The voting mess in Ohio may be even worse than it was in 2004

[kpete]

Mr. Blackwell’s Designs
T@P The voting mess in Ohio may be even worse than it was in 2004.
By Marie Cocco
Issue Date: 10.03.06

Hundreds of voters mysteriously “dropped or displaced” from registration rolls when master lists were electronically merged. Absentee ballots invalidated because voters didn’t receive a flier telling them not to remove a security stub. Poll workers who didn’t show up to work on Election Day. Polling places unable to open on time because computer memory cards for new machines hadn’t been installed. Suspicious shortages of machines in precincts that happened to be heavily Democratic. Voters who left the polls in disgust without having cast a ballot, because they just couldn’t wait for overwhelmed precinct workers to sort through a monstrous mess of administrative and equipment problems.

Ohio, 2004? Nope. Ohio, 2006.

It took Cuyahoga County officials six days after the May 2 primary to come up with a tally of results. The Election Day chaos in Ohio’s most populated jurisdiction -- and a heavily Democratic one -- has been the subject of scathing official inquiries that found irregularities on such a grand scale they might make even Katherine Harris blush. Could this be a preview of November’s midterm elections?

Perhaps. Except the sequel might be worse.

http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewPrint&articleId=12006

[Epiphany4z]

1. they have moved

man voters to new polling places..I nearly did not catch it ...I never look at those little cards they send me. A lady I helped register brought it to my attention.

[ClintonTyree]

2. Anything Blackwell can do.......

to subvert Democracy he can and WILL do. It's the only way Repiglicans can win. On an even playing field they're toast.

[Raster]

7. ken blackwell is a traitor to this country and should be dealt with

as such. It is grossly apparent that his loyalties lie not with the legal government of the people--federal or state--but to his masters in the rethuglican party. It is abhorrent that a black man would work so hard to disenfranchise voters--many of them persons of color--to elect a racist, bigoted political slate. Talk about denial and self-loathing.

[EnviroBat]

25. I totally fuggin agree

This guy should be "dealt with". This fucker is a traitor, and Ohio can no longer tolerate him. Now he's talking of fucking over Strickland. I really can't comprehend what's happening here any more. I'm so fucking sick of the complacency of Ohioans. I feel like going to the State House today with a megaphone,(and getting arrested no doubt), but I must attend a funeral...

[Selteri]

15. Said it before and said it again

I don't trust Blackwell, especially when he's counting his own votes for Governer.

I pray there is such a landslide for his opponent, Ted Strickland, that the fraud is obvious, sadly though, I'm not holding my breath. At this point in time the only way I will believe that the vote is not being manipulated is if we take a gun and shoot EVERY SINGLE MACHINE and force them to use paper ballots.

[Imperialism Inc.]

3. My registration address has changed back twice to the address

I was at 2 apartments ago! I caught it once already, got it corrected, but now it has changed back again! They tell me it is too late to do anything about. I am just going to go to my old polling place I guess. Who knows if my vote will actually count.

[formercia]

6. that smells

a database entry is just that. Things don't change back without someone writing code or giving a command. How much you want to bet that the change isn't random over the whole voter base?

[flyarm]

8. go to your local newspaper and get it on record!! n/t

[melissinha]

23. absolutely

the more you get it on public record the more credible our claims will be... then it may bring other people out with more evidence.

[peace13]

24. You can change your address until October 23rd

in Licking County, not sure which county you live in. If you do not get it changed you should vote in your new precinct with a provisional ballot. Regardless of what Ann Coulter does it is illegal to vote in a precinct that you do not reside in. Also you will have to show picture ID this time and the address on your ID will have to match the book as well. Hopes this saves you the run around on election day. You can also walk into the the BOE through election day and vote without ID, go figure. I just got done with my poll worker training last night. Hope they let me work this time. Last election I got passed over because I asked questions to the Diebold flunky. Peace to you, Kim

[texpatriot2004]

4. K & R for Transparent Democracy nm

[Kurovski]

5. K&R.(nt)

[Imagevision]

33. Why would anyone fight NOT to have a verifyable election process?

which the answer clearly is so that it can be manipulated/controlled!

[rudy23]

9. The theme for 2006--sabatoge masquerading as incompetence

and watch how all these honest mistakes will just so happen to favor Republicans every time.

I hope our eyes are watching every move, and our lawyers are ready to fight this strategy. 'Cause it's happening, no question.

[bobbieinok]

10. could there be pickets the correct distance from polls ??? saying

'before you leave, make sure your vote is credited accurately'..... or whatever is considered most appropriate????

ads starting now in all newspapers about what to watch out for, what voters should check days before they vote, etc ??????

[jazzjunkysue]

11. If they rig this one, too, America will have to wake up and admit it.

We stubbornly refuse to believe our american government could be corrupted that far.

But it has been that way since 98.

[Imagevision]

12. Blackwell still running the show, will take one for the team and deliver

Ohio to the repugs, Insufficient machines, tabulator probels and inconsistencies he did it in 2004 so we know he is capable of rigging an election

[Time for change]

13. Democrats better organize a system to make sure that their voters

don't get purged.

And as soon as they identify that happenting they better raise holy hell about it BEFORE the election.

[struggle4progress]

14. If I lived in Ohio, I might be strugglin with my dedication to nonviolence

I'm not suggestin anything: I'm jest sayin that I'd be grittin my teeth with smoke comin outta my ears and countin to ten frequently and takin a lotta slow deep breaths and tryin hard to resist the urge to stock up on guns and ammo and readin inspirational stuff about MLK and Gandhi and thinkin bunches about my values and wonderin wjether I should rearrange my schedule to spend time on the firing range or maybe take yoga lessons, ya know.

Jest sayin ...

[EFerrari]

16. Me, too. I have this fantasy that people just go sit outside the

Statehouse. Lots of people. All around the statehouse -- even though I know that's not where Blackheart's office is. Let the whole state government know we know and our patience has evaporated.

If anything, we should ALL go to OH in November because with HAVA, we are ALL OH now.

[struggle4progress]

18. Lotta good folk took vacation days to go to Ohio in 2004. Electoral

politics is important, but perhaps something more is needed.

Anyway, I think you're right: the time has come to communicate "our patience has evaporated."

[peace13]

27. You are correct

life in Ohio is not easy. I do the campaign thing, give money to candidates and work the poll on election day. This year my husband had to promise me that if Blackwell 'wins' we get to leave the state. That is what keeps me in yoga class!

[struggle4progress]

29. Peace to ya, peace.

[peace13]

30. Thanks for that!

[VPStoltz]

17. PBS special on Marion County (Indiana?)

ABSOLUTELY chilling to witness the "greatest democracy in the history of the world" having to deal with a system that seems to have been created purposely to not work.

[MattP]

19. Where is the coverage

How much crap will this country put up with and go on like nothing is going on, save for a few people, it seems like no one really cares.

[Matilda]

20. I recall that Cuyahoga Country was one of those places

that had some very strange results between the exit polls and final counting in 2004. Not to
mention the difficulties experienced by a lot of people even getting to register their vote.

Same old, same old...

[JWS]

21. Let's cross our fingers, and hope people are watching this time.

I'll never forget when they turned the lights off on John Conyers when he tried to look into the scandalous 2004 voting problems.

What a disgrace.

[liberal N proud]

22. And the man behind the mess in Ohio?

[I_Am_WiseFawn]

26. Voting Rights Revival Conference

Hello! Hopefully you've already heard, but I was hoping you guys could help spread the word because I'm not allowed to post a topic yet. There is an all weekend conference being held in Columbus with great speakers and workshops and entertainment. Even free food!! For info, please go to

http://freepress.org/vrrc/index.php

Thanks a lot!

[3reddogs]

28. I'm Still Waiting

The Ohio Democratic Party left 3 messages on my answering machine over the course of last week telling me to watch my mail for an absentee ballot application (and, of course, telling me to vote Democratic). I'm still waiting for it to show up. Not that I need it, though ... I've planned all along to take advantage of Ohio's wide-open absentee ballot process so I visited their website, printed the application, filled it out and mailed it to the Summit County Board of Elections 3 weeks ago. I'm still waiting for my absentee ballott to show up too!! (I called and they haven't come back from the printer yet :-) ) Interestingly, one of my co-workers who lives in a different Ohio county got similar messages but his were from the Ohio REPUBLICAN Party. His absentee application showed up in the mail as promised, he filled it out and mailed it in (and he's already gotten his absentee ballot back!)

If Ken Blackwell is going to screw around again this year maybe he'll at least have to do more than mess with the electronic voting machines. (Every Democrat in Ohio should vote using an absentee ballot because, sure as hell, there won't be enough voting machines in the Democratic precincts in November just like there weren't enough back in 2004!)

[ArmchairMeme]

31. What can be done?

I read about the violations, underhanded methods, stealing etc.

I question what can be done. What can voters do the help themselves.

My thought is what if at every precinct a voter organized Dem and Rep paper receipt be offered to each voter upon leaving the polling place. The voter fills out a piece of paper stating their vote (2 part) keeps one for themselves and puts the other part in a locked box for future reference.

Both sides have a vested interest in the validity of the count.
Both sides have doubts that the electronic votes are accurate.
Both sides have already asked for a papertrail and it is not forthcoming.
Can the voters provide their own papertrail?

[Imagevision]

32. Especially since Ohio is treading Bluer then 04 election , Bush must steal

the election because he goes lame duck for two years otherwise!