A report on the election from an Attorney that was "on the ground" in Ohio

[tommcintyre]

It's a little dated (11-04), but I'm finally able to dig down into my email, and I thought this was worth sharing here. (It was forwarded to me from someone actively involved in the Dem party.)

-------------------------------------

From: Ray
Sent: Thursday, November 04, 2004 10:37 AM
Subject: Basic report from Columbus

I worked for 3 days, including Election Day, on the statewide voter
protection hotline run by the Ohio Democratic Party in Columbus, Ohio.

I am writing this because the media is inexplicably whitewashing what
happened in Ohio, and Kerry's concession was likewise inexplicable.

Hundreds of thousands of people were disenfranchised in Ohio. People waited
on line for as long as 10 hours. It appears to have only happened in
Democratic-leaning precincts, principally (a) precincts where many African
Americans lived, and (b) precincts near colleges.

I spoke to a young man who got on line at 11:30 am and voted at 7 pm. When
he left at 7 pm, the line was about 150 voters longer than when he'd
arrived, which meant those people were going to wait even longer. In fact
they waited for as much as 10 hours, and their voting was concluded at about
3 am. The reason this occurred was that they had 1 voting station per 1000
voters, while the adjacent precinct had 1 voting station per 184. Both
precincts were within the same county, and managed by the same county board
of elections. The difference between them is that the privileged polling
place was in a rural, solidly republican, area, while the one with long
lines was in the college town of Gambier, OH.

Lines of 4 and 5 hours were the order of the day in many African-American
neighborhoods.

Touch screen voting machines in Youngstown OH were registering "George W.
Bush" when people pressed "John F. Kerry" ALL DAY LONG. This was reported
immediately after the polls opened, and reported over and over again
throughout the day, and yet the bogus machines were inexplicably kept in use
THROUGHOUT THE DAY.

Countless other frauds occurred, such as postcards advising people of
incorrect polling places, registered Democrats not receiving absentee
ballots, duly registered young voters being forced to file provisional
ballots even though their names and signatures appeared in the voting rolls,
longtime active voting registered voters being told they weren't registered,
bad faith challenges by Republican "challengers" in Democratic precincts,
and on and on and on.

I was very proud of the way so many Ohioans fought so valiantly for their
right to vote, and would not be turned away. Many, however, could not spend
the entire day and were afraid of losing their jobs, due to the severe
economic depression hitting Ohio.

I do not understand why Kerry conceded and did not fight to ensure that all
Ohioans would have a chance to vote, and for their vote to be counted.

Ray

Ray xxxxx

xxxxxxx xxxxxx & xxxxx LLP

xx Park Ave (Ste xxx)

New York, NY 10016

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<In response to: I do not understand why Kerry conceded....>
http://blog.democrats.com/recount#comment-2228

November 9, 2004 Statement from Cam Kerry Submitted by Bob Fertik on November 9, 2004 - 2:08pm. I am grateful to the many people who have contacted me to express their deep concern about questions of miscounting, fraud, vote suppression, and other problems on election day, especially in Florida and Ohio. Their concern reflects how much people care about the outcome of this election.
I want to you to know we are not ignoring it. Election protection lawyers are still on the job in Ohio and Florida and in DC making sure all the votes are counted accurately. I have been conferring with lawyers involved and have made them aware of the information and concerns people have given me. Even if the facts don't provide a basis to change the outcome, the information will inform the continuing effort to protect the integrity of our elections.
If you have specific factual information about voting problems that could be helpful to the lawyers doing their job, please send it to [email protected] rather than to me.
The election protection effort has been important to me personally, and I am proud of the 17,000 lawyers around the country who helped. It's obvious that we have a way to go still, but their efforts helped make a difference. Their work goes on.

------------------------------------------------------

http://www.independentmediasource.com/evotingfraud.htm

[Copperred]

1. ....look at their actions...forget what they say

I still believe Kerry & the DNC were in on it.

The only reason they are now coming around is because of We the People...and now they have to save face...

This is truly the People vs.......

[mzmolly]

2. Oh puleeze.

Standard response ... the record earnings and 56,000,000 people who voted for Kerry were "in on it too" :eyes:

Go spread that * somewhere they'll enjoy it, like FreeRepublic.

[tommcintyre]

7. I suspected this a little at first, but no longer

So far, this "laid back" strategy seems to be working. I think Rove and co. were set for overt resistance from the Dem party. But Kerry and co. assumed that "we the people wouldn't take this lying down, and a ground-swell movement would gain momentum - as it has.

[txindy]

8. It's gained a great deal of momentum with min. media backlash

Nader, Cobb, and Badnarik are doing a great job of requesting recounts and/or closer scrutiny at the votes in NH and Ohio. No media ridicule of them as there would most certainly would have been if John Kerry had made those same requests.

Laid back is working fine for now. We've got some weeks to go. Ignore the naysayers and keep working away. Everything we do helps! :toast:

[tommcintyre]

9. So true...

[kristndem]

12. What they could be "in on"

is making sure all these reports of irregularities hit the internets.
I could see the Dems logging on and posting about what they know and have heard about. Making sure the groundswell happens. :think:

[Pastor of Deaniacs]

3. Keep up the good work!

[shraby]

4. Bye bye Coppered

:hi: Go back to the den of thieves.

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[tommcintyre]

5. EDITED IN FAIRNESS TO KERRY

<In response to: I do not understand why Kerry conceded....>
http://blog.democrats.com/recount#comment-2228

November 9, 2004 Statement from Cam Kerry Submitted by Bob Fertik on November 9, 2004 - 2:08pm. I am grateful to the many people who have contacted me to express their deep concern about questions of miscounting, fraud, vote suppression, and other problems on election day, especially in Florida and Ohio. Their concern reflects how much people care about the outcome of this election.
I want to you to know we are not ignoring it. Election protection lawyers are still on the job in Ohio and Florida and in DC making sure all the votes are counted accurately. I have been conferring with lawyers involved and have made them aware of the information and concerns people have given me. Even if the facts don't provide a basis to change the outcome, the information will inform the continuing effort to protect the integrity of our elections.
If you have specific factual information about voting problems that could be helpful to the lawyers doing their job, please send it to [email protected] rather than to me.
The election protection effort has been important to me personally, and I am proud of the 17,000 lawyers around the country who helped. It's obvious that we have a way to go still, but their efforts helped make a difference. Their work goes on.

[Rambis]

10. I was with a DC lawyer in Iowa

He said that one of his counterparts in Ohio at a big dem precinct saw votes disappear in the totals. They had one total at 5:00pm and by 7:00pm the total had gone down 5,000 votes and people were in line and voting the entire time. I was floored when Kerry conceded the election!

[loudsue]

11. Rambis....would he be willing to testify to that?

The same types of things were going on in New Mexico, Texas and Florida. Maybe you should get your DC lawyer's counterpart's name. There need to be some lawsuits over this type of thing...no matter what the final tally. Would the Ohio guy be willing to add his statement to the threads that have been posted here at DU??

I don't think bush won Texas by as much as he would have liked. Votes down there were REALLY messed up, but nobody is looking there, since it's supposed to be such a pro-bush state.

However, that would have been precisely the kind of environment where he would have padded his "3.5 million" vote "mandate"....somewhere that nobody would bother to look.

But there were some Texans who pushed the "Kerry" button, and the machine kept showing "bush". Same thing in New Mexico. I have a feeling it happened all across the country.

:kick::kick: