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Bob Fitrakis

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December 29, 2007

Dear Free Press and freepress.org subscribers and supporters,
With the 2008 presidential primaries a little more than a week away, it is more important than ever to keep the all-volunteer Free Press in business, so we can continue our efforts to ensure free and fair elections - not only in Ohio and throughout the nation.

Since the 2004 election, CICJ co-produced with EON the “Help America Vote on Paper”18-minute informational video documenting the perils of privatized vote counting to corporations using proprietary voting machines and software. The CICJ and EON presented the video at many events and distributed DVD copies nationwide.

Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman wrote and promoted “What Happened in Ohio? A documentary record of theft and fraud in the 2004 election” (New Press). The book contains actual public records from the 2004 election and outlines for the readers the massive voting irregularities in Ohio. The book concludes with a calculation showing that if the votes had been properly counted, John Kerry would have won Ohio as the exit polls predicted.

The CICJ sponsored a national conference to organize election protection activities for Ohio and other states. Grant funds were used for speakers’ travel expenses, including University of Pennsylvania Professor Steve Freeman, election attorney Paul Lehto, campaign finance reform activist Granny D and singer Tom Nielson. Election protection workshops were conducted. The conference led to the historic Five Candidate Election Protection project.

CICJ sponsored investigative teams that collected public records from county boards of elections (BOEs) throughout Ohio outlining voting procedures, including protocols for electronic voting. Funds were also used to document and analyze election irregularities from 2004 elections, including Warren County ballots indicating illegal and unauthorized voting that happened off punch card machines, phantom electronic votes in Miami County, purge voter reports from Cuyahoga County, and double punched ballots throughout the urban areas of Ohio. As a result of the research, negotiations are ongoing between civil rights attorneys and the Ohio Attorney General and Secretary of States regarding 2008 election procedures.

During 2008, we will monitor Ohio's boards of elections and track the activities of voting machine vendors. Free Press Editors Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman are planning two new books for 2008 with recommendations on how to ensure a transparent election. We will train election observers, investigative reporters and videographers to cover all of Ohio's 88 counties. We plan to stream live on Election Day from ground zero in Columbus, Ohio.

You can donate via PayPal at our Online Store - see the link on the menu above. or send a check to:

The Free Press
1240 Bryden Rd.
Columbus, OH 43205

Thanks for your support!
Bob Fitrakis
Editor

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