Your source for alternative media coverage of the 2008 election alongside the 2004 elections and the related voter irregularities in Ohio.<br><br>Additional articles about the elections by <a href=http://www.freepress.org/columns/display/3>Bob Fitrakis</a> and <a href=http://www.freepress.org/columns/display/7>Harvey Wasserman</a> are in the <a href=http://www.freepress.org/columns>columns</a> section.
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Those interested in contributing statistical skills to the project may want to contact <a href=mailto:truth@freepress.org>The Free Press</a> and <a href=http://uscountvotes.org target=usvotes>uscountvotes.org</a>.
Election Issues
Debra Bowen Announces DRE (Touch-Screen) Machines to be Used Only One Per Polling Place for Disabled Voters with 100% Manual Count of Paper Trails
Dramatic Late Night Press Conference Held at 11:45pm in Sacramento...
In a dramatic late-night press conference, California Secretary of State Debra Bowen decertified, and then recertified with conditions, all but one voting system used in the state. Her decisions, following her unprecedented, independent "Top-to-Bottom Review" of all certified electronic voting systems, came just under the wire to meet state requirements for changes in voting system certification.
Bowen announced that she will be disallowing the use of Direct Recording Electronic (DRE, usually touch-screen) voting systems made by the Diebold and Sequoia companies on Election Day, but for one DRE machine per polling place which may be used for disabled voters. The paper trails from votes cast on DREs manufactured by those two companies must be 100% manually counted after Election Day. DREs made by Hart-Intercivic are used in only one California county and will be allowed for use pending security upgrades.
Dramatic Late Night Press Conference Held at 11:45pm in Sacramento...
In a dramatic late-night press conference, California Secretary of State Debra Bowen decertified, and then recertified with conditions, all but one voting system used in the state. Her decisions, following her unprecedented, independent "Top-to-Bottom Review" of all certified electronic voting systems, came just under the wire to meet state requirements for changes in voting system certification.
Bowen announced that she will be disallowing the use of Direct Recording Electronic (DRE, usually touch-screen) voting systems made by the Diebold and Sequoia companies on Election Day, but for one DRE machine per polling place which may be used for disabled voters. The paper trails from votes cast on DREs manufactured by those two companies must be 100% manually counted after Election Day. DREs made by Hart-Intercivic are used in only one California county and will be allowed for use pending security upgrades.
Destroying and Losing Ohio's 2004 Election Records is a CRIME. It is a felony. Spilling coffee on… and then destroying records is an outrage and a crime. It is also a very lame excuse for Holmes County to use to have destroyed most of their 2004 election records. Here is what Director Lisa Welch, the Director of the Holmes County Board of Elections… "Respectfully" signed her name to in her letter of explanation for Ohio Secretary of State, Jennifer Brunner, as to why she and her board no longer had their records,
Holmes County Board of Elections
"A shelving unit collapsed in the Board of Election storeroom on the morning of Friday, April 7, 2006. That shelving unit held the voted ballots, stubs, soiled and defaced ballots envelopes, and the ballot accounting charts fromt he 2004 General Election. The shelves and stored items collapsed onto a side table holding a working coffee maker. The carafe on the coffee maker was full at the time of the incident. Many of the stored items had to be destroyed due to the broken glass and hot coffee. The ballot pages and unused ballots were stored on a neighboring shelf and were not damaged".
Holmes County Board of Elections
"A shelving unit collapsed in the Board of Election storeroom on the morning of Friday, April 7, 2006. That shelving unit held the voted ballots, stubs, soiled and defaced ballots envelopes, and the ballot accounting charts fromt he 2004 General Election. The shelves and stored items collapsed onto a side table holding a working coffee maker. The carafe on the coffee maker was full at the time of the incident. Many of the stored items had to be destroyed due to the broken glass and hot coffee. The ballot pages and unused ballots were stored on a neighboring shelf and were not damaged".
The following table is a compilation of excuses for the destruction of some or all of the records from the 2004 presidential election in Ohio. The statements are excerpted from the "letters of explanation" submitted in April 2007, by certain Boards of Election to the office of Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, which were provided to us in response to a public records request.
According to the Columbus Dispatch ("56 Ohio counties failed to keep ballots," August 2, 2007), Brunner stated that there is no evidence that ballots were intentionally destroyed. We respectfully refer her to the "letters of explanation" from Fayette and Warren counties, both of which state, in these exact words, that some or all ballots were "intentionally destroyed." We also refer her to the "letters of explanation" from Allen, Champaign, Fairfield, Hancock, Hardin, Holmes, Logan, Marion, Medina, Monroe, Montgomery, Morrow, Paulding, Perry, Putnam, Sandusky, Seneca, Shelby, and Stark counties, all of which state, in other words, that some or all ballots were intentionally destroyed.
Adams – "does not have in its possession"
According to the Columbus Dispatch ("56 Ohio counties failed to keep ballots," August 2, 2007), Brunner stated that there is no evidence that ballots were intentionally destroyed. We respectfully refer her to the "letters of explanation" from Fayette and Warren counties, both of which state, in these exact words, that some or all ballots were "intentionally destroyed." We also refer her to the "letters of explanation" from Allen, Champaign, Fairfield, Hancock, Hardin, Holmes, Logan, Marion, Medina, Monroe, Montgomery, Morrow, Paulding, Perry, Putnam, Sandusky, Seneca, Shelby, and Stark counties, all of which state, in other words, that some or all ballots were intentionally destroyed.
Adams – "does not have in its possession"
The illegal destruction of federally protected 2004 election materials
by 56 of 88 Ohio counties has become a fraudulent "dog ate my homework" farce of
absurd justifications and criminal coverups.
The mass elimination of the critical evidence that could definitively prove or disprove the presumption that the 2004 election was stolen has all the markings of a Rovian crime perpetrated to hide another one. Indeed, under Ohio law, that's precisely what must be presumed here.
But what makes the situation downright pathetic is that Ohio's new Democratic Secretary of State, Jennifer Brunner, has publicly stated she sees "no evidence" of intentional destruction in the disappearance in more than 60% of the state's counties of the ballots from the 2004 presidential election.
So once again, as did Al Gore in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004, the Democrats seem poised to cave to the on-going GOP coup that has redefined America, and that now involves the criminal destruction of contested evidence in one of the most controversial vote counts in US history.
The mass elimination of the critical evidence that could definitively prove or disprove the presumption that the 2004 election was stolen has all the markings of a Rovian crime perpetrated to hide another one. Indeed, under Ohio law, that's precisely what must be presumed here.
But what makes the situation downright pathetic is that Ohio's new Democratic Secretary of State, Jennifer Brunner, has publicly stated she sees "no evidence" of intentional destruction in the disappearance in more than 60% of the state's counties of the ballots from the 2004 presidential election.
So once again, as did Al Gore in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004, the Democrats seem poised to cave to the on-going GOP coup that has redefined America, and that now involves the criminal destruction of contested evidence in one of the most controversial vote counts in US history.
In 56 of Ohio's 88 counties, ballots and election records that
would reveal whether the 2004 election was stolen have been
"accidentally" destroyed.
Two-thirds of Ohio counties have destroyed or lost their 2004 presidential ballots and related election records, according to letters from county election officials to the Ohio Secretary of State, Jennifer Brunner.
The lost records violate Ohio law, which states federal election records must be kept for 22 months after Election Day, and a U.S. District Court order issued last September that the 2004 ballots be preserved while the court hears a civil rights lawsuit alleging voter suppression of African-American voters in Columbus.
The destruction of the election records also frustrates efforts by the media and historians to determine the accuracy of Ohio's 2004 vote count, because in county after county the key evidence needed to understand vote count anomalies apparently no longer exists.
Two-thirds of Ohio counties have destroyed or lost their 2004 presidential ballots and related election records, according to letters from county election officials to the Ohio Secretary of State, Jennifer Brunner.
The lost records violate Ohio law, which states federal election records must be kept for 22 months after Election Day, and a U.S. District Court order issued last September that the 2004 ballots be preserved while the court hears a civil rights lawsuit alleging voter suppression of African-American voters in Columbus.
The destruction of the election records also frustrates efforts by the media and historians to determine the accuracy of Ohio's 2004 vote count, because in county after county the key evidence needed to understand vote count anomalies apparently no longer exists.
It is time to think about the "unthinkable."
The Bush Administration has both the inclination and the power to cancel the 2008 election.
The GOP strategy for another electoral theft in 2008 has taken clear shape, though we must assume there is much more we don't know.
But we must also assume that if it appears to Team Bush/Cheney/Rove that the GOP will lose the 2008 election anyway (as it lost in Ohio 2006) we cannot ignore the possibility that they would simply cancel the election. Those who think this crew will quietly walk away from power are simply not paying attention.
The real question is not how or when they might do it. It's how, realistically, we can stop them.
In Florida 2000, Team Bush had a game plan involving a handful of tactics. With Jeb Bush in the governor's mansion, the GOP used a combination of disenfranchisement, intimidation, faulty ballots, electronic voting fraud, a rigged vote count and an aborted recount, courtesy of the US Supreme Court.
A compliant Democrat (Al Gore) allowed the coup to be completed.
The Bush Administration has both the inclination and the power to cancel the 2008 election.
The GOP strategy for another electoral theft in 2008 has taken clear shape, though we must assume there is much more we don't know.
But we must also assume that if it appears to Team Bush/Cheney/Rove that the GOP will lose the 2008 election anyway (as it lost in Ohio 2006) we cannot ignore the possibility that they would simply cancel the election. Those who think this crew will quietly walk away from power are simply not paying attention.
The real question is not how or when they might do it. It's how, realistically, we can stop them.
In Florida 2000, Team Bush had a game plan involving a handful of tactics. With Jeb Bush in the governor's mansion, the GOP used a combination of disenfranchisement, intimidation, faulty ballots, electronic voting fraud, a rigged vote count and an aborted recount, courtesy of the US Supreme Court.
A compliant Democrat (Al Gore) allowed the coup to be completed.
Note: This is the Second in a Two-Part Series
The Free Press recently published an article entitled "Sausage making and electronic voting machines" that revealed shocking facts about e-voting flaws in a 2006 Franklin County, Ohio judicial race.
This extensive investigation into this stolen election is a strong indictment of electronic voting in general. It underscores the importance of the national debate on the Holt Bill and other legislation now pending on "reforming" or abolishing the use of these problematic machines altogether.
Indeed, what was left out of the Magistrate's report in the Squire case (which is now on appeal) but was well documented in the court’s evidence record, constitutes an even greater indictment of touchscreen voting machines than has generally been known.
The Free Press recently published an article entitled "Sausage making and electronic voting machines" that revealed shocking facts about e-voting flaws in a 2006 Franklin County, Ohio judicial race.
This extensive investigation into this stolen election is a strong indictment of electronic voting in general. It underscores the importance of the national debate on the Holt Bill and other legislation now pending on "reforming" or abolishing the use of these problematic machines altogether.
Indeed, what was left out of the Magistrate's report in the Squire case (which is now on appeal) but was well documented in the court’s evidence record, constitutes an even greater indictment of touchscreen voting machines than has generally been known.
We've been long warned that foreign policy is like making sausage – you
don't want to know the gory details. The same is true of electronic
vote counting on the so-called e-voting machines, or DREs.
Earlier this month, the 2006 election challenge court case Squire v. Geer gave us a rare tour inside the scam known as "touchscreen voting." The "tour" comes with the backdrop of revelations that 56 of Ohio's 88 counties have "lost" all or some of the election records from the stolen 2004 election. Though the records were protected by federal law, this means it may now be impossible to definitively tabulate who actually won the presidency in 2004. We will write more on this breaking news story in articles to come.
Carol Squire, a Franklin County Domestic Court Judge, refused to stand down after election observers and a post-election computer forensic analysis documented massive electronic voting machine irregularities in her race for re-election. She first paid for a recount of key precincts and used those results to file an election challenge. Squire's election challenge sought a new election as the remedy.
Earlier this month, the 2006 election challenge court case Squire v. Geer gave us a rare tour inside the scam known as "touchscreen voting." The "tour" comes with the backdrop of revelations that 56 of Ohio's 88 counties have "lost" all or some of the election records from the stolen 2004 election. Though the records were protected by federal law, this means it may now be impossible to definitively tabulate who actually won the presidency in 2004. We will write more on this breaking news story in articles to come.
Carol Squire, a Franklin County Domestic Court Judge, refused to stand down after election observers and a post-election computer forensic analysis documented massive electronic voting machine irregularities in her race for re-election. She first paid for a recount of key precincts and used those results to file an election challenge. Squire's election challenge sought a new election as the remedy.
Those who would dismiss out of hand our allegations of election fraud are fond of claiming that there is not a "shred of evidence" to substantiate our charges. To the contrary, there are millions of shreds of evidence in Ohio. In at least 56 of 88 counties, ballots and other elections records were shredded or otherwise destroyed.
READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE AS A PDF
READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE AS A PDF
On June 29, 2007, I was asked to assist Dr. Richard Hayes Phillips and Marj Creech with the photographing of 2004 ballots. It was an exhilarating experience, we were all so happy. The reason for our joyous mood, was that time was far different from when we had all gone on record gathering adventures around the state of Ohio many times since the Presidential Election of 2004. Often we had to battle Boards of Elections and County Prosecutors to get access to what is legally known as “public records”, this being the actual 2004 ballots. Some records were never given. Yet on this Friday in June, we were in the office of Ohio Secretary of State, Jennifer Brunner, and we were treated with respect. Doug Miller, the Manager of Security for the Ohio Secretary of State (SOS) watched over us in a room with the records Richard had requested, and Doug allowed them to be examined and photographed. Richard, Marj, and myself were just so happy, literally grinning from ear to ear.