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
A few of links have come to our attention lately that we don't think you've seen before.
Check 'em out:
http://www.votersunite.org/MB2.pdf
http://home.att.net/~m.standridge/AR04graph.htm#h1
rememberohio.org
Check 'em out:
http://www.votersunite.org/MB2.pdf
http://home.att.net/~m.standridge/AR04graph.htm#h1
rememberohio.org
Ohio Secretary of State J.
Kenneth Blackwell is perhaps
the single most opportunistic politician in the history of Ohio. His career began in Cincinnati in the 1970s and progressed to statewide office until today. Along the way, he metamorphed from a charter reform Democrat, into a Carter Democrat, then a New Democrat, then an Independent, then a moderate Republican, then a conservative Republican, and is now the state’s leading reactionary right-wing Republican.
Blackwell has always represented opportunism in search of a political position. His flamboyant rhetorical style has never changed, as he has gone from arguing for civil rights to recently comparing himself to Gandhi and King as he offered himself up for arrest in defiance of a federal court ordering him to count provisional ballots cast within a voter’s county.
Blackwell has always represented opportunism in search of a political position. His flamboyant rhetorical style has never changed, as he has gone from arguing for civil rights to recently comparing himself to Gandhi and King as he offered himself up for arrest in defiance of a federal court ordering him to count provisional ballots cast within a voter’s county.
Two days after the election, the genesis of a new voting rights movement started at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Clintonville. A small group of people gathered to hear four political scientists, including Free Press publisher Bob Fitrakis, analyze the Nov. 2 election. After the meeting, an unknown individual approached Fitrakis and suggested he hold public hearings and put people under oath to find the truth and preserve evidence about election irregularities. All Fitrakis remembers is that he looked a little like Eugene V. Debs. This anonymous man is our first movement hero.
Testimony by the Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.
House Judiciary Hearings — John Conyers Presiding
December 8, 2004 Washington, DC
Today as we gather here, the worth of America’s vote and the credibility of our democracy is being weighed in the balance. Why is the election in Ohio certified 34 days after the election? Why was there such a large exit poll gap in Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio? Why are the parallels between Ohio and Florida – pre-election problems, Election Day irregularities and post-election counting – so consistent?
We must not adjust to tyranny and gloat that imperfection in voting irregularities and suppression tactics are reasonable expectations. They are not. Too many world-changing events have hinged on one vote for us to be cavalier when thousands are systematically disenfranchised.
House Judiciary Hearings — John Conyers Presiding
December 8, 2004 Washington, DC
Today as we gather here, the worth of America’s vote and the credibility of our democracy is being weighed in the balance. Why is the election in Ohio certified 34 days after the election? Why was there such a large exit poll gap in Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio? Why are the parallels between Ohio and Florida – pre-election problems, Election Day irregularities and post-election counting – so consistent?
We must not adjust to tyranny and gloat that imperfection in voting irregularities and suppression tactics are reasonable expectations. They are not. Too many world-changing events have hinged on one vote for us to be cavalier when thousands are systematically disenfranchised.
A great historical victory occurred
on January 6, 2005. The first
formal challenge to an entire state delegation in the electoral college signals nothing less than the rebirth of a new 21st century voting rights movement.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson, who was instrumental in kicking open Congressional doors, helping to persuade U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs-Jones of Cleveland to challenge Ohio’s electoral certification and Senator Barbara Boxer to sign on. U.S. Rep. John Conyers’ report “Preserving Democracy: What went wrong in Ohio” stands as a lasting monument to the massive irregularities in Ohio that led to Bush’s tainted victory.
Those who tell Free Press staffers to “get over it,” “your guy Kerry lost,” and “quit whining,” are missing the point. What they are asking us to “get over” are basic principles of democracy.
When you allow elections to happen where the machines are provided by private corporations whose CEOs are partisan supporters and fund-raisers of Bush – that is not democracy.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson, who was instrumental in kicking open Congressional doors, helping to persuade U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs-Jones of Cleveland to challenge Ohio’s electoral certification and Senator Barbara Boxer to sign on. U.S. Rep. John Conyers’ report “Preserving Democracy: What went wrong in Ohio” stands as a lasting monument to the massive irregularities in Ohio that led to Bush’s tainted victory.
Those who tell Free Press staffers to “get over it,” “your guy Kerry lost,” and “quit whining,” are missing the point. What they are asking us to “get over” are basic principles of democracy.
When you allow elections to happen where the machines are provided by private corporations whose CEOs are partisan supporters and fund-raisers of Bush – that is not democracy.
Something's got to give. Another election is just around the corner. What's it going to be? Another opportunity to document election "irregularities" and computer “glitches”? Another chance to analyze mysterious exit polls? Another exercise in frustration? Another charade.
Democrats will need a mighty good reason to go back to the polls. Many believe that our elections are rigged. And they have good reason. Republicans own the voting machine companies that count 80% of the votes. Congress and the courts are unlikely to change that. And the Democratic leadership has hardly made it an issue.
So, let's do something different. We'll go to Plan B. We'll organize our own “Parallel Elections”.
Democrats will need a mighty good reason to go back to the polls. Many believe that our elections are rigged. And they have good reason. Republicans own the voting machine companies that count 80% of the votes. Congress and the courts are unlikely to change that. And the Democratic leadership has hardly made it an issue.
So, let's do something different. We'll go to Plan B. We'll organize our own “Parallel Elections”.
COLUMBUS -- In a stunning legal attack, Ohio's Republican Attorney General has moved for sanctions against the four attorneys who sued George W. Bush et. al. in an attempt to investigate the Buckeye State's bitterly contested November 2 election.
Robert Fitrakis, Susan Truitt, Cliff Arnebeck and Peter Peckarsky were named by Attorney General James Petro in a filing with the Ohio Supreme Court. Petro charges the November Moss v Bush and Moss v. Moyer filings by the Election Protection legal team were "frivolous." Petro is demanding court sanctions and fines.
"Instead of evidence, contesters offered only theory, conjecture, hypothesis and invective," the Attorney General's January 18th memo about the suit said. "A contest proceeding is not a toy for idle hands. It is not to be used to make a political point, or to be used as a discovery tool, or be used to inconvenience or harass public officials, or to be used as a publicity gimmick."
Robert Fitrakis, Susan Truitt, Cliff Arnebeck and Peter Peckarsky were named by Attorney General James Petro in a filing with the Ohio Supreme Court. Petro charges the November Moss v Bush and Moss v. Moyer filings by the Election Protection legal team were "frivolous." Petro is demanding court sanctions and fines.
"Instead of evidence, contesters offered only theory, conjecture, hypothesis and invective," the Attorney General's January 18th memo about the suit said. "A contest proceeding is not a toy for idle hands. It is not to be used to make a political point, or to be used as a discovery tool, or be used to inconvenience or harass public officials, or to be used as a publicity gimmick."
In the shadow of overwhelming irregularities in the Ohio’s election, New Mexico has played out it’s own post-election drama almost unnoticed by anyone outside the state. Even before the November 2, New Mexico had been in the news for reports of malfunctioning voting machines and other problems. Hundreds of incidents were reported on Election Day. The state got some national attention for once again leading the nation in undervote rate. All this coupled with a small margin of victory in the presidential race (just 3/4 of 1%) led to concern about the accuracy of the results.
In the shadow of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., America's electoral crisis continues.
King marched across the south and the nation to guarantee all Americans, black and white, the right to vote. But in 2000 and again in 2004, that right was denied.
Now in the wake of another bitterly contested vote count, is the electoral situation improving in the spirit of Dr. King?
The Rev. Jesse Jackson, when briefing the Senate Democratic leadership on the day before the historic challenge to the Ohio electors, told them that in the 40 years since the Voting Rights Act, the people opposed to voting rights have simply changed parties -- from "Dixiecrats" to Republicans -- while still doing "everything in their power to suppress the voting rights of [the] poor and minorities." Jackson also told Senators Reid, Durbin and Stabenow that after President Lyndon Johnson refused Martin Luther King, Jr.'s pitch for voting rights in 1964 at a ceremony commemorating King's Nobel Prize award, it was a "remnant of the civil rights movement that went down to Selma" that was beaten and bloodied in a struggle that led to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
King marched across the south and the nation to guarantee all Americans, black and white, the right to vote. But in 2000 and again in 2004, that right was denied.
Now in the wake of another bitterly contested vote count, is the electoral situation improving in the spirit of Dr. King?
The Rev. Jesse Jackson, when briefing the Senate Democratic leadership on the day before the historic challenge to the Ohio electors, told them that in the 40 years since the Voting Rights Act, the people opposed to voting rights have simply changed parties -- from "Dixiecrats" to Republicans -- while still doing "everything in their power to suppress the voting rights of [the] poor and minorities." Jackson also told Senators Reid, Durbin and Stabenow that after President Lyndon Johnson refused Martin Luther King, Jr.'s pitch for voting rights in 1964 at a ceremony commemorating King's Nobel Prize award, it was a "remnant of the civil rights movement that went down to Selma" that was beaten and bloodied in a struggle that led to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
COLUMBUS, OHIO -- The above title was the stage banner for the enthusiastic, hopeful rally at the Columbus, Ohio, Capitol Theater on January 3, 2005. It described what has motivated countless citizens since November 2, 2004. As in the Ukraine, exit polls showed that we were dealing with a stolen national election. JOHN KERRY HAD WON OHIO, AND THE PRESIDENCY, but George Bush had been declared the winner. What a travesty!
Supported by worldwide contributions (monetary and otherwise), dedicated individuals had systematically documented blatant voter disenfranchisement, fraud, theft, and multiple other illegalities. Such explained the differences between Ohio’s initial, unchanged Exit Polls (which showed Kerry winning) and Ohio’s falsely Certified Vote Count (which declared him losing).
Supported by worldwide contributions (monetary and otherwise), dedicated individuals had systematically documented blatant voter disenfranchisement, fraud, theft, and multiple other illegalities. Such explained the differences between Ohio’s initial, unchanged Exit Polls (which showed Kerry winning) and Ohio’s falsely Certified Vote Count (which declared him losing).