Ten Ways the McCain/Palin GOP Is Now Stealing the Ohio Vote-by Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman

[kpete]

Published on Tuesday, September 9, 2008 by CommonDreams.org
Ten Ways the McCain/Palin GOP Is Now Stealing the Ohio Vote

by Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman

The McCain/Palin GOP is already in the process of stealing the Ohio vote, as was done in 2004. Among those at the center of the GOP strategy is Bush Family computer operative Michael Connell, who programmed the key vote counting mechanisms that were used to give George W. Bush his second term.

Except for John Kennedy in 1960, no candidate since 1856 (James Buchanan) has won the White House without carrying the Buckeye State. No Republican has ever done it.

On October 27, 2004, we published "Twelve Ways Bush is Now Stealing the Ohio Vote" at www.FreePress.org. Despite four years of denial by the Democratic Party and the corporate media, all methods mentioned in that article (plus many more) were used in the theft that gave George W. Bush his second term.

Much has now changed in Ohio, including the transition from a Republican Governor (Robert Taft) and Secretary of State (J. Kenneth Blackwell) to Democrats Ted Strickland and Jennifer Brunner. Brunner has made strong public commitments to conducting a fair registration process, an orderly election and a reliable vote count this fall. She is being pushed by the King-Lincoln-Bronzeville federal civil rights lawsuit, filed originally against Blackwell.

To help guarantee an election that truly reflects the will of the voters, Freepress.org will convene a conference on election protection procedures web-cast from Columbus this September 26-8. It will reinforce the positive steps Brunner has taken, and will help train poll workers and judges to safeguard the vote in Ohio and around the nation.

much more at:
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/09/09-0

[stillcool]

1. We need a way to get out..

a public service announcement regarding these 'notices' and checking our registrations.


Throughout Ohio's 88 counties, GOP-controlled Boards of Elections have continued "caging" registered voters by sending them notices requiring that the post office return those that cannot be delivered. A loophole in Ohio law allows partisan challengers to then demand that the names of those whose forms come back be eliminated from the voter rolls. This practice has been used by the GOP throughout the nation to purge voter rolls in inner city precincts. In many cases those removed are soldiers currently serving in Iraq.

The Advancement Project has notified Brunner that it will challenge any mass purges in Ohio 2008. For her part, Brunner has ruled that returned notices cannot be used as a basis for eliminating voters from the registration rolls. She has further attempted to counter-act the purges by requiring that any registered voter fingered for removal be issued notice and given a pubic hearing by the purging BOE. But the process remains intimidating for prospective voters---especially the heavily-targeted list of those voting for the first time. With sixty days left to election day, the on-going impact remains unclear.

[BeFree]

2. Ohio

Good to know someone is on the job in Ohio. 'Course we've many DUers here who have been working hard to uncover the past problems. I wish them all the best.

[OneBlueSky]

3. and if they're doing it in Ohio, you can bet next month's rent . . .

that they're doing it elsewhere . . .

war, healthcare, the environment, the economy -- all are critical issues, and all pale in comparison to the very real prospect of yet another stolen presidential election . . .

if the American people REALLY don't choose their president -- and it certainly appears that we don't -- what kind of country are we living in? . . . surely not a democracy . . .

[L. Coyote]

4. Bullshit ALERT! "Michael Connell, who programmed the key vote counting mechanisms "

Wow. These guys really dish out the BS with impunity!

"... Bush Family computer operative Michael Connell, who programmed the key vote counting mechanisms that were used to give George W. Bush his second term."

I'd like to see the support for that assertion.

In case these guys are unaware of the facts, votes are counted by boards of elections, reported to state public officials, and published by public officials.

"Brunner has made strong public commitments to conducting a fair registration process, an orderly election and a reliable vote count this fall. She is being pushed by the King-Lincoln-Bronzeville federal civil rights lawsuit, filed originally against Blackwell."

Brunner is already motivated to conduct fair elections. The author's law suit is not her driving force.
It is hubris for these authors to claim their lawsuit is her motivation. If anything, the King lawsuit
against the State of Ohio for fixing the election deters Ohio by forcing the state into a defense of 2004.

Their ten ways rehash some old issues and yet merit a careful read.

AND, saving the WHOPPER for last: "...there is little doubt that John McCain and Sarah Palin will follow George W. Bush and Dick Cheney into the White House." Now, that's Bullshit!

[mod mom]

5. They are not advocating for McCain they are saying that the machines, which you know

are inaccurate, unreliable and SUBJECT TO TAMPERING could put them into the WH:


By Lynn Hulsey
OH SOS has at least 15 E-VOTING MACHINES LOCKED-UP TREATED AS A CRIME SCENE

County's voting machines examined
Brunner triggers state probe by reporting that fall ballot apparently masked a name
Sunday, March 16, 2008 3:22 AM


BY BARBARA CARMEN
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
When Jennifer Brunner cast her vote last fall, she is certain she saw something so odd on her touch-screen voting machine that it prompted a state criminal investigation into the Franklin County Board of Elections.

At least 15 of the county's electronic machines are under double-lock at an Alum Creek warehouse. It is being treated as a crime scene.

County elections officials asked the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation to seize the machines during the investigation by Attorney General Marc Dann and forensics consultants.

In all, the state is expected to spend as much as $48,000 to divine what Brunner saw -- or didn't see. Investigators already have found that many of the county's voting machines weren't tested before the November election. And a function that tracked changes to the machines was purposely turned off.

Brunner isn't the average voter. As secretary of state, she is in charge of making sure Ohio's elections are properly conducted.




http://www.columbusdispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/03/16/BOEPROBE.ART_ART_03-16-08_B1_9F9LIV3.html?sid=101



Nearly half of voting machines tested fail

Montgomery officials tested the 5% of machines that drew complaints; 56 of those 125 machines failed.



Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 21, 2007

DAYTON — After two days of tests, the results are in: About 2,500 people cast ballots in November on 56 malfunctioning electronic touch-screen voting machines in Montgomery County, said Steve Harsman, county board of elections director.

He said it is impossible to know how many people finalized their electronic ballots without realizing that the Diebold Elections Systems machines were inaccurately registering their votes. But people had three chances to review their votes before finalizing them, and all the machines accurately tallied the votes that were finalized by voters, Harsman said.



On Tuesday, county election officials completed testing of 125 machines identified in voter complaints collected by Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, which called for the investigation. Some 2,530 voting machines were used in the county on Election Day.

Harsman said several malfunctioning machines were clustered at certain precincts, indicating they may have been damaged during delivery by a trucking company that hauls the machines to the polls.

-snip

http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2007/03/21/ddn032107elex.html