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For the sixth time in our history, a candidate for President of the United States may have won the popular vote and lost the White House.

This must end.

While the nation—and much of the world—shudders at the thought of a Donald Trump presidency, our electoral system has once again failed to deliver a formal victory to the person who got the most votes.

Hillary Clinton appears to have won the nationwide popular vote. As of about 1 PM eastern time, the tally was roughly 58,909,774 votes (47.6%) for Clinton, versus 58,864,233 votes (47.5%) for Trump. (The exact numbers will change as the vote count continues.) 

But Donald Trump's Electoral College tally has exceeded the 270 Electoral College votes needed to take the White House.

There is much more to tell about this. This year’s vote has once again been stripped and flipped by GOP Jim Crow segregationist tactics that disenfranchised millions of primarily African-American and Hispanic citizens.

Thursday, November 10 @ 7pm
The Hub, 1336 East Main Street, Columbus
$5 requested donation
"The film builds its case piece by shattering piece, inspiring levels of shock and outrage that stun the viewer, leaving one shaken and disturbed before closing out on a visual note of hope designed to keep us on the hook as advocates for change." ~ Odie Henderson

According to Green Party election observer Tekla Lewin, at Columbus precinct 13-A,B,C, the Godman Guild, six out of 17 voting machines have been taken offline because they are running out of the paper tape that is the only paper trail for any electronic voting. The Presiding Judge called the Franklin County Board of Elections and said he was told “It’s happening everywhere” and that they “don’t have enough technicians.” It started around 4:30pm and the machines are still offline as of 5:15pm.

At the Indianola Presbyterian Church polling site, the Green Party observer reports that there are 24 machines there and they all ran out of paper tape and were taken offline and the paper is being replaced one by one. Two other iVotronic machines have broken down and the two technicians there don't seem to be able to fix them. Voters reported that the screens froze on the touchscreen. About a hundred people are waiting to vote. 

Report any further voting problems to these number: 614-374-2380 and 614-253-2571.

Election Day report from Columbus:

We are getting few early reports from Franklin County (Columbus) Ohio that voters are being offered provisional ballots when the lines are long at the polling sites. This happened to Free Press Editor Bob Fitrakis at Precinct 55 in Columbus. A call to the Franklin County Board of Elections verified that the provisional ballots are only supposed to be given out if someone requests one, no to make it a routine option. Historically provisional ballots are rejected at a higher rate than other types of ballots. There is no option to vote on a regular paper ballot instead of a voting machine in Franklin County.Election Day report from Columbus:

On November 4 supporters of the North Dakota Sioux from across Ohio gathered at the Statehouse to call on Governor Kasich to recall state troopers from Standing Rock. The demonstrators chanted, “Mni Wiconi!” (Lakota for “water is life”).

The Ohio State Highway Patrol sent 37 troopers to Standing Rock on October 29, ostensibly to “help law enforcement there protect property and to protect everybody’s rights.”

Opponents of the Dakota Access Pipeline understand that law enforcement has been called in to protect property rights. But they don’t believe that everyone’s rights are being protected. Police violence against protesters blocking the path of pipeline construction has been escalating, including the use of pepper spray, tear gas, stun guns, and rubber bullets.

Why, why, why, are people saying that we should prepare to hold Hillary Clinton accountable once she is in office? Why on Earth isn’t everybody doing that right now? Are we seriously going to gift her the White House and then expect her to listen to us?

If she is elected on her current platform, she will have a mandate to remain moderate for the next four years. The people will have given their approval of her ideas, and handed her permission to act on them throughout her term. Should she be moved to the left before election day, she would have a more progressive mandate to govern. Electing Hillary Clinton after she agreed to offer free pre-K classes to all children would let the people hold her accountable for actually doing so. It would be ridiculous to vote for her platform in November then kick and scream for something different in February.

John F. Kennedy once said: “There is no city in the United States which I get a warmer welcome and fewer votes than Columbus, Ohio.”

Even if you live on Mars you probably know, “As goes Ohio, so goes the nation.” Yet in 1960, Nixon took Ohio, but Kennedy won the election – the last time a candidate from either party won the White House without carrying the Buckeye State.

Incredibly, if the polls hold true, this could happen again nearly half a century later. Don’t pinch yourself, this is no nightmare.

Behind the scenes, however, the reality of Ohio going red for Trump undoubtedly has some wringing their hands and sweating buckets. From Gov. Kasich’s office to Ohio Democrats, to our own city’s effort to attract young professionals, and last but not least, for a lot of Ohioans, the thought of a Trump victory for either Ohio or the White House is a reality that has some wondering what the future consequences could be both culturally and financially. Certainly Gov. Kasich is worried about it. He voted early and wrote in Sen. John McCain.

Monday, November 7, 2016 @ 7pm
The Hub, 1336 East Main Street, Columbus
Free - all are welcome!
https://www.facebook.com/events/174281613032069/#

Although Kevin Boyce’s tenure as Ohio treasurer from 2009-2010 was riddled with scandal, Boyce claims he knew nothing about the corruption carried out by his deputy treasurer, Amer Ahmad, who is now in federal prison. Boyce’s claim was called into question this year by federal Securities and Exchange Commission filings.  

Those filings are against others and don’t charge Boyce with any legal violations. But the allegations in them, along with Boyce’s responses, deserve to be considered by voters in deciding whether to make Boyce a Franklin County commissioner in the November 8 election.  

The filings involve State Street Bank and Trust Company. According to the SEC, the Massachusetts bank in early 2010 paid not only kickbacks to Ahmad but also contributions to Boyce’s campaign in return for lucrative state contracts to provide custody services for three Ohio pension funds.

Diane Hudson wants a new union contract that will bring her family out of poverty. She works as a janitor at the Columbus Academy, a private PreK-12 school in Gahanna. Hudson supports her elderly mother and struggles every month to make ends meet. A living wage would mean “we don’t have to be under so much stress, living paycheck to paycheck,” she said.

On October 29 hundreds of janitors held a rally at the Great American Tower in Cincinnati to kick off contract negotiations. The new contracts will affect 1,800 members of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1 in central and southern Ohio, including 800 janitors who work in the Columbus area. The current Columbus contract, which expires December 31, covers  janitors who clean the offices of Columbus’ largest companies, including Nationwide, Huntington, JP Morgan Chase, and AEP.