DEPARTMENTS
ANTI-WAR
DEATH PENALTY
ELECTIONS
ENVIRONMENT
GLBT ISSUES
HEMP
INTERNATIONAL
NATIONAL
REVIEWS
|
Departments Election Issues Will Ken Blackwell find the ways to steal Ohio 2006 as he did in 2004? As election day approaches, Blackwell's dirty tricks sink ever deeper. Blackwell is now using "push polls" made infamous by Karl Rove. True to form, child molestation charges are front and center. He has also escalated the mass disenfranchisement of Ohio voters, trashing the ballots of some ten percent of absentee voters. He has eliminated the state-wide ballot initiative meant to save workers rights and wages. He's even tried to strike the Democratic gubernatorial nominee from the ballot altogether. All of which could affect not only his race for governor, but key U.S. Senate and House races as well. Blackwell is using Rove's notoriously deceptive push poll device to spread an unsubstantiated smear against his Democratic gubernatorial opponent, Ted Strickland. Push polls were rendered infamous when Rove used them in South Carolina to falsely suggest that Senator John McCain had fathered a mixed-race child. Often the impact of push polls is magnified by callers to talk shows that spread additional street rumors, as in the lie that McCain impregnated a black hooker. The reality in McCain's case: he had adopted a child from one of Mother Teresa's orphanages and prominently displayed her in his campaign literature. In Strickland's case, the Free Press has obtained a statement from Barbara Mooney of Fremont, Ohio describing in detail the phone call she received from the Blackwell for Governor campaign. On October 23, Mooney picked up the phone and heard: "This is a 45-second survey. Please answer yes or no." Then came: "If you knew Ted Strickland had hired a child molester would you still vote for him?" The electronic voice continued: "Are you going to vote for Ted Strickland?" and "Are you going to vote for Ken Blackwell?" Mooney answered yes for Strickland, so the next question was "Are you black or white?" followed by "If you knew Ted Strickland had hired a child molester who had gone on to a playground and exposed himself to them, would you vote for him?" A yes answer prompted: "Are you a Democrat?" and "Are you a Republican?" The push poll then asked: "How old are you?" and "Are you male or female?" The push poll then ended, identifying the Blackwell campaign as the party responsible for the "survey." On Tuesday morning, October 24, the Columbus Dispatch confirmed Blackwell is using this push poll in Ohio. It reported that a former Strickland aide had committed a misdemeanor for public indecency, but his record had been expunged. There is no evidence Strickland knew of the expunged charge when the aide was later hired. At the final Oct. 16 Ohio gubernatorial debate, freshly scrubbed Republicans swarmed outside the Channel 10 studio in Columbus, chanting for Blackwell. Members of the Ohio State University campus-based young Republicans and fundamentalists gloated that Strickland's "child molester" scandal would elect Blackwell. In the televised debate, Blackwell tried to link Strickland to the North American Man-Boy Love Society. The next day, The Dispatch revealed that when he was treasurer of Ohio, Blackwell had on his payroll a felon convicted of cocaine possession. The Dispatch said that when Blackwell learned of the conviction, he kept the felon on staff. Three months after leaving the treasurer's office, this same former Blackwell employee was sent to prison for four years for sexually abusing a young girl. Blackwell attained national notoriety after serving as state co-chair of the Bush-Cheney Re-election Committee while also, as Ohio Secretary of State, running the dubious vote count that gave Bush a second White House term. This year Blackwell will count the votes in his own race for governor, in the crucial U.S. Senate race between GOP incumbant Mike DeWine versus Congressman Sherrod Brown, and in a number of cricital House races hotly contested for the first time in years. As he does so, Blackwell is conducting the largest purge of voter rolls since the apartheid nightmare of the post-Reconstruction Jim Crow south. Since 2000, under Blackwell's supervision, Boards of Elections in Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland and Toledo have eliminated some 500,000 voters from their registration rolls. Nearly all are in heavily Democratic urban areas. In a state where some 5.6 million people voted for president in 2004, this represents nearly 10% of the electorate. George W. Bush's alleged majority in Ohio 2004 was roughly 118,000 votes. Skeptics claim Ohio's 88 county boards of elections are bi-partisan, because each has two Democrats and two Republicans. But all appointments, and all tie votes, are controlled by the Republican Secretary of State, meaning that all decisions by all Ohio BOEs are actually controlled by Blackwell. Blackwell is now imposing restrictive voter ID requirements aimed at crippling his opponents. Passed by the Republican legislature, these strictures aim to eliminate from the 2006 vote count tens of thousands of mostly poor and black-and thus mostly Democratic-voters who cannot or will not obtain the required identification cards. The Free Press has further learned that even at this early date, some ten percent of absentee votes are being trashed by Blackwell's BOEs. Ohio's new "no-fault" rule allows anyone to vote absentee for this election, so absentee voting is estimated to increase 20-30%. Many Ohioans are opting for the absentee ballots to avoid electronic voting machines, which are notoriously vulnerable to tampering. But Democratic sources in the Ohio Board of Elections have confirmed to the Free Press that about 10% of the absentee ballots cast so far are being rejected because of a technicality involving obscure driver's license numbers demanded on the ballot. Ohio driver's licenses contain two separate numbers: an eleven-digit number above the photo, and a much smaller eight character license number that begins with two alpha-numeric characters, followed by six numbers. It is the eight-character license number the BOEs demand on the absentee ballot. But many Ohio voters don't know that, and are using the wrong number---and thus having their ballot invalidated. Absentee ballots cast in Ohio tend to be overwhelmingly Democratic. This absentee vote purge echoes another Blackwell dirty trick: the 2004 trashing of thousands of provisional ballots on which voters had not included their birth date. There was no statutory requirement to include the birth date, and thousands of provisional voters (and election officials) were never informed of Blackwell's special requirement. But he thus eliminated large numbers of mostly Democratic provisional ballots, benefitting Bush---a service he is now repeating for his own benefit with the absentees. Blackwell has also attempted to eliminate his Democratic rival from the ballot outright. Seizing on a residency technicality, Blackwell's attack has elicited widespread scorn, including a lead editorial in the New York Times. Thus far, Blackwell has lost a series of court battles. The Columbus Dispatch has reported that the woman who originally filed the complaint---allegedly a Democrat who supports Blackwell---has asked that it be withdrawn. It remains to be seen if Blackwell has defnitively given up the effort. The GOP has already eliminated a statewide referendum on worker rights. Issue One would have rejected parts of the Ohio legislature's vicious anti-labor Senate Bill 7, and was expected to draw pro-worker voters to the polls. But Blackwell disqualified thousands of signatures from the ballot petition, then sabotaged attempts to bring in more. On October 20 the GOP-dominated Ohio Supreme Court killed Issue One altogether. Fittingly, it will appear on many Ohio ballots, but will not count. Overall, Blackwell currently trails Strickland by 20 points and more in state polls. Ohio Democrats have begun to crow that Blackwell's defeat is a done deal, just as they celebrated John Kerry's "victory" in 2004. But Blackwell's push polls, voter elimination campaigns and ballot attacks cannot be underestimated. At very least, they could tip the balance in the state's hard-fought U.S. Senate and Congressional races, any one of which could help determine whether the Democrats re-take control of the Congress. Local pundits are already talking about a last-minute shift toward the Republicans, and bracing for thousands of alleged fundamentalist voters who will supposedly swarm the polls at the last minute. In-depth studies of the 2004 ballots now cast serious doubt on the actual existence of such alleged voters, then or now. But unless Americans truly committed to tangible democracy are careful, J. Kenneth Blackwell just might find the ways to steal Ohio 2006, as he did in 2004. -- Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman are co-authors, with Steve Rosenfeld, of WHAT HAPPENED IN OHIO?, just released by The New Press. They are of counsel and a plaintiff in the King-Lincoln lawsuit that has preserved the Ohio 2004 ballots. Fitrakis is an independent candidate for governor of Ohio, endorsed by the Green Party. Wasserman is author of SOLARTOPIA! OUR GREEN-POWERED PLANET, A.D. 2030, available via www.solartopia.org. |
|
Recent Election Issues Articles Renowned computer security expert agrees to meet California county supervisor's '1000 to 1' challenge to 'manipulate' Sequoia voting machine! 100 phantom votes found in one precinct; DelCo board of elections hinders investigation Think globally, protect the vote locally Will they or won't they: last chance for Democrats The vote protectors Ohio's 2006 vote count now includes a higher percentage of uncounted ballots than in 2004, and a statistically impossible swing to the Republicans The drama of empty numbers A monumental victory for the election protection movement Pick a number 2006 How they stole the mid-term election STOP Blackwell, what's that sign: Everyone look what's going down Parallel election midday report Tuesday's outcome may depend on the power of the election protection movement The power of a social movement can beat the GOP double Chickenhawks Check out We Count for a great TownHall confrontation between Vicki Lovegren of Ohio Vigilance and Michael Vu, Supervisor of Cuyahoga County BOE Official states electronic voting system added votes never cast in 2004 Presidential election; audit log missing Repairing the U.S. system of voting: 50 concrete steps Will a shocking new GOP court victory and Karl Rove's attack on Ohio 2006 doom the Democrats nationwide? Renoite sue Sequoia Voting Systems Severe election problems seen in ten states Direct material proof of massive election fraud in Ohio in the 2004 U.S. presidential election A talk with Mark Crispin Miller about what voters can do to prevent another stolen election Will Ken Blackwell find the ways to steal Ohio 2006 as he did in 2004? Important voter activism A loaves & fishes/Holy Ghost victory for the GOP in November? Why is the man who stole Ohio campaigning with a white supremacist? This cannot be Court victory lets preserved Ohio 2004 ballots tell new tales of theft and fraud as indictments and convictions mount Unfit for use in ANY democracy An open letter to Gov. Robert Taft and Sec. of State J. Kenneth Blackwell Coshocton County complaint Saving the ballot evidence from Ohio 2004 San Diego suit’s second hearing: Judge to rule next Tuesday on constitutional and jurisdictional questions New Zogby Poll: It’s Nearly Unanimous How the last presidential election awoke me from an unsound sleep PFAW's Neas praises advance of Voting Rights Act, Calls on Bush Administration to start enforcing the law Why Democrats don't count: lessons from the un-Gore of Mexico Resolution of no confidence in current U.S. elections An open letter from Ohio to the people of Mexico The stolen election of 2004 The Democrats must now say "We Do Not Concede" in the U.S. as it's being said in Mexico Project Vote, voting rights organizations, file to overturn restrictive voter registration rules BBV: Unredacted Hursti Diebold reports, photos released Ignore that man behind the screen, Dorothy Bob Fitrakis for Governor -- he is now on the ballot Alameda County supervisors embrace election fraud San Diego’s run-off election aggregate results are plausible A vote of no confidence: democracy left to languish in living rooms, garages Kennedy's challenge: Salon, Mother Jones & the tortured dialogue Warren County revisited Something smells fishy in San Diego! Response to Salon Magazine Analysis of Connally spreadsheet and other documents RFK and Rolling Stone nail Ohio's stolen 2004 election, but much more must be done Pick a card, any card Will the major media finally cover the electronic election fraud issue? The money pit: Diebold vs. America Worst security flaw ever - 3 states invoke Diebold emergency procedures Cranks and Kooks: Kerry won in '04 Ohio 2004 election thief grabs Gov nod while (surprise! surprise!) voting machines malfunction Hand counted paper ballots in 2008 Busheviks connected to New Hampshire phone-jamming scheme Are mainstream churches finally standing up to the GOP’s hateful “Christian” blitzkrieg? Thousands march in New Orleans for right for Katrina survivors to vote in the city’s April 22 election Shocking Diebold conflict of interest revelations from Secretary of State further taint Ohio's electoral credibility Faith-based voting Targeting the voters in Toledo Targeting the voters in Cincinnati Through a glass Darkely Is the Mainstream Media finally getting half the rigged voting machine story? Please help Clint Curtis Utah testing of the Diebold touch-screen reveals new problems Trust us Harman vs. Winograd, tough choice? Why did J. Kenneth Blackwell seek, then hide, his association with super-rich extremists and e-voting magnates? Did 308,000 cancelled Ohio voter registrations put Bush back in the White House? Statisticians recommend new measures to ensure vote count accuracy, release "Ohio’s 2004 exit poll analysis for novices” As Alito takes Supreme Court seat, Ohio GOP guts election protection The Harri Hursti hack and its importance to our nation Programmer Jeff Dean worked for chief of White House Plumbers unit Free Press Editor in Film at Sundance PA activists sue to vote on machines Important documents The gun is smoking - The gun is smoking - 2004 Ohio precinct-level exit poll data show virtually irrefutable evidence of vote miscount Recipe for hacking ES&S and Sequoia, Hursti-style What’s all the fuss about Diebold in Florida and California? New info may take out Diebold touchscreens Read Election Issues Articles by Year: |
FREE PRESS EMAIL UPDATE
Donate to the Free Press Election Protection Fund to help us investigate and monitor election fraud in this year's election.
FOLLOW US ON
twitter
facebook
SEARCH THE FREEPRESS
1021 E. Broad St. Columbus, OH 43205 | 614.253.2571 | truth@freepress.org
All content © 1970-2012 The Columbus Free Press
Disclaimer