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Departments Election Issues Why history demands an Ohio revote Lets deal with the recount first. Various Republican minions complain that a full recount of the Ohio vote will cost upwards of $1.5 million and won't shift the state from George W. Bush to John Kerry. But that money represents less than 0.1% of the $200 billion minimum figure the Bush Administration will spend to "bring democracy to Iraq." The litany of fraud and manipulation that has surrounded the 2004 Ohio election is staggering ... and growing. Its footprints are posted in part at http://freepress.org and numerous other web sites. The Ohio election, which will determine this most heavily contested of all US presidential campaigns, has no credibility with tens of millions of Americans and hundreds of millions the world over. Simply put: if this government can't spend $1.5 million to re-check its own presidential vote counts, it has no credibility as a proponent of global democracy. It also betrays US history. When opponents say a recount is uncalled for because it "won't change the outcome," ie won't result in a Kerry victory, they are wrong on two counts. First, a true electronic investigation might well throw the vote to Kerry. There are more than enough Ohio votes stashed in electronic machines with no paper trail to change the victor. The range of other dubious events surrounding this election far exceeds the roughly 116,000 vote margin now being claimed for Bush. But equally important is the fact that virtually all survey histories of the United States carry tables of presidential vote tallies. They are the stuff of our past. Their meaning is not merely in who won, but with how many votes, in which states, and by what margins. An election's significance is not in just that one candidate beat the other; it's also crucial to know how, where and by how much. The vote count also has bearing on what kind of mandate a president can claim. It has been significant to the world that George W. Bush was a minority president in his first term. Whoever finally occupies the White House in January will also point to what happened here as a marker of his political capital. Each vote that goes one way or the other has tangible weight. Finally, and most important, it is a sacred American right that every vote be properly counted, no matter what. A Vietnam vet recently burst out on talk radio here in Columbus that "I don't care who won the election! I want my vote counted!!" That, he said, is what he fought and could have died for. Given the clouds of anger and doubt surrounding the Ohio vote, to not do a recount would be a sign of contempt for the American soul, and for all this administration says it is fighting and killing for worldwide in the name of democracy. As for a re-vote, this controversial step has been made necessary by the stunning contempt shown people of color and other residents of the inner city. As widely reported, misallocation of voting machines and other problems made it virtually impossible for tens of thousands of Ohioans to vote November 2. Waits of three to eleven hours in the pouring rain are not a reasonable price for casting a ballot, especially when those costs are levied in a discriminatory fashion. We will never know how many tens of thousands of Ohioans were turned away at the polls, were forced to leave before voting, or never went once they heard how long the lines were. This was a de facto denial of the Fifteenth Amendment right to vote, as surely as were the poll tax and literacy tests of the Jim Crow south. As co-chair of Ohio's Bush-Cheney campaign, Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, who officiated over this election, was clearly a partisan. Without a re-vote to restore the rights of all Ohioans, this election's stench of manipulation will fester through the history books as surely as all those staged in Stalin's Soviet Union. Ukraine has now taken the obvious step of re-running a national election so that its fledgling democracy can maintain its credibility. Ohio can do no less. -- Harvey Wasserman and Bob Fitrakis are senior editor and publisher of http://freepress.org which in January will publish ANOTHER STOLEN ELECTION: VOICES OF THE DISENFRANCHISED, 2004. Wasserman is author of HARVEY WASSERMAN'S HISTORY OF THE US (http://harveywasserman.com). Fitrakis's numerous books include SPOOKS, NUKES & NAZIS (http://freepress.org). |
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Recent Election Issues Articles Ohio's official non-recount ends amidst new evidence of fraud, theft and judicial contempt mirrored in New Mexico Impossible Phantom Votes in New Mexico
The 2004 Presidential Election: Who Won The Popular Vote? An Examination of the Comparative Validity of Exit Poll and Vote Count Data Ohio GOP election officials ducking notices of deposition as Kerry enters stolen vote fray Another third rate burglary Hacking the vote in Miami County Update from the Ohio Frontlines Lawsuit Before the Ohio Supreme Court Kerry votes switched to Bush and ballots pre-punched for Bush Uncounted votes in Cuyahoga County Provisional ballots in Cuyahoga County Uncounted votes in Summit County Uncounted votes in Hamilton County Default settings in Mahoning County Ohio electoral fight becomes 'biggest deal since Selma' as GOP stonewalls Observations from an election observer TV Networks Officially Refuse to Release Exit Poll Raw Data; Mainstream media finally displays true colors Election results in Southwestern Ohio Voting Rights Groups 'Block' Talk of Machine-Free Elections Statistics from Warren County The greatest story never told The United States of Ukraine?: Exit Polls Leave Little Doubt that in a Free and Fair Election John Kerry Would Have Won both the Electoral College and the Popular Vote Certifiable election results Sinclair Broadcasting's Long History of Journalistic and Corporate Deception Ohio vote count battles escalate amidst new evidence of potential criminal activity American democracy hangs by a thread in Ohio Startling new revelations highlight rare Congressional hearings on Ohio vote New Ohio voter transcripts The One-Two Punch of Racism: Whitewashing the Voter Fraud Issue Rigging the vote in Lucas County
Uncounted votes in Montgomery County Why history demands an Ohio revote Ohio election fraud uproar blasting to new level Dirty work at the Philly polls Voter Suppression: STEALING VOTES IN OHIO URBAN AREAS (full documentation) In Ohio 2004, it's the People versus the Party of Hate & Terror and the Party of Duck and Run...but will the Democrats now stand and fight? Warren County, Ohio: most successful voter registration drive in American political history, or stuffing the ballot box Jesse Jackson demands Ohio presidential recount, blasts GOP election officials, and says Kerry supports the process Kerry Supports Ohio Vote Investigation, Jackson says Hope for the Homestretch Favoritism in the suburbs New Ohio voter transcripts feed floodtide of doubt about Republican election manipulation Election officials gave wrong information about provisional ballots - revealed in affidavit. US tells Ukraine to recount votes on fradulent election! Not counting the votes Stealing votes in Columbus Making every vote count How a Republican election supervisor manipulated the 2004 central Ohio vote, in black and white More Ohio voter suppression testimony prompts upcoming legal filing for statewide recount Ohio Presidential Results to be Challenged Franklin County, Ohio voting machine assignments, and other information Coalition's Support of Voting Machines Causes Confusion
Hearings on Ohio voting put 2004 election in doubt Closing the Circle: The Corporatization of Elections Subordinating nation's secular values to zealots' will The Public Hearings and Rally About Election Fraud in Columbus, OH this weekend, Sat. 11/13-Please pass widely! Slip-sliding away in Columbus Green and Libertarian Presidential Candidates to Demand Ohio Recount An End To Mourning November 3rd action The Bible, The Constitution, and the James Carville Experiment Basic report from Columbus Waiting to vote Confessions of a political Know-Nothing in the wake of the 2004 elections Let the spin begin Back Stabbers Cost Kerry in Ohio! The Last Battle Republican America! Republican Forever! Is there inner-city election suppression in Franklin County, Ohio? Michael Moore in Columbus No love in the Heartland: Kerry gets mocked in Pa. school election Ten reasons for Greens to vote for Kerry Twelve ways Bush is now stealing the Ohio vote GW Bush Before the Iraq War
MISOGYNY Foreign Policy Forecast: If Bush Wins | If Kerry Wins Hope for the homestretch FactCheck.org says Cheney got it wrong Do the Hokey Pokey Hope for the homestretch Addressing Republican issues with John Kerry Gallup Polls- Conditioning for Vote Rigging? Too Many Cameras and Not Enough Truth: John Kerry Dodges the Press Nader 2000 Leaders United To Defeat Bush Shut up and color: the politics of bullying Kerry, Nader and the Greens need to kill the circular firing squad Don’t Believe the Hype; Terrorist Warnings Just Another Way Bush Will Steal Election President of Greater Stark County AFL-CIO speaks out on Bush’s visit in Canton, Ohio I'll Follow Kucinich to Kerry, Sorry Ralph Badnarik Doubles in Recent National Poll ‘A green world is possible’ planned in New York City during the Republican National Convention An open letter to progressives: vote Kerry and Cobb A street fighting man? How Kucinich can win Scary, Scary John Kerry With all deliberate stupidity: US self-isolation makes Iraq a virtual non-issue in the elections so far To support or not to support; the Nader question Halliburton, VP Cheney's Former Company Faces Second Criminal Probe In Four Years The Lone Ranger of Righteousness The Wrong Side of History High Noon in America The Truth is Out: Kucinich is the choice of progressives Dean and Kucinich Bush Should Be Facing 'A Long, Hard Slog' On The Campaign Trail, But Dems Too Busy Fighting With Each Other Read Election Issues Articles by Year: |
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