Blackwell ducks subpoenas as more evidence of fraud found & Kerry joins fr

[berniew1]

fray
by Bob Fitrakis, Steve Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman December 28, 2004 http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2004/1046

COLUMBUS -- Ohio Republican Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell refused to appear at a deposition on Monday, December 27. The deposition was part of an election challenge lawsuit
filed at the Ohio Supreme Court. Meanwhile John Kerry is reported to have filed a federal legal action aimed at preserving crucial recount evidence, which has been under GOP assault throughout the state.

Richard Conglianese, Ohio Assistant Attorney General, is seeking a court order to protect Blackwell from testifying under oath about how the election was run. Blackwell, who administered Ohio's November 2 balloting, served as co-chair of the Bush-Cheney campaign.

Meanwhile, the Election Protection legal team has collected new statements under oath describing more voting and vote-counting problems on November 2.

Voters in Trumbull County have testified that on Election Day they received punch-card ballots where holes were already punched for Bush. Meanwhile, a notarized affidavit signed by Angela Greene, who voted at Whitehall Yearling High School in central Ohio's Franklin County, stated that one of the malfunctioning electronic voting machines at her polling place was delivered without a cartridge –– meaning votes cast might have gone uncounted.

In Miami County, Blackwell certified a 98.6% turnout in the Concord Southwest precinct, comprised of 520 votes for Bush and 157 for Kerry. This statistically improbable turnout has all but 10 of the 689 registered voters casting their ballots on Election Day. A preliminary canvas by The Free Press of less than half the precinct found 25 registered voters admitting they had not voted, meaning the official tally was almost certainly fraudulent.

The nearby Concord South precinct certified a 94.27% voter turnout, with 468 alleged votes for Bush versus 182 for Kerry. Miami County is included in the election challenge since it somehow reported nearly 19,000 additional votes after 100% of the precincts had reported on Election Day.

In Madison County, where public records requests were filed to obtain voting records, the voting results provided by the Madison County Board of Elections came directly from a private company, Triad Governmental Systems, Inc. An email dated November 29, 2004 from Brandon Sandlin of Triad reads as follows: ““Hello to all in Madison County! Attached you will find the cumulative report (oh49unov.pdf) with over and under votes reported as well as the official abstract (oh49abs.pdf). These reports may be printed for your records and then mailed to the state along with your other certification reports.”” Coming from a private corporation, Triad's letter underscores the barriers to making a reliable independent public assessment and recount of Ohio's presidential tally.

In Mahoning County, the Washington Post reported new affidavits documenting electronic "vote hopping" from Kerry to Bush. This means voting machines highlighted the choice for Bush before the voter recorded a choice of his or her own. The legal team has been told by a computer expert that this may mean the machines were pre-set on a Bush vote as a default. The Free Press has obtained dozens such sworn statements of vote hopping.

The legal team is also exploring new evidence that in Coshocton, Ohio, write-in votes wrongly defaulted to Bush when run through the voting machine.

[tabasco]

1. Wow, this Blackwell guy really thinks he's above the law.

I hope they throw his ass in jail for contempt.

[jazzjunkysue]

2. ABC runs Blackwell refusal coverage: FINALLY!!!

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=363968&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

Ohio Official Refuses Interview Over Vote
Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell Doesn't Want to Be Interviewed in Vote Challenge

COLUMBUS, Ohio Dec 27, 2004 — The secretary of state, who declared President Bush the official winner in Ohio, is seeking a court order to keep himself from being interviewed as part of a court challenge of the Nov. 2 vote.
Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell claims his deposition is not required, and accused 37 voters challenging the election of "frivolous conduct."
The court challenge cites irregularities including long lines, a shortage of voting machines in minority precincts and problems with computer equipment.
Bush defeated Sen. John Kerry by 119,000 votes, according to Blackwell's official count; Ohio's 20 electoral votes gave Bush the 270 he needed for victory.
Attorney General Jim Petro, representing Blackwell, said the voters "are not trying to actually contest the presidential election but are merely using this litigation to cast public doubt on the voting system of the State of Ohio without a shred of evidence."
On Dec. 21, officials learned lawyers for the voters planned to issue subpoenas to several high-ranking officials, including Blackwell, Bush and the president's political adviser, Karl Rove, according to Petro.
The state Supreme Court "should halt their ability to subpoena any person until such time as they make a good faith showing for the reason to take any deposition," Petro said in the court filing.
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

[berniew1]

7. It does seem the GOP controls the courts in Ohio

[Imagevision]

3. Blackwell? -- this is good, when they get him he'll make a splash!

[NEOBuckeye]

4. Say Bye Bye to your Gubernatorial Aspirations, Blackwell

Fixing the election for Bush may not manage to boot him out of the White House in 2004, but it will almost assuredly keep your sorry ass out of the Ohio Governor's mansion in 2006.

Dumbass.

[Twist_U_Up]

5. not if they control the machines

scary

[NEOBuckeye]

9. Don't be so sure, in this case at least.

Most of the Ohio GOP leadership hates Ken Blackwell. They're very comfortably Moderate/Right-Centrists, while he's Ultra-Right. He'd rock their boat WAY too much, were he to become Governor, and they won't have it. I think it says something that the Republican House Speaker in the state legislature actually went as far as to put together a multi-million dollar smear campaign against Blackwell, though he himself got busted down by his own scandals before it could launch.

Also, don't be fooled by Petro in his apparent defense of Blackwell. He's only wearing the outward mask of GOP solidarity. Besides, if Blackwell gets nailed by voting scandals before the moderate Ohio GOPers can destroy him in the primaries, Blackwell becomes the IMAGE of the whole Ohio Republican Party. In other words, they will ALL look like bungeling, criminal idiots.

[NVMojo]

13. Blackwelll is definitely a Bush Party ass kisser ....

[ooglymoogly]

6. holey sht

this guy has the balls of a bull and is twice as dumb

[New Earth]

12. hey do you know these guys

googly and spoogly? you all sound like triplets.

[bleever]

8. Refusing to testify til they already have evidence?

How about refusing to inaugurate til we have verified totals?

What a jerk.

:eyes:


edit: sp

[Shalom]

10. Thanks for starting a serious thread !!!

I was starting to worry about DU....

[oscar111]

11. "Lawless Ohio" "Lawlessness Rules in Ohio"-good memes for us to use

both from me.

The many, many instances of Blackwell lawlessness are the basis.

-no access to poll books for weeks,
being an outstanding case in point
{see the Arnebeck suit summary here at DU.. use Search, misplaced the link.. was a day or two ago}

[berniew1]

14. More affidavits of fraud are due for Thursday and Friday; here's more doc.

Another thread current now indicates that more affidavits of fraud are expected to be taken Thursday or Friday.
Here's a site with previously identified fraud:
http://northnet.org/alpage.htm

[jazzjunkysue]

15. keep kickin'

[berniew1]

16. Why hasn't someone in ohio had Blackwell indicted since its clear he's

violated Ohio election laws and Federal laws, as noted on previous threads??

Also by going through the EIRS election incidents reports it is obvious that there was huge amount of malfeasance by other officials and poll workers. Someone needs to compile that in the various Ohio counties by going to http://www.voteprotect.org
and going to research/maps and the Ohio map and compiling malfeasance by county. All of this obvious malfeasance should be reported to Arnebeck and authorities. It will be very useful to Arnebeck in his case. And malfeasance should not be tolerated anyway. Else why have elections.