'Rigged Recount' Trial'll Be Contentious As '04 Election That Sparked It

[Algorem]

http://www.freetimes.com/story/4509

"The Interpretation of Randomness"
Next Month's 'Rigged Recount' Trial Is Sure To Be As Contentious As the '04 Election That Sparked It

By
By James Renner

...Here's the gist: Several people sit around a table at the Board of Elections, sifting through mounds of punch cards. They are attempting to verify the totals provided by the optical scan machines (before Diebold we were still able to do that sort of thing). A 3 percent "random" sampling of ballots has been selected for the count. But slowly, election observers begin to notice that the ballots have been pre-sorted. All the Kerry votes are together. All the Bush votes are together. The observers realize this recount is just for show. The BOE has secretly counted them already, possibly to avoid triggering a county-wide recount.

As people begin to complain, the camera zooms in close on BOE Executive Director Michael Vu. He looks panicky. He moves to the corner of the room with Election Supervisor Jacqueline Maiden and Deputy Director Gwen Dillingham. Vu positions himself so that his back is to the camera as he whispers to his subordinates...

"The recount is nothing but a charade," says Cobb in the documentary. "And it was done, in my opinion, to ensure that there was never an actual recount conducted, but more importantly, to ensure there was never an investigation into the underlying allegations of voter suppression and election fraud that took place."...

An investigation did take place, however. Maiden and two other staffers have been charged with violating Ohio's election laws; their trial is set for January 22. But as the date approaches, it appears the investigation itself may be just another charade...




Ohio GOP chief sizes up losses, gains

http://www.cleveland.com/plaindealer/stories/index.ssf?/base/isope/116575082633040.xml&coll=2&thispage=2

...Many local and national voter activists that you have heard from think Cuyahoga County has one of the worst elections boards in the country. What's the problem?

"Activists have only one purpose: to embarrass. I'm well aware that in my position on the board and as chairman of the Ohio party, I had become a focal point."

Do you think your roles create a conflict of interest?

"I don't think it is a conflict."...

[demodonkey]

1. I saw these pre-sorted ballots myself in Belmont County Ohio!

All the Kerry ballots in one group and all the Bush ballots in another, in a locked and sealed ballot box that supposedly was chosen at random and supposedly had not been opened since Election Night.

And in over 200 ballots I personally observed, there were NO hanging chads, rough holes, or anything similar. Every ballot looked as if it had been punched by a laser beam.

Yes, as one of the nine Regional Cooordinators of the Ohio Recount I did report this. My report on Belmont County never made it onto the Recount website, but it was submitted. I have not been asked to testify in the suit, but would be willing to.


Marybeth
Eastern Ohio Regional Coordinator, 2004 Ohio Recount

[bleever]

2. Watching, and waiting for justice, no matter how long it takes.

:thumbsup:

[The Doctor.]

5. It will take less time...

if you do more than watch and wait.

[bleever]

9. Well said,

and so I do.

[kster]

3. KICK AND RECOMMENDED,

But Vu explained that the BOE had been instructed by County Prosecutor Bill Mason's office to conduct the recount the way it always had been — by selecting certain precincts and pre-sorting votes away from the

((((prying eyes of the public))))

Vu claimed he was only following recommendations from his legal counsel: "The county prosecutor's office advised us in a conference with them that we should stick with our uniform method that we have always conducted recounts."

OH MY!! We need Landshark to take a look at this.

How to rig a 2% audit or in this case A 3% audit, right before the publics eyes..........

[jgraz]

4. Where's Kerry on this??

He has no right to ask for anyone's vote again unless he gets behind this.

[hvn_nbr_2]

7. 11000 lawyers standing by, at the ready. nt

[jgraz]

8. uh huh

[philb]

6. There were irregularities in the recount in many counties, just like

there were lots of irregularities that were never seriously investigated during the election

recount irregularities www.flcv.com/greenrc.html and Dr. Richard Phillips documentation

2004 Ohio irregularites
www.flcv.com/ohiosum.html

[Contrite]

10. I had offered to help in the recount but didn't because of this.

When I realized that nothing would be truly "random". I was encouraged to go anyway in order to observe and report what I saw.

One of the interesting points made in the first linked article is this:

"IF CUYAHOGA COUNTY prosecutors serve as legal counsel for the BOE, how can they charge its employees with impropriety? Well, technically they can't.

BOE staffers are represented by county prosecutors in criminal trials related to their jobs. Here in Cuyahoga County, the BOE is represented by Assistant Prosecutor Reno Oradini Jr. So Bill Mason cannot prosecute the BOE; it's a conflict of interest for his office. A special prosecutor must be assigned to the investigation."

This is the same thing that bothers me in my own state. The attorney general defends the secretary of state. But who defends the voters? To whom do we complain other than the AG if there is suspicion or evidence of "impropriety"?

[kster]

11. kick.nt

[truckin]

12. This is the most important incident of the 2004 election.

If election officials are allowed by the courts to completely ignore Ohio recount procedures, we are almost powerless. What good are laws if the courts won't enforce them? It doesn't matter if we have opscan or HCPB's if the courts will not uphold election laws already on the books.