OH

Ohio's 87th District Rep Race

turnohioblue — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 23:08:28 -0400

If you are a resident of Ohio's 87th District which consists of: Jackson, Vinton, half of Lawrence and part of Ross, your current Rep is Clyde Evans. IT IS TIME FOR CHANGE!! We have seen jobs disappear at an alarming rate and we have been forgotten!!!! Come out, vote and put another Democrat into office! We need someone that lives our struggle everyday, someone that can relate, someone that understands what we need. WE NEED A VOICE!!!!! We need Shane Meldick for the 87th District!

Check out www.shanemeldick.com

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or if you would like to volunteer!

Kelly Copley

Meldick Campaign Event Coordinator

Ohio 2004 Crimes Investigation

jenbethalex1 — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 22:10:47 -0500

The Ohio Election Justice Campaign Jennifer Brunner, Ohio Secretary of StateBobbie Gilbert, Executive Assistant for Jennifer BrunnerErin Duffy, Scheduler for Jennifer BrunnerKellye Pinkleton, Director, Voting Rights Institute, Ohio Secretary of StateKathy Spinelli, Assistant to Kellye PinkletonMarc Dann, Ohio Attorney GeneralColleen Brown, Executive Assistant to Marc DannJessica Utovich, Scheduler for Marc Dann Friday, September 7, 2007 Dear Jennifer Brunner, Marc Dann, and Staff, I am Paddy Shaffer, an Ohio Resident, Artist, Wife, Mother, Election Activist and Investigator, and I write today on behalf of The Ohio Election Justice Campaign. The OEJC started as a simple request for an opportunity to meet with you. This effort has now grown to a national campaign for legal accountability for election crimes in Ohio. The Ohio Election Justice Campaign wants to hear back from your two offices on a date for which we can schedule the three-hour meeting with Jennifer Brunner and Marc Dann. The purpose of the meeting would be to resolve how your offices will investigate the crimes of the 2004 election, as well, those crimes that have happened since need to be addressed. We wish for the Rule of Law to be restored through legal prosecutions. We also ask that your offices provide the public a way to follow your progress in resolving long-standing problems regarding our elections in Ohio. We have planned for a number of speakers from The Ohio Election Justice Campaign in the first hour of this meeting. Hours two and three are for you, Jennifer Brunner, Marc Dann, and your office staff to explain how we can accomplish our mutual goals in restoring the Rule of the Law in Ohio's elections. Finally, within those last two hours, we would also like to have dialog with you on this crucial subject as to how we can proceed together restoring the Rule of Law. We want a way for the public to follow the progress of the investigation and prosecution.
I, along with millions of other voters, listened to the campaign promises of candidates Marc Dann and Jennifer Brunner running for the critical offices of Ohio Attorney General and Ohio Secretary of State. Do you remember them? We were all so hopeful. We were hoping our election problems in Ohio would be resolved. I am enclosing a link that will take you to video of your campaign promises. At this moment, Marc Dann’s portion of the video is available. Soon it will have five parts, including Jennifer Brunner’s campaign promises as well.
What you promise is what we need. Please, just do what you promised! Dann and Brunner Campaign Promises Video - HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RygV2aiszQU"

NOT HERE TO FIGHT, ___JUST WANT THE JOB DONE.

I have done everything a citizen can do to help her country… I have personally investigated election crimes, when no law enforcement did the job. I have tried through the former Attorney General Jim Petro and County Prosecutors to get our election laws and public record laws enforced. I have paid for records requests, hundreds of dollars of them, paid my expenses, gasoline, long distance phone calls, and more to investigate these crimes, when no law enforcement would do their job. I pay for this with my grocery money. I have participated in radio call shows, and press conferences, and supplied the media with crime information, for which they generally ignore. I have endured name calling by the media and others, but also the love, appreciation and support of real patriots from across this country, and from other countries who care about democracy. I have made many friends, and probably a few enemies on this journey. I hope we will end up friends because what I want is reasonable.

I want to help you both do the best you can in your current jobs. I keep trying; keep sending you information that should be a great help to your job. I don’t do it to seeking credit. I just want to see you do the work, and you get the credit. I am very frustrated now, you have occupied your office for nine months, and it is almost 2008, another Presidential Election Year… and not much has been resolved. Even the two Cuyahoga County BOE workers, Jacqueline Maiden and Kathleen Dreamer and are getting a new trial, one wonders, will they go to prison for 18 months, or walk away? I have repeatedly asked for a meeting with both Jennifer Brunner and Marc Dann. I have now formed this group, The Ohio Election Justice Campaign, and because this meeting and issue is so very important. This is the Theft Of The Office Of The United States Presidential Election, and The Theft Of The Ohio Supreme Court. What could you be working on that could be more important than that?

I have many pieces of my ongoing investigation in this rather long letter. I do not do this with a public audience to embarrass, to anger, or to pick a battle. I do this because I do not see any other way of getting your attention, without applying public pressure. You and I both know that I have tried and tried and tried. Please do not hold anger against me. Just help the passionate citizens who have joined me to insist that you bring investigation and legal justice to the election crimes committed in Ohio. That is all I ask, and all I ever asked of you. The office of the Ohio Secretary of State is now sitting on the remaining evidence, over 2200 boxes of evidence of the biggest crime ever perpetrated on our republic. Could you please do something with it? If you do not know how to do it, or what to look for, we probably already have, or have already shared it with you. Most of us in The Ohio Election Justice Campaign used to be just citizens, but now armed with evidence, truth, facts. We investigated the elections when the former AG and SOS, the DOJ, the FBI, the Ohio State Highway Patrol and our media, refused. As victims and witnesses to the greatest crime ever, we citizens took up the gauntlet and did our own investigations. Now, we know how to do investigations and we have done them for you. We want to help you, not alienate or anger you. We have save you a fortune in money, so much of this evidence, as cold cases could not now even be collected. We ask you to look.

It has now been 31 days since the meeting was requested; on August 8th, 2007, and 2008 is only a few short months away. Many additional election crimes have been brought to your attention since that day. There has been no response to the exposure of these crimes, nor to the many crime stories that had already been sent to you, with the exception of a letter from the Attorney General’s office letting me know that there is "nothing to investigate" (attached to this letter). Those stories covered a wide range of topics, from rigged recounts (which got Maiden and Dreamer 18 month prison sentences); theft of the United States Presidency; theft of the Ohio Supreme Court; fake ballots; Warren County Homeland Security Alert; Triad switching out the hard drive on a tabulator prior to the recount; and so much more. It is troubling that with so much in the way of legal work to be done, and the obvious need to let people know your plan of action, there has still been no meeting scheduled. Why do we even have to beg you to for a simple meeting? Last year as both Jennifer and Marc campaigned for Secretary of State and Attorney General; you told us you would take care of this problem. What happened to “Due Diligence?” It is your job to do this investigation and the following needed legal actions. When I originally talked to Jennifer’s Executive Assistant Bobbie Gilbert, while I was in your office on Monday August 6, 2007, she said meetings were being scheduled out about three weeks (in advance). It has been longer than that, we have not yet met, nor have we even scheduled. It is as though you do not plan to meet with this group, yet I am sure that is not your intention. We hope that is not the case. Many of us remember your campaign promises to deal with these election problems. Tim Kettler, who was also a candidate for Secretary of State with Jennifer, is one of our speakers for this requested meeting. He plans to explain how the Coshocton County Recount was rigged, including the involvement of Pat Wolfe, who still works in the office of the Secretary of State. You should be interested. These issues are so important to the nation, and many hundreds of thousands of people have actually died, as a result of the decisions made by a man sitting in the office of The President Of The United States Of America, a man that was not elected. This is very serious. During the campaign season, Marc Dann even promised to form an “Election Integrity Division”. I called Marc’s office and spoke with executive assistant, Colleen Brown who said, “We have no Election Integrity Division”. When I told Colleen who I was, and that I was reading through Marc’s campaign promises, and he said he was going to form an Election Integrity Division. Colleen said she would get me help. Then I was put on hold for a long time, what seemed like several minutes passed, and then one of those annoying recorded voices came on for “The Help Center”. The recording played and finished with “all representatives are still assisting other callers.” It played over and over and over… and when I could stand it no more, I hung up and called Colleen back. Now no one answered the phone, and there was not even a way to leave a message. Hmm…. This finished at around 1:45 p.m. on September 5, 2007. During the 2006 Campaign season Marc Dann had a blog, here is one entry… Saturday, September 02, 2006 HYPERLINK "http://www.blogforohio.com/index.php?itemid=99" Decision In Registration Case Is a Victory for The Constitution and the State (part of the blogged article below)At least Ken’s consistent—consistently committed to eroding our democracy. And there’s one more thing for which we should be thankful: Republican arrogance. They were so sure that they would control every statewide office, including that of attorney general, for another four years that when they passed House Bill 3 they gave the AG the authority to independently investigate and prosecute election law violations for the first time in Ohio history.

They did it because they thought a GOP AG as opposed to voting rights as they are would be a real asset during the 2008 presidential election. Imagine, I’m sure they said, how much easier it will be to keep people we don’t like away from the polls if someone on our side has the power to investigate and prosecute them for having the unmitigated gall to try and vote.

Now imagine how they feel today: Ohioans are on the verge of electing me attorney general. And instead of using the power of the office to keep people away from the polls, I’ll use it to enforce the Voting Rights Act, oppose anti-democratic legislation like HB 3, and ensure that every Ohioan who is eligible and desires to has the opportunity to vote and that every vote cast counts.

That’s not what the Republicans want, but it is what the U.S. and the Ohio Constitution demands. I would like to thank Judge O’Malley for upholding both. And I look forward to the day I take office as Attorney General so I can do the same. Posted by HYPERLINK "http://www.blogforohio.com/index.php?memberid=2" Marc Dann at 02:55 PM. Filed under: HYPERLINK "http://www.blogforohio.com/index.php?catid=1" General Here is another… Wednesday, October 25, 2006 HYPERLINK "http://www.blogforohio.com/index.php?itemid=107" Dann calls on Bureau of Workers’ Compensation to release internal audit that shows political favors helped reduce some employer’s rates (post in part)“Once again, the public records law in Ohio is being ignored,” said Senator Dann. “The allegations of impropriety in the BWC are serious and deserve a closer look. By not releasing the audit, it begins to appear as just another cover-up. I have asked Director Mabe to reconsider his decision and release the audit to me by Friday.” Posted by HYPERLINK "http://www.blogforohio.com/index.php?memberid=1" admin at 09:50 PM. Filed under: HYPERLINK "http://www.blogforohio.com/index.php?catid=1" GeneralMarc, I must ask what is happening when your office writes me a letter where they wrote in part, “After reviewing your complaint and the information you provided to Mr. Early, we have decided that there is insufficient evidence to pursue criminal charges relating to these matters.” That letter (attached) now apparently sits in Public Integrity Unit File PIU 07-010 with the large amount of information I sent to your employee on election crime and fraud issues. When I wrote you about this, and about who was this employee, who was Lloyd Early, you emailed me back on August 12, 2007, “Lloyd works for me." Have you as yet looked in that file? Do you agree with the above finding? I have repeatedly sent more information to your office, and to Jennifer’s about election crimes, yet no one even responds. In the above statement you are quoted talking about a Bureau of Workers Compensation cover-up. What do we call the Ohio election mess, if your office, and Brunner’s won’t deal with it? A cover-up? I do not want to believe this. Marc do you remember in the spring of 2006 when Dr. Richard Hayes Phillips and Paddy Shaffer scheduled a 30 minute meeting with then State Senator, Marc Dann. We provided you with a folder of election crimes we had investigated. Did you look into any of it? At the recent Secretary of State’s Voting Rights Institute meeting on August 21, 2007 Jennifer Brunner talked to the participants about the missing 2004 election records. Below is what was written in the minutes of the meeting, provided to Paddy Shaffer. FROM VOTING RIGHTS INSTITUTE (VRI) MEETING: Secretary Brunner then chose to speak to the issue of the 2004 ballots. The 22-month retention requirement for these ballots was over on Sept 2, 2006. The boards were sent an email from a paralegal on Sept 8th with a copy of Judge Marbley’s Sept 7th order attached, but no instructions were provided. On April 9th, Secretary Brunner sent a directive instructing all Boards of Election to send their 2004 ballots to Columbus for safe storage. The regional liaisons assisted in transporting these ballots. In all, 7 counties had no ballots to return. Due to glitches, erroneous information, and accidents, some counties had only partial records. Every county sent an inventory and a letter of explanation to Columbus with the ballots. A major concern was unused ballots. Many of these were destroyed, while voted ballots were kept. This information was all turned over to Judge Marbley. We have had no updates from his court as of today. Secretary Brunner highlighted the importance of her office focusing on the 2008 election. I question how the word “glitches” can be used to describe any method for which the physical evidence of the theft of the office of the United States President was destroyed or discarded. I have documented 11 times when they knew to keep these records.

Are you aware that to destroy these records after 30 days, which some counties claim to have done… would be on January 1, 2005? The Boxer Rebellion and the date the election was certified were on January 6, 2006. So how can it be OK with Jennifer for them to have already destroyed records? How many of them did this? Will they do it again?

I also must question at this time if Jennifer Brunner has made herself familiar with the Board of Elections records on the missing 2004 records. She has spoken on them, and been quoted in the press saying they did not “intentionally destroy” ballots. The problem with that comment is that in their letters both Warren and Fayette Counties said they “intentionally destroyed” ballots. I have this from your records. This seems like you either do not know what is in the records held by the Secretary of State’s office, or you are misinforming the media and the public In the above writing from the recent meeting of the Voting Rights Institute it appears from the minutes of the meeting that Jennifer told the participants that, “Every county sent an inventory and a letter of explanation to Columbus with the ballots.” I am familiar with your records. As soon as I read that I knew there seemed to be a problem. First, counties that turned over all their records did not need to submit a letter of explanation, but this is trivial. The bigger item is not. I wrote a record request to your office, requesting the letters of explanation for Columbiana, Coshocton, Darke, Lawrence, Licking, Lorain, Madison, Miami, Morgan, Noble, Summit, Tuscarawas, Wayne, Wood, and Wyandot Counties. This is 15 counties. See, you could only have letters for those counties, if those letters had recently arrived, because I already have all of the others. According to SOS Elections Council, Brian Green, in a letter dated August 29, 2007, “Those records you seek do not exist. As such, this office cannot provide them to you. If you have additional concerns, please do not hesitate to contact our office.” Well, I’m contacting you, and I have a concern. So again, either you do not know your offices records, or when you explained to the VRI group that you had all the letters of explanation for all 56 counties, which would give the appearance that you were content with the explanations given for all 56 counties that are missing some or all of their 2004 ballots. So how can you say none of the boards did anything wrong, to the VRI group, and to the media… when you do not have letters from 15 of the counties, and many of the letters you do have are, well frankly, absurd. The bottom line for myself and for many others across this nation is, those are the people’s records, evidence of a major crime against the US and its people. Lots of it was intentionally destroyed. The paper of Richard Hayes Phillips called “Shreds of Evidence” available at HYPERLINK "http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2007/2709" http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2007/2709 , which has previously been given to both the Attorney Generals office and to the Secretary of States office will help you to understand what has happened. They need investigated. As for the remaining records, after the ongoing court case has finished, for which Judge Marbley ordered those records protected and given to the SOS office, one of your staff told me that those 2004 election records would probably be destroyed. Jennifer, again I remind you, and Marc Dann, the evidence of the theft of the United States Presidential Election and evidence of the theft of the Ohio Supreme Court is in those records. Those are the people’s records. They need sorted into 88 counties, or actually 81 counties, because 7 counties turned over no records. I know that they are not sorted now, but all mixed up. The signature books and poll books need collected from the BOE’s, as I have repeatedly suggested to you. I gave to Jennifer Brunner on August 6th, in person via Bobbie Gilbert an RC-3 form, which is a certificate of disposal form. It was for Clermont County. It documented that they disposed of their signature books this summer, in July, further evidence that Judge Marbley’s ruling is being ignored. When I called Clermont, I was told they sent the signature books and poll books to the SOS office. When I looked at your inventory sheet for Clermont, it does not show signature books and poll books. Have you looked into this? As for those signature books and poll books for the 88 counties, they are an important part of the evidence of this enormous crime. They need inventoried and audited. They need gift wrapped with some of that yellow “crime scene” tape. Please, for the sake of this nation… due diligence. Just do your jobs. I wrote you earlier about my concern at the same Voting Rights Institute meeting that Keith Cunningham, Director of the Allen County Board of Elections was appointed to a new board. The entry from your minutes of the meeting are below. FROM THE VOTING RIGHTS INSTITUTE MEETING

Secretary Brunner announced her appointment of 3 people to the Board of Voting Examiners. This group determines the certification of voting machines in Ohio. The new members are: Keith Cunningham, from Allen County, David Moots, from Union County, and Inajo Davis Chappell, from Cuyahoga County.

I addressed and asked for a reply from both the Ohio Secretary of State, and the Ohio Attorney General’s offices about this. Keith Cunningham, Director of the Allen County Board of Elections who is one of many Ohio Election Officials that rigged a Green Party Recount of the 2004 Election. Again, here is the website for the report HYPERLINK "http://www.iwantmyvote.com/recount/ohio_reports/counties/allen.php" Keith also disposed of 2004 election records. I asked that he immediately be removed from this board that will be responsible for certifying the Ohio voting machines. What he has done is a crime. He needs removed from his office and investigated. Instead it has the appearance he was rewarded (after discarding his 2004 ballots) with this new position. I asked for a response from your offices, for feedback on the appointment of Keith Cunningham to this new board. I continue to wait for a response on this matter… Why does no one at your office appear to care? As for cost, in 2004 Allen County had 139 precincts. That is $1,390.00 that David Cobb, candidate for the United States President, paid for the recount. Keith Cunningham and any members of his board that were involved should personally refund that money. My research is showing rigged recounts across the state. Have the SOS office, or AG office investigated? Then to add additional insult to the many rigged recounts, the Ohio legislature in 3515.07 under “Charges for recounts” in 2006 raises the cost of future recounts up to being as much as $50.00 per precinct. This decision needs reversed, and an apology issued. I’ve not yet studied Union County, another county for which a member is put on your new board to certify voting machines, but I did find this on the Green Party Recount site. HYPERLINK "http://www.iwantmyvote.com/recount/ohio_reports/counties/union.php" This is the site for Union County, where the hard drive was switched out of the tabulator which counts the votes, between the election and the recount.
So did David Cobb and the Green and Libertarian Parties get a real recount? Union County had 46 precincts in 2004. That is $460.00 that was paid for the recount. Did the new machine give the same count? I am not comfortable with this. I have a witness that says this happened in about half our counties, the tabulators were altered between the election and the recount. Care to know more? In the below clip from the Voting Rights Institute, it says that those of you at the VRI in the office of the SOS will do many good things. I hope you will work with the Ohio Election Justice Campaign, and get the issue of election crimes addressed.

INCLUDEPICTURE "http://www.sos.state.oh.us/sos/images/vri.gif" \* MERGEFORMATINET

Mission Statement:The Ohio Secretary of State’s office seeks to promote civic participation and a stronger democracy through ensuring every Ohioan’s right to vote in an election system that is free, fair, open and honest.The Voting Rights Institute will:

work with communities, partner with organizations and implement programs that will ensure a safe, reliable and trustworthy process that fosters and enhances access to voting in Ohio by all of its eligible citizens,
act as a clearinghouse to address voter concerns and
provide leadership on legislative and policy initiatives to accomplish this mission.

For more information, contact Kellye Pinkleton at 614-995-1619 or by HYPERLINK "http://www.sos.state.oh.us/ContactUs.aspx?Code=VotingRights" e-mail (click to send e-mail). IN CLOSING… LETS SCHEDULE A MEETING AND START THE WORK!

In closing for this long letter. Please call me and lets schedule our meeting. I now have over 50 people interested in being here for this meeting. I will also send you the new guest list, including the bios for all participants and topics for the speakers. Kellye Pinkleton wrote that she had “space concerns”. Do not worry about that, we will provide a meeting location. Several locations have been looked at, and we are still looking, so that we have plenty of choices when we have a scheduled date. Kellye also wrote to me, and explained to Patricia Axelrod that Jennifer Brunner is too busy to meet, that only staff will be available. That will not be sufficient due to the importance of the topic. If that is still the answer, please provide The Ohio Election Justice Campaign with the schedule of Jennifer Brunner so we can see what she is working on that is so much more important than the theft of the US Presidential office, and the Ohio Supreme Court. I know Jennifer has a fundraiser coming up in Licking County this month. I received an invitation. Maybe something like that could be rescheduled. We are open to days, evening, or even weekends. Fridays are good for most people. We want to work with you. We want justice in Ohio, we were robbed, and thus, the nation was robbed. We must succeed in seeking justice in Ohio.

Sincerely Concerned, The Ohio Election Justice Campaign Paddy ShafferFounder, The Ohio Election Justice Campaignpaddy@columbus.rr.com(614) 761-0621 Cc: All members of The Ohio Election Justice Campaign Media members both far and wide Many American Citizens American Organizations People who read what is on the Internet And more…

2004 Stolen Election Update - Election Workers Convicted of Rigging Ohio Recount

CactusPat — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 05:47:40 -0500

Prosecutor says he's gonna give them a chance to rat out higher-up's before sentencing...

2 election workers convicted of rigging '04 presidential recount
CLEVELAND (AP) — Two election workers in the state's most populous county were convicted Wednesday of illegally rigging the 2004 presidential election recount so they could avoid a more thorough review of the votes. A third employee who had been charged was acquitted on all counts...(more)

Jacqueline Maiden, the elections' coordinator who was the board's third-highest ranking employee when she was indicted last March, and ballot manager Kathleen Dreamer each were convicted of a felony count of negligent misconduct of an elections employee.

Maiden and Dreamer also were convicted of one misdemeanor count each of failure of elections employees to perform their duty. Both were acquitted of five other charges.

Rosie Grier, assistant manager of the Cuyahoga County Elections Board's ballot department, was acquitted of all seven counts of various election misconduct or interference charges.

The felony conviction carries a possible sentence of six to 18 months.

There was a gasp in the courtroom gallery, which included some relatives and friends of the defendants, when a "not guilty" verdict was announced on the first charge. The courtroom went silent when a "guilty" verdict was returned.

The defendants sat near each other silently as the 21 verdicts were read.

Ohio gave Bush the electoral votes he needed to defeat Democratic Sen. John Kerry in the close election and hold on to the White House in 2004.

Special prosecutor Kevin Baxter, who was brought in from Erie County to handle the case, did not claim the workers' actions affected the outcome of the election — Kerry gained 17 votes and Bush lost six in the county's recount.

But Baxter insisted the employees broke the law when they worked behind closed doors three days before the public Dec. 16, 2004, recount to pick ballots they knew would not cause discrepancies when checked by hand so they could avoid a lengthier, more expensive hand recount of all votes.

Ohio law states that during a recount each county is supposed to randomly count at least 3 percent of its ballots by hand and by machine. If there are not discrepancies in those counts, the rest of the votes can be recounted by machine. A full hand-count is ordered if two random samples result in differences.

Grier, the worker who was acquitted, was the only defendant who commented following the verdicts.

"It has all been very stressful," said Grier, 54. "Yes, I'm very relieved. But, none of us should have been in this courtroom today. These charges should not have been brought against any of us."

Defense lawyer Roger Synenberg said in his closing argument that the 2004 presidential election was the most publicly observed ever in Cuyahoga County and the workers were simply following procedures as they understood them.

Baxter said he intends to speak with Maiden and Dreamer before their scheduled sentencing on Feb. 26 to see if they wish to make any statements that might influence the sentence.

"We'd like to listen to them if they had anything to say, if anyone else was involved with this. We still haven't been able to determine that," he said.

A message was left Wednesday with elections board director Michael Vu.

The board released a statement saying the convictions highlight the importance of changes it has made since 2004 "and the critical need to aggressively pursue additional reforms."

"The board's goal is to fully restore the public's confidence in the election process in Cuyahoga County," the statement said.

Maiden's attorney, Robert Rotatori, said he expects appeals will be filed for his client and Dreamer.

The case comes as elections have fallen under greater scrutiny since the 2000 presidential election. That's when recounts of paper ballots in Florida dragged on for weeks and the U.S. Supreme Court became involved. Cuyahoga also has been under the microscope following numerous problems with elections in bellwether Ohio.

Cuyahoga County is a Democratic stronghold where about 600,000 ballots were cast in 2004.

Statewide, Bush won by about 118,000 votes out of 5.5 million cast. Green Party candidate David Cobb and Libertarian Party candidate Michael Badnarik sought the recount and complained about its procedure.

___

On the Net:

Cuyahoga County elections board: http://www.boe.cuyahogacounty.us/

h/t bradblog

2004 Stolen Election Update - the Ohio Recount Prosecutions

CactusPat — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 03:11:36 -0500

A most thorough review of the fraudulent 2004 Ohio recount...

Do new Ohio recount prosecutions indicate unraveling of 2004 election theft cover-up? by Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman January 19, 2007
Three criminal prosecutions in Ohio's biggest county have opened with strong indications that the cover-up of the theft of the 2004 presidential election is starting to unravel. Prosecutors say these cases involve "rigging" the recount in Cuyahoga County (Cleveland), where tens of thousands of votes were shifted from John Kerry to George W. Bush, or else never counted. Meanwhile, corroborating evidence continues to surface throughout Ohio illuminating the GOP's theft of the presidency. According to the AP, County Prosecutor Kevin Baxter opened the Cuyahoga trial by charging that "the evidence will show that this recount was rigged, maybe not for political reasons, but rigged nonetheless."...(more) Baxter said the three election workers "did this so they could spend a day rather than weeks or months" on the recount.

Jacqueline Maiden, the county election board's third-ranking employee, faces six counts of misconduct involving ballot review. Rosie Grier, the board's ballot department manager, and Kathleen Dreamer, an assistant manager, are also charged. All three are on paid administrative leave, and are being supported by the county board of elections.

The county prosecutors do not allege vote fraud. No do they say mishandling the recount affected the election's outcome.

But Cleveland, which usually gives Democrats an extremely heavy margin, was crucial to Bush's alleged victory of roughly 118,000 votes out of 5.5 million counted. Some 600,000 votes were cast or counted in Cuyahoga County. But official turnout and vote counts varied wildly and improbably from precinct to precinct. Overall the county reported about a 60% turnout. But several predominantly black precincts, where voters went more than 80% for Kerry, reported turnouts of 30% or less. In one ward, only a 7% turnout was reported, while surrounding precincts were nearly ten times as high. Independent studies indicate Kerry (lost) thousands of votes in Cuyahoga County that rightfully should have been counted in his column.

In the Cuyahoga case, the poll workers are charged with circumventing state recount laws that require a random sampling of at least three percent of the votes cast in a given precinct, to be recounted by hand and by machine. The prosecution charges that the workers instead hand picked sample precincts to recount that they knew did not have questionable results. Once they were able to match those recounts with official results, they could then do the rest of the recount by machine, in effect rendering the entire process meaningless. "This was a very hush operation," said prosecutor Baxter.

Similar allegations have been made in other counties. Indeed, such illegal non-random recounting procedures appear to have been common throughout the state, carried out by board of election employees with the tacit consent of Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell. Blackwell was officially charged with administering the election that gave Bush a second term while simultaneously serving as the Ohio co-chair of his Bush's re-election campaign. Blackwell has just been overwhelmingly defeated in his own attempt to become governor of Ohio.

Defense attorney Roger Synenberg, who represents Dreamer, told the jury that the recount was an open process, and that his client and the others "were just doing it the way they were always doing it."

The Ohio recount was forced by the Green Party and the Libertarian Party, which raised over $100,000 to cover costs. They charge the recount was fraudulent due largely to the kinds of irregularities with which the Cuyahoga poll workers are now charged. Those charges carry sentences of up to 18 months in prison each, and include failure to perform duties imposed by law; misconduct; knowingly disobeying elections law; unlawfully obtaining possession of ballots/ballot boxes or pollbooks; and unlawfully opening or permitting the opening of a sealed package containing ballots.

But the trial in Cleveland represents just a small sampling of what happened during the Ohio recount. At a public hearing sponsored by the Free Press in Toledo in December, 2004, sworn testimony claimed that Diebold technicians were party to picking the "random" precincts to be recounted. At least one of the precincts lacked a memory card for the recount using the optiscan machine.

In Miami County, election officials admit that they did not recount to the official vote total, but merely ran the optiscan ballots through the ES 550 counter, and then counted them to see if they matched the machine count. In essence, what they did was a test of the counting machine, not a recount to the actual reported votes. Miami's procedures were thus as illegal as those in Cuyahoga.

Indeed, when the Free Press audited all the recount ballots from Miami County, we found the so-called recount results differed noticeably from the official results. If these differences in results were discovered at the recount in 2004, Ohio law should have triggered a hand recount of all ballots in the county. That was never done.

In Fairfield County, when the recount totals wouldn't match, Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell recommended Sam Hogsett, an ES&S employee, to assist with the process. Despite complaints from a Democratic election officer, Hogsettt worked the central tabulator and counter. Hogsett somehow managed to make the recount match, thus avoiding a full manual recount.

Hogsettt is on record in a local newspaper saying that he would like to shoot a “liberal” so the liberal would learn that it wasn’t the gun that killed him, but the shooter, Hogsett. Green Party recount coordinator Paddy Shaffer complained to Delaware County election officials about Hogsett's presence during the recount and his constant use of the computer. Her complaint has had no apparent impact.

In Hocking County, Board of Elections Deputy Director, Sherole Eaton was fired after she submitted an affidavit to U.S. Rep. John Conyers outlining how Hocking BOE officials pre-selected one precinct because it had the "right" number of voters (3%), thus illegally prescreening like Cuyahoga County. Eaton also complained that a Triad technician showed up unannounced on recount day and offered her a "cheat sheet" for the recount. He just happened to have a hard drive for a 12-year-old Dell computer that served as Hocking County's central tabulator. The county's official central tabulator went down mysteriously just prior to the recount. Eaton said the Triad technician installed his hard drive and told the election officials that the recount would match up perfectly if they didn't turn off the computer. Eaton has not been restored to her BOE position, and there has been no full recount in Hocking County.

In Coshocton County, Green Party recount observer Tim Kettler acquired public records showing that election officials pre-counted in secrecy in clear violation of Ohio law. Coshocton BOE officials desperately begged Secretary of State Blackwell for advice when the recount did not match. Blackwell's office urged the county to simply send in the results as official. But after being confronted by angry recount observers, Coshocton BOE officials became the only ones in Ohio to hand count every ballot. The recount resulted in a statistically significant vote pickup for John Kerry among previously uncounted ballots.

In part due to widespread public revulsion over his conduct of the 2004 election, Blackwell was soundly beaten in the 2006 gubernatorial race by Democrat Ted Strickland. Ohio also now has a Democratic Secretary of State and Attorney General. Whether they will conduct further investigations into what really happened in 2004 remains to be seen.

But a federal court decision has preserved the ballots from that election. Whether further legal charges come from the new administration in Columbus remains to be seen. But the Cuyahoga prosecutions provide more evidence that we still don't have a reliable vote count for the election that gave George W. Bush a second term.

--
Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman are co-authors of HOW THE GOP STOLE AMERICA'S 2004 ELECTION & IS RIGGING 2008 (www.freepress.org), and, with Steve Rosenfeld, of WHAT HAPPENED IN OHIO?, published by the New Press.

Also see our original blog post on this - Two Cleveland Election Officials Indicted For Felonious 2004 Recount

Visit FreePress for all the latest dirt on Ohio (s)elections, not only on stolen election 2004, but stolen election 2006 as well...

Punishing Sherrod Brown

dem4christ04 — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 20:06:50 -0500

I recently wrote a letter to the editor for the Columbus Dispatch:

The question of who one should vote for can often be complicated. Personally, this year, it has been a complicated experience for yours truly with regards to the race for United States Senate. The problem is that neither Sherrod Brown nor Mike Dewine deserve to be in the Senate for the next six years.

With Brown’s vote in favor of the War Commissions Act (H.R. 6166) and Dewine’s co-sponsorship of the legislation that will “validate” the Domestic Surveillance Program (S.3931); both have displayed a willingness to compromise our liberties in order to either preserve or advance their own position of power. Respect the constitution these men do not.

Benjamin Franklin once said “Those who would give up essential Liberty , to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” Isn’t it evident that in supporting legislation that violates our fourth, sixth, eighth, and ninth constitutional amendments; both men are too open to betray liberty for “security”? On November 7th, I’ve decided to “write-in” Paul Hackett – the man that the Democratic Party forced out of the primary race – in response to this false “choice” between to faces of the same coin. I urge all readers to do the same.

I've already cast my ballot after having had gone up to my local board of elections and requested my ballot. Whether or not the Dispatch publishes my letter, I have at least sent a message that I will not tolerate this lack of regard for our Constitution. None of us should, and it's time that we stop this abuse from members of both parties.

Ohio Judge suspends voter-ID directive!

Frank Ranelli — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 08:23:56 -0400

First the bad news:

Matthew Damschroder, Franklin County elections director, estimated that as many as 5,000 of the 100,000 absentee ballots expected to be submitted have ID problems and would not be counted.

Now the good part:

Thousands of Ohioans got a reprieve from having their absentee votes thrown out when a federal judge last night halted state voter-identification requirements.

The Columbus Dispatch is reporting this morning that a Federal Judge suspended Ohio's new voter ID laws for early, absentee voters. It also appears that Blackwell, solidly behind Ted Strickland for governor of Ohio, doesn't want any more controversy swirling around him. Blackwell, for the time being, has declined to appeal the case.

Or as Judge Algenon L. Marbley, of U.S. District Court in Columbus put it:

"County boards are treating absentee voters differently," the judge said. "That’s a patent violation of the equal protection clause" of the U.S. Constitution.

At least someone still believes the Constitution is merely more than "quaint!"

Story developing....

Source:
http://www.dispatch.com/news/news.php?story=dispatch/2006/10/27/20061027...

The Cost to Ohio of the Iraq War

squizzard1 — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 21:32:58 -0400

If you want to see the real cost of the War in Iraq go to this website:
http://nationalpriorities.org/auxiliary/maps_files/iraqsept06/OH.pdf

Out of $380 billion spent on the war, Ohio's burden has been $13.3 billion dollars. Our state has lost 123 service members to this "noble cause" and 868 have been wounded.

It is time to change the dynamics of our Congress and House of Representatives and get people in there who will question the motivations and fabrications of the current administration.

Ohio Progressive Action Coalition (OPAC), An Ohio chapter of PDA

wswalcott — Sun, 15 Oct 2006 13:13:02 -0400

The Ohio Progressive Action Network (OPAC) works to restore the role of government as the instrument to better not only the lives of the citizenry but also to enhance and secure the electoral process in order to protect the process for change. OPAC will strive to build the progressive base of the Democratic Party by supporting candidates and initiatives serving the general good of the people over the special interests at all levels of government: local, state, and federal. We perform these lofty goals through the forming of coalitions among like-minded individuals, activists, grassroots groups, and issue oriented organizations to effect progressive, positive change, while grounded in the recognition that the forces of the status quo, corporate and institutional, will attempt to undermine change for the sake of retaining power.

We believe power in itself is not inherently bad unless of course its impetus is to limit the general welfare in favor of the few. OPAC sees itself as one instrument of many working in unison to create a more just society where all citizens are able to reach their potential regardless of color, economic status, sexual orientation, and/or religious beliefs.

Through these coalition-building efforts with organizations, we will work to set practical goals and realistic objectives in order to achieve specific outcomes having a broader impact on the issue(s) at hand to maximize the opportunity for change.

We welcome those of like minds to share in this important work as to build the movement that will make for a better tomorrow by sharing in the work necessary today.

FREE SCREENING - AMERICAN BLACKOUT

wswalcott — Sun, 15 Oct 2006 09:09:47 -0400

Join us in A FREE SCREENING

WHAT: American Blackout

WHEN: Wednesday, October 18th, 6:30 PM

WHERE: Akron-Summit Public Library 60 S. High St., Akron, Ohio 44308

HOSTED BY: Progressive Democrats of America and the Ohio Progressive Action Coalition.

This event is FREE

For more details and to RSVP, please visit: http://blackout.bravenewtheaters.com/screening/show/6834

Free Parking: in Main Library Deck in Downtown Akron after 6pm.

CONTACT: Mary Nichols-Rhodes at: mac40oh@aol.com for details