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Blackwell on the Run

by Open-Publishing - Wednesday 29 December 2004
15 comments

Elections-Elected USA

When Mahatma Gandhi said, "First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win," he could have been talking about Ohio in 2004. Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, who presided so triumphantly over the granting of Ohio’s 20 Electoral votes to President Bush on December 13 even though the recount had not yet started, has gone past ignoring and ridiculing the recount movement. Now that his house of cards is tumbling down, he is starting to fight back.

In a story in yesterday’s Akron Beacon Journal and the online version of ABC News, it was reported that "Secretary of State Blackwell requested a protective order to prevent him from being interviewed as part of an unusual court challenge of the presidential vote.... [I]n a court filing, [Blackwell] says he’s not required to be interviewed by lawyers as a high-ranking public official, and accused the voters challenging the [Ohio election] results of ’frivolous conduct’ and abusive and unnecessary requests of elections officials around the state."
Rep. John Conyers Demands Answers

If Secretary Blackwell doesn’t want to submit to cross-examination in court, and refuses to answer the detailed questions about the Ohio election sent to him by Rep. John Conyers, then how will we get to the bottom of what happened in Ohio on November 2nd? As reported in the Black Commentator, Rep. Conyers’ letter asked Secretary Blackwell, among other things, why he had not investigated criminal acts committed on Election Day, such as intentionally misleading voters about the location of their polling place, thus increasing the number of provisional ballots found invalid.

Those of us particpating in the county recount process have seen Secretary Blackwell’s presence in several key recount decisions so far. For example, in Fairfield County, a full recount should have been ordered when the 3% test sample did not match the official vote totals. Instead, based on what county officials said was a recommendation from Secretary Blackwell’s office, the recount was "suspended" so that they would not have to do a full recount. In Champaign County, a precinct signature book, necessary to verify that the number of votes that were cast, will not be made available to our recount observers until after January 10 (four days after Congress has counted the Electoral College votes on January 6), per orders of the Secretary of State.
"Chain of Custody" Has Been Compromised

Another question we have for Secretary Blackwell is how he can say for sure that the state-wide vote totals are accurate, given that the "chain of custody" of vote tabulators and even paper ballots has been compromised by unsupervised access given to machine technicians. In Van Wert County, for example, our observer reported:

"When asked if Triad had serviced the machine, the deputy director and a board member stated that they had serviced the machine over the phone via modem on December 9th."
In Ashland County, there were other security issues:

"The cast ballots are stored by precinct in open cubicles along one wall of this room, completely open and visible to anyone who enters this room....Piled on top of the cubicles holding the vote are baskets, Doritos, paper plates, mugs, cleaning products, Fresh-n-Soft, Glad Wrap, etc."

These "chain of custody" issues are especially important when you consider that, as reported in the New York Times, "Voting machine companies and their supporters have been given a large say in the process [of setting federal standards for electronic voting machines], while advocates for voters, including those who insist on the use of voter-verified paper receipts, have been pushed to the margins. The chairman of the working group preparing the standards for voting machines is a top executive of Election Systems and Software [ES&S], a large and controversial voting machine maker."
If You Want Your Vote to Count in 2008, Join Us January 3-6

Jesse Jackson, CASE Ohio, and a broad coalition of groups will be holding a Pro-Democracy Rally in Columbus, Ohio at 2:00 PM on January 3, and then Rev. Jackson and others will hold a "Save Our Votes" rally in Baltimore at 10:00 AM in Baltimore on January 4 before starting an historic "March on Washington". That march will end up at a "Defend Democracy" rally and vigil in Washington while Congress is counting the tainted Ohio Electoral Votes on January 6th.

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Forum posts

  • ***************

    pouet

    • Are all right-wing religious nuts illiterate, or is it just you and George Bush?

    • *********

      re

    • Nurse!!! NURSE!! Hes out of bed on the computer again !!!

    • Yeah because of this pseudo-religious bullshit this country is going down the tubes. I bet religion will get better jobs for Americans, you redneck piece of garbage!!

    • Hmmmm.... So, are you really a liberal trying to make conservatives look like idiots? Because if that is what you are doing, it is definately working!

    • I know that conservatives love to talk about the "horrible liberals," but let me tell you about some of the things you enjoy because of Liberalism: the Interstate Highway system, the GI Bill (GI Education program), An end to child labor, 40 hour work weeks, the right of employees to collectively bargain, overtime pay, workplace safety, the Marshall Plan (which rebuilt Europe after WWII and is a major reason why communism didn’t make it past East Berlin), food safety laws, the space program, the right for everyone to vote, the end of slavery, public education (which has its problems, but we would be in a mess without it), the National Weather Service (provides advance warning for threatening weather), scientific research (such as the polio vaccine), product labeling, the Truth in Advertising laws, water and sewage systems, the public university program, FDIC bank account insurance, the Center for Disease Control, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and other accomplishments. It is easy to set there and spew your hate, but the fact is this country would not be what it is today with liberal thinkers.

      There is room for improvement in the voting system. There are only 2 companies who own all of the voting machines in the U.S., the VP’s are brothers and monetary supporters of Bush, there is no oversight of how the voting process is handled on a governmental or private level, and there is no papertrail for 30% or more of the machines. A good company is always looking to improve its quality, and a good country should be no different. If they don’t have anything to hide, they shouldn’t be hiding. If it is about saving money, then they need to start elsewhere, such as the $4,000,000 being spent on the Inauguration.

  • It’s not "religion" that’s hurting America, it’s the secularists’ campaign to remove the word G_d from all public places and advocate civil disobedience in protest to laws they claim violate a "church and state" seperation, where clearly no governmental endorsement of religion exists. When a majority of Americans practice one form of faith or another (majority of them Christian), the secularists are the ones driving the wedge.

    Blackwell’s not running from anything. The recount only shaved around 300 votes from Bush’s total, after sticking Ohio taxpayers with the $5000/vote bill and evidence of irregularities being baseless. Face it, LOSERS - you lost and Kerry’s concession proved he wasn’t interested in trying to steal the election.

    • Religion is a serious problem when people like Bush use it to exonerate their bizarre behaviour. Remember, MAN created religion, not the other way around.

    • Going from painting all people of faith with a broad brush stroke to targeting Bush’s faith and citing it as an excuse for his "bizarre" behavior, tells me you are a feckless secularist asshole who’d favor abolishing all moral absolutes, so anarchy and chaos would force a resurgence of Socialism in the West.

      Insert your head back inside your rectum and waddle away.

    • It is interesting that in Washington State, the Republican party is asking for a new election because they do not accept the recount where Dino Rossi lost to Christine Gregoire after much counting was done and the results found to be wrong. However, when it is a different scenario, and the Republican candidate is the winner, obfuscation, slander and breaking the law is the way they choose to rule. Talk about hypocrisy.

      Oh, and one other thing. If the blue states stopped paying for all of the entitlements the red states were given, watch what the local economies would have to run their schools, pave their roads, subsidize their farms and generally just get by.

      None of this is about religion, this is about taking care of people who are not like ourselves. Every country needs a safety net. And ANY country in the history of the world that has mixed religion with politics has seen civil war come to its shores. America was great because we could practice religion in ANY way we wanted and our government didn’t interfere. Now, you think we should all be bowing down to your way of following a religion and claim some moral superiority? Because you read the Bible? Take a look around you. We live in a big world, lots of skin colors and many ways to think and be. Grow up and realize there are many ways to live. You make statements about people who are liberal all being secular. Many people who share this type of value system are as religious and pious as you. But we just don’t shove it down other people’s throats.

    • You are the loser and don’t even know it. You cling blindly to the lies pushed over on you and are what I see as part of the heard of sheep duped by the neo-cons. You see, you have fallen for the "perception management" plan Rove structured after the U.S.S.R., Red China, North Korea and of course the Third Reich. You have been in effect, in terms you perhaps MIGHT (but doubtfully) understand "brain - washed". You are entitled to your opinion and freedom of speech. Its a pity your ignorance along with others posessing the intellect of a gnat, have had your opinion formed for you by individuals using you. To the neo - cons you are a means to an end. That is, you have been manipulated. If ignorance is bliss, you and the people like you are the happiest group on earth.

      Open your mind. That may be impossible since people like you would not use a mind even if you had one. Don’t fall for the lies anymore.

    • Its not religion that is hurting this country, it is that Jesus that is hurting this country so he has been removed form the churches and replaced with George Bush who now has Jesus’s seat next to God...you know God is whispering sweet nothings in Georgies ears. Things like go to "Iraq and kill all of their people so you and Dick can have the money and the oil, just tell the stupid Americans that you are on a holy mission, they will get behind you in a Tennessee minute".....who needs Jesus and his quaint golden rule anyway???

    • When Clinton ran for office the democrats had the slogan:

      "Its the economy stupid"

      When Bush ran for office in 2004 the Republicans had the slogan:

      "Its the stupid stypid"

      And boy were they right. There are so many incredibly stupid people in this country and most of them claim to be Christians....that is how Bush convinced them to vote for him he claims to be Christian too...and I guess he is now that Christianity means being a murdering bastard for oil.

    • Its not religion that is the problem, its that Jesus has been dismissed and replaced by Bush who is now God’s fav because he is willing to go on a killing spree and God gets his jollys by watching.