 |
Fri May 16 2008 | |||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
Departments Election Issues Startling new revelations highlight rare Congressional hearings on Ohio vote by Bob Fitrakis, Steve Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman December 13, 2004 Startling new revelations about Ohio's presidential vote have been uncovered as Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee join Rev. Jesse Jackson in Columbus, the state capital, on Monday, Dec. 13, to hold a rare field hearing into election malfeasance and manipulation in the 2004 vote. The Congressional delegation will include Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), Rep. Stephanie Tubbs-Jones, and others. Taken together, the revelations show Republicans – in state and county government, and in the Ohio Republican Party – were determined to undermine and suppress Democratic turnout by a wide variety of methods. The revelations were included in affidavits gathered for an election challenge lawsuit filed Monday at the Ohio Supreme Court. Ohio's Republican Electoral College representatives are also to meet at noon, Monday, at the State House, even though the presidential recount, requested by the Green and Libertarian Parties, is only beginning the same day. On Sunday, John Kerry spoke with Rev. Jesse Jackson and urged him to take an more active role in investigating the irregularities and ensuring a fair and impartial recount. Kerry said there were three areas of inquiry that should be addressed: 92,000 ballots that recorded no vote for president; qualifying and counting provisional ballots; and supported an independent analysis of the software and set-up of the optical scan voting machines. What follows are excerpts from some of the affidavits for the election challenge. - In Warren County, where election officers declared a homeland security emergency on Election Day, and barred reporters and others from watching the vote count, it now has been revealed that county employees were told the previous Thursday they should prepare for the Election Day lockdown. That disclosure suggests the lockdown was a political decision, not a true security risk. Moreover, statements also describe how ballots were left unguarded and unprotected in a warehouse on Election Day, and they were hastily moved after county officials received complaints. - In Franklin County, where Columbus is located, the election director, Matt Damschroder, misinformed a federal court on Election Day when he testified the county had no additional voting machines – in response to a Voting Rights Act lawsuit brought by the state Democratic Party that minority precincts were intentionally deprived of machines. It now appears as many as 81 voting machines were being held back, out of 2,866 available, according to recent statements by Damschroder and Bill Anthony, the chairman of the Franklin County Board of Elections. The shortage of machines in Democratic-leaning districts lead to long lines and thousands of people leaving in frustration and not voting. Damschroder's contradictory statements raise the possibility of perjury. - Also in Franklin County, a worker at the Holiday Inn observed a team of 25 people who called themselves the "Texas Strike Force" using payphones to make intimidating calls to likely voters, targeting people recently in the prison system. The "Texas Strike Force" members paid their way to Ohio, but their hotel accommodations were paid for by the Ohio Republican Party, whose headquarters is across the street. The hotel worker heard one caller threaten a likely voter with being reported to the FBI and returning to jail if he voted. Another hotel worker called the police, who came but did nothing. - In Knox County, students at Kenyon College, a liberal arts school, stood in line for up to 11 hours, because only one voting machine was in use. However, at nearby Mt. Vernon Nazarene University, there were ample voting machines and no lines. This suggests the GOP shorting of voting machines was a more widespread tactic than just targeting inner-city neighborhoods. - Reports in sworn affidavits affirm numerous instances of direct official interference with the right to vote. In Warren County, Democrats were being targeted and forced to use provisional ballots, even if they had proper identification. These ballots were then subjected to more rigorous standards to be counted than were other ballots. In a half-dozen precincts in Franklin County, people who were not inside polling places by 7:30 PM were told to leave - even if they had waited in line for hours. This is a violation of the Voting Rights Act. Sworn affidavits also confirmed reports of old voter rolls being used, meaning that new voters were not on the list and would be given provisional ballots, if allowed to vote at all. Affidavits were also filed in support of the election challenge suit raising questions about manipulating exit poll results and computer tabulation of county and statewide votes. In one exit poll affidavit, Jonathan David Simon, an expert witness, notes that at 12:53 a.m. the exit polls altered the projected winner – even though the same number of votes had been cast. "Although each update reports the same number of respondents (872), the reported results differ significantly, with the latter (12:53 a.m.) exit poll results apparently having been brought into congruence with the tabulated vote results." In other words, the exit polls were made to conform to a political decision to declare Bush the victor. Another exit poll affidavit, filed by Ron Paul Baiman, an economist and statistician at the University of Illinois and University of Chicago, said the swing in national exit poll results, recorded at 12:33 a.m., when Kerry was winning with 50.8 percent of the vote, to Bush winning with 51.2 percent, was, "in lay terms, impossible." "This is more than a 100 percent swing in the other direction of the exit poll margin, he said. "There is less than a one in 25,000,000 (1/25,507,308) chance of this occurring." Another affidavit by Richard Hayes Phillips, a geomorphology Ph.D. from University of Oregon with a special expertise in spotting anomalous data, found dramatic examples of erroneous voting patterns – with votes taken away from Kerry - that can only be explained by computer manipulation. For instance, in 16 precincts in Cleveland, he found votes that were shifted from Kerry to other candidates. In at least 30 precincts, there was ultra-low voter turnout reported – as low as 7.1 percent or 13.05 percent – and seven entire wards where total turnout was below 50 percent. He writes, "Kerry won Cleveland with 83.27 percent of the vote to 15.88 percent for Bush. If voter turnout were really 60 percent of registered voters, as seems likely based on turnout in other major cities of Ohio, rather than 49.89 percent as reported, Kerry's margin of victory in Cleveland has been wrongly reduced by 22,000 votes." Phillips points to other counties where has says "there is compelling evidence of fraud." In Miami County early on election night, when 31,620 votes had been counted, and later, when 50,235 votes were counted, "Kerry had exactly the same percentage, 33.92 percent, and the percentage for George Bush was almost exactly the same, dropping by 0.03 percent from 65.80 to 65.77 percent. The second set of returns gave Bush a margin of exactly 16,000 votes, giving cause to question the integrity of the central counting device for the optical scan machines. " He cites many other examples, but summarizes his findings: "It is my professional opinion that John Kerry's margins of victory were wrongly reduced by 22,000 votes in Cleveland, by 17,000 votes in Columbus, and by as many as 7,000 votes in Toledo. It is my further professional opinion that John Kerry's margins of defeat in Warren, Butler, and Clermont Counties were inflated by as many as 37,000 votes in the aggregate, and in Miami County by as many as 6,000 votes. There are still 92,672 uncounted regular ballots that, based upon the analysis set forth of the election results from Dayton and Cincinnati, may be expected to break for John Kerry by an overwhelming margin. And there are still 14,441 uncounted provisional ballots." -- Bob Fitrakis, Steve Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman are co-authors of OHIO'S STOLEN ELECTION: VOICES OF THE DISENFRANCHISED, 2004, upcoming from www.freepress.org. Email this article to a friend |
Don't forget to check out articles from 2007 and 2008
"Ohio's official non-recount ends amidst new evidence of fraud, theft and judicial contempt mirrored in New Mexico"
December 31, 2004
Bob Fitrakis, Steve Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman
"Impossible Phantom Votes in New Mexico
"
December 30, 2004
Warren Stewart
"The 2004 Presidential Election: Who Won The Popular Vote? An Examination of the Comparative Validity of Exit Poll and Vote Count Data"
December 29, 2004
Jonathan D. Simon, J.D. and Ron P. Baiman, Ph.D.
"Ohio GOP election officials ducking notices of deposition as Kerry enters stolen vote fray"
December 28, 2004
Bob Fitrakis, Steve Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman
"Another third rate burglary"
December 25, 2004
Richard Hayes Phillips, Ph.D.
"Hacking the vote in Miami County"
December 25, 2004
Richard Hayes Phillips, Ph.D.
"Update from the Ohio Frontlines"
December 24, 2004
Cynthia L. Butler, Esq.
"Lawsuit Before the Ohio Supreme Court"
December 24, 2004
Summarized by Mary Anne Saucier, Columbus, Ohio
"Kerry votes switched to Bush and ballots pre-punched for Bush"
December 24, 2004
Dr. Werner Lange
"Uncounted votes in Cuyahoga County"
December 24, 2004
Richard Hayes Phillips, Ph.D.
"Provisional ballots in Cuyahoga County"
December 24, 2004
Richard Hayes Phillips, Ph.D.
"Uncounted votes in Summit County"
December 24, 2004
Richard Hayes Phillips, Ph.D.
"Uncounted votes in Hamilton County"
December 24, 2004
Richard Hayes Phillips, Ph.D.
"Default settings in Mahoning County"
December 23, 2004
Richard Hayes Phillips, Ph.D.
"Ohio electoral fight becomes 'biggest deal since Selma' as GOP stonewalls"
December 22, 2004
Bob Fitrakis, Steve Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman
"Observations from an election observer"
December 22, 2004
M.J. Willow
"TV Networks Officially Refuse to Release Exit Poll Raw Data; Mainstream media finally displays true colors"
December 22, 2004
Gary Beckwith
"Election results in Southwestern Ohio"
December 21, 2004
Richard Hayes Phillips, Ph.D.
"Voting Rights Groups 'Block' Talk of Machine-Free Elections"
December 20, 2004
Lynn Landes
"Statistics from Warren County"
December 20, 2004
Clint Cooper
"The greatest story never told"
December 20, 2004
Robert Lockwood Mills
"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"
December 19, 2004
Ron Baiman
"Certifiable election results"
December 19, 2004
Richard Hayes Phillips, Ph.D.
"Sinclair Broadcasting's Long History of Journalistic and Corporate Deception"
December 19, 2004
Jason Leopold
"Ohio vote count battles escalate amidst new evidence of potential criminal activity"
December 18, 2004
Bob Fitrakis, Steve Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman
"American democracy hangs by a thread in Ohio"
December 15, 2004
Bob Fitrakis, Steve Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman
"Startling new revelations highlight rare Congressional hearings on Ohio vote"
December 13, 2004
Bob Fitrakis, Steve Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman
"New Ohio voter transcripts"
December 12, 2004
Free Press staff
"The One-Two Punch of Racism: Whitewashing the Voter Fraud Issue"
December 10, 2004
Greg Moses
"Rigging the vote in Lucas County
"
December 10, 2004
Richard Hayes Phillips, Ph.D.
"Uncounted votes in Montgomery County"
December 10, 2004
Richard Hayes Phillips, Ph.D.
"Why history demands an Ohio revote"
December 10, 2004
Harvey Wasserman & Bob Fitrakis
"Ohio election fraud uproar blasting to new level"
December 7, 2004
Steve Rosenfeld, Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman
"Dirty work at the Philly polls"
December 3, 2004
Margie Burns
"Voter Suppression: STEALING VOTES IN OHIO URBAN AREAS (full documentation)"
December 3, 2004
Richard Hayes Phillips, Ph.D.
"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?"
December 1, 2004
Harvey Wasserman & Bob Fitrakis
"Warren County, Ohio: most successful voter registration drive in American political history, or stuffing the ballot box"
December 1, 2004
Richard Hayes Phillips, Ph.D.
"Jesse Jackson demands Ohio presidential recount, blasts GOP election officials, and says Kerry supports the process"
November 29, 2004
Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman
"Kerry Supports Ohio Vote Investigation, Jackson says"
November 28, 2004
Steven Rosenfeld
"Hope for the Homestretch"
November 28, 2004
Paul Rogat Loeb
"Favoritism in the suburbs"
November 27, 2004
Richard Hayes Phillips, Ph.D.
"New Ohio voter transcripts feed floodtide of doubt about Republican election manipulation"
November 25, 2004
Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman
"Election officials gave wrong information about provisional ballots - revealed in affidavit."
November 25, 2004
Neil F. Schoenwetter, Jr.
"US tells Ukraine to recount votes on fradulent election!"
November 25, 2004
Dr. J. Alva Scruggs
"Not counting the votes"
November 24, 2004
Richard Hayes Phillips, Ph.D.
"Stealing votes in Columbus"
November 23, 2004
Richard Hayes Phillips, Ph.D.
"Making every vote count"
November 23, 2004
Christopher T. Hicks
"How a Republican election supervisor manipulated the 2004 central Ohio vote, in black and white"
November 23, 2004
Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman
"More Ohio voter suppression testimony prompts upcoming legal filing for statewide recount"
November 20, 2004
Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman
"Ohio Presidential Results to be Challenged"
November 20, 2004
Steven Rosenfeld
"Franklin County, Ohio voting machine assignments, and other information"
November 20, 2004
Free Press staff
"Coalition's Support of Voting Machines Causes Confusion
"
November 20, 2004
Lynn Landes
"Hearings on Ohio voting put 2004 election in doubt"
November 18, 2004
Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman
"Closing the Circle: The Corporatization of Elections"
November 17, 2004
Greg Coleridge
"Subordinating nation's secular values to zealots' will"
November 12, 2004
Pierre Tristam
"The Public Hearings and Rally About Election Fraud in Columbus, OH this weekend, Sat. 11/13-Please pass widely!"
November 12, 2004
Dr. Lora Chamberlain
"Slip-sliding away in Columbus"
November 11, 2004
Carolyn M. Sherman
"Green and Libertarian Presidential Candidates to Demand Ohio Recount"
November 11, 2004
Blair Bobier and Stephen Gordon
"An End To Mourning"
November 9, 2004
Todd Huffman, M.D.
"November 3rd action"
November 6, 2004
Mark Huntress
"The Bible, The Constitution, and the James Carville Experiment"
November 5, 2004
Tom Luffman
"Basic report from Columbus"
November 5, 2004
Ray Beckerman
"Waiting to vote"
November 5, 2004
James K. Galbraith
"Confessions of a political Know-Nothing in the wake of the 2004 elections"
November 4, 2004
Mark Anderson
"Let the spin begin"
November 4, 2004
Free Press staff
"Back Stabbers Cost Kerry in Ohio!"
November 4, 2004
Tom Luffman
"The Last Battle"
November 4, 2004
Sheila Samples
"Republican America! Republican Forever!"
November 3, 2004
Am Johal
"Is there inner-city election suppression in Franklin County, Ohio?"
November 2, 2004
Bob Fitrakis
"Michael Moore in Columbus"
November 1, 2004
Tom Luffman
"No love in the Heartland: Kerry gets mocked in Pa. school election"
November 1, 2004
Jamie Pietras
"Ten reasons for Greens to vote for Kerry"
November 1, 2004
Don St.Clair
"Twelve ways Bush is now stealing the Ohio vote"
October 27, 2004
Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman
"GW Bush Before the Iraq War
"
October 24, 2004
Larry S. Rolirad
"MISOGYNY"
October 24, 2004
David Podvin
"Foreign Policy Forecast: If Bush Wins | If Kerry Wins"
October 18, 2004
Muqtedar Khan
"Hope for the homestretch"
October 15, 2004
Paul Rogat Loeb
"FactCheck.org says Cheney got it wrong"
October 8, 2004
Jason Leopold
"Do the Hokey Pokey"
October 6, 2004
Philip J. Rappa
"Hope for the homestretch"
October 2, 2004
Paul Rogat Loeb
"Addressing Republican issues with John Kerry"
October 1, 2004
Free Press staff
"Gallup Polls- Conditioning for Vote Rigging?"
September 28, 2004
Stephen Crockett and Al Lawrence
"Too Many Cameras and Not Enough Truth: John Kerry Dodges the Press"
September 14, 2004
Joshua Frank
"Nader 2000 Leaders United To Defeat Bush"
September 14, 2004
Nader 2000 Leaders United To Defeat Bush
"Shut up and color: the politics of bullying"
September 7, 2004
Paul Rogat Loeb
"Kerry, Nader and the Greens need to kill the circular firing squad"
August 15, 2004
Harvey Wasserman & Bob Fitrakis
"Don’t Believe the Hype; Terrorist Warnings Just Another Way Bush Will Steal Election"
August 9, 2004
Jason Leopold
"President of Greater Stark County AFL-CIO speaks out on Bush’s visit in Canton, Ohio"
August 1, 2004
Dan Sciury
"I'll Follow Kucinich to Kerry, Sorry Ralph"
July 28, 2004
David Swanson
"Badnarik Doubles in Recent National Poll "
July 28, 2004
Libertarian Party
" ‘A green world is possible’ planned in New York City during the Republican National Convention"
July 28, 2004
Green Party
"An open letter to progressives: vote Kerry and Cobb"
July 24, 2004
Eleven prominent progressives
"A street fighting man? How Kucinich can win"
April 21, 2004
Josh Frank
"Scary, Scary John Kerry "
March 25, 2004
Josh Frank
"With all deliberate stupidity: US self-isolation makes Iraq a virtual non-issue in the elections so far"
March 22, 2004
Daniel Patrick Welch
"To support or not to support; the Nader question"
March 16, 2004
Josh Frank
"Halliburton, VP Cheney's Former Company Faces Second Criminal Probe In Four Years "
February 24, 2004
Jason Leopold
"The Lone Ranger of Righteousness"
February 23, 2004
Paul Rogat Loeb
"The Wrong Side of History "
February 22, 2004
Daniel Patrick Welch
"High Noon in America "
January 26, 2004
Philip J. Rappa
"The Truth is Out: Kucinich is the choice of progressives "
January 15, 2004
via Daniel P. Welch
"Dean and Kucinich"
January 13, 2004
Paul Rogat Loeb
"Bush Should Be Facing 'A Long, Hard Slog' On The Campaign Trail, But Dems Too Busy Fighting With Each Other "
January 12, 2004
Jason Leopold
"Buckeyes go south in 2004 election"
December 1, 2004
"Columbus says, “George, go away!”"
December 1, 2004
"The Freep gives you Moore"
December 1, 2004
"Kerry won"
December 1, 2004
Read Articles by Year:
2007 2006 2005 2004
2003 2002 2001 2000
All content © 1970-2008
The Columbus Free Press
Disclaimer