In Violation of Federal Law, Ohio's 2004 Presidential Election Records Are Destroyed or Missing

[marmar]

from AlterNet:


In Violation of Federal Law, Ohio's 2004 Presidential Election Records Are Destroyed or Missing

By Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet. Posted July 30, 2007.



In 56 of Ohio's 88 counties, ballots and election records from 2004 have been "accidentally" destroyed, despite a federal order to preserve them -- it was crucial evidence which would have revealed whether the election was stolen.

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.

"The extent of the destruction of records is consistent with the covering up of the fraud that we believe occurred in the presidential election," said Cliff Arnebeck, a Columbus attorney representing the King Lincoln Bronzeville Neighborhood Association, which filed voter suppression suit. "We're in the process of addressing where to go from here with the Ohio Attorney General's office."

"On the one hand, people will now say you can't prove the fraud," he said, "but the rule of law says that when evidence is destroyed it creates a presumption that the people who destroyed evidence did so because it would have proved the contention of the other side."

Brunner's office confirmed the 2004 ballots were missing, but declined to comment. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/story/58328/

[whistle]

1. That is a criminal act and who ever was responsible must be prosecuted

...for vote fraud and destruction of evidence.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

2. The legacy of Blackwell, chapter whatever.

When are people gonna start going to jail there? Like by the busload. Or the cattle car load. same same.

[bobthedrummer]

3. Just like Nazis.

"Network Hosting Attorney Scandal E-Mails Also Hosted Ohio's 2004 Election Results" (archived 4-23-2007 Octafish thread)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x735051

[Skink]

4. Scalia is still in office.

:shrug:

Shrugg as in shrugg.

[wisteria]

5. Well, that is it then. Bush wants to be remembered as the most awful but legitimate President of our

time. The Repubs don't want to be blamed entirely for the disaster named Bush.

[Cobalt-60]

6. Oh but he's all theirs

Bush = Republican.
Republican = Bush

[marmar]

7. True. That's the equation for "Today's Republican Party," as Janeane Garofalo likes to call it....

A co-dependent death cult, they are.

[madmom]

8. Blackwell strkes again..even after he's out!

[DeeDeeNY]

9. What happened to Blackwell?

Shouldn't he have been criminally prosecuted by now?