Raw Story: "FBI now looking into claim stickers placed on Ohio ballots; ..

[understandinglife]

........Read the Raw Story that broke the report"

FBI checking Clermont voting
Congressman claims tampering

By Reid Forgrave
Enquirer staff writer

2004 COUNTY TALLY
George W. Bush won Clermont County handily in the November presidential election, garnering 70.7 percent of the county's vote.

Total votes:

George W. Bush, Republican: 62,949

John F. Kerry, Democrat: 25,887

Michael Badnarik, Libertarian: 149

Michael Peroutka, Constitution: 89

BATAVIA - The Federal Bureau of Investigation is interviewing members of the Clermont County Board of Elections because of a Democratic Congressman's claim of vote-tampering during the presidential election. (more at link)

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050209/NEWS01/502090415/1056

And the Raw Story link:

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/index.php?p=7

Peace.


BE THE BU$H OPPOSITION; 24/7

[Bill Bored]

1. Hunt 'em down, smoke 'em out, and bring 'em to JUSTICE! nt

[KingoftheJungle]

2. They just patronizing us, nothing will come of it

[KyndCulture]

3. I want them in JAIL!!! Orange jumpsuits and shackles! nt

[Bill Bored]

4. It is important to remember that

this refers to only a 3% sample of the county. If there were 10 votes altered in EVERY precinct, it adds up!

[mdb]

5. Maybe just another one of those Blackwell mistakes.

It goes something like this. Ahhh... they were supposed to put those stickers over Nader's name and mistakenly took Nader as Kerry. They both have a letter R in the name so you can see the obvious mistake one can make.

[BikeWriter]

6. Get a rope!

[McCamy Taylor]

7. There is another thread. See my posts there for what I think

Here is what I sent Sensenbrenner

Dear Rep. Sensenbrenner;

I wish to complain about a travesty of an FBI investigation in Ohio. According to a news report, we are supposed to accept that poll workers were entitled to take stickers and place them on ballots:

“Poll workers used them on Election Day to correct mistaken votes and determine intent on the optical scan ballots. Some voters, for example, marked their vote, but also etched a small mark in the space for another candidate, which threw off the machines.”

This is absurd. At best, this is poll workers giving preferential treatment to Bush voters by taking their spoiled ballots and making them readable. However, it is also possible that they choose Kerry votes in which the circle was not completely filled in, covered the Kerry circle with an oval and then filled in the Bush circle.

It is to prevent the possibility of fraud like this that laws exist which prevent poll workers from tampering with ballots by, for instance, putting oval stickers on them.

These people broke the law, and the FBI under Gonzales is conducting a white wash. I call upon the House Judiciary Committee to do its job of oversight.



HERE is what I sent the author of the Enquirer story:

You have got to be kidding. At best, poll workers gave Bush voters preferential treatment by fixing their spoiled ballots so that they would be read (Recall that the witnesses said that the stickers covered only Kerry circles). At worst, the poll workers found ballots in which Kerry circles were incompletely marked, put oval circles on them and then filled in the Bush circles.

It is to prevent the possibility of fraud like this that poll workers are forbidden to alter ballots. There is no excuse for what was done. Your article is a whitewash. If the FBI is really going along with this story, then the FBI and Alberto Gonzales are conducting a white wash, too, and therefore I have already contacted Rep. Sensenbrenner and Conyers of the House Judiciary Committee and sent them both copies of your article.

I guess I should thank you for letting the world know how the Department of Justice may be planning to resolve this situation so that steps can be taken to conduct a parallel investigation or even an investigation of the investigation.

[Wilms]

8. kick n/t

[KaliTracy]

9. My letter to the editor

The reporter who wrote about the FBI investigating the Clermont County Elections didn’t seem to read the letter from Representative Conyers that he provides the link for. In this letter NO ONE during the recount admits they knew when the stickers were placed on the ballots, why they were placed there, or who did it. This letter has the Voting Rights Act statutes, which state it is a felony to alter a ballot, which is why the FBI was summoned. Saying that this affected “less than 100 ballots” is disingenuous to the gravity of this action. I’m not sure which is more disturbing, the fact that this happened at all, or the fact that your news reporter doesn’t seem to grasp that this isn’t supposed to happen in an election.

Kind Regards.

***
This is not a part of my letter, unless you want to print it to inform people about the Statutes that have allegedly been violated.

FYI

“The Voting Rights Act, 42, U.S.C. 1973, provides for criminal penalties for any person who, in any election for federal office, “knowingly and willfully deprives, defrauds, or attempts to defraud the residents of a State of a fair and impartially conducted election process, by…the procurement, casting, or tabulation of ballots that are known by the person to be materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent under the laws of the State in which the election is held” Section 1974 requires the retention and preservation of all voting records and papers for a period of 22 months from the date of a federal election and makes it a felony for any person to “willfully steal, destroy, conceal, mutilate, or alter” any such record." (page 2 of Representative Conyers' letter)

*****
I would also urge your reporters to visit the Cobb/Lamarche page as I suggested on 2/2.

Cobb/LaMarche Recount Reports at http://www.votecobb.org/recount/ohio_reports/


Conyers’ letter to FBI, January 28th.
http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/ohelecfbifollowupltr12805.pdf


******

By the way -- here is the letter I sent to the Enquirer on the 26th of January (I sent variations of this (longer!) to other media outlets under the header "When does it officially become "vote tampering"? (one posted on a Public Radio station feedback section last week (read on air, too) -- visit it and make a comment, and Wake them Up! http://www.wmub.org/feedback/feedbackblog.html )


To the Editor:
Regarding Kenneth Blackwell’s remarks in the Report “Democrats will Investigate Ohio Vote (February 2nd) that Ohio has been counted “three times” The Ohio recount was not handled the way that Ohio Law dictates, and there were various problems. Additionally new information about Clermont County and stickers being placed over some optiscan ovals, with another candidate filled in has just been published.

Representative Conyers, of the House Judiciary Committee has written a detailed letter to the FBI asking for more investigation on this, and other matters in Ohio.

The investigations that are still occurring in Ohio are not about changing the election – they are about finding people who broke the law, and making them accountable for their actions! It has nothing to do with “obsessing over the officiating” as Bob Bennett stated. We cannot say we have free, honest and fair elections if there are questions still lingering, and if information is still appearing.

**
Not a part of my letter:
I urge your reporter/s to look closely at the following information:

Cobb/LaMarche Recount Reports at http://www.votecobb.org/recount/ohio_reports/

Clermont County Problems http://rawstory.com/news/2005/index.php?p=7

Conyers’ letter to FBI, January 28th.
http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/ohelecfbifollowupltr12805.pdf


edited for date change, and clarity