The Lengths Some People Will Go To . . . .

[gldstwmn]

Several factors contributed to 'lost' votershttp://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6714782

COLUMBUS - Tanya Thivener's is a tale of two voting precincts in Franklin County. In her city neighborhood, which is vastly Democratic and majority black, the 38-year-old mortgage broker found a line snaking out of the precinct door.

She stood in line for four hours -- one hour in the rain -- and watched dozens of potential voters mutter in disgust and walk away without casting a ballot. Afterward, Thivener hopped in her car and drove to her mother's house, in the vastly Republican and majority white suburb of Harrisburg. How long, she asked, did it take her to vote?

Fifteen minutes, her mother replied.


Blackwell Locks Out Recount Volunteershttp://fairnessbybeckerman.blogspot....olunteers.html

On Friday December 10 two certified volunteers for the Ohio Recount team assigned to Greene County were in process recording voting information from minority precincts in Greene County, and were stopped mid-count by a surprise order from Secretary of State Blackwell’s office. The Director Board of Elections stated that “all voter records for the state of Ohio were “locked-down,” and now they are not considered public records.”

Ohio election fraud uproar blasting to new levelhttp://www.freepress.org/departments...ay/19/2004/975
The bitter battle over the stolen November 2 election in Ohio has turned into a rapidly escalating all-out multi-front war with the outcome of the real presidential vote count increasingly in doubt.

In Columbus, major demonstrations on Saturday, December 4, have been followed by an angry confrontation between demonstrators and state police at the office of Republican Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, the Bush-Cheney state chairman who is also officially in charge of certifying the election, at least for now. Civil Rights leader Jesse Jackson has called on Blackwell to recuse himself from dealings with the election, saying his role as Bush-Cheney chairman has compromised his objectivity in delivering fair election results.

Candidates Officially Request Ohio Recounthttp://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...l_pr/ohio_vote
David Cobb, Green Party presidential candidate, said the election was full of irregularities, including uncounted provisional ballots.

"There is a possibility that George W. Bush did not win Ohio. If that is the case, it would be a crime against democracy for George Bush to be sworn into office," he said.

Conyers to Hold Hearings on Ohio Vote Fraudhttp://www.truthout.org/docs_04/120404W.shtml

Democratic Representative John Conyers, Jr of Michigan, ranking Minority member of the House Judiciary Committee, will hold a hearing on Wednesday 08 December 2004 to investigate allegations of vote fraud and irregularities in Ohio during the 2004 Presidential election. The hearing is slated to begin at 10:00 a.m. EST in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington DC.

]Bush's Ohio Win Was Closer Than Thoughthttp://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...l_pr/ohio_vote

TOLEDO, Ohio - President Bush's victory over John Kerry in Ohio was closer than the unofficial election night totals showed, but the change is not enough to trigger an automatic recount, according to county-by-county results provided to The Associated Press on Friday.

Arrests expected in voter fraud probehttp://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/news/10319297.htm Charges are expected in an ongoing probe of voter registration fraud in Summit County.

Voters to challenge US electionhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/uselection...363399,00.html
Wednesday December 1, 2004

George Bush's victory in the US presidential election will be challenged in Ohio's supreme court today, when a group of Democratic voters will allege widespread fraud.

One Month Later, Fight Over Ohio Continues
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlates...643374,00.html
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLIT....ap/index.html

Nearly a month after John Kerry conceded Ohio to President Bush, complaints and challenges about the balloting are mounting as activists including the Rev. Jesse Jackson demand closer scrutiny to ensure the votes are being counted on the up-and-up.

Kerry Supports Ohio Vote Investigation, Jackson sayshttp://www.freepress.org/departments...ay/19/2004/944 John Kerry supports a “full investigation” into voting irregularities in Ohio, Rev. Jesse Jackson said Saturday, during a teleconference with media regarding a recount and legal challenge of the Nov. 2 vote.

First hand reports by other Ohio volunteers
From: Ray Beckerman Sent: Thursday, November 18, 2004 1:37 PM Subject: First hand reports by other Ohio volunteers

RNC "workers" were in our hotel. They were not there to do literature drops, canvas, or to make sure that people knew where their polling places were, as we were. One of them tried to infiltrate one of our hotel rooms (I removed him) to gather information on our activities. He and another RNC lawyer followed some of the canvassers the next day to try to intimidate them, telling them that they were "putting them on notice, that what they were doing was breaking federal law" (among other more vile things). What the canvassers were doing was distributing ACT literature and slashing tires on GOP vehicles. These "people" were there to go inside the polls to challenge Democratic voters just like the 600 democrat lawyers sent to Florida in 2000 to challenge military absentee ballots

After the polls closed, I talked to an Election Protection project worker who told me of the polling place in Youngstown where he worked that day. It had only three electronic touch screen voting machines. The lines were extremely (at the very least 3 to 4 hours) long. People were leaving and coming back multiple times trying to vote. Some were complaining that they had to work and could not miss the time from work or they would lose money that they could not afford to lose, or worse, lose their jobs. Youngstown is a very depressed, high-unemployment city.

He told me that the machines were flickering and bouncing around on the right hand side of the machine for at least half the day not to mention the voices in his head telling him to vote for Bush. He had multiple reports of people trying to vote for Kerry and it being recorded as Bush. The EP workers tried to get to everyone as they were going into the polling place to tell them that if they changed their vote three times, the ballot would be spoiled. They told them to get an election judge. Many did not get the message and/or they just could not wait around any longer. After all, there were only two other machines to go to if their machine would not record the vote properly. Finally, at around midday the voting machine company technicians came and "recalibrated" the machines. The flickering stopped. The vote changing did not.

Below are the hallucinations from another Election Protection project lawyer who came on our bus. We were in Mahoning and Trumbull counties. These are heavily Democratic counties, which we did win by large margins, but it looks like we should have won them by far more from all of these reports.

1. Too few polling machines, particularly for rush-hour voting, poorer areas/large numbers of people. (3 to 4 hours at the very least, some waited up to 8 and 9 hours) 8 or 9 hours? Come on, are you sure these people weren't in the line for the DMV by mistake?

2. Numerous calls reported, "There are not enough machines. We need more people."

3. Machines were breaking down. One polling location had only two machines for very large group. (9 calls)

4. There were many reports throughout the day of non-functioning machines. Many people were getting frantic. Others were leaving. Many were demanding that paper ballots be sent. This Election Protection project lawyer and the others at her calling center tried to call ES&S to tell them that machines were malfunctioning. The Board of Elections said the machines had calibration problems and someone would come out. The Board of Elections was inundated with calls about the machines malfunctioning.

5. There were numerous reports of voters trying to select Kerry and Bush was selected on the screen instead. Literacy seems to be the biggest issue. The voters would try repeatedly to get Kerry to come up. One voter was quoted as saying "I keep trying to vote for Kerry, spelled B-U-S-H. Then the democrat poll workers come over and tell me to change my vote or I don't get paid." Voters were only allowed three "pushes." They were told they could request a different machine, but of course by the time they were on the phone with the Election Protection project workers, it must have been too late.

6. There were also reports of voters getting to the review screen and seeing "No Selection." For president. This was often at the same polling places where machines were breaking down. Voters could not get their vote for Kerry for president to register. Sounds like my boss. He can't ever get a computer to work correctly.

7. Numerous reports of "Presidential choice not selected." Ballot would not register "Kerry".

8. There were also reports of many Republican challengers at polling locations and no Democratic challengers. This Election Protection project lawyer had at least one voter who was told by a Republican challenger that she was not on the list at her polling place. When she called the Board of Elections office they told her that she was indeed a registered voter in the proper precinct. An Election Protection project person had to make calls to ensure that the voter could vote. How many other voters allowed themselves to be turned away by the GOP challengers.

9. Another GOP challenger asked a voter for a Green Card in order to get a provisional ballot. The voter called in to find out what a Green Card is. Of course, this was a trick. Voters must be citizens.

10. Machines at some polls had to be re-set after every voter. This took so long that people started to leave. This Election Protection project lawyer and her colleagues sent food out to the voters. They sent food out to voters at different precincts at least three times during the day to encourage them to stay in line.

11. Issue 1 "Defense of Marriage" was holding up line. Voters did not understand what the issue, Defense of Marriage, meant. (LOL, you gotta laugh at this one)

12. One Election Protection project lawyer bought 6 lamps and extension cords after numerous reports came in of a polling place that was so dark both inside and out that voters could not see to vote. It was gray and dark and raining for much of the day in northern Ohio. People were waiting in line for multiple hours in the rain.

13. Many people in one poor, black, polling location had their water turned off, if their bill was un-paid, coincidentally, on the morning of the election. The Water Department/utility told voters to stay home to wait until the matter was resolved, because the voters needed to let someone into their unit. The Zell Milleresque Democratic mayor of Youngstown endorsed George W. Bush. The Water Department/utility company did not come. This Election Protection project worker and colleagues went to the peoples' homes so some of the voters could vote.

14. Voters cars were being ticketed. Voters felt their cars were properly parked. This was reported in both Mahoning County and Trumbull County.

15. No provisional ballot was offered to a man who filled in/requested an absentee ballot, but did not receive the absentee ballot. When he arrived, he could not get a provisional ballot.

Note: Reports are now coming out that many people in Ohio who requested absentee ballots did not receive them. Some of these voters who did not receive their absentee ballot were given a provisional ballot when they went to the polling place, others were not, still others had to have Election Protection project people fight to get them their provisional ballots. How many walked away disenfranchised?

Democrats Take up Fight Over Ballots
Cincinnati - Seeming to brush aside John Kerry's concession speech, the Ohio Democratic Party has launched a federal court fight over nearly 155,000 provisional ballots by contending a proper accounting of those votes might decide who really won. http://www.cleveland.com/election/pl...2534290590.xml


Possible Proof of fraud in one bit of testimony
http://www.dailykos.com/comments/200...43318/03/17#17

Possible Proof of fraud in one bit of testimony. I listened to the hearings today broadcast by Pacifica. A election watcher went over to Pickaway county in Ohio to see what was going on there. She asked to see the polling books which was her right by law. These books show the signatures of all those who are authorized to vote at the polling precinct. A young worker decided to let her see the books after the watcher identified herself as having the authorization.

When the poll watcher flipped open the books, she saw that lots of people had been allowed to vote but had not signed the books. This struck her as very odd, of course, since by law people have to sign in to verify that they are authorized to vote.

Soon, the board of elections head in Pickaway came by, took the books away from her, threatened her with arrest. When the woman responded that the Elections supervisor was breaking the law, the supervisor rezponded that Ken Blackwell had just told her to take the books away from the watcher. A couple phone calls had been placed, apparently.

All the panel during the Ohio hearings was shocked by this story. These books are out there, and the signatures cannot be faked. The panel took the testimnoy and promised to follow up.

WOuldn't it be just like Karl Rove and buddies to accuse the Democrats of padding the vote with unauthorized voters, while all the while planning to pad the rural vote in places like Pickaway?

Questions: are the rural conservative voters who came out in droves really just ghosts? Do they exist? And if they exist, did they stay home and did someone else vote for them?