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Tuesday, November 30
Jesse Jackson: It's Not Too Much to Ask
by
Trish Nelson
on Tue 30 Nov 2004 09:52 AM CST
 Rev. Jesse Jackson on the Ohio Recount: It's Not Too Much to Ask
OpEdNews.com
"We cannot be the home of the thief and the land of the slave."
by Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman
COLUMBUS--Preaching to a packed,
wildly cheering central Ohio citizen congregation, Rev. Jesse Jackson
blasted the presidential election back into the national headlines
Sunday. Jackson said new findings cast serious doubt on the idea that
George W. Bush beat John Kerry in Ohio November 2. A GOP "pattern of
intentionality" was behind a suspect outcome, he said. At stake is "the
integrity of the vote" for which "too many have died." "We can live
with losing an election," he said. "We cannot live with fraud and
stealing."
Jackson
demanded the removal of Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell from
supervising the recount, which Jackson termed a case of "the fox
guarding the chicken house." Blackwell co-chaired the Bush-Cheney
campaign in Ohio.
Jackson said "the owner of the team
can't also be the referee." A broad-based legal team--now including
Jackson's PUSH/Rainbow Coalition as Plaintiff--is preparing to file an
election challenge asking the election results be overturned.
Jackson said the situation
"does not pass the smell test."
Before
some 500 supporters, Jackson preached a litany of doubt surrounding the
Ohio outcome. "You can't have public elections on privately-owned
machines, especially where one of the owners has vowed to deliver the
state for George Bush," Jackson added.
"We as
Americans should not be begging a Secretary of State for a fair vote
count. We cannot be the home of the thief and the land of the slave."
"This is
not about John Kerry versus George Bush," said Jackson. "This is about
Medgar Evers and Fannie Lou Hamer and Viola Liuzzo. About Goodman,
Cheney and Schwerner, and twenty-seven years in prison for Nelson
Mandela," he said, referring to heroes of the movements for equal
rights. "It's about a will to dignity. It's not too much to ask for our
vote to count."
* * *
Bob
Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman are co-authors of the upcoming ANOTHER
STOLEN ELECTION: VOICES OF THE DISENFRANCHISED, 2004 (freepress.org).
Fitrakis is publisher and Wasserman is senior editor of freepress.org.
Fitrakis is co-counsel for the Alliance For Democracy which has
announced that it will file a lawsuit to ensure a fair recount of the
votes in Ohio.
(click here to read the entire story)
Tuesday, November 23
Invitation to Ohio Recount: Please RSVP!
by
Trish Nelson
on Tue 23 Nov 2004 06:28 AM CST
 Invitation to Ohio Recount: Please RSVP!
From David Cobb and the Cobb-LaMarche team
Greens, Libertarians, Independents, Kucinich-Dean-Kerry Democrats and Republicans [are] ready to restore integrity to our voting system. We insist that the legitimacy of representative government be defended from the flagrant threats to the public's confidence that
this and the previous election have engendered. But a recount
without providing independent oversight of the process will not provide
meaningful feedback on the problems or improve public confidence in the
system or this year's result.
We're asking you to consider coming to Ohio with us.
We estimate we will need nearly 2,000 volunteers to monitor recount activities in all 88 Ohio counties. As I write this, we are still nearly $20,000 shy of our fundraising goal for the Ohio recount (even as we continue to consider the problems in New Mexico and other states). Please send your friends and family to our site and urge them to volunteer and /or contribute to this vital work.
We have asked Holly Hart, of Iowa, to lead our efforts to coordinate the participation of volunteers in this important historical effort to reclaim public confidence in our elections. She needs your help. So far, 600 volunteers have stepped forward. We will need at least 1,400 more before we arrive in Ohio. First she needs help communicating and coordinating with 2,000 people over the next few days.
If you can help organize within Iowa to mobilize volunteers to come to Ohio, and to help us raise this campaign's profile within your community and state, please contact Holly at saveballot@yahoo.com. Holly also needs someone to coordinate buses
to Ohio. Please e-mail your name, phone number, city or town where you live, and how you would like to help.
From an election protest in Denver Nov. 18
Our efforts are already well under way.
- On Monday, Common Cause, the National Voting Rights Institute, Demos, the Fannie Lou Hamer Project and People for the American Way Foundation issued a joint statement in support of the Cobb and Badnarik demand for an Ohio recount.
- In the past week, we have raised over $200,000 of the initial $250,000 our staff has budgeted for this effort.
- On Friday, November 19th, our attorneys delivered a bond to guarantee our $113,600 recount fee.
- We are organizing now to train, house and feed the folks on the ground in Ohio who will monitor the recount.
- Our efforts have now been endorsed by Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich.
The
corporate media is busy ridiculing our efforts to defend democracy in
Ohio and by extension in the rest of our nation as well. We need
your help to counter the attacks. We are inviting everyone who
has lent their support to this campaign to follow up with letters to
the editor explaining why you are supporting this recount effort.
Click here for ideas on what you might include in such a letter.
We need
an election system we can trust. The problems in Florida in 2000
and the problems in Ohio in 2004 will repeat themselves in 2008 unless
we do something about it. Our elections should be administered by
an independent non-partisan commission, and not by the state chairs of
presidential campaigns.
Again we thank you for your participation in this
Democracy Movement. We look forward to seeing you in Ohio.
Yours for a just, sustainable and democratic future,
David Cobb and the entire Cobb-LaMarche Team
Monday, November 22
Democrats Smiling Quietly to Themselves
by
Trish Nelson
on Mon 22 Nov 2004 07:38 AM CST
 Democrats
Smiling Quietly to Themselves
MSNBC News - Countdown
By Keith Olbermann
NOV 21, 2004
Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell is the subject of three
actions regarding the Ohio vote that you haven’t seen on television
yet. Each (the Cobb/Badnarik Recount bid, the Alliance for Democracy
legal challenge, and the Ohio Democratic Party suit over provisional
ballots) has an undertone suggesting time is of the essence, and that
he is wasting it. The local Democrats haven’t been commenting on
their low-flying suit - more about that later. They’re just smiling
quietly to themselves.
It is
noteworthy that the announcement of a legal challenge made it into
weekend editions of The Cleveland Plain Dealer, The Columbus Dispatch,
the Associated Press wires, and other publications. The Columbus paper
even mentioned something curious. “Earlier this week, the Ohio
Democratic party announced it would join a lawsuit arguing that the
state lacks clear rules for evaluating provisional ballots, a move the
party said will keep its options open if problems with the ballots
surface.”
This
makes a little more sense out of a confusing item that appeared in an
obscure weekly paper in Westchester County, New York, last Wednesday,
in which a reporter named Adam Stone wrote “A top-ranking official with
Democratic Senator John Kerry’s presidential campaign told North County
News last week that although unlikely, there is a recount effort being
waged that could unseat Republican President George Bush.” Stone quotes
Kerry spokesman David Wade as saying: “We have 17,000 lawyers working
on this, and the grassroots accountability couldn’t be any higher - no
(irregularity) will go unchecked. Period.” Gives a little context to
Senator Kerry’s opaque mass e-mail and on-line video statement from
Friday afternoon.
The Ohio
newspaper coverage suggests that even the mainstream media is beginning
to sit up and take notice that, whatever its merits, the investigation
into the voting irregularities of November 2nd has moved from the
Reynolds Wrap Hat stage into legal and governmental action. I’ve
gotten 37,000 emails in the last two weeks (now running at better than
25:1 in favor), and the two most repeated comments by those critical of
the coverage have been references to the ratings of Fox News Channel,
and the phrase “the election is over, (expletive deleted), live with
it." I hesitate to generalize, but this does suggest a certain
unwillingness of critics to engage in political discourses that don’t
have no swear words in ‘em.
Meantime,
The Oakland Tribune not only devoted seventeen paragraphs Friday to the
UC Berkeley study on the voting curiosities in Florida, but actually
expended considerable energy towards what we used to call ‘advancing
the story’: “The UC Berkeley report has not been peer reviewed, but a
reputable MIT political scientist succeeded in replicating the analysis
Thursday at the request of the Oakland Tribune and The Associated
Press. He said an investigation is warranted.”
(click here to read the entire story)
Wednesday, November 17
Caught on Tape: Florida Election Officials Trash Vote Records
by
Linda Thieman
on Wed 17 Nov 2004 02:43 PM CST
Caught on Tape: Florida Election Officials Trash Vote Records
Blackboxvoting.org
NOV 16 2004: Volusia County on Lockdown
County election records put on lockdown
Dueling lawyers, election officials gnashing teeth, Votergate.tv film crew catching it all.
Here's what happened so far:
Friday, Black Box Voting investigators Andy Stephenson and Kathleen Wynne popped in to ask for some records. They were rebuffed by an elections official named Denise. Bev Harris called on the cell phone from investigations in downstate Florida, and told Volusia County Elections Supervisor Deanie Lowe that Black Box Voting would be in to pick up the Nov. 2 Freedom of Information request, or would file for a hand recount. "No, Bev, please don't do that!" Lowe exclaimed. But this is the way it has to be, folks. Black Box Voting didn't back down.
Monday Bev, Andy and Kathleen came in with a film crew and asked for the FOIA request. Deanie Lowe gave it over with a smile, but Harris noticed that one item, the polling place tapes, were not copies of the real ones, but instead were new printouts, done on Nov. 15, and not signed by anyone.
Harris asked to see the real ones, and they said for "privacy" reasons they can't make copies of the signed ones. She insisted on at least viewing them (although refusing to give copies of the signatures is not legally defensible, according to Berkeley elections attorney, Lowell Finley). They said the real ones were in the County Elections warehouse. It was quittin' time and an arrangment was made to come back this morning to review them.
Lana Hires, a Volusia County employee who gained some notoriety in an election 2000 Diebold memo, where she asked for an explanation of minus 16,022 votes for Gore, so she wouldn't have to stand there "looking dumb" when the auditor came in, was particularly unhappy about seeing the Black Box Voting investigators in the office. She vigorously shook her head when Deanie Lowe suggested going to the warehouse.
more »
Tuesday, November 16
Grassroots Finance Ohio Recount
by
Trish Nelson
on Tue 16 Nov 2004 07:27 AM CST
 Grassroots Finance Ohio Recount
t r u t h o u t
Green
Party Campaign Raises $150,000 in 4 Days, Shifts Gears to Phase II
WASHINGTON - There will be a
recount of the presidential vote in Ohio.
On
Thursday, David Cobb, the Green Party’s 2004 presidential candidate, announced
his intention to seek a recount of the vote in Ohio. Since the required fee for a
statewide recount is $113,600, the only question was whether that money could
be raised in time to meet the filing deadline. That question has been answered.
“Thanks
to the thousands of people who have contributed to this effort, we can say with
certainty that there will be a recount in Ohio,” said Blair Bobier, Media Director
for the Cobb-LaMarche campaign.
“The
grassroots support for the recount has been astounding. The donations have come
in fast and furiously, with the vast majority in the $10-$50 range, allowing us
to meet our goal for the first phase of the recount effort in only four days,”
said Bobier.
Bobier
said the campaign is still raising money for the next phase of the recount
effort which will be recruiting, training and mobilizing volunteers to monitor
the actual recount.
(click here to donate)
(click here to read entire story)
Monday, November 15
Save the Ballot
by
Trish Nelson
on Mon 15 Nov 2004 10:16 AM CST
 Save the Ballot
DFIA
members in Johnson County are gathering signatories for the following
letter which will be
sent to our senators and representatives in Congress on Nov.
19. If you would like to join Howard Weinberg (letter author),
Ellen Ballas, Trish Nelson and others in this effort to save the
integrity of our voting system, please
send an e-mail to saveballot@yahoo.com.
Please include your name, address, and phone number.
>
Dear Senators Grassley, Harkin and Representatives Boswell, King, Latham, Leach, Nussle:
We are writing to urge you to introduce and support two measures which
we believe will help to restore the integrity of the electoral process,
and so, perhaps, help to heal our gravely divided nation. First, we
advocate a law requiring elections to provide a transparent method of
verification of the vote by recount. Secondly, we want voter
intimidation to become a federal felony.
We believe civil society is largely a matter of trust among citizens.
When this trust begins to deteriorate, the consequences are not hard to
foresee: anarchy, inequity, fragmentation, resentment— ultimately,
perhaps, tyranny—certainly, the loss of freedom from violence and
dishonesty.
In our society, trust must reside in the ballot. Without a true ballot
there can be no democracy. The recent and widespread institution of
technology that does not permit verification of the vote count greatly
concerns us, and we believe faith in the integrity of the electoral
process is terribly at risk. Fortunately, there are many methods of
vote tabulation which provide all the ease and convenience of
electronic balloting, with the verifiability of other methods. To
illustrate the problems that concern us, we attach the recent letter
signed by Representatives Conyers, Nadler, Wexler, Scott, Watt, Holt.
In the last election there were many reports of attempts to intimidate
voters at the polls on election day. For all of us, but for minority
voters especially—Native American, African-American,
Hispanic-American—the freedom to vote without fear of intimidation and
reprisal is a fundamental element of the American promise. There can be
no question that even the appearance of such intimidation has a
corrosive effect on the trust among citizens. Therefore, we urge you to
recognize such bullying as a serious crime, and to specifically outlaw
it all over the nation.
We think these measures are elemental and necessary, and we urge you,
as our legislative representatives, to implement them as quickly as
possible.
Sincerely,
(names here)
cc: The Honorable John Kerry, 304 Russell Bldg., Third Fl., Washington, DC 20510; fax: 202-224-8525
The Honorable John Conyers, 2426 Rayburn Bldg., Washington, DC 20515; fax: 202-225-0072
(click here for Conyers et. al letter)
**Please pass this on**
Saturday, November 13
GOP Calls for End to Exit Polls
by
Trish Nelson
on Sat 13 Nov 2004 07:18 AM CST
 GOP Calls for End to Exit Polls
Buzzflash
It really would be so much EASIER to rig the election if the truth weren't known in advance.
RNC
Chairman Ed Gillespie wants to eliminate exit polls because he says
they're not accurate, implying that the final vote was unquestionably
correct.
Sheldon
Drobny [CPA and Venture Capitalist and co-founder of Air America
Radio]: "There's a huge difference between polling what WILL happen and
polling something that has already happened. The reliability of polling
something that has already happened is highly reliable vs. predictive
polls, like Gallup or Zogby, which is very risky. The reliability can
be, not plus or minus 4 percent as we see with predictive polls, but
rather a much more reliable plus or minus one half or one tenth of one
percent with exit polls, because those are based on asking people who
already voted. I would even say that if the exit polling were done in
the key precincts of Florida and Ohio, which it was, then these results
should be practically "bullet proof.'"
Why
would the GOP want to eliminate exit polls? Because it's the last
semi-independent check of an election's accuracy and the only way to
quickly determine if the votes cast for a candidate match those counted
by the machines.
If
the GOP eliminates exit polls before true verifiable voting is in
place, there will be nothing left to warn us when our vote is stolen.
(click here to read the entire story)
Wednesday, November 10
Ohio Residents Storm State House: Protest Vote Suppression
by
Trish Nelson
on Wed 10 Nov 2004 10:59 AM CST
Ohio Residents Storm State House: Protest Vote Suppression
Michigan Independent Media Center
Toledo, Ohio - Hundreds of angry Ohio residents marched through the
streets of Columbus — Ohio’s capital — [last week] and stormed the Ohio
State House, defying orders and arrest threats from Ohio State
Troopers. "O-H-I-O suppressed democracy has got to go," they chanted.
After troopers pushed and scuffled with people, nearly a hundred people
took over the steps and entrance to the State’s giant white-columned
capitol building and refused repeated orders to disperse or face
arrest. People prepared for arrests, ready to face jail — writing
lawyers’ phone numbers on their arms, signing jail support lists and
discussing non-cooperation and active resistance (linking arms, but not
fighting back).
Protesters storm the Ohio State House on November 3.
Here are a few of their stories:
Holly Roach of Toledo, Ohio, spoke of her 74-year-old father, Frank
Roach and her 89-year-old grandmother, Hazel Thompson, requesting
absentee ballots in early October. Hazel Thompson is homebound and
Frank Roach had been scheduled for heart surgery on November 2.
Absentee ballots never arrived. They were told by the County Voting
Commission that they could not vote with either regular or provisional
ballots, because they had already requested absentee ballots and
Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell had issued a directive forbidding
[the use of] provisional ballots by people who applied for absentee
ballots and who had not received them (including some US service people
recently returned from Iraq). A lawsuit late in the afternoon of
November 2 by a voter in Lucas County led to a late afternoon order by
Judge David Katz of the Northern District of Ohio instructing the Ohio
Secretary of State to immediately advise all county boards of election
to advise polling precincts in their counties to issue provisional
ballots to voters in this situation.
(Click here to read the entire article.)
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