Freepress: Saving the Ballot Evidence from OH 2004

[mod mom]

Saving the ballot evidence from Ohio 2004
by Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman
September 2, 2006

This weekend was to be "D-Day" in Ohio. It marked the September 2 deadline after which federal law allows the destruction of ballots from the 2004 election.

It didn't happen, at least on a statewide basis. But the fight to preserve that vital evidence is far from over.

Republican election officials here have been chomping at the bit to shred, burn or otherwise destroy the ballots and other related materials from the dubious vote count that gave George W. Bush a second term. Yet, in several rural southwest Republican-dominated counties, you have to trip over boxes of ballots and election material from earlier elections dating back as far as 1977 in order to see the stickers "Destroy on 9/3/06" on the 2004 ballot boxes.

J. Kenneth Blackwell, the Republican Secretary of State, is running for governor. His dual role as administrator of the election and state co-chair of the Bush-Cheney campaign has raised deep-seated embarrassment and ire throughout the Buckeye State.

The disturbing revelations of irregularities, theft and fraud continue to pour from the ballots still stored by election boards around the state. Statistician Dr. Richard Hayes Phillips has been instrumental in the research process along with a volunteer crew of election protection activists. This summer, Dr. Ron Baiman of Loyola has also been analyzing ballots and other election records from the 2004 election in a project funded by the CICJ. Many have spent countless hours pouring through and photographing piles of voter records and thousands of ballots, some of them stacked in filthy, leaky warehouses. Through this work, the evidence that the 2004 election was stolen continues to build. We will cover some of these new revelations in a future piece.

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http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2006/2139

[MissWaverly]

1. We need to keep the heat on folks

If we want to keep them from stealing our votes, we need to keep a close eye on the evidence,
if they can destroy these ballots, they will see it as all systems go for their dirty work
and before we know it, Jeb will be in the White House.

[nascar55]

2. Thanks for this post

We need to keep this on the front page from now till Nov. 7th as well as beyond. Here is a link to a different kind of Political ad.

http://www.emilykreider.com/

[Benhurst]

3. Recommended: #2. If they are allowed to steel a fourth national

election, which I am afraid they may do, the Republic is dead. Any chance of reform will move from the ballot box to the streets.

[mod mom]

4. At least now we have an example of what to do. We just need to look

south to Mexico for inspiration. If the elections are stolen again, we must use a national boycott to force change.

[bleever]

5. K&R.

:thumbsup: