Reply #5: KOEHLER: Underlying hysteria sets stage for vote suppression [View All]

[Wilms]

Fear of riffraff
Underlying hysteria sets stage for vote suppression

By ROBERT C. KOEHLER
Tribune Media Services

“I guess my vote don’t matter anymore.”

The shiv to the gut of democracy that occurred last Nov. 2 can be found in reams of data and volumes of eyewitness testimony, but first it’s in those words or it’s nowhere at all, and if we hear them and don’t feel our outrage rise maybe we never will.

For those who want to learn the truth, much of the testimony is contained in two recently released publications, “What Went Wrong in Ohio: The Conyers Report on the 2004 Presidential Election” (Academy Chicago Publishers) and the phonebook-sized “Did George W. Bush Steal America’s 2004 Election: Essential Documents” (CICJ Books). There are also ongoing conferences about vote fraud.

I just got back from Cleveland, where one was held over the weekend, sponsored by the grassroots political group Ohio Vigilance. It was there that I talked to singer/activist Victoria Parks of Columbus, a city newly notorious for the long lines at its inner-city polling places and other dirty tricks that added up to disenfranchisement for thousands of voters.

At a hearing before the Franklin County Board of Elections that Parks attended, “His testimony was the most powerful,” she said of the elderly man quoted above. “He’d voted in every election. He believed it was important, his civic duty. The right to vote gave him the power to determine his future. He was obviously very proud — never missed an election. He’d been voting at the same precinct for 50 years.”

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http://www.commonwonders.com

Thanks to freedomfries for posting the discussion:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x377124