use campaign finance reform to prevent corporate money from dominating the political process, and co-authored the first ballot initiative in the country (Arcata, Calif.) to assert local democratic control over corporate activities that impact the community. He now lives in SE Ohio.
Link

Human & Computer Glitches to Blame in Botched Election Outcome

2004-12-19T06:12:00.000-08:00

We missed this little aside to the "Fraud by Computer" report from Daniel Hopsicker.

The election services industry and assorted gambling interests came together to participate in a very lucrative mini-Florida Vote Snafu that offered clues to how they fix elections...

The Sunshine State provided the backdrop for glaring examples of how easily voting machines, and the vote, can be manipulated to change the outcome of a contest.

The following news story's offer clues to the carnage, which some judged to be enormous.

Read them, and judge for yourself...

More

Hollywood in Ohio?

2004-12-19T05:21:00.000-08:00

Read through this eyewitness account. It's amazing how much stonewalling is coming from both sides. Take into the account the smear campaigns that are being pushed forward, you wonder who starts these as they are all variations on a theme. It should be no surprise that when the truth starts to peak it's head out...anyone with something to lose, will start the finger pointing.

Eyes closed tight.

From Kathleen:

Just wanted to report to you all about my day at the Cuyahoga County Recount. Since I told the Cuyahoga Coordinator of Elections, Jackie Maiden, I would like to film the recount, I was told I would be relegated to the "media" section of the room. However, since I didn't have "official" media credentials, I was not allowed to walk around the room, while the recount was taking place. No problem, because the people who were there to observe the recount came to me and asked me who I was representing. After I told them I was there on behalf of Black Box Voting, they were more than willing to share their recount experiences with me. It was gratifying to see that they were very appreciative and somewhat relieved to hear that BBV was covering the event AND getting it on film. They wanted to know that someone would make sure what happened here today would reach beyond Cuyahoga County, since the main stream media wasn't covering it.

The only people representing a "media coverage" of the event (except for a couple of "drive by interviews" by the local media) was me and an independent film maker, who had been traveling around Ohio for the last month filming a documentary on the 2004 election in Ohio entitled: "Bleeding Ohio". Quite appropriate, considering the many reports of machine anomolies, voter suppression, and indescriminate voter purges throughout Ohio, not to mention a very partisan Secretary of State. He and I both were alarmed and noted the lack of the "real" media's attendance at the recount. We thought it would be fun to videotape our "media section" showing all the empty chairs and the non-existent media. I can assure you that the citizen observers noticed their absence too.

What I witnessed today was an event that looked "staged" and was totally controlled by the election officials. When the observers questioned their methods, they responded "this is the way we always do it" and would not accept any questioning of the procedures by the observers.
Every observer who spoke with me expressed concern that this recount was anything but random, due to their pre-selection of precincts, which they felt could have given the election officials time to perhaps prepare for the recount in such a way to avoid any controversial mishaps. The observers felt this compromised the integrity of the recount and did not think it was meaningful nor reflected a true test of the accuracy of the votes cast and counted. On the other hand, to be fair, I also asked the election officials how they thought the recount was going and everyone of them responded that "it was going smooth and all the numbers were adding up, both in the hand count and the machine count." They were happy! It was clear the voters were not.

I will be sending a copy of this tape to Bev for her review and analysis of the procedures used for this recount. I'm certain Bev will have some interesting observations about the Cuyahoga County Recount.

More

Clinton Curtis and David Lytel on internet radio tomorrow at 1 pm

2004-12-19T04:16:00.000-08:00

Activist David Lytel, and computer programmer Clinton Curtis -- who was hired by the Republicans to develop vote rigging software -- will be guests on internet streaming radio station radioinsidescoop.com tomorrow (Sun. Dec. 19th) at 1:00 p.m.
There will be an opportunity for listeners to call in with questions.

Link

If your not familiar with Clint Curtis, check out the research and view video of Clint's testimony here.

Video: David Cobb Reveals Reports of Tampering with Voting Machines

2004-12-19T03:25:00.000-08:00

There is allot of video testimony availabe at David Cobb's site. Multiple formats. Windows file here.

transcript of this segment:

David Cobb: "Representative Conyers, I have the most recent breaking information. It will be very brief, but this is, I think, very important. It's probably the most troubling incident that has been related to my campaign. It was related only on Sunday December 12th, regarding the very shocking event that occurred last Friday, December 10th."

"The representative from Triad Systems came into this county's board of elections office un-announced (that is, on this Friday). He said he was just stopping by to see if they had any questions about the up-coming recount. He then headed into the back room where the Triad-supplied Tabulator (that is, the machine that COUNTS the ballots) is kept."

"This Triad representative told them there was a problem with the system, that the system had a bad battery and had — quote — 'lost all its data' — end quote."

"He then took the computer apart and started swapping parts in and out of it and another 'spare' tower PC also in the room. [He may have had spare parts in his coat as one of the BOE people moved it and remarked as to how very heavy it was. He finally re-assembled everything and said it was working but to not turn it off.]"

"He then asked which precinct would be counted for the 3% recount test, and the one which had been selected as it had the right number of votes, was relayed to him. He then went back and did something else to the Tabulator."

"The Triad Systems representative suggested that since the hand count had to match the machine count exactly, and since it would be hard to memorize the several numbers which would be needed to get the count to come out exactly right, that they should post this series of numbers on the wall where they would not be noticed by observers. He suggested making them look like employee information or something similar."

"The people doing the hand count could then, he said, just report those numbers no matter what they actually counted in the ballots. This would then — quote — 'match' — the Tabulator report for this precinct exactly. [The numbers were apparently the final certified counts for the selected precinct.]"

Rep. Conyers: "David Cobb, I need you to arrange a meeting with our staff immediately, as soon as possible, so we can go into detail on this matter."

David Cobb: "Thank you. Mr. Conyers, in the interests of brevity, I will stop. It is shocking; it is going on across the States."

More Video

Ever here the saying: "Deny, Deny, Deny".

Kenneth Blackwell:

"We apparently have a glitch in the system at the county level," but affirms that "no matter how much they protest, no matter how many lawsuits they file — I have the fullest of confidence in the integrity of our system."

We apparently have a glitch, but I have the fullest confidence in that? Uh-huh.

Real Video Link

Lawyer in Ohio ticked at Democrats

2004-12-19T03:01:00.000-08:00

We keep hearing about the John Kerry "secret strategy", you know, the one that goes like this: "he is so smart, like a good lawyer, he's just waiting,"...is that like the, "bush won, get over it" line?

Ray Beckerman, also an attorney, is on the scene, a democrat, and he's not happy.

My Notice to the Democratic Party

I have been registered as a Democrat all of my voting life, and have voted in every election, always for Democrats.

Although the greater villains are the thieves and traitors who stole the election in Ohio and are now engaged in a coverup of their foul deeds, Sen. Kerry has done a very great disservice to democracy by quickly conceding the election, and failing to fight for the true votes cast by the people of Ohio, who so valiantly fought for him.

More

Diebold to Pay $2.6M Due to Insecure Voting Machines

2004-12-19T02:58:00.000-08:00

Nothing to see here, just a company that counts our votes, paying a fine for insecure voting machines(whose president declared, "I will deliver ohio", gave about $100K to the Bush campaign-in which he is part of an "elite" group of campaign supporters-maybe a reader can remind us of the name of that club?). It's time for a re-vote. This time, we should all turn our backs on the two "ruling" parties. Maybe that's what they're worried about?

"In a short period, Diebold has been at the center of several problems. Now it seeks to settle the lawsuit filed against it by the State of California by paying $2.6 million. Settlement comes because of flaws in the Diebold systems that could compromise election results."

More

Just in case your not absolutely sure about the conflict of interest, comparing Katherine Harris to Kenneth Blackwell(both on the election campaigns for B/C) and both secretary of states. Which btw, Harris is now a congresswoman, what's in store for Blackwell? In any case, let's move beyond those "slap you in the face" conflicts and move over to the judge who threw out the case filed by voters.

Ohio Chief Supreme Court judge throws out election challenge case in which he is named

Ohio Supreme Court Justice Thomas J. Moyer, who ran on the Bush-Cheney ticket, declined to recuse himself from a case in which he is also one of the named parties, RAW STORY has discovered.

More

You can find an excellent collection of VoterGate related articles at the new link WhatReallyHappened.com put up here.

Welcome

2004-12-19T01:57:00.000-08:00

We'd like to welcome newcomers here. Please understand that we have no loyalty to political parties. This site was developed, hopefully, as a repository of information and links to help skeptics and researchers(and also find the truth, no matter what that reveals). We choose to not put our heads in the sand. We all understand, those that can look at this objectively, that we may be facing a democratic crisis. One that will leave it's effects on society and the world for years to come. We better get it right, for our futures and the future of our children. There were major conflicts of interest in this presidential election and the last. Typically, political pundits make this the tired old "conservative/liberal" debate. I know Republicans that are liberal, and democrats that are conservative, it's just a head game. Again, one that George Washington warned us about. It is meant to keep us one step further from the truth. American taxpayers are the ones left holding the bag.

Please email with websites, stories, tips, scoops, and/or information.

Thanks!

Folks Don't Get It: African-American voter disenfranchisement in the 2004 election

2004-12-19T01:52:00.000-08:00

From Washinton Indymedia:(racism, alive and well in America)

Y'all just don't get it. Let me tell you why, the way I would tell you if you were sitting in my livingroom chatting with me (in other words, excuse the vernacular, in advance).

I have noticed something. Since the election all the threads which have raised the issue of Black disenfranchisement -- whether in the context of Ohio this year, Florida in 2000, or generally -- as a form of electoral fraud have ended up devolving into ignorance and/or dying as threads. Specifically, whenever this issue comes up, whether in a diary of its own or in connection with someone else's Onio thread, there appear to be three primary reactions:
More

Cuyahoga Recount Prearranged and Discouraged by Election Officials

2004-12-18T13:42:00.000-08:00

Ohio recount- Cuyahoga County ballots pre-sorted Anomalies were found. Almost all of the witnesses that I spoke with felt that the ballots were not in random order, that they had been previously sorted. There would be long spurts of votes for only one candidate and then long spurts for another, which seemed statistically improbable to most.

From what they were able to get through, witnesses found that signature counts were very much different from the official recorded number of ballots.
At the time of the orientation, Jacqui Maiden stated that there will be no visual inspection of the remaining 600,000-some ballots in the county.
------------------------------------------------------------

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Protests, Questions Loom In Ohio As Electoral College Prepares To Vote

2004-12-18T11:35:00.000-08:00

COLUMBUS, Ohio — On Monday, presidential electors were scheduled to meet in their respective capitals to cast electoral votes for president. How this process plays out in Ohio was up in the air at presstime, as a recount of the 2004 ballots is getting under way.
According to Ray Beckerman, an attorney leading the challenge to have every vote counted prior to the electoral college votes being cast in Ohio, “a number of them, especially those from Ohio and Florida, are there as a result not of a free and fair election, but as a result of fraud.”
He says that if they are permitted to select the next President of the United States, “our democracy is at an end.”

More

Electors across US break traditional pro forma ritual to use electoral college to protest election violations

2004-12-18T11:02:00.000-08:00

Massachusetts Coalition against Election Fraud accomplished having some Electoral College Electors submit a unanimous Motion calling for a complete investigation of this presidential election. We had now working on having United States senators join a group of United States Representatives in not certifying the electoral College vote on January 6.

I am a member of the Massachusetts organization called Coalition against Election Fraud. We are lobbying United States senators asking them not to certify the electoral College vote on January 6. I have attached our form Call to Action together with a news release regarding the electoral College votes cast in Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts and California.

Please contact us with any networking information you think may be helpful to get this Call to Action out to millions of people quickly.

Please pass this e-mail along to as many people as you can.

Joseph A. Lopisi

Call to Action:

Contacting Senators, Telling Them Not to Certify the Election!

Dear friends and fellow citizens:

We are a group of citizens concerned about the 2004 presidential election. It was filled with voting violations. Whatever the cause, whether fraud, error or old-fashioned incompetence, this is a big problem for our American Democracy. Please help protect the integrity of our system! We are asking you to contact several key senators as well as your own senators. Tell them not to certify the election on January 6! A list of senators is provided at the end of this letter.

This election does not deserve a rubber-stamp certification. The House Judiciary Committee received 57,000 complaints of voting violations. These included both machine-related problems (losing votes or reporting the wrong candidate after people voted), as well as the old "hanging chad" ballot problem -- this time in Ohio. Just as in Florida in 2000, the greatest "spoilage" vote -- those tossed out because of over or under-voting -- occurred in predominately black precincts. Furthermore, voters were turned away or given provisional ballots (many of which were later discarded), or could not vote because of absurdly long lines or being given wrong information about where to vote. As a result, the exit polls and tallied results disagreed until the major media organizations edited the exit poll results to make them agree with the tallied results. Exit polling, which had been relied on for decades, was suddenly declared "no longer reliable". The disparity between the exit polls and the result almost always favored George Bush -- unlikely to occur by chance. The errors outlined above are the same kinds of things that happened in Ukraine that made their own people take to the streets and the international community stand up and cry foul. The Voting Rights Act makes voter suppression illegal. And the Fourteenth amendment of our constitution says that if voters are disenfranchised, the Electoral College vote should be adjusted proportionately.

Currently the votes are being recounted in Ohio and the Supreme Court of that state is considering a lawsuit claiming election tampering on the part of the Bush campaign. These and other investigations around the country need to be completed before the vote is certified! Afterwards is too late! We are targeting Senators because on January 6th, Congress will meet to certify the election. If even only one Representative and one Senator object to the electoral votes of any state, the vote will not be automatically approved. A process will be started. Discussion and debate will ensue. And hopefully, the stage will be set for a full investigation. After the 2000 election members of the Black Caucus in the House were willing to oppose certification, but they could not find one Senator to go along with them. Do not let that happen again! The Senators listed below are people we think are most likely to respond to our request. Contact them as well as those of your own state. Tell them not to certify this election, but to back a full-scale investigation instead. Tell them you want to believe in your government and the electoral process. Give them any facts or personal accounts you know to back up your statements.

Other sites to find out more about the 2004 election and what you can do:
http://Shadowbox.i8.com/stolen.htm
http://www.verifiedvoting.org
http://www.blackboxvoting.org
http://www.mysterypollster.com
http://www.votewatch.us
http://wheresthepaper.org
http://bluebeard.bu.edu/Evidence_of_Fraud.html

You can look up information about your own US senators at:
http://www.senate.gov.

Contact information for selected US senators follows:

Barbara Boxer, (D-CA)
http://boxer.senate.gov/contact
112 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-0505
Phone: 202-224-3553
Fax: 202-228-3972

Robert Byrd (D-WV)
http://byrd.senate.gov/
http://byrd.senate.gov/byrd_email.html
311 Hart Senate Office Building, Suite 2630
Washington, DC 20510-4801
Phone: 202-224-3954
Fax: 202-228-0002

Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY)
http://clinton.senate.gov/
476 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: 202-224-4451
TTYD Number: 202-224-6821
Fax: 202-228-0282
Fax: 202-228-0121

Mark Dayton (D-MN)
http://dayton.senate.gov
SR-346 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-2305
Phone: 202-224-3244
Fax: 202-228-2186

John Edwards (D-NC, leaving)
http://edwards.senate.gov/
225 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC, 20510-3306
Phone: 202-224-3154
Fax: 202-228-1374

Russell D. Feingold, (D-WI)
Russell_feingold (at) feingold.senate.gov
506 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-4904
Phone: 202-224-5323
TTYD Number: 202-224-1280
Fax: 202-224-2725

James Jeffords (I-VT)
http://jeffords.senate.gov/
http://jeffords.senate.gov/contact-form.html
413 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-4503
Phone: 202-224-5141
Fax: 202-228-0776

Edward Kennedy (D-MA)
senator (at) kennedy.senate.gov
http://kennedy.senate.gov/
317 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: 202-224-4543
Fax: 202-224-2417

Carl Levin, (D-MI)
senator (at) levin.senate.gov
http://levin.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm
269 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-2202
Phone: 202-224-6221
TTYD Number: 202-224-2816
Fax: 202-224-1388

Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT)
http://leahy.senate.gov/
433 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-4502
Phone: 202-224-4242
TollFree: 800-642-3193 (VT only)
Fax: 202-224-3479

Joseph Lieberman (D-CT)
http://lieberman.senate.gov/
706 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-0703
Phone: 202-224-4041
Fax: 202-224-9750

Barbara A. Mikulski (D-MD)
http://mikulski.senate.gov/
senator (at) senatorbarb.com
709 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-2003
Phone: 202-224-4654
TTYD Number: 202-224-5223
Fax: 202-224-8858

Barack Obama (D-IL, incoming)
http://www.obamaforillinois.com/ (then click on "Contact Us")
M114 Capitol Building
Springfield, IL 62706
Phone: 312-427-6300 or 217-782-5338

Charles E. Schumer (D-NY)
http://schumer.senate.gov
313 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: 202-224-6542
TTYD Number: 202-224-0420
Fax: 202-228-1218

Dianne G. B. Feinstein
http://feinstein.senate.gov/
331 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: 202-224-3841
TTYD Number: 202-224-2501
Fax: 202-228-3954

Coalition Against Election Fraud (http://www.caef.us)

Truth in Elections*
49 Francesca Ave.,
Somerville, MA 02144
617-625-3166
econhmnrts (at) aol.com
*In conjunction with United Progressives for Democracy
and Massachusetts Coalition Against Election Fraud

For immediate release Contact: Grace C Ross 617-642-0312

Electors across US break traditional pro forma ritual to use electoral college to protest election violations

Across the US electors in at least five states, for the first time in history, turned the heavily scripted and ritualized electoral college proceedings into a forum for political action. Frustrated by the relative inattention to wide spread real voting violations now numbering in the tens of thousands, Electors called for congressional investigation and legislative action.

Vermont electors, on the record and in front of TV cameras and a number of statewide media outlets, expressed their concerns for our democracy with “57,000 complaints already received by the Congressional Judiciary Committee, we call on Congress and especially our Vermont Congressional delegation to investigate.” They enumerated credible violations affecting hundreds of thousands of voters across the US, Elector Jeffrey Taylor reports.

Opening the traditional statement of thanks for being introduced at the beginning of the Massachusetts Electoral College 2004 session, Elector Cathleen Ashton of Wayland, took the opportunity to demand “Every vote be counted and every vote count.”

As described in local news reports, for the first time in history, Electors in Maine also went on the record using the voting process to “call for national voting reforms.” Their statement pointed to the kind of electoral reforms Maine has that lead to more genuine elections, such as same day registration, allowing ex-felons to vote, and clean election reforms "but our four electoral votes are held meaningless if our sister states cannot hold elections that are fair, accurate and verifiable," Elector Lu Bauer said after the brief ceremony at the State House.

Most extraordinarily, one elector in California cast his ballot provisional upon “all votes being counted – provisional, absentee, under- and overvotes, computerized without paper ballots, even getting valid votes from those turned away illegally, intimidated, discouraged by incredibly long waits, etc.” This incredible act as a creative attempt to get this message read on the floor of Congress when they open the ballots on January 6 to consider whether to certify the vote.

“Never has such a vote been cast by an elector and without a parliamentarian to rule it in or out at the electoral college level, we await whether Congress will acknowledge this type of provisional vote and address the issues this elector sought to raise or whether they too will ignore provisional votes,” said Grace Ross, an organizer of the national effort to support electors to take action and a member of Truth in Elections.

Even in North Carolina where lack of “swing state” status left local voting violations relatively invisible, Democratic Electors and local activists spoke out about local problems while Republican Electors voted inside. Elector Mary Roe spoke of problems she herself witness as an election observer in her own county as well as saying that “everyone deserves to have their votes counted” while deploring the 4,500 votes NC election officials acknowledged disappeared in a computerized voting machine crash.

Massachusetts Electors who introduced the motion said they will use this to lobby Congressional members to take action now such as objecting to the vote. The motion passed by acclimation called on Congress to: “Act to commit Congress to investigate all voting complaints that might have any validity that they receive; Act to commit Congress to remedy any voting rights violations or electoral fraud verified by its own agents or through the courts; File in Congress and commit their resources to passage of systemic remedies.”

In speaking at their Mass. press conference afterwards, one Elector, Tom Barbera spoke of personally having his life threatened during get-out-the-vote efforts. Another spoke of being targeted for intimidation such as being immediately accosted as an African American entering a Florida polling place by whites telling her “your kind is not wanted here”, “we don’t want your kind voting here”, “leave”; such threatening behavior meant as get-out-the-vote volunteers they frequently had to follow intimidated voters of color out of polling places and convince them to reenter and agree to accompany them through the voting process..

Tom Barbera, in presenting the Massachusetts’ Electoral College motion, acknowledging that many whose voting rights violations were most widely violated were African American, referenced the Civil Rights struggle in saying ”we believe that as electors, we have a unique opportunity and obligation to ensure that justice does not again become so delayed as to be denied (as happened in 2000)” (END)

Link

Another smoking gun?

2004-12-18T07:29:00.000-08:00

Ohio election official signs affidavit saying she was told to use a "cheat sheet" to make sure the recount matches the original count, regardless of what the recount really is

Affidavit Here:

Link

Judge Blocks Count of New Wash. Ballots

2004-12-18T07:20:00.000-08:00

TACOMA, Wash. - A judge Friday granted a state Republican Party request to block the counting of hundreds of recently discovered King County ballots in Washington's extremely close governor's race.

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Ohio Election Officials Obstruct Recount

2004-12-18T07:10:00.000-08:00

In at least two counties, Montgomery and Coshocton, the recount has discovered that the state certified the wrong vote totals.

Columbus, OH — Reports from throughout Ohio present a clear and disturbing pattern of state and local election officials obstructing the recount of Ohio’s 2004 presidential vote, according to the Green Party’s presidential campaign which initiated the recount and is monitoring the process.

Green Party Press Release:
More

Election lawsuit gathering steam in mainstream media

2004-12-18T07:00:00.000-08:00

While the outcome of the 2004 presidential election is all but in the history books, an interesting new chapter is being written right now in Ohio, the state that cemented George W. Bush’s electoral college victory.

A lawsuit filed there Monday challenges Bush’s victory in the state, alleging that a long list of irregularities, including intentional vote suppression in Democratic precincts and outright manipulation of vote totals in some locations, combined to steal the Ohio election and the presidency from Democratic candidate John Kerry. While Kerry isn’t behind the lawsuit, his campaign has become more vocal in recent weeks in pushing for answers about what actually happened in Ohio on Nov. 2. and is now funding some legal work there.

Questions about the vote in Ohio and elsewhere have been rampant on the Internet ever since Nov. 2, but the mainstream media has been slow to pick up on this developing story— until this week.

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Perry County auditor files lawsuit over voting irregularities

2004-12-18T06:49:00.000-08:00

NEW LEXINGTON -- The Perry County auditor has filed a lawsuit against the Perry County Elections office, crying foul in the Nov. 2 election.

Bill Crane said his Columbus attorney, Michael Kolman, filed the lawsuit against the Perry County Board of Elections, claiming a host of voting irregularities.

Crane, a Democrat, lost to Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder by 277 votes.

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States that obstruct votes could lose representation, say Greens

2004-12-18T06:45:00.000-08:00

by NewStandard Staff

Dec 18 - The Green Party today warned that states could lose political representation at the national level if segments of their voting populations are disenfranchised. Citing a clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, a Party spokesperson said that the US Constitution mandates penalties for voter obstruction.

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VOTING SECURITY - There is none.

2004-12-18T06:39:00.000-08:00

Lynn Landes (ecotalk.org)

Today, Republicans and foreigners control American elections. State election officials have outsourced and privatized America's elections. It should be considered treason.

It's dirt simple. If Americans want every vote to count, then Americans - not machines - must count every vote. And it's not just about the machines. Absentee and early voting also prohibit meaningful oversight of the voting process and thus prevent effective enforcement of voting rights.

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Voting Rights Groups 'Block' Talk of Machine-Free Elections

2004-12-18T06:34:00.000-08:00

So much for a free and fair exchange of ideas. At conferences and hearings across the country, traditional voting rights organizations have successfully blocked any serious debate on machine-free, paper-only elections. It appears that our well-entrenched so-called 'voting rights' organizations, including the NAACP and ACLU, haven't absorbed the lesson from America's election debacles. They would rather invite the industry-funded National Association of State Election Directors (NASED) to speak at their conferences, than invite researchers and activists who will argue that the machines must go.

More

If Ukrainians Can Demonstrate in the Streets Over a Stolen Election, So Can We

2004-12-18T02:47:00.000-08:00

SPEAKING OUT

I've been feeling a bit of a disappointed malaise and dejection the last few days as the realization that the theft of the election is going pretty much unprotested has sunken in, that the 55 million Americans who voted for Kerry don’t have whatever it is that the Ukrainians do have to go out on he streets and demonstrate. (Of course it could also be all that tryptophan from left over turkey meals.--No. It’s the election, not the tryptophan.) I’m pretty disgusted with how things stand right now and I’m not ready to go silently into the night—the dark time that a Bush second term promises.

I have, on my progressive website OpEdNews.com, along with a handful of other publishers of progressive websites, published articles and coverage of the murdering of democracy that has occurred in the form of vote corruption and fraud in Ohio, Florida, Oklahoma, Nevada, South Carolina and who knows how many other states.
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Ohio vote count battles escalate amidst new evidence of potential criminal activity

2004-12-18T02:43:00.000-08:00

The epic legal battle over Ohio's presidential vote count is back in the state Supreme Court, with an election challenge claiming George W. Bush was wrongly declared the winner on Nov. 2 and seeking a court-ordered reversal of that victory.

Meanwhile, efforts to recount Ohio's vote may have been fatally tainted by the Republican Party, raising questions of what the GOP has to hide, and prompting demands for criminal prosecution.

New affidavits point to possible criminal activity by top Ohio election officials, raising yet more questions about the 2004 vote. Rhonda J. Frazier, a former employee of the Ohio Secretary of State's office, has confirmed in an affidavit taken by Cynthia Butler, working with freepress.org, that the Office had secret slush funds. Frazier says it also failed to comply with the requirements of "The Voting Reform Grant" that required all the voting machines in Ohio to be inventoried and tagged for security reasons.

"I was routinely told to violate the bidded contracts to order supplies from other companies for all 17 Secretary of State offices throughout the State which were cheaper vendors, leaving a cash surplus differential in the budget," Frazier states, "After complaining about the office's repeated practices of violating grants and contracts I was fired."

Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell has come under intense fire for his role in officiating the disputed Ohio balloting and vote count. Blackwell served as co-chair of the Bush-Cheney campaign while running an election he says went "smoothly."

Blackwell's role has been central to a week that started with a bang and rapidly escalated to a dramatic last-minute filing at the state Supreme Court Friday afternoon, December 17.

On Monday, December 13, with Rev. Jesse Jackson at hand, citizen activists filed the now-famous landmark Moss V. Bush action demanding the Ohio Supreme Court vacate the apparent victory for George W. Bush and award the state's 20 electoral votes -- and thus the presidency -- to John Kerry. The filing lists a litany of problems with the November 2 balloting and vote count. The official tally showed a victory for George W. Bush of some 119,000 votes. But the filing claims the real outcome was a 134,000 vote victory for John Kerry, and it demands the Court install a slate of Democratic electors.

The filing was followed by a unique Congressional hearing staged at Columbus City Hall. Conducted by U.S. Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), the nearly four-hour gathering hosted a wide range of testimony charging manipulation, intimidation and fraud surrounding the Ohio election. Most pointed to Secretary of State Blackwell's "clear conflict of interest" as election administrator and Bush-Cheney co-chair. Among other things, in the lead-up to Nov. 2 Blackwell circulated a taped message asking Ohio voters to approve a Constitutional amendment banning gay marriage and abolishing spousal benefits for unmarried partners. That partisan position came amid multiple orders from Blackwell to local election officials on how to conduct the actual vote count.

At noon on Monday, 20 Republican electors convened at the Ohio statehouse and certified their votes for Bush, which were then mailed to Washington. On January 6, they will be evaluated by Congress. It is now possible that for the first time since 1877, there will be a formal challenge to those electoral votes by Democratic members of Congress.

High among the charges against Blackwell was the fact that he delayed certifying the Ohio vote count to make it impossible for a meaningful recount to occur before the electors met. If this was a fair vote, wondered Rev. Jackson, "what are they hiding?"

Jackson plans to be fully visible on January 3 at a large rally in Columbus, Ohio sponsored by Rainbow/PUSH.

But far more serious charges than a mere delay surfaced at Conyers' hearing. A letter from the Shelby County Board of Elections, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, admitted that data critical to a meaningful recount had been discarded, possibly illegally. Sworn testimony from election observers in Greene County indicated that ballots had been left loose on tables in an unlocked, unguarded building, open to manipulation and theft, prior to a recount. And in Lucas County and Hocking County, it was revealed that technicians from the Diebold and Triad companies had inexplicably taken control of voting machines and dismantled them, rendering verifiable recounts impossible.

On Wednesday, December 15, U.S. Representative John Conyers posted an affidavit from Douglas W. Jones, a professor of computer science and a voting technology consultant. In Professor Jones' opinion, the bizarre behavior by the Triad Company, which provides computer software and voting machines in 41 of Ohio's 88 counties, may have tainted the entire recount effort. A Triad employee took apart a computer used in the recounting process and inserted new parts as well as alleged modifications of the software. "As a result, the incident in Hocking County could compromise the statewide recount and undermine the public's trust in the credibility and accuracy of the recount," Jones stated in an affidavit.

As evidence of fraud, manipulation and sabotage of a recount poured in, citizen activists filed for a Temporary Restraining Order demanding the Ohio Supreme Court step in to protect ballots and voting records from further destruction.

On Thursday, Ohio Chief Justice Thomas Moyers denied the original Moss v. Bush filing, saying it had wrongly joined actions on two separate elections, the one for president and one for Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court. The Supreme Court race of Moyer and Ellen Connally had been part of the filing because citizen litigators found fraud in its conduct as well.

The litigation team worked all night in order to refile the two challenges on Friday, December 17. These challenges on both the Bush-Kerry race and on the Supreme Court case were filed separately, reinstating the original thrust of Monday's action and asserting that Kerry had won the Ohio vote, as had Connally.

With court battles escalating, attempts to conduct a meaningful recount have proceeded. Democratic, Green and Libertarian party officials have helped in training volunteers to examine voter records and what to look for as the Ohio vote tally continues. Hundreds of volunteers are observing at election boards around the state trying to get a grasp on what actually happened November 2. Amy Kaplan, head of the Green Party's Franklin County recount, reported to the Free Press that two of the electronic voting machines in Franklin County had faulty cartridges that generated error messages despite being in use on Election Day.

The observers' work has been frustrated and the recount tainted by destroyed records, compromised evidence, and by private vendors who have "re-programmed" machines in both Lucas and Hocking Counties.

Despite his early concession, Kerry has now issued a letter to election boards in all 88 Ohio counties asking a series of questions about the vote count. Thus, charges that Republicans are hiding an outright theft have gained increasing media attention, as have charges that deliberate and illegal destruction of records has been rampant.

Where this will all lead remains unclear. An escalation of court battles is the only certainty. The presidential election of 2004 is by no means over.

--
Bob Fitrakis, Steve Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman are co-authors of the upcoming OHIO'S STOLEN ELECTION: VOICES OF THE DISENFRANCHISED, 2004, to be published by http://freepress.org, which is accepting donations for the project.

Link:
Free Press.ORG

Freedom Fighters in Ohio Call for Help

2004-12-18T01:11:00.000-08:00

One of our bloggers sent in this impassioned plea for help from Gary Polvinale, in Sandusky, Ohio. Gary describes how hard people in Ohio are working to make sure that every vote gets counted, and why he's looking for you to write to the media and demand that they start reporting on the growing list of irregularities being uncovered as the recount moves ahead. (letter below)

---------------------------

Ohio - Alone and in the Dark

Yesterday in 30 degree temperature with winds that knocked me over while I was filming the Ohio Statehouse Rally, Ohioans and people from all over America who came to Ohio to help us, listened to Joan and Eve tell how they were denied access to those public records in Greene County Ohio.

I was moved beyond words when I looked into the faces of my haggard and weary fellow patriotic Ohioans who continue to persevere no matter how many obstacles are thrown in their path, no matter how tired they are, no matter how sick, how broke, how cold. That kind of spirit is seldom seen today.

Yes, those of us in Ohio ARE on the front lines - and it feels like we are defending the Alamo. We are doing our part. A handful of determined people are working themselves to exhaustion. Yes, we ARE out there in the streets. And we ARE at the statehouse. And we ARE at the hearings. And we ARE filing the lawsuits. And we ARE out there doing the recount. And we ARE out there knocking on doors to investigate, verify and gather the facts.

People all over the country who are web-tracking what's happening want to help, who feel helpless, frustrated, and sorry for us in Ohio, are offering good wishes and words of encouragement. And believe me, we appreciate the encouragement. We do, and thank you for that.

But we here in Ohio need more than a "You can do it" pat on the back. We ARE doing it. But nobody knows. Ohio is screaming the truth at the top of its lungs, literally, and no one hears us because of all the noise of the media silence.

If you want to do something, here's what you can do to help. I am asking the rest of the country to please get out there and find well-known people whose voices are loud enough to be heard by the press who will stand up for us. Get a Senator or a media personality or anyone of very high profile to come out about this. The media blackout is killing us.

Very few members of Congress, and no one in the Democratic Party has even seriously acknowledged the recount. This is still looked at as the "sour grapes" effort of a couple of disgruntled 3rd party candidates who can't win anyway. It couldn't be further from that.

The civil rights of every man, woman and child in America are at stake here. I don't care what it takes, convince somebody to break our story, to back us and give us the credibility we need and to let the world know we're here doing this. Redford, Sting, Kennedy, Kerry... I don't care who, somebody, anybody who can attract the attention of the media (evidently John Conyers' and Jesse Jackson's brave voices are not loud enough.) We've kinda got our hands full here, or we'd be doing that ourselves too.

Give us a voice and we will deliver Ohio. Otherwise SOS Blackwell and the BOE will continue to slap us around like we don't matter a lick, at every turn. We are being squelched by a state government that is willing to violate our rights and even break the law as often as necessary to stand in our way and prevent us from exposing what they've done.

I watched 100 of the greatest people I've ever met freeze their butts off for three hours Sunday, and 1500 the week before. And today people are out there at the Conyers hearing at the Columbus Statehouse again freezing, supporting the hearing, the investigation and the recount. And the Ohio recount has begun this morning.

If you want to help, please turn over every rock to find someone big who can get the media's attention who is willing to speak up for us. We need that. And we need it now. We'll take care of the rest. You'll have to pardon the tone of this message - I'm tired, I'm pissed and I'm still cold from yesterday. Thanks for anything you can do toward this.

Gary Polvinale, Sandusky, Ohio

link

Common Cause Needs Recount Help in Florida: Volunteers + Contributions

2004-12-18T01:04:00.000-08:00

Hi all, please forward this to all your contacts in and around Florida, Bev Harris said she needed help and this is just the kind of help we all need with this filthy fraud! Dr. Lora Florida starting selective recount in big touchscreen counties Common Cause Florida is currently organizing a selective audit of some precincts in big Florida Counties like Broward, Palm Beach, Hillsboro, Pinellas, Orange. Anyone wanting to help can volunteer or contribute money. They haven't done any money raising yet and will need some. Common Cause Florida 704 W.Madison St. Tallahassee, Florida 32304 phone - (850) 222-3883 fax - (850) 222-3906 e-mail - cmncause@infionline.net http://nov2truth.org/article.php?story=20041216235236245

Ohio Election Fraud

Cobb details disenfranchisement tactics, says GOP donors concerned about voting machines

2004-12-18T01:02:00.000-08:00

In an exclusive interview with RAW STORY, Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb expressed concern about broad attempts made to disenfranchise voters in Ohio, and asserted that even Republican donors are concerned about the manipulating of voting machines.

Cobb raised allegations of voting machine tampering by Hocking County elections official Sherole Eaton at a public hearing Monday, which was reported in the New York Times.

Possible tampering, according to Cobb, has large Republican donors very concerned. While they will not go on the record, Cobb said they wanted a transparent and honest election.

More

Major Media Refuses to Focus on the Recount

2004-12-18T01:01:00.000-08:00

Main stream media, for the most part, is refusing
to report on the Ohio recount and the emerging
reports of voter fraud, disenfranchisement, and
suppression. It is an extremely disgusting situation,
with literally thousands of people volunteering to
count every vote and those brave and wonderfull
people protesting in the bitter cold about what
happened.

More:
Twin Cities IndyMedia

From yesterday:

Live Report From Ohio Recount

there are stunning developments opening up in the Ohio Re-Count currently underway. This is a live report coming to you from Seneca County, Ohio from your intrepid Indy Media Journalist.

Twin Cities IndyMedia

Voters Refile Challenge Of Presidential Results

2004-12-18T01:00:00.000-08:00

Voters Refile Challenge Of Presidential Results

Challenge Backed By Jesse Jackson

POSTED: 6:03 pm EST December 17, 2004
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Voters who said problems with voting machines Nov. 2 indicated fraud refiled a request with the Ohio Supreme Court on Friday to overturn the presidential results.

Here:
go

Vote Fraud Links

2004-12-18T00:44:00.000-08:00

http://www.caseohio.org

http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/archives/cat_vote_fraud.html

http://portland.indymedia.org/en/topic/electionfraud/

http://www.solarbus.org/stealyourelection/

http://electionfraud2004.org/presentation/index.html

http://www.exitpollz.org/

http://www.berkeleyresolution.blogspot.com/

http://www.breakfornews.com/

http://www.usvip.org/

http://newsclipautopsy.blogspot.com/

http://www.contestthevote.org/

http://www.51capitalmarch.com/index.html

http://www.blackboxvoting.org

http://cannonfire.blogspot.com/

http://www.miamedia.com/votergate/index.html

http://www.votefraudnews.com/news/index.php

http://fairnessbybeckerman.blogspot.com/

How to Steal an Election, No Really! - Video

2004-12-17T04:30:00.000-08:00

Software programmer Alice Brown gives you a little summary. "I can keep my finger on the button, like a butcher holds down the scale". No Stolen Election Rally, Boston. 12-12-04

Watch

Article

More Video Links: You won't see this on the 6 o'clock news

NSE: "They all knew about the problems...and they said nothing"

Article

More video:

No Stolen Election: No one dared tell of what they seen

Article

More:

Conyers: I'm beginning to wonder what it is they're trying to hide

Article

$200,000 REWARD

2004-12-17T04:19:00.000-08:00

to any person or persons who provide conclusive and verifiable evidence that the results of the 2004 presidential election were not correctly tabulated because of one or more of the following reasons: 1) hacking into the voting machines; 2) software or coding problems with voting or tabulating machines; 3) multiple counting by machines or humans, 4) improperly implanted codes in voting machines; 5) tampering with voting machines, voting cards or final tabulation numbers; 6) officials or machines not counting all the votes or adding votes; 7) official influence which changed vote totals, or 8) other problems with vote tabulation not noted here.

More Info

HALF-TRUTH: AP Fails to Report Diebold Vote-Tampering Testimony & Moyers Conflict of Interest

2004-12-17T04:12:00.000-08:00

HALF-TRUTH: AP Fails to Report Diebold Vote-Tampering Testimony & Moyers Conflict of Interest

Newsclip Autopsy

U.S.: A Call for a New Election - 1st Part -

2004-12-17T03:16:00.000-08:00

Ken Reiner, is a Contributing Editor for the U.N. OBSERVER & International Report

Currently, there is a big hue and cry on the part of the Green and Libertarian Parties, and Nader to count all the votes. I am in favor of this, as it will undoubtedly disclose major differences between false vote counts reported in the media - like 3.5 million more votes nationally for Bush than Kerry; 136,000 more for Bush than Kerry in Ohio, and other such inaccurate data. Counting every vote, just in the state of Ohio, will reveal one more lie the Bush government and a pliant press has spread. Someone should write a poem about these lies starting with "Let me count the ways".

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Feeney implicated in vote fraud

2004-12-16T05:50:00.000-08:00

Congressman sought to alter totals, testimony in Ohio case says

More

BradBlog coverage:

Feeney's Hometown Paper Covers Whistleblower 'Vote-Rigging' Allegations!!!

Link

Disinfopedia Dossier:

H.R. 3037, the Antiterrorism Tools Enhancement Act of 2003, was introduced by Senator Tom Feeney in the House of Representatives in the 108th Congress, 1st Session, on September 9, 2003. The purpose of the bill is "to strengthen antiterrorism investigative tools, and for other purposes."

Link

This website is NON-partisan

2004-12-16T03:30:00.000-08:00

George Washington gave us a farewell speech when he left office. He warned us of the dangers of political parties and how small factions would try to divide us to establish power for themselves. This is not America. We encourage you to read this farewell address, as it was a warning to us and an inspiration for this blog. We were frustrated having to dig around for news on this important issue. We thought others were too, if you have a link or story, please email us.

"Promote then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened." - George Washington

-solidstates
---------------------

1796

Friends and Citizens:

The period for a new election of a citizen to administer the executive government of the United States being not far distant, and the time actually arrived when your thoughts must be employed in designating the person who is to be clothed with that important trust, it appears to me proper, especially as it may conduce to a more distinct expression of the public voice, that I should now apprise you of the resolution I have formed, to decline being considered among the number of those out of whom a choice is to be made.

I beg you, at the same time, to do me the justice to be assured that this resolution has not been taken without a strict regard to all the considerations appertaining to the relation which binds a dutiful citizen to his country; and that in withdrawing the tender of service, which silence in my situation might imply, I am influenced by no diminution of zeal for your future interest, no deficiency of grateful respect for your past kindness, but am supported by a full conviction that the step is compatible with both.

The acceptance of, and continuance hitherto in, the office to which your suffrages have twice called me have been a uniform sacrifice of inclination to the opinion of duty and to a deference for what appeared to be your desire. I constantly hoped that it would have been much earlier in my power, consistently with motives which I was not at liberty to disregard, to return to that retirement from which I had been reluctantly drawn. The strength of my inclination to do this, previous to the last election, had even led to the preparation of an address to declare it to you; but mature reflection on the then perplexed and critical posture of our affairs with foreign nations, and the unanimous advice of persons entitled to my confidence, impelled me to abandon the idea.

I rejoice that the state of your concerns, external as well as internal, no longer renders the pursuit of inclination incompatible with the sentiment of duty or propriety, and am persuaded, whatever partiality may be retained for my services, that, in the present circumstances of our country, you will not disapprove my determination to retire.

The impressions with which I first undertook the arduous trust were explained on the proper occasion. In the discharge of this trust, I will only say that I have, with good intentions, contributed towards the organization and administration of the government the best exertions of which a very fallible judgment was capable. Not unconscious in the outset of the inferiority of my qualifications, experience in my own eyes, perhaps still more in the eyes of others, has strengthened the motives to diffidence of myself; and every day the increasing weight of years admonishes me more and more that the shade of retirement is as necessary to me as it will be welcome. Satisfied that if any circumstances have given peculiar value to my services, they were temporary, I have the consolation to believe that, while choice and prudence invite me to quit the political scene, patriotism does not forbid it.

In looking forward to the moment which is intended to terminate the career of my public life, my feelings do not permit me to suspend the deep acknowledgment of that debt of gratitude which I owe to my beloved country for the many honors it has conferred upon me; still more for the steadfast confidence with which it has supported me; and for the opportunities I have thence enjoyed of manifesting my inviolable attachment, by services faithful and persevering, though in usefulness unequal to my zeal. If benefits have resulted to our country from these services, let it always be remembered to your praise, and as an instructive example in our annals, that under circumstances in which the passions, agitated in every direction, were liable to mislead, amidst appearances sometimes dubious, vicissitudes of fortune often discouraging, in situations in which not unfrequently want of success has countenanced the spirit of criticism, the constancy of your support was the essential prop of the efforts, and a guarantee of the plans by which they were effected. Profoundly penetrated with this idea, I shall carry it with me to my grave, as a strong incitement to unceasing vows that heaven may continue to you the choicest tokens of its beneficence; that your union and brotherly affection may be perpetual; that the free Constitution, which is the work of your hands, may be sacredly maintained; that its administration in every department may be stamped with wisdom and virtue; that, in fine, the happiness of the people of these States, under the auspices of liberty, may be made complete by so careful a preservation and so prudent a use of this blessing as will acquire to them the glory of recommending it to the applause, the affection, and adoption of every nation which is yet a stranger to it.

Here, perhaps, I ought to stop. But a solicitude for your welfare, which cannot end but with my life, and the apprehension of danger, natural to that solicitude, urge me, on an occasion like the present, to offer to your solemn contemplation, and to recommend to your frequent review, some sentiments which are the result of much reflection, of no inconsiderable observation, and which appear to me all-important to the permanency of your felicity as a people. These will be offered to you with the more freedom, as you can only see in them the disinterested warnings of a parting friend, who can possibly have no personal motive to bias his counsel. Nor can I forget, as an encouragement to it, your indulgent reception of my sentiments on a former and not dissimilar occasion.

Interwoven as is the love of liberty with every ligament of your hearts, no recommendation of mine is necessary to fortify or confirm the attachment.

The unity of government which constitutes you one people is also now dear to you. It is justly so, for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; of that very liberty which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to foresee that, from different causes and from different quarters, much pains will be taken, many artifices employed to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth; as this is the point in your political fortress against which the batteries of internal and external enemies will be most constantly and actively (though often covertly and insidiously) directed, it is of infinite moment that you should properly estimate the immense value of your national union to your collective and individual happiness; that you should cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment to it; accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it as of the palladium of your political safety and prosperity; watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety; discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned; and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts.

For this you have every inducement of sympathy and interest. Citizens, by birth or choice, of a common country, that country has a right to concentrate your affections. The name of American, which belongs to you in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patriotism more than any appellation derived from local discriminations. With slight shades of difference, you have the same religion, manners, habits, and political principles. You have in a common cause fought and triumphed together; the independence and liberty you possess are the work of joint counsels, and joint efforts of common dangers, sufferings, and successes.

But these considerations, however powerfully they address themselves to your sensibility, are greatly outweighed by those which apply more immediately to your interest. Here every portion of our country finds the most commanding motives for carefully guarding and preserving the union of the whole.

The North, in an unrestrained intercourse with the South, protected by the equal laws of a common government, finds in the productions of the latter great additional resources of maritime and commercial enterprise and precious materials of manufacturing industry. The South, in the same intercourse, benefiting by the agency of the North, sees its agriculture grow and its commerce expand. Turning partly into its own channels the seamen of the North, it finds its particular navigation invigorated; and, while it contributes, in different ways, to nourish and increase the general mass of the national navigation, it looks forward to the protection of a maritime strength, to which itself is unequally adapted. The East, in a like intercourse with the West, already finds, and in the progressive improvement of interior communications by land and water, will more and more find a valuable vent for the commodities which it brings from abroad, or manufactures at home. The West derives from the East supplies requisite to its growth and comfort, and, what is perhaps of still greater consequence, it must of necessity owe the secure enjoyment of indispensable outlets for its own productions to the weight, influence, and the future maritime strength of the Atlantic side of the Union, directed by an indissoluble community of interest as one nation. Any other tenure by which the West can hold this essential advantage, whether derived from its own separate strength, or from an apostate and unnatural connection with any foreign power, must be intrinsically precarious.

While, then, every part of our country thus feels an immediate and particular interest in union, all the parts combined cannot fail to find in the united mass of means and efforts greater strength, greater resource, proportionably greater security from external danger, a less frequent interruption of their peace by foreign nations; and, what is of inestimable value, they must derive from union an exemption from those broils and wars between themselves, which so frequently afflict neighboring countries not tied together by the same governments, which their own rival ships alone would be sufficient to produce, but which opposite foreign alliances, attachments, and intrigues would stimulate and embitter. Hence, likewise, they will avoid the necessity of those overgrown military establishments which, under any form of government, are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty. In this sense it is that your union ought to be considered as a main prop of your liberty, and that the love of the one ought to endear to you the preservation of the other.

These considerations speak a persuasive language to every reflecting and virtuous mind, and exhibit the continuance of the Union as a primary object of patriotic desire. Is there a doubt whether a common government can embrace so large a sphere? Let experience solve it. To listen to mere speculation in such a case were criminal. We are authorized to hope that a proper organization of the whole with the auxiliary agency of governments for the respective subdivisions, will afford a happy issue to the experiment. It is well worth a fair and full experiment. With such powerful and obvious motives to union, affecting all parts of our country, while experience shall not have demonstrated its impracticability, there will always be reason to distrust the patriotism of those who in any quarter may endeavor to weaken its bands.

In contemplating the causes which may disturb our Union, it occurs as matter of serious concern that any ground should have been furnished for characterizing parties by geographical discriminations, Northern and Southern, Atlantic and Western; whence designing men may endeavor to excite a belief that there is a real difference of local interests and views. One of the expedients of party to acquire influence within particular districts is to misrepresent the opinions and aims of other districts. You cannot shield yourselves too much against the jealousies and heartburnings which spring from these misrepresentations; they tend to render alien to each other those who ought to be bound together by fraternal affection. The inhabitants of our Western country have lately had a useful lesson on this head; they have seen, in the negotiation by the Executive, and in the unanimous ratification by the Senate, of the treaty with Spain, and in the universal satisfaction at that event, throughout the United States, a decisive proof how unfounded were the suspicions propagated among them of a policy in the General Government and in the Atlantic States unfriendly to their interests in regard to the Mississippi; they have been witnesses to the formation of two treaties, that with Great Britain, and that with Spain, which secure to them everything they could desire, in respect to our foreign relations, towards confirming their prosperity. Will it not be their wisdom to rely for the preservation of these advantages on the Union by which they were procured ? Will they not henceforth be deaf to those advisers, if such there are, who would sever them from their brethren and connect them with aliens?

To the efficacy and permanency of your Union, a government for the whole is indispensable. No alliance, however strict, between the parts can be an adequate substitute; they must inevitably experience the infractions and interruptions which all alliances in all times have experienced. Sensible of this momentous truth, you have improved upon your first essay, by the adoption of a constitution of government better calculated than your former for an intimate union, and for the efficacious management of your common concerns. This government, the offspring of our own choice, uninfluenced and unawed, adopted upon full investigation and mature deliberation, completely free in its principles, in the distribution of its powers, uniting security with energy, and containing within itself a provision for its own amendment, has a just claim to your confidence and your support. Respect for its authority, compliance with its laws, acquiescence in its measures, are duties enjoined by the fundamental maxims of true liberty. The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government. But the Constitution which at any time exists, till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon all. The very idea of the power and the right of the people to establish government presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established government.

All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all combinations and associations, under whatever plausible character, with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and action of the constituted authorities, are destructive of this fundamental principle, and of fatal tendency. They serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put, in the place of the delegated will of the nation the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community; and, according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common counsels and modified by mutual interests.

However combinations or associations of the above description may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.

Towards the preservation of your government, and the permanency of your present happy state, it is requisite, not only that you steadily discountenance irregular oppositions to its acknowledged authority, but also that you resist with care the spirit of innovation upon its principles, however specious the pretexts. One method of assault may be to effect, in the forms of the Constitution, alterations which will impair the energy of the system, and thus to undermine what cannot be directly overthrown. In all the changes to which you may be invited, remember that time and habit are at least as necessary to fix the true character of governments as of other human institutions; that experience is the surest standard by which to test the real tendency of the existing constitution of a country; that facility in changes, upon the credit of mere hypothesis and opinion, exposes to perpetual change, from the endless variety of hypothesis and opinion; and remember, especially, that for the efficient management of your common interests, in a country so extensive as ours, a government of as much vigor as is consistent with the perfect security of liberty is indispensable. Liberty itself will find in such a government, with powers properly distributed and adjusted, its surest guardian. It is, indeed, little else than a name, where the government is too feeble to withstand the enterprises of faction, to confine each member of the society within the limits prescribed by the laws, and to maintain all in the secure and tranquil enjoyment of the rights of person and property.

I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the State, with particular reference to the founding of them on geographical discriminations. Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party generally.

This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different shapes in all governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but, in those of the popular form, it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is truly their worst enemy.

The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty.

Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight), the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it.

It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another.

There is an opinion that parties in free countries are useful checks upon the administration of the government and serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty. This within certain limits is probably true; and in governments of a monarchical cast, patriotism may look with indulgence, if not with favor, upon the spirit of party. But in those of the popular character, in governments purely elective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged. From their natural tendency, it is certain there will always be enough of that spirit for every salutary purpose. And there being constant danger of excess, the effort ought to be by force of public opinion, to mitigate and assuage it. A fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest, instead of warming, it should consume.

It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free country should inspire caution in those entrusted with its administration, to confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach upon another. The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism. A just estimate of that love of power, and proneness to abuse it, which predominates in the human heart, is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position. The necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power, by dividing and distributing it into different depositaries, and constituting each the guardian of the public weal against invasions by the others, has been evinced by experiments ancient and modern; some of them in our country and under our own eyes. To preserve them must be as necessary as to institute them. If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; for though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed. The precedent must always greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial or transient benefit, which the use can at any time yield.

Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked: Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice ? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.

It is substantially true that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule, indeed, extends with more or less force to every species of free government. Who that is a sincere friend to it can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric?

Promote then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened.

As a very important source of strength and security, cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is to use it as sparingly as possible, avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating peace, but remembering also that timely disbursements to prepare for danger frequently prevent much greater disbursements to repel it, avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertion in time of peace to discharge the debts which unavoidable wars may have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burden which we ourselves ought to bear. The execution of these maxims belongs to your representatives, but it is necessary that public opinion should co-operate. To facilitate to them the performance of their duty, it is essential that you should practically bear in mind that towards the payment of debts there must be revenue; that to have revenue there must be taxes; that no taxes can be devised which are not more or less inconvenient and unpleasant; that the intrinsic embarrassment, inseparable from the selection of the proper objects (which is always a choice of difficulties), ought to be a decisive motive for a candid construction of the conduct of the government in making it, and for a spirit of acquiescence in the measures for obtaining revenue, which the public exigencies may at any time dictate.

Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all. Religion and morality enjoin this conduct; and can it be, that good policy does not equally enjoin it & It will be worthy of a free, enlightened, and at no distant period, a great nation, to give to mankind the magnanimous and too novel example of a people always guided by an exalted justice and benevolence. Who can doubt that, in the course of time and things, the fruits of such a plan would richly repay any temporary advantages which might be lost by a steady adherence to it ? Can it be that Providence has not connected the permanent felicity of a nation with its virtue ? The experiment, at least, is recommended by every sentiment which ennobles human nature. Alas! is it rendered impossible by its vices?

In the execution of such a plan, nothing is more essential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations, and passionate attachments for others, should be excluded; and that, in place of them, just and amicable feelings towards all should be cultivated. The nation which indulges towards another a habitual hatred or a habitual fondness is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest. Antipathy in one nation against another disposes each more readily to offer insult and injury, to lay hold of slight causes of umbrage, and to be haughty and intractable, when accidental or trifling occasions of dispute occur. Hence, frequent collisions, obstinate, envenomed, and bloody contests. The nation, prompted by ill-will and resentment, sometimes impels to war the government, contrary to the best calculations of policy. The government sometimes participates in the national propensity, and adopts through passion what reason would reject; at other times it makes the animosity of the nation subservient to projects of hostility instigated by pride, ambition, and other sinister and pernicious motives. The peace often, sometimes perhaps the liberty, of nations, has been the victim.

So likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter without adequate inducement or justification. It leads also to concessions to the favorite nation of privileges denied to others which is apt doubly to injure the nation making the concessions; by unnecessarily parting with what ought to have been retained, and by exciting jealousy, ill-will, and a disposition to retaliate, in the parties from whom equal privileges are withheld. And it gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens (who devote themselves to the favorite nation), facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own country, without odium, sometimes even with popularity; gilding, with the appearances of a virtuous sense of obligation, a commendable deference for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the base or foolish compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation.

As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways, such attachments are particularly alarming to the truly enlightened and independent patriot. How many opportunities do they afford to tamper with domestic factions, to practice the arts of seduction, to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe the public councils 7 Such an attachment of a small or weak towards a great and powerful nation dooms the former to be the satellite of the latter.

Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence (I conjure you to believe me, fellow-citizens) the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake, since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government. But that jealousy to be useful must be impartial; else it becomes the instrument of the very influence to be avoided, instead of a defense against it. Excessive partiality for one foreign nation and excessive dislike of another cause those whom they actuate to see danger only on one side, and serve to veil and even second the arts of influence on the other. Real patriots who may resist the intrigues of the favorite are liable to become suspected and odious, while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the people, to surrender their interests.

The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible. So far as we have already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here let us stop. Europe has a set of primary interests which to us have none; or a very remote relation. Hence she must be engaged in frequent controversies, the causes of which are essentially foreign to our concerns. Hence, therefore, it must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves by artificial ties in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics, or the ordinary combinations and collisions of her friendships or enmities.

Our detached and distant situation invites and enables us to pursue a different course. If we remain one people under an efficient government. the period is not far off when we may defy material injury from external annoyance; when we may take such an attitude as will cause the neutrality we may at any time resolve upon to be scrupulously respected; when belligerent nations, under the impossibility of making acquisitions upon us, will not lightly hazard the giving us provocation; when we may choose peace or war, as our interest, guided by justice, shall counsel.

Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situation? Why quit our own to stand upon foreign ground? Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor or caprice?

It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world; so far, I mean, as we are now at liberty to do it; for let me not be understood as capable of patronizing infidelity to existing engagements. I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is always the best policy. I repeat it, therefore, let those engagements be observed in their genuine sense. But, in my opinion, it is unnecessary and would be unwise to extend them.

Taking care always to keep ourselves by suitable establishments on a respectable defensive posture, we may safely trust to temporary alliances for extraordinary emergencies.

Harmony, liberal intercourse with all nations, are recommended by policy, humanity, and interest. But even our commercial policy should hold an equal and impartial hand; neither seeking nor granting exclusive favors or preferences; consulting the natural course of things; diffusing and diversifying by gentle means the streams of commerce, but forcing nothing; establishing (with powers so disposed, in order to give trade a stable course, to define the rights of our merchants, and to enable the government to support them) conventional rules of intercourse, the best that present circumstances and mutual opinion will permit, but temporary, and liable to be from time to time abandoned or varied, as experience and circumstances shall dictate; constantly keeping in view that it is folly in one nation to look for disinterested favors from another; that it must pay with a portion of its independence for whatever it may accept under that character; that, by such acceptance, it may place itself in the condition of having given equivalents for nominal favors, and yet of being reproached with ingratitude for not giving more. There can be no greater error than to expect or calculate upon real favors from nation to nation. It is an illusion, which experience must cure, which a just pride ought to discard.

In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of an old and affectionate friend, I dare not hope they will make the strong and lasting impression I could wish; that they will control the usual current of the passions, or prevent our nation from running the course which has hitherto marked the destiny of nations. But, if I may even flatter myself that they may be productive of some partial benefit, some occasional good; that they may now and then recur to moderate the fury of party spirit, to warn against the mischiefs of foreign intrigue, to guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism; this hope will be a full recompense for the solicitude for your welfare, by which they have been dictated.

How far in the discharge of my official duties I have been guided by the principles which have been delineated, the public records and other evidences of my conduct must witness to you and to the world. To myself, the assurance of my own conscience is, that I have at least believed myself to be guided by them.

In relation to the still subsisting war in Europe, my proclamation of the twenty-second of April, I793, is the index of my plan. Sanctioned by your approving voice, and by that of your representatives in both houses of Congress, the spirit of that measure has continually governed me, uninfluenced by any attempts to deter or divert me from it.

After deliberate examination, with the aid of the best lights I could obtain, I was well satisfied that our country, under all the circumstances of the case, had a right to take, and was bound in duty and interest to take, a neutral position. Having taken it, I determined, as far as should depend upon me, to maintain it, with moderation, perseverance, and firmness.

The considerations which respect the right to hold this conduct, it is not necessary on this occasion to detail. I will only observe that, according to my understanding of the matter, that right, so far from being denied by any of the belligerent powers, has been virtually admitted by all.

The duty of holding a neutral conduct may be inferred, without anything more, from the obligation which justice and humanity impose on every nation, in cases in which it is free to act, to maintain inviolate the relations of peace and amity towards other nations.

The inducements of interest for observing that conduct will best be referred to your own reflections and experience. With me a predominant motive has been to endeavor to gain time to our country to settle and mature its yet recent institutions, and to progress without interruption to that degree of strength and consistency which is necessary to give it, humanly speaking, the command of its own fortunes.

Though, in reviewing the incidents of my administration, I am unconscious of intentional error, I am nevertheless too sensible of my defects not to think it probable that I may have committed many errors. Whatever they may be, I fervently beseech the Almighty to avert or mitigate the evils to which they may tend. I shall also carry with me the hope that my country will never cease to view them with indulgence; and that, after forty five years of my life dedicated to its service with an upright zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion, as myself must soon be to the mansions of rest.

Relying on its kindness in this as in other things, and actuated by that fervent love towards it, which is so natural to a man who views in it the native soil of himself and his progenitors for several generations, I anticipate with pleasing expectation that retreat in which I promise myself to realize, without alloy, the sweet enjoyment of partaking, in the midst of my fellow-citizens, the benign influence of good laws under a free government, the ever-favorite object of my heart, and the happy reward, as I trust, of our mutual cares, labors, and dangers.

Geo. Washington

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Theft of the Election, Redux.

2004-12-15T05:55:00.000-08:00

BuzzFlash Analysis:

Why 2000 was Prelude to 2004 -- and the Democratic Party Got Mugged a Second Time.

In case you missed it, an exhaustive 23,422-word Vanity Fair article, published just prior to the election (October), spilled the beans that at least four of the five Supreme Court justices who stole the election from Al Gore did it with willing forethought. And the fifth, Justice Kennedy, who came up with the hypocritical, convoluted reason for awarding the election to Bush, was probably just pretending to be "open-minded."

In short, the story, the first one to reveal the inside machinations of the infamous decision of 2000, confirmed that this wasn't a judicial decision that decided the election 4 years ago; it was a premeditated theft of democracy from the American voters.
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MSNBC Vote Fraud Video (Must See)

2004-12-11T06:11:00.000-08:00

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