House Judiciary dems going after Blackwell !

[pointsoflight]

http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/ohblackwellltr12204.pdf

Unfortunately can't cut and paste any excerpts, because it's in image rather than text form. But here are some of the issues they want him to respond to:

Warren County lockdown
Perry County counting discrepencies
Perry County registration peculiarities
Unusual results in Butler County
Unusual results in Cuyahoga County
Spoiled Ballots
Franklin County overvote
Miami County vote discrepency
Mahoning County machine problems
Machine shortages
Invalidated provisional ballots
Directive to reject voter registration forms

[knowbody0]

1. thanks for the post and its good news

[berniew1]

12. Documentation Blackwell responsible for major systematic suppression

Voter Suppression: STEALING VOTES IN COLUMBUS

http://web.northnet.org/minstrel/columbus.htm

The Free Press on Election Day posted a disturbing story, later confirmed by the Columbus Dispatch. The Free Press reported that Franklin County Board of Elections Director Matt Damschroder deliberately withheld voting machines from predominantly black Democratic wards in Columbus, and dispersed some of the machines to affluent suburbs in Franklin County. Damschroder is the former Executive Director of the Franklin County Republican Party. Sources close to the Board of Elections told the Free Press that Damschroder and Ohio’s Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell met with President George W. Bush in Columbus on Election Day. The idea was to discourage turnout in Democratic wards by forcing voters to wait in long lines at the polling places. Such a strategy would be far more effective than encouraging turnout in Republican wards. Elections are all about margins. There are 74 wards in Columbus. George W. Bush won 12 wards, with a margin of 7.35%. John F. Kerry won 62 wards, with a margin of 37.62%. Affecting Kerry’s turnout would greatly reduce his margin of victory in Columbus, giving the Republicans a much better chance of overtaking Kerry given a strong enough showing in suburban and small town Republican strongholds.

In order to investigate this matter, I obtained from the Franklin County Board of Elections all the data I needed in order to calculate, ward by ward, and precinct by precinct: (1) The ratio of registered voters per voting machine. (2) Percent turnout, calculated as total ballots cast divided by the number of registered voters. (3) Percent for Kerry, calculated as votes cast for Kerry divided by votes cast for president. (4) Margin of victory or defeat for Kerry, calculated as the difference between the vote totals for Kerry and Bush.

All 36 of the wards at the bottom of the list of voters per voting machine were won by Kerry, and they include most of his strongholds. In 29 of the 36 wards, Kerry exceeded his city wide share of 62.22% of the vote. However, these wards suffered a low voter turnout.It is important to understand what these numbers mean. The polls in Ohio were open from 6:30 A.M. to 7:30 P.M. That is 13 hours, or 780 minutes. If there are 400 registered voters per voting machine, and turnout is 60%, each voter has less than 3.5 minutes to vote, and that is assuming a steady stream of voters, with no rushes at certain hours. It also assumes no challenges to voters at the polls. If there are 550 registered voters per voting machine, and the turnout is 60%, each voter has 2.4 minutes. All of this amounts to theft of votes. It has been shown above that the Kerry precincts enjoyed a voter turnout similar to that of the Bush precincts when supplied with enough voting machines.

Thus I conclude that the withholding of voting machines from predominantly Democratic wards in the City of Columbus cost John Kerry upwards of 17,000 votes. A more detailed calculation could be done on a precinct by precinct basis, but that is not necessary here. The purpose is to illustrate the magnitude of the conspiracy. Matt Damschroder did not act alone. There are 74 wards and 472 precincts in Columbus, Ohio. It is not possible for one person to have delivered all the voting machines, and it is unlikely that nobody else was involved in planning where to deliver them. Anyone who associated with Mr. Damschroder on or shortly before Election Day should be investigated for possible complicity. Richard Hayes Phillips, Ph.D. 4 Fisher Street Canton, New York 13617 [phone] [e-mail]

Stealing Votes in Cleveland

http://web.northnet.org/minstrel/cleveland.htm

Indications of possible ballot box stuffing in Warren County, Ohio

http://web.northnet.org/minstrel/warren.htm

Favoritism in the Suburbs

http://web.northnet.org/minstrel/suburbs.htm

Analysis Indicates Kerry could win Ohio with a "fair process" and fair vote count

http://web.northnet.org/minstrel/uncounted.htm

[berniew1]

15. More documentation on voter suppression in Ohio

More documentation on voter suppression in Ohio

www.votersunite.org/electionproblems.asp?sort=date&selectstate=OH&selectproblemtype=ALL

www.freepress.org/columns/display/3/2004/985


Summary of documentation of voter suppression, equipment problems, software glitches, irregularities, fraud in Ohio
www.flcv.com/ohiov04.html


(these are not hyperlinked, you have to mark the URL and paste it into browser)

[New Earth]

2. they wooped his ass in that letter.

[berniew1]

18. Documentation indicates major glitches or fraud in Ohio counties

Strong indications of major electronic glitches or fraud in Ohio in several counties (rural and suburban counties)

In analyzing the still-unofficial results, the totals reveal that C. Ellen Connally, an African-American Democratic candidate from Cleveland running for Ohio Chief Justice, received more than votes than Kerry in many counties. For example in Butler County, Connally received 5347 more votes than Kerry. The list of the counties where Connally actually outpolled Kerry include Auglaize, Brown, Butler, Clermont, Darke, Highland, Mercer, Miami, Putnam, Shelby, Van Wert, and Warren.

The reason the Kerry vote counts are suspect is because Connelly, a retired African-American judge, was vastly outspent in her race, and did not have the visibility of the presidential race. Thus for a more obscure Democratic candidate, farther down on the ticket, to get many more votes statewide than Kerry, suggests something happened to suggest there may have been a transfer of Kerry votes to Bush. ""Statistically, Kerry, as the Democratic presidential candidate, should have more votes than Connally. In a presidential election, most voters have the priority of casting a vote for president and the votes for president are almost always much higher than those of candidates farther down the ticket. As of election night, 5,481,804 votes were counted for Bush and Kerry. 4,327,270 votes were counted for Moyer and Connally.

""This looks like a computer glitch or a computer fix,"" said Bob Fitrakis, a lawyer, political scientist and Editor of the Columbus Free Press (http://freepres.org) who has written about election irregularities since Bush was declared the winner. Fitrakis is among the team of lawyers who announced they would soon file an election challenge in the state’s Supreme Court.

*******************************************************************************

Warren County, Ohio: most successful voter registration drive in American political history, or stuffing the ballot box
Warren County, a traditional Republican stronghold northeast of Cincinnati, came to national attention on election night. While the nation awaited returns from Ohio, the state that would decide the election, county officials locked down the administrative building and prohibited all independent observers from watching the vote count.

An analyst who has all the vote data for 2000 and 2004 by precinct in several Ohio counties did a detailed analysis by precinct of the huge increase in Bush votes and margin in Warren county. This county first did a lockdown to count the votes, then apparently did another lockdown to recount the votes later- resulting in an even bigger Bush margin and very unusual new patterns.

Several very unusual patterns were evident in the history and the vote totals by precinct. The analyst concludes:

"George W. Bush’’s big win in Warren County was due to one of two things –– one of the most successful voter registration drives in American political history, or stuffing the ballot box. If the vote was legitimate, the records will show it. There will be a signature in a different handwriting for every one of the 16,803 newly registered voters, and for every one of the 95,512 ballots cast. If the vote was not legitimate, there will be a shortage of punch cards in the ballot box, or duplicate handwriting on the voter rolls, or fewer registered voters than reported." http://web.northnet.org/minstrel/warren.htm

Richard Hayes Phillips, Ph.D. 4 Fisher Street Canton, NY 13617 [phone]

Other counties and likely Kerry win in recount with fair rules: http://web.northnet.org/minstrel/alpage.htm

www.flcv.com/ohiov04.html

[pointsoflight]

33. Yes they did. Some of it directly targeted him and his decisions.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

3. Oh NOOOOO!

Nothing to see HERE! No TACTICS! Just bumbling! Really!

Someone must have dusted off the book on opposition party tactics. Dusted it off right nice, too.

[Twist_U_Up]

4. THEY MENTION FRAUD LOL

GAME IS ON BIOTCH

16. COOL -- Allegations of FRAUD in Ohio!

[Kellis]

26. *YAY*

OMG-This is reeeally great news!!!!!

:thumbsup: Game On! :toast:

Lets hope so people!!!!!

:bounce:

[ailsagirl]

5. The great beast is finally stirring... (I hope)

Interesting that Olbermann's ratings have gone through the ceiling!!!

:)

[whistle]

6. Thta is a very good beginning

[Verve]

7. The House Judiciary Committee is on FIRE!

Blackwell is going to go up in flames! :nuke:

[Carl Brennan]

34. This and Arnebeck are starting to give me hope.

The Bushies overreached and didn't or couldn't cover their tracks.

This is something the dems can sink their teeth into!!

WOOOOOHOOOO!!

[Catherine Vincent]

8. Republicans are goanna start sweating bullets soon.

[texpatriot2004]

24. Won't it be wonderful to watch n/t

[texpatriot2004]

25. and won't it be wonderful to watch. n/t

[jsamuel]

9. Sounds GREAT!

[kerry2win]

10. lock him up ...might be worse than b**h (if possible)

[Zeebo]

11. Keep it kicked!! This is a good overall synopsis. n/t

[Patsy Stone]

13. There's another thread. Don'tcha just love this story though! Yummy.

[pointsoflight]

35. Actually, the other one is different.

The House Judiciary is doing TWO things:

1) They're holding hearings on the voting irregularities, which is in the other thread.

2) They went after Blackwell, as posted here.

[Patsy Stone]

50. We're gonna need

a scorecard. I can't keep track anymore. :)

[AnIndependentTexan]

14. kicked

[Alizaryn]

17. You just made my night!

[seito]

19. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy... lol

:bounce:

[ailsagirl]

21. I like the idea...

of Blackwell being on the hot seat. Serves him right-- he has been the most sneaky and obnoxious road block to people's right to vote I've ever seen.

He definitely deserves whatever hassles he's experiencing.

I DO believe in karma

[goldengreek]

20. This is indeed a good post.

Outstanding work!!

[rodeodance]

23. bring him DOWN!!

[texpatriot2004]

22. Will they handcuff him, huh, huh, will they? I would so like for him

to be cuffed and walked out of his office on the way to the jailhouse for what he did. That can be his reward. He and everyone involved. Is that to much to ask for? Will it happen? Could it happen?

[New Earth]

27. I have been wanting to do this to someone for so long

[texpatriot2004]

28. What does it mean Faye?

[New Earth]

29. OWNED

[texpatriot2004]

32. Oh, cool. I like the pic he's such an arrogant jerk n/t

[Twist_U_Up]

30. lol nice n/t

[txindy]

31. Very nice! Things are moving along right on schedule.

Gotta love it! :evilgrin:

[Straight Shooter]

36. Blackwell's butt on the hot seat!

This man is soooo not prepared for what's coming down, and bush has begun to whistle by the graveyard.

Don't look back, bush, something's gaining.

[Old and In the Way]

37. Blackwell denied the Election Day meeting with Bush on KO

If that could be proven, I think that really sets off alarm bells. If he lied about that, what else would he lie about?

Bush's meeting with Blackwell should be public knowledge, no? And just why would such a meeting take place? Just coincidence.....again?

[ozymandius]

38. selected paragraphs transcribed here

We write to request your assistance with our ongoing investigation of election irregularities in the 2004 Presidential election. As you may be aware, the Government Accountability Office has agreed to undertake a systematic and comprehensive review of election irregularities throughout the nation. As a seperate matter, we ahve requested that the House Judiciary Committee Democratic staff undertake a thorough review of each and every specific allegation of election irregularities received by our offices.

Collectively, we are concerned that these compalints constitute a troubled portrait of a one-two punch that may have well altered and supressed votes, particularly minority and Democratic votes. First, it appears there were substancial irregularities in vote tallies. It is unclear whether these apparent errors were the result of machine malfunctions or fraud.

Second, it appears that a series of actions of government and non-government officials may have worked to frustrate minority voters. Consistent and widespread reports indicate a lackof voting machines in urban, minority and Democratic areas, and a surplus of such machines in Republican, white and rural areas. As a result, minority voters were discouraged from voting by lines that were in excess of eight hours long. Many of these voters were also apparently victims of a campaign of deception, where flyers and calls would direct them to the wrong voting place. Once at that voting place, after waiting for hours in line, many of these voters were provided provisional ballots after learning they were at the wrong location. These ballots were not counted in many jurisdictions because of a diretive issued by some election officials, such as yourself.

We are sure you agree with us that regardless of the outcome of the election, it is imperative that we examine any and all factors that may have led to voting irregularities and any failure of votes to be properly counted. Toward that end, we ask you to respond to the following allegations:

Warren County Lockdown:

-cut-

This lockdown muct be viewed in the context of the aberrational results in Warren County. In the 2000 Presidential election, the Democratic Presidential candidate, Al Gore, stopped running television commercials and pulled resources out of Ohio weeks before the election. He won 28% of the vote in Warren County. In 2004, the Democratic President candidate, John Kerry, fiercely contested Ohio and independent groups put considerable resources into getting out the Democratic vote. Moreover, unlike in 2000, independent candidate, Ralph Nader was not on the Ohio ballot in 2004. Yet the tallies reflect John Kerry exactly the same percentage in Warren County as Gore received, 28%.

We hope you agree that transparent election procedures are vital to public confidence in electoral results. Moreover, such abberant procedures only create suspicion and doubt that the counting of votes was manipulated. As part of your decision to certify the election, we hope you have investigated and found them without merit. To assist us in reaching a similar conclusion, we ask the following:

1. Have you, in fact, conducted an investigation of the lockdown? What procedures have you or would you recommend be put in place to avoid a recurrence of this situation?

-cut-

In Perry County, there appears to be an extraordinarily high level of voter registration, 91%; yet a substantial number of these voters have never voted and have no signature on file. Of the voters that are registered in Perry County, an extraordinarily large number of voters are listed as having registered in 1977, a year in which there were no federal elections. Of these an exceptional number are listed as having registered on the exact same day: in total, 3,100 voters apparently registered in Perry County on November 8, 1977.

-cut-

Unusual Results in Cuyahoga County

Precincts in Cleveland have reported an incredibly high number of votes for third party candidates who have historically received only a handful of votes from these urban areas. For example, precinct 4F in the 4th Ward cast 290 votes for Kerry, 21 for Bush and 215 for Constitution Party candidate Michael Peroutka. In 2000, the same precinct cast less than 8 votes for all third party candidates combined.

-much more detailed therein and more than my eyes can detail at this late hour

[pointsoflight]

43. Thanks for this.

[pointsoflight]

44. Question: I didn't see anything on the unauthorized access...

...by the former ES&S employee. Did anyone else see anything on that? If not, we need to remind the House committee about that. They could supeona the guy and might end up with someone who was directly involved in some shenanigens.

[Straight Shooter]

45. pointsoflight, if you know who those members are ...

You can get their contact info here: http://www.vote-smart.org

I can't download the PDF file yet, for whatever reason. But, anyhoo, it's late and I've got to call it a night.

If you can find out House members' names and PM me, I'll look up the ES&S story and we can follow up with contacting the House members tomorrow. That's an excellent idea you have there.

Thanks for posting this. It seems the fog is lifting, and I can almost hear John Lennon singing, Here Comes The Sun.

[anamandujano]

48. Beg pardon sir, that was George.

[texpatriot2004]

39. Man I am so grateful I am not in his shoes right now. n/t

[stirringstill]

40. Get Busy Ken! Still Running for Gov.?

This letter proves what the Republican machine thinks about Democracy. I hope they do not accept Ken's word alone on all these matters. One or two of these leads could unlock a deeper level of fraud that could change the election. Where did those 19,000 Bush votes come from? Where did those other count anomalies come from? Registrations from 1977? An answer to any one of these leads could reveal wide-spread fraud, but the odds are that Bush will be sworn in on Jan. 20. The Republicans will drag their feet and fight this at each pass. Recount! Recount! Recount!

I hope the Dems won't be content with "Fix it next time" or "This is a warning, KEN." Not this time. We were gracious in 2000, but now we have measured the enemy. The Dems have a chance to tar them with their own disdain for an America of the people, by the people and for the people. Ohio was yet another Republican Unpatriot Act.

[Stand and Fight]

41. Please keep this kicked.

I'm off to bed... I am freaking exhausted!!!
Goodnight friends!

[texpatriot2004]

42. Kicking it. sleep well stand and fight

[understandinglife]

46. Hey everyone, be sure to head on over to dKos and...

....keep pointsoflight's Diary on the recommended list there as well as keeping this one 'kicked.'

And, earlier this evening, I saw a sentence appear that I have been waiting 4 weeks and 1 day to see -- "Did Bush Know?"

I have fond memories of our life in DC between 1971 and 1979; very fond memories of the first of the, now, 34 years we've been together and our wonderful apartment in Georgetown that happened to be directly across the street from one of Nixon's boys. And, I remember those first "Did Nixon Know?" murmurings.

Ah yes, as we had our dinner this evening celebrating the 34th year together we both toasted the first glimpse of the "Did Bush Know?" meme that appeared just as we were leaving for our little celebration.

It's going to get intense everyone -- get ready to jump on that steamroller and stop the paving of our democracy.

This time around, let's make sure that no one, decades from now, will ever experience one of those "Did xxxxx know?" moments. Our franchise is resilient, but it can use a long period of being cherished and nurtured.

And, just start asking and tagging everything with that simple little sentence "Did Bush Know?"

The 2004 National Election is not over and is not valid; a truly fair and valid National Election that chooses the 44th President of the USA is just beginning to show first light on the horizon. Be prepared to bask in it's glow.

We will prevail.

"I Declare The 2004 Election Invalid: Someone I do not know was prevented from voting"

[YellowDoginthehouse]

47. Done. n/t

n/t

[4democracy]

49. This is the committee that Sensenbrenner is chairman of. I know

he got a lot of e-mails concerning all this from DUers!

[nashuaadvocate]

51. The Nashua Advocate

I had originally decided to limit myself to posting this notice in only three threads, but the site below has received such interest in the last 48 hours (almost 500 unique hits!) that I thought I'd post our news outlet's web address again in those DU threads which are covering stories we are also covering. So -- that address for The Nashua Advocate is, again,

http://www.nashuaadvocate.blogspot.com

Because The Advocate has only recently moved to this web address, Google.com does not yet list us. Please make sure to bookmark (and/or link) to the site when you first visit in order to readily access the site again in the future.

Keep up the good work, all of you!

News Editor, The Nashua Advocate