Blackwell claims any Fraud would have to involve Democrats

[Up2Late]

On Monday, Blackwell (or one of his people), gave a statement on Monday that was only covered on NPR's Hourly headline news (so I don't have a transcript) where he said something like, "The idea that their was some sort of state wide conspiracy or effort to prevent people from voting, is just ridiculous. Each BOE has two Republican and two Democratic members, so that would mean that Democrats were part of this effort to disenfranchise Ohio voters." O8)

Well, that's one way of looking at it. I, personally, think that conclusion demands a follow up question. Are you sure that all the BOE members that said they were Democrats actually were Democrats? Could be that 1 or 2 of the BOE Democrats, might actually been Republicans that LIED about the fact that they were Democrats? :mad:

Now, I know all of you out there, have never heard of or know any Republicans who have ever LIED about anything major. :crazy: And as we ALL know, their has NEVER been a Republican Election Official who has LIED or done ANYTHING that could be questioned as DISHONEST or Illegal. NOOOOOOO.:puke:

:wtf:Does anyone know if, in Ohio, they do any kind of background check to make sure that the BOE members who claim to be Democrat or Republican, actually are, :shrug:and why 2 and 2? Shouldn't the Greens or the Libertarians or the Socialist Workers Party, or who ever, also have a chance to sit on the BOE's in Ohio? Are BOE members Elected in Ohio? If so, how likely would it be that EVERY BOE had two Democrats and TWO Republicans? Unless this is an indication of an even larger Election Fraud?
A political CONSPIRACY, Perhaps? :think:

[DireStrike]

1. Look! A distraction!

I'm sure it will fall apart if held to any scrutiny.

[berniew1]

28. Ohio in this regard is better than some states; but statement still false

Blackwell(an Afro-American) has stated categorically that no voter suppression of blacks occurred in Ohio, repeatedly; But its a lie; there was well documented systematic voter suppression of minorities and students. He's also said any such voter suppression would have to involve Democrats. Although the County Boards have 2 Repubs and 2 Dems this apparently isn't the case. The suppression is clearly pervasive and systematic, as is voting official malfeasance in that regard. Apparently having 2 Dems on BOE doesn't give them much influence on the staff and operations. Unless someone is suggesting that the Dems were all part of a conspiracy to throw the election to Bush. But for all we know perhaps the Dems on the BOEs are really Repubs registered as Dems. Anyone from Ohio have an opinion on this?

doc: http://northnet.org/minstrel/columbus.htm
http://northnet.org/minstrel/cleveland.htm

[Igel]

37. I have a definitional question.

If I'm reading a math article about voter suppression, it just means that the voter turnout was less than expected. A statement of fact.

If I'm reading a newspaper article about voter suppression, it means that the voter turnout was less than expected and intention is being attributed to election officials, if the suppression resulted from insufficient voting machines. A statement of intent.

Local BOEs allocated the machines to precincts; Blackwell didn't. In at least some dem dominated counties, the BOE chair is a dem. I don't want to believe that s/he would have been complicit in intentionally supression voter turnout in dem-majority precincts.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

2. If the plans to hack the election...

Took place, they could have taken place at a level above BOE, that would have effectively cut the BOE members out of the loop.

Just that simple.

Blackwell is flailing, but we knew that.

[StClone]

3. No problem

I am willing to see if that's true Mr. Blackwell.

[Qutzupalotl]

4. It's a straw man.

You don't have to involve all the BOE members to steal an election. A few insiders with access to the tabulators is enough.

WTF about the lockdown? Phony terror alert??

[bemis12]

10. That's a straw man too

You're using the lockdown as proof of fraud, while screaming "fraud" in a zillion places without a lockdown. Why go thru the trouble of a lockdown, if it's not required in order to defraud people? After all, it wasn't required in any of the other places where fraud is being alleged.

[Qutzupalotl]

12. No it's not, but yours is.

For one thing, I'm not using the lockdown as proof of fraud, I'm saying Blackwell never addresses it.

For another, I never said a lockdown was or was not required in order to defraud people. I said that involving all the BOEs was not necessary. I implied that there were other possibilities that need to be investigated.

[lthuedk]

5. Then, Blackwell wouldn't mind having a "free and fair" REVOTE to

clear up any uncertainties. Would he?

[tk2kewl]

6. just becuase they re on the board

doesnt mean they are privy to what pukes are doing behind the scences.

[righteous1]

21. I disagree, something of this magnitude

they would either have to be extremely incompetent or complicit

[tk2kewl]

23. have you ever poll watched?

just because some one is on the count BOE doesn't mean anything. each precinct has its own volunteers that monitor the pols and count the votes. at least thats how it works in NY. and even in a county with a dem supervisor i was one dem to about 20 pukes to check the tallies of about 10 lever machines covering 3 precincts.

[Igel]

39. In Rochester I've never seen a pollwatcher. Far too boring. n/t

[anamandujano]

7. fine--question the dems also

root out the villains r or d

[bunny planet]

8. The machines are REPUBLICAN that's all that matters.

[roseBudd]

9. BoE officials regardless of party DO NOT TABULATE the votes

It's the tabulation software! There is nothing to see.

For the most part I would bet that most BoE officials are older and self described computer illiterates.

[fliesincircles]

11. To even work the polls

in Ohio you have to be R or D. Boe are appointed. The director is of the party that won the county in the Govenors race.

NO THIRD PARTIES

[meisje]

13. Blackwell is right!!

Now that I've ensured my post won't get lost, let me say this... It is a valid question, 2 Dems and two Republicans head the BOE in Columbus, one of the Dems was I think, headed the Franklin County Democratic Party at one point. Why did we have only 3 machines in our precinct instead of 4 as in 2000. The Dems had to know about this! Was it just incompetence on the part of the Dems? One would think the Kerry camp would have checked on something like this... If not, they should have.

I personally think the all they rain we had that day hurt us.

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[IAMREALITY]

16. Oh Really? LOL LOL

[newyawker99]

24. Hi pathologst!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[righteous1]

19. This is all true

My understanding is that both sets R & D vote as to how many machines are needed in their precincts and then request that amount

[Darknyte7]

27. Huh?

I'm not sure I follow you line of reasoning. Democrats are afraid of the rain and Republicans aren't?

[Changenow]

15. Who gives a shit if the Democrats were in on it.

Let the chips fall where they may.

PS Kenny, reprogramming may not have involved a single BOE employee.

[Firespirit]

17. If this is what he said, it doesn't address the NEW issue.

First, before I get flamed, let me say: Voter suppression is BAD. And illegal.

But it was a distraction.

There is simply no way that they succeeded in preventing 250 - 300,000 people from voting. And that's what it would have taken to produce the discrepancies between polls and results. Republicans aren't under-polled. If we remember, before the election, people were all over various polls for including too many Repubs. IF (and that's a very big if) the EXIT polls were wrong, it was because they over-weighted the minority vote -- and by the figures that I have given.

Why would they go to all that trouble when they could just have the totals HACKED?

We have confirmation that Diebold and Triad have been going around the state and messing with the machines prior to the recount, and in questionable ways. We don't have confirmation of pre-11/2 hacking YET, but if these compromised machines are giving the same tallies that they did then, they are in the same condition as they were then as far as rigging goes.

Again, don't flame me. I am grateful for whistleblowers. But it's fairly obvious that Ms. Eaton didn't have a clue what was happening to her county's computer. This doesn't require a conspiracy. It just requires some non-geek BoE officials.

Memo to Blackwell: It's the hacking, stupid.

[sunnystarr]

32. How about 55,000?

[KaliTracy]

18. oh sure... and the Dems overwhelmingly want * .... but more telling

is that he's saying that Fraud may have occurred....

(and that it wasn't just Republicans...) -- he's gotta say that....

but
he's saying that Fraud may have occurred....

he's saying that Fraud may have occurred....

[SmokingJacket]

25. Yes.

Excellent point.

..drip, drip, drip... soon the dam will break...

[mary195149]

20. Sounds like Blackwell is running a little scared,

he knows what went on and he knows we aren't given up. How long before he plea bargains??

[Old and In the Way]

22. He's quite right.

We were the fraudees....they were the frauders.

[henslee]

26. IMO,He is quite the jackass for even giving the other side this soundbite.

It actualyl implies that in his mind, fraud is a possibility, though remote.

[Straight Shooter]

29. Well, so what? I'm sure there are a lot of Zell wannabes in Ohio.

Try again, Blackheart, you're really sounding more and more pathetic every day.

[Niche]

30. Katherine HARRIS was registered as DEM!

[Qutzupalotl]

35. Theresa LePore

right?

[robbedvoter]

31. That from the guy who wanted to discard registrations for the wrong paper

they were printed on.
I wonder - how many democrats were involved in that one.

[Emit]

33. Here's the Ohio BOE site

Here's an example of Cuyahoga County BOE's and you can find them all the counties at this link:
http://www.electionohio.com/boe.asp

"The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections consists of four members each appointed to a four-year term by the Secretary of State. The board has two Democratic Party and two Republican Party members. "
http://boe.cuyahogacounty.us/boe/admin/brdmembers.htm

TITLE
NAME PARTY TERM
Chairman Robert T. Bennett Republican 2-28-06
Member Edward C. Coaxum, Jr. Democrat 2-28-06
Member Sally D. Florkiewicz Republican 2-28-08
Member Loree K. Soggs Democrat 2-28-08

Of course, I guess anyone can call themselves a Democrat.

[Doctor O]

34. And Now

we turn on our own?

[Emit]

36. Looking at the BOE's...

For each county, I noticed that they list a Director, Deputy Director, Chairperson and 2 Members for each county, except for Cuyahoga, for which their is no list of Director or Dep. Director. Overall, considering all remaining counties, the Republican Directors heavily outnumber the Democratic Directors. (54 Republican Directors to 23 Democratic Directors). Just interesting. Otherwise, the number of the 6 positions seems balanced b/w 3 Republicans and 3 Dems (two counties seemed to be lacking 2 positions as possibly vacant).

[Igel]

40. They're elected; I'm betting the dem directors were in

dem-majority counties. Statute prescribes that they the BOE be 1/2 one party, 1/2 the other party; and whatever the director is, the deputy director is the other.

[Daybreaker]

38. I don't get why he thinks that.

It must be a smokescreen, because anybody who's grown up with computers knows that if the ballots are counted on a computer, the vote can be fixed. There is no such thing as a secure computer, and I think that all of America is pretty aware of that.

One person could rig the vote with the system we have now. I could do it. You could do it. Anybody could do it.

[lostnfound]

41. To Blackwell: So what? So you allowed BOTH parties to scr-w the voters?

The buck stops with you, SOS.

On edit: Not that I'm convinced, though. But even if it's true, it's irrelevant.