In Violation of Federal Law, Ohio's 2004 Presidential Election Records Are Destroyed or Missing

Why does this not surprise me?

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

can you say "GOP conspiracy"?
the entire party should be relegated to the same dust bin as the Nazi party.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

And after these keepers of the ballots are in jail the next question to be asked is, if a democrat gets elelcted for a third time will she/he take the ofice?

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I live next door to Ohio...which is why I'm only 99.9% certain that this was organized fraud as opposed to normal everyday Ohioan stupidity.:P

plur

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

perhaps a correllation between Rove's 5 million 'missing' emails, Cheney's secrecy, and the White House/Justice Dept. push to abolish a department inside the National Archives? now we have this. hmmmm. let's see. there's smoke. it's 750 degrees...

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Folks , we already live in a full on dictatorship.
What else would you call a place where the voice of the people is supressed and elections are rigged?

What about a place where the mainstream media is a tool of the elite that own all?

Remember even Stalin's Russia had folks that would make up flyers yet that was not evidence of freedom.

What about a place where the ruling elite ignore the founding legal documents for the republic?

What about a place where your future is guaranteed to be worse if kept on the same path?

What about a place where the owning elites are activley arming via mercenaries ( Blackwater) to protect themselves form the onslaught of poor once the bubble bursts?

What about a place where any rights left are a sham and not absolute. The rights can ( and are) be taken away.

It's right here right now. 2008 will not change anything.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

You, know, folks, this is a Constitutional republic. In this Republic, the Will of WE the People--as articulated in the U.S. Constitution-- is Supreme. Hell, it is "god." It is absolute (especially including the individual safeguards built into the ever-fading Bill of Rights). That is the way Madison, Jefferson, Hamilton, et al, set it up. For better or for worse.
Where I come from, where (and when) the will of a majority is killed/destroyed/sabotaged, that translates into treason against OUR Constitution. Pure and simple.
I am against the death penalty. So that leaves 25-to-life in prison for all convicted parties, conspirators and non-conspirators alike...
Instead, our elected officials have so little regard for our Constitutional WILL that the unholy offense of tampering with the vote becomes a simple felony or misdemeanor. That is all these white collar bureaucrats get IF AND WHEN they get prosecuted and convicted for this sacrilege against our popular will ("voice of the people, voice of god"). Recall: Most of the officials entrusted to protect the sanctity of the vote are either elected of appointed--ergo, politically well-connected...
So dollars to doughnuts the local prosecutors will tend to over-scrutinize the evidence before opting to charge these "pillars of the community." Compare them to true innocents charged with murder, rape or burglary who--before DNA evidence--were convicted on someone's flimsy "identification."
Today, with the evidence of vote-tampering "destroyed," the local DA may say, "Well, folks, I don't believe a jury of peers will vote to convict 12-0 on such flimsy evidence, so I won't file charges. End of story.
We need an authentic historical narrative that instills in the voter (citizen and juror) a true appreciation for the value and sanctity of their vote, only then can the juries appreciate the treasonous magnitude of the crime committed against the Constitution, the Republic and against the public will.
"Reader's Digest" and M.A.D.D. did it for DUI's and movies-of-the-week did it for sexual abusers, wife-beaters and other ethical lapsers. So let's educate ourselves, folks.
And let the criminals pay for treason. Treason, I say. Because when your political will and mine are relegated to the trash-heap by some corrupt official, there can be no other name for it--at least in a Constitutional democracy....
Good luck.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Taft and Blackwell and all of their little friends should be incarcerated in the same penitentiary as Bush-Cheney-Gonzalez, etc. I won't hold my breath waiting.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Lots of innuendo here........

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

But for pity's sake, we need to rebuild our movement and get the progressives united first if we're going to have any chance of reclaiming democracy in America or what's left of it that is.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

First off, there should be NO QUARTER for the crooks who've destroyed these records.

If I were in charge of my county's election results, I'd personally deliver them, with as many witnesses from all major parties as possible, to a safe-deposit box.

You're telling me not only did they not protect these records, they DESTROYED THEM? That's not only criminal behavior, but TREASONOUS behavior.

Secondly, we need to have Election Day be a national paid holiday. It works in other countries, and it would completely change the country. Period.

Thirdly, we need hand-counted paper ballots. It's obvious from the hacking report that came out today, not to mention the horrific discrepancies in Ohio, WE NEED RECORDS.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Criminals, fascists and those who profit from a corrupt system of government have seized control of our country. Plutocrats, Republicans and DINO’s have usurped the democratic process, replaced it with a criminal enterprise, and they will stop at nothing to maintain their wealth and dominance.

No matter who wins the next, or the next, or the next election, nothing will change for a majority of Americans. Those who betrayed “the people” still control the political process and will never reform a system that treats them like royalty. They not only make the law, they are above the law, and that’s the way they mean to keep it.

When elections can be rigged with impunity, democracy is over.

It’s going to be interesting to see how “the land of the brave and the free” rationalize this reality.

.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

At the very least, Secretary Brunner should fire all the elections boards and directors who neglected to perform their duty to preserve the election records, and hire people who are willing to follow the law.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Why isn't the Democratic party standing up and screaming about this? As far as I'm concerned, the lack of action by their leadership is an admission that they themselves don't see much of a difference between the Republicans and their own party.


elizabethkateswitaj.net

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

...that voting for a democrat is a complete waste of time. Let's stop voting against our interests and start voting for the true progressive candidate. Plus, the criminals who change the votes won't be inclined to change a vote against the Dem candidate.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Well, it comes as no surprise. The president of Diebold went on television and said he would do everything he could to help deliver Ohio to Bush. Nobody batted an eye at that.

We all know its rigged. So, what are you going to do? Keep voting and doing nothing else? Your government does not listen to you... because your government does not care. Our entire system and thus our entire nation is in the stranglehold of two parties. You can keep voting for one of them hoping that they will eventually become "progressive".. just like the conservative Christians keep voting for Republicans because they think that at some point they will get those wonderful bans on abortion and gay marriage, etc.. that they will finally get the theocracy they want, but of course, they will never get it. And you will never get truly progressive democrats, either. They will mouth the words if they have to, but thats all. Just like the Christian conservatives you will never get what you want from them because they don't see it as the will of a democratic society. They see it as leverage to get you to do vote for them... and there is no way they will ever be foolish enough to give it to you and give up that carrot. Like riding a mule... you hold a carrot out in front of him to make him go... but as soon as you give him that carrot he won't go where you want him to anymore.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

when I was in junior high, I used to hang out with a kid who was a brazen petty thief. once we were standing at a counter at a fair and a guy puts a twenty down and then looks the other way, and my friend grabbed it. the guy turns back and asks my friend where it went, and my friend says he has no idea what the guy's talking about. He was real fun to hang out with, always pulling that kind of stuff. This is the exact same mentality with these guys, look you right in the eye and say "no i didn't", and you know goddamn well they did.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

The sad thing is that no matter what happens we cannot get back the last six years and the ramifications that will resonate for years to come. Our only hope as a nation is to hold this administration accountable for what they have done to us.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Prosecuting Ballot Destruction by Any Means, and for Any Reason should include the Reality that Ballot Destruction is no different than Forcing another person to vote against his/her own will, or Interfering with another person's Right to Vote... Each and Every Destroyed Ballot Rightfully Represents a Distinct Felony. This approach will nullify the slap-on-the-wrist white-collar treatment expected to be used against the guilty, just add up the fines and sentences of the tens of thousands of felonies!

Due to the current corruption in the DOJ, we cannot count on them to treat this issue Fairly, Impartially, or with Due Diligence, and for that, the DOJ itself should be held accountable.

A failure in this area of Constitutional Law will lead this nation on a path toward a New American Revolution because We are about to witness First Hand whether there is any Justice left in our Judicial Branch, woe to the US if Justice Fails Our Right To Vote!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

People like Greg Palast and the author of BradBlog have been reporting this since 2000, let alone 2004. I am simply blown away by the fact that the vast majority of Americans don't realize we suffered a coup d'etat in 2000. The shrub didn't win either election. As an above commenter stated, the president of Diebold even went so far as to admit the shrub was being handed the presidency. That is a coup, no matter how you slice it. Computerized voting is bullshit. You may as well stay at home, as your vote can be changed to one for the opposition. I'm not so naive as to believe there were ever completely clean elections. But they are so over-the-top corrupt now that one has to wonder how the Democrats managed to win in November. One theory is that the rethuglicans can only steal CLOSE elections... so the dems must have actually won in a landslide - by much more than it appeared.

What always maddened me the most were the exit polls (2000 & 2004). Apparently, exit polls in the past were always within a few percentage points of the actual outcome, but suddenly in 2000 and 2004, there was a HUGE percentage disparity. I didn't read this entire article and maybe that touched upon the exit polls, but that to me was such a glaring thing that I am still flabbergasted it didn't warrant a much bigger investigation (or... one at all?).

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I have a blogger friend who lives in Ohio, and she has opened my eyes to the evil, corrupt horror that is Ken Blackwell. This guy is the epitome of slime.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I'm still hopping mad about 2000 and 2004, especially 2004 since I live in Ohio. But I don't really understand why 2000 and 2004 were rigged but then they didn't bother in 2006.

I suppose part of it was that Blackwell would have been caught if he fixed the gubernatorial vote, since he had been 30 points behind Strickland in polls on the day before the election, but what about the rest of it?

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Although absence of evidence isn't evidence of fraud, it's way too neat and clear that Republican operatives were totally behind this effort to prevent a clear view of how Ohioans voted.

We all knew in advance that Ohio would be a swing state.
We all knew in advance that Christian/Republican operatives were motivated to make sure Republicans won everywhere in the state.
We all knew in advance that the owner of Diebold said that he would MAKE SURE that Bush was elected President.

All of this we knew in advance.

Now, we know that Rove's steamroller machine under the guise of 'voter fraud' was working overtime removing anyone from the Justice Dept. that the WH didn't like.

Now we see that a HUGE systematic effort was in place to remove evidence of wrongdoing in Ohio. This obfuscation effort was done despite federal rules in place to prevent such a task from being carried out.

It's obvious to anyone who is capable of putting 2 and 2 together that voter fraud indeed did take place in Ohio. But, it had nothing to do with Democrats. It had everything to do with Republicans and their efforts to steal the election.

The Republican party is one of failure, fraud and mythos. It is a party of authority, oligarchy and corporations. It is a party of liars, pedophiles and religious nutcases. It is a party which values Jesus and loyalty over reality and thought. The Republican party is the sole party that has shredded the Constitution and the rule of law everywhere it goes. Everywhere. There will soon not be a place in the US where the Republican machine hasn't altered our once sacred way of life.

I used to think this would end soon. But now I see it's not possible until the entire system comes to a screeching halt.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

WHAT A SHOCK!

I never would have thought this would happen during this administration!

....oh!......wait a minute!.....

Yes, I did!
In fact, I set my watch to it.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

It is my opinion that election 2004 was stolen right in front of the nation with electronic voting. There was too much confusion over the exit polling which is a general indicator of the election results.

The chairman of diabold electronic voting said on a couple occasions that he would see to it that the bush gets a second term. Bush got another term! I believe that he kept his promise!

Now Ohio claims to have lost? the election results??? Bushit!!! No paper trail? No election records??? No way to check any election results AT ALL!

Bush...your getting away with the theft of TWO presidential elections! The worst resident that never was!

The truth will come out! I just hope it's in my life time! I want to see that worthless sob thrown in jail big time!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I always thought it would be a good idea to move to other states for the experience or even for income. But that idea is getting more and more unlikely. The states that I will not move to are in order TEXAS, FLORIDA, and OHIO.
And added recently is GEORGIA.
Am I pragmatic about this ? Yes, except for the rigging of elections or the connection to the president or his history of
activities and the other minions involved.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

um...if it was against the law to destroy the ballots and "evidence" - all those involved are to be held accountable. they can not say that they "did not know." that's the way the law "works." so, let's start arresting people and putting people behind bars to show the world america's elections are not third world. or let's not arrest anyone and show the world that america, like it's medical empathy, IS third world.

what i imagine is, the same republicans that orchestrated all these affairs (stolen elections and their cover ups) will continue with the mantra: Fuck 'Em. just like the medical community responds to the underinsured - or not insured.

ain't america grand! ain't capitalism the best!!!!!!!!

we should spread this around the WORLD!!!!!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Alex Pelosi's new film "Diary of a Political Tourist" catches a tipsy Congressman Peter King making a comment at a White House function before the election had been finished that, "It's already over. The Election's over. We Won."

When Pelosi asks, "How do you know that?" King replies, "It's all over but the counting. And we'll take care of the counting."
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/IMAGES/peterking.wmv
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/2004votefraud.html

"Those who cast the votes decide nothing, those who count the votes decide everything." - Joseph Stalin

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

We are no different from any of the so called "Banana Republics". We hold our heads high for the illusion of fairness, higher standards, superior values and blah, blah, blah. What we call culture is just a "refined" way of screwing the other guy.

The rich and powerful have always dictated the rules of the game throughout history. We do have the freedom to point out the injustice and insanity of it all but, that does not change anything in anyway.

We may sincerely long for fairness, truth and justice but the dark side of our collective souls always get the upper hand. We have to "do what we have to do".

This nation was founded on lies, hypocrisy, self-righteousness and brute force.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

The well-known "election" frauds of 2000 & 2004 pale in comparison to the treason, war crimes, crimes against humanity, repeated assualts on the very foundation of our nation, our Constitution, and war profiteering committed repeatedly, and on an ongoing basis, and for which there is a MOUNTAIN OF IRREFUTABLE EVIDENCE. In short, we have enough goods on the worst criminal bastards EVER to disgrace their offices to put them away for several lifetimes. So, the question is this: Why the hell aren't these crooks in the hoosegow?

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

We need optical scan with random auditing of vote counts. No Direct Response Electronic (DRE) machines! There are several reasons why DREs are a problem: 1) the confirmation screen you see before you press the "cast ballot" button is only in RAM (temporary memory). The hard drive memory could store something different in a chunk of code that could alter the final tally of votes. 2) DREs are easily hackable, and chain of command of the machines and the memory cards is very difficult to keep track of--especially in large urban areas. 3) There are many, many programmers who code the machines from ballots your election officials design. Have those programmers been background-checked? How can anyone know if an individual programmer set the time clock and the code to only switch votes after the first 200 ballots have been cast on election day (to bypass pre-election testing). Or maybe they make an unintentional coding mistake that is somehow not caught by pre-election testing, as happened in Pottawattamie County, Iowa where, luckily, there were paper ballots to recount, once the discovery was made. 4) "Independent" testing companies are hired by the vendors (e.g., Diebold) to "certify" the voting machines. That does not make them disinterested parties. And they do not do thorough testing, as evidenced by the Princeton "hack" and now the California team that found innumerable security vulnerabilities in voting machines. 5) The majority of computer scientists around the country believe we must have recountable, voter-verified paper ballots, AND they must be randomly audited because the optical scan machines can also have mischievous code and tallying, or ballot programming errors. To learn more, go to http://verifiedvoting.org/

Those are enough reasons to have voter-verified paper ballots, optically scanned, randomly audited! And voting integrity activists are having a very difficult time getting the message across to election officials, legislators, and the general public who are ill-informed for the most part.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Or, "doi!"

That being said, no amount of facts matters anymore to a nation who continuously proves to the point of absurd perverse sadistic extremes that when dominated by emotional illiterates, Xtian fundamentalists and other psychotic misfits, there will be no revolution until mass amounts of U.S. people personally feel the consequential pain in a way that will make all the insane rationalizations and excuses for their own and their "leaders'" behavior seem worthless. In other words... when pigs fly and snowballs are being used in hell, then all this fact shit will matter and things will change.

We're talking 'Merkuh here, I'm not gonna hold my breath. I can absofreakinlutely guarantee that 2008 will be "won" by a Bush-lit poseur. And once again, all the fact shit won't matter... because it's "Merkuh, man, land of the butt-stoopid led by the aristocracy's finest thieves and liars.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I just voted in the Turkish elections. Paper ballots, results for the entire country available in three hours. No one questioned the result, the ballots are there for all to recount. There is no reason for electronic voting EXCEPT corruption. So who can be surprised.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Is there any independent evidence that the central claim (that 2/3 of Ohio counties destroyed records that were supposed to be kept) is actually true?

I think Bush stole the election in 2000 and possibly again in 2004, but I haven't heard anything from Ohio's SoS or any other credible source to confirm the main point in this article. One story on Alternet isn't going to convince anyone who isn't already of the opinion that GOP stands for 'Gang of Pirates.'

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

We know how Repigs have created a cottage industry of cover ups, from US attys, to Pat Tillman, to the debacle in Iraq...now we know for certain how Bush really wasn't elected twice...why destroy records if one has no fear of being caught out as manipulating the vote? These people never cease to amaze...crooks and thugs.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Whole documentaries have been done on the stealing of votes in Ohio and Florida...if you never saw the HBO doc, you missed out on something that spells it out in intricate detail. There have been many colleges and universities who ran investigations and mathematical programs which proved both in FL and OH, that tallies were wrong, and could not have been the result of simple human error.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Amazing how in countries like Turkey, Canada and France they can run elections fast and cleanly, with no arguments, no hanging chads, and no court interventions favoring one candidate.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

This report is just one example of why "winner take all" voting corrupts the system. Our system means that just one vote carries the entire electoral-college votes for a single state. The bigger the state, e.g. California, Pennsylvania, New York and Illinois, Florida and Texas, the higher the stakes and incentive to cheat. How much would a party pay for just one more vote.
A proportional representation system would change the entire complexion of the campaigning and electioneering. Here in California a proportional elected delegation might be something like 25 Democrats, 22 Republicans, 3 Libertarians and maybe an American-Nazi or two. Of course, delegates would have the right to switch their vote after two or three ballets didn't pass select a president. It such a system would be messy but look a lot more like citizen democracy, more fun too.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

They didn't lose anything except evidence of fraud. And who cares anyway- its isn't going to change a damn thing- that idiot Bush is not going anywhere- and if you think he is you are an idiot.

Blah, blah, blah- Bush, blah, blah, blah Bush.

Nothing gets done- nothing changes.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I was literally working on a probability presentation last night for a math class I'm teaching in the fall. What great material this is!

Let's see:

Assume the chances of "accidentally" destroying the voting records is 1 in 1000. That's a WAY conservative estimate, based on how many sets of elections records have failed to be destroyed in various elections over the years.

Now assume the 56 instances were independent events. No way they could be connected, now, is there?! The probability of this happening all together would be 1 /(1000)^56 (i.e. 1000 raised to the 56th power). That's equivalent to a probability of 10^(-168), or 0.0000...001, where there are 167 zeros between the decimal and the 1.

Let's turn that around. What is the probability that someone is lying? That would be 0.9999999...999, where there are 167 9's. In more familiar percentage terms, the chances are 99.9999999....999%, with 165 9's past the decimal.

Part (b) (Homework) Repeat the calculations with the more realistic assumption that the chances of destroying the voting records accidentally is 1 in a million.
-------------------
[Answer: Probability = 10^(-336)]

--David Chandler

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Read his connections to National Council for Policy, its membership including Right to Work leadership, and Ku Klux Klan associations.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Voter irregularities occured in many states. Additinoally, consider the following:

James Carroll, correctly, identified a condition "ineffectual detachment," which exists hopelessly.
Noam Chomsky, correctly, illustrated AntiSemitism that exists among some Fundamentalists, and Solidarity members.
Chris Hedges, aside from Christopher Hitchens, appropriately illustrated root causes for anti-abortion extremism.
An extraordinarily extreme movement preIraq war included pro-war, anti-abortion forces. No other.
It isn't difficult to track powers that enforced national harassment, UNchecked globalization, and accelerating, aggressive warfare. Voter irregularity is part of the over-all picture.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]