Dean has to set up camp in Ohio and picket outside Blackwell's office -

[blm]

The only way this GOP THUG is getting away with the crap he's pulling to suppress the votes is because the Ohio newspapers are letting him do it. Most of the people have no idea how corrupt Ohio is.

If Dean dedicates a week or two to standing outside that asshole's door with picket signs, I would bet hundreds or thousands would show up with him. The media can't hide it forever.

This NYT editorial on Ohio and Blackwell has GOT TO SIGNAL A CHANGE for the Dem party to focus on the "legal" vote suppression crap that is getting by.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=1369716&mesg_id=1369716

[napi21]

1. Why are Ohioans waiting for Dean? Is something stopping them

from doing this right NOW?

Howard is working very hard in a lot of issues, and I doubt he has the time to picket outside Blackwell's office! But a lot of people who ive there could!

[blm]

2. For the media attention to the issue - he knows it's corrupt and his

statement in Rolling Stone was dead on. He can do this and the party will benefit greatly from it.

[napi21]

4. You get a big enough crowd, youll get the media attention!

I think if you contacted Howard, he just night try to find some time to appear at a demonstration like that, but you can't expect him to spend days or weeks doing it.

The last thing you want the leader of the DNC is to become the news!

[never_get_over_it]

5. There is absolutely no issue more important

than fair elections - without them noting else matters. Dean and all the Dems SHOULD make this an issue and they should hold parallel elections for key races - so that when the vote "turns" out wrong they will have at least some data to back up the claims of fraud - since I guess we might be doing away with exit polling - or the exit polling must be wrong and the counting must be right or WHATEVER - THIS SHIT WITH THE MACHINES and THE REPUNK TACTICS HAS GOT TO BE STOPPED OR AMERICA AS WE KNEW IT IS DONE.

[napi21]

7. Yes it is the most important, but it's not the ONLY issue!

Howard could have spent his entire term as chair dealing with voter fraud, but who would have handled the 50 State election plan?

Don't you think many of the Dems who have won so far have been, at least partly, due to Howard' efforts?

I understand your concern. I live in Ga. and believe me, I understand not trusting the voting machines!!!!!!

You can't ask the DNC to concentrate all it's eforts on a single issue, or we'll win a battle and lose the war.

The MOST IMPORTANT thing is to WIN! Win State seats, Governorships, coucel seats, and for sure...The House & Senate in Nov.

Push your own Secretay of State "who's in charge of the validity of elections". I think the voter fraud issue is up to US!

[never_get_over_it]

9. Didn't say it was the only issue

didn't say Dean should spend his entire term on it - what I said is that Dems should run towards this issue to fix it and not away from it - they should prepare for it to happen again in November because mark my words it is going to happen again. I really hope the DNC will have people out in all the close races - and watch this shit like a hawk - do something to stop them. Hopefully the RFK Jr article will help get more people aware of this - but I'm telling you when I mention this to people who are not political junkies like we are - you know main stream Americans - they look at me like I have a freaking hole in my head and that I am some nut case conspiracy freak. People do not want to believe this could happen here...but it happened here and it will continue to happen here until the political leaders and we too STOP IT.

And man I live in FL so tell me about it. Only way I can even begin to get people to listen to me is to tell them why Al Gore won the Presidency in 2000 and you know what I tell them - I tell them that at the time it was FL state law to COUNT EVERY VOTE where the intent of the voter was clear and that there were tens of thousands of ballots that had the candidate's name punched and written in both Bush votes and Gore votes. And Katherine, belongs in prison not in the House or the Senate, Harris did not count these votes. But later they were counted and the difference in Gore's favor was over 30,000 votes....and you know what - they don't look at me like I'm crazy when I tell them that....so in their heart of hearts they know it happened just don't want to believe it...or think about what that really means for this country.

[Botany]

3. Blackwell's handywork

Relationship between machines per registered voter, voter turnout, and Kerry vote share

More specifically, here are tables for all three counties, which specify the number of precincts, machines per registered voter, and voter turnout, according to the Kerry vote share (percent of voters voting for Kerry). These tables were computed using the data that Professor Walter Mebane used to produce his portion of the 2004 Ohio Election Report sponsored by the Democratic National Committee (DNC).

Lake County

Kerry %     Precincts    Machines/1000 reg. voters    Turnout
20-30       4                3.82                                 67.5%
30-40       32              3.51                                 68.4%
40-50       76              3.55                                 69.1%
50-60       88              3.40                                 66.1%
60-70       15              3.19                                 62.0%
70-80       2                3.10                                 50.0%


Mahoning County

Kerry %     Precincts    Machines/1000 reg. voters    Turnout
30-40       17               6.90                                 68.2%
40-50       51               6.48                                 66.1%
50-60       68               6.48                                 65.6%
60-70       75               6.41                                 62.0%
70-80       42               5.72                                 56.0%
80-90       38               5.01                                 47.6%
90-100     21               5.31                                 50.0%


Franklin County

Kerry %     Precincts    Machines/1000 reg. voters    Turnout
20-30       18              4.02                                 67.8%
30-40       130             3.92                                 66.4%
40-50       236             3.66                                 60.6%
50-60       154             3.32                                 57.1%
60-70       90              2.94                                 51.1%
70-80       57              3.10                                 48.6%
80-90       69              3.08                                 49.4%
90-100     32              3.03                                 47.5%


There are two important things to note from observation of these tables. First, there is a general and significant trend in all three counties for the number of machines per registered voters to be very high in the heaviest Bush precincts and then become progressively lower the higher the Kerry vote. Secondly, voter turnout demonstrated precisely the same relationship, being highest in the heaviest Bush precincts and then becoming progressively lower in the Kerry precincts.

[sandnsea]

6. This is really important

They would say the reason there are fewer machines in Kerry precincts is because Dems notoriously have a low turn-out. But if they aren't providing enough voting equipment to begin with, causing people to leave, then it's a perpetual problem that feeds itself. You can never build the turn-out that would mathematically require more machines if you never provide enough machines to accommodate all the voters in the first place. I'm wondering if there's some other comparisons that can be made to prove that turnout is either equal in other elections, or a mathematically provable percentage higher in Presidential elections for these particular precincts.

[driver8]

8. Everytime I read anything about Blackwell I get pissed.

I can feel the knot in my stomach right now as I type this.

I would love to meet that guy in a dark alley some night...maybe work off some of this anxiety.