Sun Nov 7th, 2004 at 16:16:19 PST
a presidential candidate from ohio's ballot can call a recount.
unfortunately, if kerry won't do it, the only options are badnarik and the "constitutional" party wingnut. but hey...i'm writing him.
here is my letter to mr. wingnut - feel free to use it. just please get everybody and their brother to write these guys and ask that they demand a recount. and please recommend this thread.
comments can be sent to the constitution party guy here:
https://secure.giftwrapplus.org/donorlite/defaultInqot.aspx?cid=1003
and badnarik is here:
campaignmanager@badnarik.org
(512) 637-6860 or 1-800-807-7552
please get as many people on this as you can!
many thanks!
Hello:
<insert intro here>
As I'm sure you know, Green candidate David Cobb has requested a formal investigation into numerous complaints of voter intimidation and suppression in Ohio. There also appears to be a conflict interest regarding Diebold's CEO, a Bush supporter who pledged to "deliver Ohio to Bush in November."
http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,65044,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_1
I have collected more background information here:
e-voting machines recorded almost 4,000 extra Ohio votes for Bush:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=694&e=1&u=/ap/voting_problemsAnyhoo,
Here is an analysis that shows Kerry as taking Ohio and New Mexico:
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/kerry_won_.php
The Cleveland Plain Dealer covered Palast's work and made an excellent observation:
"Today, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports there are a total of 247,672 votes not counted in Ohio, if you add the 92,672 discarded votes plus the 155,000 provisional ballots. So far there's no indication that Palast's hypothesis will be tested because only the provisional ballots are being counted."
In this Salon Magazine article, Mark Crispin Miller opines:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2004/11/04/election_reactions/index.html
"First of all, this election was definitely rigged. I have no doubt about it. It's a statistical impossibility...that Bush got 8 million more votes this time. I think it had a lot to do with the electronic voting machines. Those machines are completely untrustworthy.
...80 percent of our touch-screen electronic voting machines have no paper trail and are manufactured by companies owned by Bush Republicans."
Bev Harris is filing FOIA requests to get access to the machine's inner logs and records to investigate their legitimacy:
www.blackboxvoting.org
At least two NC counties reported significant anomolies with voting machines:
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/10104576.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
"The roller coaster of fate was caused by vote-counting glitches in at least five counties besides Mecklenburg. Foul-ups ranged from stubborn levers to a computer error that changed some results by 22,000 votes and, in Carteret County, 4,500 votes that were lost and may not be recovered."
I realize that the last article is about North Carolina, and not Ohio, but those incidents further underscore the notion that electronic voting machines are not reliable. If we are to have confidence in our elections, we have to know that the votes were counted properly.
Beyond the unreliability of the voting machines - and many computer experts argue they are not secure - are the myriad personal accounts of voter disenfranchisement. Many people in Ohio, especially democratic counties, had to wait up to 10 hours to exercise their constitutional right of suffrage. Those people were, essentially, subjected to a poll tax, which violates the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment.
http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/109956451462000.xml
"Columbus - Excruciatingly long waits to cast a ballot amounted to a denial of the right to vote, a federal judge said Tuesday night.
U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley ripped into county boards of election for failing to adequately plan for the huge voter turnout. Marbley said boards of election failed to take adequate measures to ensure all had a chance to cast ballots."
Nader wasn't even supposed to be on Ohio's ballot, yet Ken Blackwell decided it was simply too expensive to re-print accurate ballots. Absentee ballots with Nader as a presidential candidate were sent out, despite Ohio's court ruling saying he is not eligible for the Ohio presidential race.
http://www.onnnews.com/Global/story.asp?S=2398430
This is especially troubling in light of Ken's attempt to disenfranchise thousands of voters because their registrations weren't on thick enough stock paper.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1329707,00.html
"Kenneth Blackwell, attempted to enforce a rule by which only registration cards printed on heavy, 80lb paper stock would be accepted, claiming lighter cards might be shredded by postal equipment (meaning that voters who have to re-register on the heavier paper might not make it on time). And last summer the chief executive of Diebold, which makes many of the voting machines, said he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes" to Bush.
...In Ohio, Mr Blackwell also told election boards that anyone who turned up at the wrong polling station would not be able to cast a provisional ballot (to be verified later). The Democrats successfully sued, saying that the ruling would disadvantage minority and poor voters, who tend to move more often."
Ken Blackwell also enacted rules regarding provisional ballots that were declared in violation of the Help Americans Vote Act. Democrats sued Blackwell on grounds that thousands would lose the right to vote -- especially the poor and minorities. As you know, attempting to prevent minorities from voting is a violation of federal law.
The acts of voter suppression and disenfranchisement, combined with the known voting machine malfunctions, seriously call into question the results of the Ohio vote. In the interest of democracy, it is imperative that one of the Presidential Candidates demands a recount for Ohio. The outcome was decided by the narrowest of margins, on faulty equipment and under dubious circumstances.
A recount might not even change this election, but it would set a precedent regarding electronic voting machines and the importance of a verifiable paper trail for accurate recounts. The main objective in this is to initiate voting reform so we can once again be confident that every vote counts and every vote is counted.
Please contact Ken Blackwell at the address below and demand a recount of Ohio's votes. Your country will thank you for it. I already do.
Mailing Address:
J. Kenneth Blackwell
Ohio Secretary of State
180 E. Broad St. 16th Floor
Columbus, OH 43215
election@sos.state.oh.us
1-877-767-6446
1-614- 466-2655
Sincerely,
