Congressional Forum on Ohio Vote Suppression

"We know Warren County officials locked reporters out of the vote count claiming that the FBI has warned of a terrorist threat that was a ’10’ on a scale of one to ten. We know the FBI says that no such warning was ever issued."
- Congressman John Conyers

"Because the Republican Party will not seek the truth, we must take this action upon ourselves. Let me state it here for all to know that WE AS CITIZENS OF THIS GREAT NATION WILL NOT REST UNTIL THE VOTES IN ALL 88 COUNTIES OF OHIO ARE COUNTED! We owe it to ourselves, we owe it to the untold number of voters who stood for hours on end to have their voice heard, we owe it to the people of Ohio, but most of all we owe it to every man, woman and child in the United States because the integrity of each vote is the integrity of this nation. We come together today to ensure that integrity and we will not be denied."
- Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee

"The appropriateness and even the legality of individuals simultaneously holding top policy and political positions must also be the subject of serious review."
- Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs-Jones

After listing of numerous voting problems, "I will submit there is a pattern there and it is not random. It is a pattern that leads directly to the suppression of heavliy democratic areas... The very American institution of democracy as Lincoln put forward - the government of the people, by the people and for the people, shall not perish _ - is at stake here today."
- Bob Fitrakis, FreePress.org

"Suffice it to say, however, that it does not appear as if every eligible voter in Ohio was allowed to vote, nor were the votes of all eligible Ohioan voter counted. I must reiterate that this unfortunately appears to be true across the nation."
- Hilary Shelton, NAACP

"It is disgraceful that we allow partisan officials to oversee fundamental electoral processes. What seemed like a misadvised idiosyncrasy of American elections turned into an embarrassing reality during the 2004 election cycle. In Ohio and across the nation, we saw state and local partisan election officials privileging their party’s political success - or, sometimes, personal political ambition - over the rights of their constituency."
- Jon Greenbaum, Director of the Voting Rights Project

"It’s critical that we investigate and understand any and every voting irregularity anywhere in our country, not because it would change the outcome of the election but because Americans have to believe that their votes are counted in our democracy."
- John F_____ Kerry

"The evidence in the case demonstrated that the RNC participated actively in a joint effort with the Ohio Republican Party to use returned mailings to challenge the rights of thousands of newly reigstered voters to cast ballots on November 2nd."
- Judith Browne, Advancement Project

"Problem 1. Lack of response (by Cuyahoga BOE) to local studies that a significant number of submitted registration applications were never entered on the rolls or were entered incorrectly."
- Norman Robbins, Greater Cleveland Voter Registration Coalition

"There can be no arbitrary point in time — whether it be a date scheduled for appointing electors, electoral voting, or electoral vote counting — that can limit the right of the People to have their consent justly measured and expressed."
- Declaration of Intent, looking for Congressional Signatures

"We should never again certify and inaugurate a candidate until we’ve established that they got the most votes."
- Cliff Arnebeck, lawyer representing citizens of Ohio

"If a recount is proceeding, by definiton, the will of the voters remains undetermined." So these electors meeting Monday the 13th are irrelevant.
- Jon Bonifaz, National Voting Rights Institute

"This election is not over, until we are guaranteed a transparent, free and fair election. We need Congress to go to Ohio Now. We need some action... We need to go back to our streets with your newfound power and declare our protests to be legitimate."
- Reverend Jesse Jackson

Congressional Forum on Ohio Vote Suppression and Election Fraud
Video at C-span

Trancripts

http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/voteforum.html

1 hr of audio from the Columbus Ohio Election Forum, Saturday 12/4/04
"We’re mad as hell and we’re not gonna take it anymore"

http://radio.indymedia.org/uploads/ohio_election_forum-best.mp3