What went wrong in Ohio?

Read on, because this should have led to the election in the USA being declared invalid. Regrettably it didn't.

This entire page came to Project SafeCom by email - from the hand of Michael Moore. It has been reproduced in full.

On this page you'll find (the links bring you down to the sections) the Report's Executive Summary, followed by "20 Amazing facts about voting in USA", a great summation of how it all came about through Bush connections. Below that line-up, there's an article by the Rev. Jesse Jackson (Seven Key Reasons why the vote must be challenge at the Electoral College), then a write-up by Bob Fitrakis, Steve Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman (The "Crime of November 2"), and right down you'll find affadavits and statements to the House Judiciary Committee, neatly categorised in 46 sections. And - then there comes some light in the tunnel, in Protest in the Congress

Hi friends,

Status Report of the House Judiciary Committee Democratic Staff

Preserving Democracy: What went wrong in Ohio

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Preserving Democracy: What went wrong in Ohio

Status Report of the House Judiciary Committee Democratic Staff

TruthOut, Wednesday, January 5, 2005

http://www.truthout.org/docs_05/010605Y.shtml

Executive Summary

Representative John Conyers Jr., the Ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, asked the Democratic staff to conduct an investigation into irregularities reported in the Ohio presidential election and to prepare a Status Report concerning the same prior to the Joint Meeting of Congress scheduled for January 6, 2005, to receive and consider the votes of the electoral college for president. The following Report includes a brief chronology of the events; summarizes the relevant background law; provides detailed findings (including factual findings and legal analysis); and describes various recommendations for acting on this Report going forward.

We have found numerous, serious election irregularities in the Ohio presidential election, which resulted in a significant disenfranchisement of voters. Cumulatively, these irregularities, which affected hundreds of thousand of votes and voters in Ohio, raise grave doubts regarding whether it can be said the Ohio electors selected on December 13, 2004, were chosen in a manner that conforms to Ohio law, let alone federal requirements and constitutional standards.

This report, therefore, makes three recommendations:

1. consistent with the requirements of the United States Constitution concerning the counting of electoral votes by Congress and Federal law implementing these requirements, there are ample grounds for challenging the electors from the State of Ohio;

2. Congress should engage in further hearings into the widespread irregularities reported in Ohio; we believe the problems are serious enough to warrant the appointment of a joint select Committee of the House and Senate to investigate and report back to the Members; and

3. Congress needs to enact election reform to restore our people's trust in our democracy. These changes should include putting in place more specific federal protections for federal elections, particularly in the areas of audit capability for electronic voting machines and casting and counting of provisional ballots, as well as other needed changes to federal and state election laws.

With regards to our factual finding, in brief, we find that there were massive and unprecedented voter irregularities and anomalies in Ohio. In many cases these irregularities were caused by intentional misconduct and illegal behavior, much of it involving Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, the co-chair of the Bush-Cheney campaign in Ohio.

First, in the run up to election day, the following actions by Mr. Blackwell, the Republican Party and election officials disenfranchised hundreds of thousands of Ohio citizens, predominantly minority and Democratic voters:

• The misallocation of voting machines led to unprecedented long lines that disenfranchised scores, if not hundreds of thousands, of predominantly minority and Democratic voters. This was illustrated by the fact that the Washington Post reported that in Franklin County, "27 of the 30 wards with the most machines per registered voter showed majorities for Bush. At the other end of the spectrum, six of the seven wards with the fewest machines delivered large margins for Kerry." (See Powell and Slevin, supra). Among other things, the conscious failure to provide sufficient voting machinery violates the Ohio Revised Code which requires the Boards of Elections to "provide adequate facilities at each polling place for conducting the election."

• Mr. Blackwell's decision to restrict provisional ballots resulted in the disenfranchisement of tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of voters, again predominantly minority and Democratic voters. Mr. Blackwell's decision departed from past Ohio law on provisional ballots, and there is no evidence that a broader construction would have led to any significant disruption at the polling places, and did not do so in other states.

• Mr. Blackwell's widely reviled decision to reject voter registration applications based on paper weight may have resulted in thousands of new voters not being registered in time for the 2004 election.

• The Ohio Republican Party's decision to engage in preelection "caging" tactics, selectively targeting 35,000 predominantly minority voters for intimidation had a negative impact on voter turnout. The Third Circuit found these activities to be illegal and in direct violation of consent decrees barring the Republican Party from targeting minority voters for poll challenges.

• The Ohio Republican Party's decision to utilize thousands of partisan challengers concentrated in minority and Democratic areas likely disenfranchised tens of thousands of legal voters, who were not only intimidated, but became discouraged by the long lines. Shockingly, these disruptions were publicly predicted and acknowledged by Republican officials: Mark Weaver, a lawyer for the Ohio Republican Party, admitted the challenges "can't help but create chaos, longer lines and frustration."

• Mr. Blackwell's decision to prevent voters who requested absentee ballots but did not receive them on a timely basis from being able to receive provisional ballots 6 likely disenfranchised thousands, if not tens of thousands, of voters, particularly seniors. A federal court found Mr. Blackwell's order to be illegal and in violation of HAVA.

Second, on election day, there were numerous unexplained anomalies and irregularities involving hundreds of thousands of votes that have yet to be accounted for:

• There were widespread instances of intimidation and misinformation in violation of the Voting Rights Act, the Civil Rights Act of 1968, Equal Protection, Due Process and the Ohio right to vote. Mr. Blackwell's apparent failure to institute a single investigation into these many serious allegations represents a violation of his statutory duty under Ohio law to investigate election irregularities.

• We learned of improper purging and other registration errors by election officials that likely disenfranchised tens of thousands of voters statewide. The Greater Cleveland Voter Registration Coalition projects that in Cuyahoga County alone over 10,000 Ohio citizens lost their right to vote as a result of official registration errors.

• There were 93,000 spoiled ballots where no vote was cast for president, the vast majority of which have yet to be inspected. The problem was particularly acute in two precincts in Montgomery County which had an undervote rate of over 25% each - accounting for nearly 6,000 voters who stood in line to vote, but purportedly declined to vote for president.

• There were numerous, significant unexplained irregularities in other counties throughout the state:

  1. in Mahoning county at least 25 electronic machines transferred an unknown number of Kerry votes to the Bush column;

  2. Warren County locked out public observers from vote counting citing an FBI warning about a potential terrorist threat, yet the FBI states that it issued no such warning;

  3. the voting records of Perry county show significantly more votes than voters in some precincts, significantly less ballots than voters in other precincts, and voters casting more than one ballot;

  4. in Butler county a down ballot and underfunded Democratic State Supreme Court candidate implausibly received more votes than the best funded Democratic Presidential candidate in history;

  5. in Cuyahoga county, poll worker error may have led to little known thirdparty candidates receiving twenty times more votes than such candidates had ever received in otherwise reliably Democratic leaning areas;

  6. in Miami county, voter turnout was an improbable and highly suspect 98.55 percent, and after 100 percent of the precincts were reported, an additional 19,000 extra votes were recorded for President Bush.

Third, in the post-election period we learned of numerous irregularities in tallying provisional ballots and conducting and completing the recount that disenfanchised thousands of voters and call the entire recount procedure into question (as of this date the recount is still not complete):

• Mr. Blackwell's failure to articulate clear and consistent standards for the counting of provisional ballots resulted in the loss of thousands of predominantly minority votes. In Cuyahoga County alone, the lack of guidance and the ultimate narrow and arbitrary review standards significantly contributed to the fact that 8,099 out of 24,472 provisional ballots were ruled invalid, the highest proportion in the state.

• Mr. Blackwell's failure to issue specific standards for the recount contributed to a lack of uniformity in violation of both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clauses. We found innumerable irregularities in the recount in violation of Ohio law, including

  1. counties which did not randomly select the precinct samples;

  2. counties which did not conduct a full hand court after the 3% hand and machine counts did not match;

  3. counties which allowed for irregular marking of ballots and failed to secure and store ballots and machinery; and

  4. counties which prevented witnesses for candidates from observing the various aspects of the recount.

• The voting computer company Triad has essentially admitted that it engaged in a course of behavior during the recount in numerous counties to provide "cheat sheets" to those counting the ballots. The cheat sheets informed election officials how many votes they should find for each candidate, and how many over and under votes they should calculate to match the machine count. In that way, they could avoid doing a full county-wide hand recount mandated by state law.

Download Full PDF Document Size: 3.22 MB 102 Pages:
http://truthout.org/Conyersreport.pdf

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20 Amazing facts about voting in USA

Did you know....

1. 80% of all votes in America are counted by only two companies: Diebold and E S & S. (Election Systems & Software - formerly AIS)

http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diebold

2. There is no federal agency with regulatory authority or oversight of the U.S. voting machine industry.

http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0916-04.htm

http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html

3. The vice-president of Diebold and the president of E S & S are brothers.

http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/private_company.html

http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html

4. The chairman and CEO of Diebold is a major Bush campaign organizer and donor who wrote in 2003 that he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/28/sunday/main632436.shtml

http://www.wishtvcom/Global/story.asp?S=1647886

5. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel used to be chairman of E S & S. He became Senator based on votes counted by E S & S machines.

http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2004/03/03_200.html

http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/031004Fitrakis/031004fitrakis.html

6. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, long-connected with the Bush family, was recently caught lying about his ownership of E S & S by the Senate Ethics Committee.

http://www.blackboxvoting.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=26

http://www.hillnews.com/news/012903/hagel.aspx

http://www.onlisareinsradar.com/archives/000896.php

7. Senator Chuck Hagel was on a short list of George W. Bush's vice-presidential candidates.

http://www.businessweek.com/2000/00_28/b3689130.htm

http://theindependent.com/stories/052700/new_hagel27.html

8. E S & S is the largest voting machine manufacturer in the U.S. and counts almost 60% of all U.S. votes.

http://www.essvote.com/HTML/about/about.html

http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html

9. Diebold's new touch screen voting machines have no paper trail of any votes. In other words, there is no way to verify that the data coming out of the machine is the same as what was legitimately put in by voters.

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0225-05.htm

http://www.itworld.com/Tech/2987/041020evotestates/pfindex.html

10. Diebold also makes ATM's, checkout scanners, and ticket machines, all of which log each transaction and can generate a paper trail.

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0225-05.htm

http://www.diebold.com/solutions/default.htm

11. Diebold is based in Ohio.

http://www.diebold.com/aboutus/ataglance/default.htm

12. Diebold employed 5 convicted felons as consultants and developers to help write the central compiler computer code that counted 50% of the votes in 30 states.

http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,61640,00.html

http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/10/301469.shtml

13. Jeff Dean was Senior Vice-President of General Election Systems when it was bought by Diebold. Even though he had been convicted of 23 counts of felony theft in the first degree, Jeff Dean was retained as a consultant by Diebold and was largely responsible for programming the optical scanning software now used in most of the United States.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0312/S00191.htm

http://www.chuckherrin.com/HackthevoteFAQ.htm#how

http://www.blackboxvoting.org/bbv_chapter-8.pdf

14. Diebold consultant Jeff Dean was convicted of planting back doors in his software and using a "high degree of sophistication" to evade detection over a period of 2 years.

http://www.chuckherrin.com/HackthevoteFAQ.htm#how

http://www.blackboxvoting.org/bbv_chapter-8.pdf

15. None of the international election observers were allowed in the polls in Ohio.

http://www.globalexchange.org/update/press/2638.html

http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/10/26/loc_elexoh.html

16. California banned the use of Diebold machines because the security was so bad. Despite Diebold's claims that the audit logs could not be hacked, a chimpanzee was able to do it! (See the movie here http://blackboxvoting.org/baxter/baxterVPR.mov.)

http://wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,63298,00.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4874190
[Nadia: if you like this movie, see it done and explained by human beings in the Votegate movie at http://www.votergate.tv/]

17. 30% of all U.S. votes are carried out on unverifiable touch screen voting machines with no paper trail.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/28/sunday/main632436.shtml

18. All - not some - but all the voting machine errors detected and reported in Florida went in favor of Bush or Republican candidates.

http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,65757,00.html

http://www.yuricareport.com/ElectionAftermath04/ (cropped link)

http://www.rise4news.net/extravotes.html

http://www.ilcaonline.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=950

http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0411/S00227.htm

19. The governor of the state of Florida, Jeb Bush, is the President's brother.

http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/local/7628725.htm

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10544-2004Oct29.html

20. Serious voting anomalies in Florida -- again always favoring Bush -- have been mathematically demonstrated and experts are recommending further investigation.

http://www.yuricareport.com/ElectionAftermath04/ (cropped link)

http://www.computerworld.com/governmenttopics/ (cropped link)

http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/tens_of_thousands.html

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1106-30.htm

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2004/110904.html http://uscountvotes.org/

NOTE: Please copy the above list and distribute freely! LET THE FACTS BE KNOWN! Thank you!

Want more details? Check out Voting Fraud in the USA: A Tale of Two Brothers!

memes.org weblink (cropped)

NEW! DECEMBER 2004 GALLUP POLLS 1 in 5 Americans believe the elections were fraudulent! That's over 41 Million Americans: more than the entire adult population of Texas, Florida, and Pennsylvania!

Does this make you angry?

Do you feel that the Bush administration is trashing the spirit of democracy?

WHAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT

The mainstream reporters and your senators and congressmen don't want to investigate the subject because they're all concerned about government retribution!

But this is a DEMOCRACY! We need to tell them to do their jobs!

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Seven Key Reasons why the vote must be challenge at the Electoral College

by Rev. Jesse Jackson,
Rainbow/PUSH Coalition
January 3, 2005

http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2005/1066

1. Exit Polls Did Not Match Actual Vote in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida

The gulf between the exit polls and counted votes was glaring. The Zogby Poll and the media consortium poll (including CNN and AP) had Kerry winning an electoral landslide with 53% and 51% respectively in Ohio. Why did exit polls match the actual vote in the nation EXCEPT for Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania?

Exit polls are considered the most accurate measurement of the vote. Exit polls were responsible for calling for a revote in the Ukraine. The odds of the exit polls being outside the margin of error in these three battleground states are about 155 million to one. The exit poll data has never been released. There must be an investigation of the exit poll disparities.

2. Voting machines owned by private, partisan companies subject to manipulation

Voting machine tampering occurred throughout the state. In Mahoning County, votes hopped from Kerry to Bush. In Franklin County, votes for Kerry faded away. In Lucas County, Diebold machines froze up and rejected ballots in pro-Kerry precincts.

There were 16 precincts in Cleveland where votes intended for Kerry were shifted to other candidates.

Triad technicians re-programmed vote tabulating computers to Hocking County election officials. In Lucas County, Diebold employees re-programmed vote machines in preparation for the recount. Election officials in that county, including the executive director, are resigning.

Diebold and Triad are led by executives who aggressively supported Bush.

Private companies should not be allowed to control voting machines and secret software, which are highly susceptible to hacking and manipulation.

There must be a full investigation of the voter machines.

Private owned machines, that leave no audit trail, with owners with a vested interest in the outcome, is offensive to our sensibilities.

3. Uncounted and Provisional Ballots disproportionately affected African American voters

There are 92,672 uncounted ballots in Ohio, concentrated in precincts that voted overwhelmingly for Kerry. As many as 36,000 votes might swing to Kerry if these votes are counted. Nearly 25,000 provisional ballots statewide were rejected and went uncounted.

In Cleveland there are 65 precincts where 4% or more of the ballots went uncounted. These precincts voted overwhelmingly for John Kerry, by a margin of 12 to 1. No one has ever looked at these punch cards to determine the intent of the voters.

There were 24,788 provisional ballots issued in Cuyahoga County, nearly 16% of the statewide total, more than in any other county in Ohio. 7,450 provisional ballots from Cuyahoga County were rejected, reaching as high as 51% in some African American precincts/wards.

4. Inexplicable Vote disparities

The Connally Anomaly: In 13 Southern Ohio counties a under funded, African American municipal court judge from Cleveland, Connally received more votes than John Kerry. In Butler County, Bush got 109,000 votes to Kerry s 56,000 but Connally received 61,000 and her republican opponent got 68,000.

In Warren County, election officials declared a Homeland Security threat on Election Day, locked out the press and observers and secretly counted the vote. Bush received an unusually high differential, 68,035 to 26,043.

In three counties - Butler, Warren and Clermont Counties voter disparities were glaring Bush margin was 132,685 (his statewide margin was 118,775).

In Perry County, the Secretary of State certified two precincts with 124% voter turnout.

In Miami County, a precinct was certified with a 98.55 % turnout all but ten eligible voters. But a canvass of less than half of this precinct has already located 25 voters that did not vote. An additional 19,000 votes were reported after 100% of the precincts had reported (with the exact percentage as the earlier 100% reported vote ), with Bush adding 6,000 votes to his margin.

In heavily Democratic Cleveland districts, where Kerry was winning 98% of the vote, officials certified a highly improbable 7.85% turnout in one precinct. This precinct was not subject to the recount.

There were 30 precincts in Cleveland with inexplicable voter turnout of below 40%.

In Cuyahoga, two voters gave affidavits swearing they received punch card ballots already punched for Bush.

5. Voting Rights Act Violations

In 42 predominantly African American precincts in Franklin County, there were fewer machines utilized than in the primary. An inner city precinct with 1600 voters had just three machines, while a suburban precinct with 300 voters had three machines. The state guideline is 1 machine per 100 voters.

At the pro-Kerry Kenyon campus, students had just two machines one which broke down on numerous occasions - and waited up to ten hours until 4:00am to vote.

Districts that voted 60-80% democratic lost machines; precincts with 60-80% voting republicans lost no machines.

There were 700,000 new registrations in Ohio, but in the highest areas of new registration there were no additional voting machines.

77 machines broke down in Franklin County.

Voters in inner city precincts waited in the rain for up to 6 hours to vote, while at least 68 machines stayed dry in the warehouse. A canvas of one of the precinct showed that 20% of voters attempted to vote but left due to time constraints.

Hispanic voters in Cleveland were forced to vote at precincts where all of the ballots were in English, and poll workers did not speak Spanish.

6. The Recount did not Recount the Votes

Only 3% of the precincts were subject to a hand count. Most were not selected randomly as required by law, but hand-picked by partisan election officials. Vote machines in at least two counties were re- programmed by Triad or Diebold officials after the sample 3% precincts were selected.

Throughout the state, private vendors supervised or monitored the machine or hand recount.

Secretary of State Blackwell and county election officials have a vested interest in delivering Ohio to Bush, a clear conflict of interest.

There was a full hand count of all ballots in just one of Ohio's 88 counties. Differences in the original count and the recount which should have triggered full hand count of the entire county - were routinely ignored.

7. Challenge at January 6 Joint Session of Congress

ALL of these glitches fell in Bush's favor. The systematic bias and potential for fraud is unmistakable. An in-depth investigation is vital.

On January 6, Congressman Conyers and members of the House will step up and challenge the voter irregularities in Ohio. To force that debate, they need only one member of the Senate to join them, and Democratic Senators should join them.

If America is to be a champion of democracy abroad, it must clean up its elections at home. If it is to complain of fraudulent and dishonest election practices abroad, it cannot condone them at home. But more important, if our own elections are to be legitimate, then they must be honest, open, with high national standards. We need national standards for voting, an end to partisan control of the election process by state officials, accompanied by a constitutional amendment to guarantee the right to vote for all Americans.

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The "Crime of November 2"

the human side of how Bush stole Ohio, and why Congress must investigate rather than ratify the Electoral college

(Part Two of Two)

by Bob Fitrakis, Steve Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman

January 5, 2005

http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2005/1067

Tomorrow (Thursday, January 6) Congress will host an unprecedented Constitutional showdown over the future of American democracy.

It rises from a catalog of abuses that poisoned the November 2 presidential balloting in Ohio. Taken together, these attacks on the democratic process shifted Ohio's vote from John Kerry to George W. Bush, giving him the presidency.

Other states, most notably New Mexico and Florida, suffered similar problems, casting a dark shadow of doubt over the alleged 3.5 million-vote nationwide edge claimed by Bush.

By virtue of an 1887 law passed in response to the contested election of 1876, Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Rep. Stephanie Tubbs-Jones (D-OH) and others will challenge the seating of Ohio's electors. If joined by a single Senator, Congress for the first time will debate the outcome of a presidential election as determined by the Electoral College.

The right-wing media assault on those who would mount this challenge has been withering. The Ohio Republican Party says Rep. Tubbs-Jones will "make a fool of herself" if she supports the effort. GOP functionaries have filled the major media with charges of "conspiracy theories" and "irresponsibility" among those who would question the vote.

But all Americans committed to real democracy must stand in awe of this challenge.

It's more than ironic that this unelected administration has portrayed itself as a defender of democracy in helping overturn an election in Ukraine based on discrepancies between exit polls and a fraudulent vote count. Doing the same here would deny George W. Bush the White House.

It's also ironic that an apparently defeated Republican candidate for governor in the state of Washington is now calling for a revote to overturn a recount. We support that demand, and ask the same for Ohio.

It's beyond tragic that this administration is now shedding untold quantities of blood in Iraq in the name of a democracy that is being denied here.

A far-ranging catalog of 2004 election abuses has been published over the months at http://www.freepress.org, and is available for reference there and at other web sites. It's a deeply disturbing indicator of a declining democracy that precious few mainstream media have covered even the fact that there is controversy over this election, let alone the substance of the record that defines it as perhaps the most corrupt in our history.

In breaking news, the www.freepress.org team now has in its possession an official Franklin County Board of Election document entitled "Machine Assignments for General Election 2004" showing the serial numbers of 76 machines, all in Democrat-rich Columbus, that were blacked out and kept in the warehouse or on trucks during the election, while thousands of inner city voters stood in the rain. Conversely, none of the machines designated for Republican-dominated suburbs were blacked out on the list and held back.

In our previous piece, we presented what we found to be ten of the largest vote-counting irregularities in the conduct of Ohio's election.

Embodied in those ten irregularities are more than enough votes to have shifted the Ohio tally from George W. Bush to John Kerry.

Those and other crucial discrepancies will be discussed today at a 2pm press conference at the National Press Club in Washington. We have been told the conference will be covered by C-SPAN. We will catalog as much of the evidence presented there as possible in future articles, and in an upcoming book and documentary film.

The attorneys, statistical experts, investigators and others presenting at this conference will be accompanied by at least one busload of citizens who simply had their votes denied on November 2. Coming within hours of the Congress' historic vote, we present excerpts of the hundreds of sworn affidavits presented by these and other Ohio voters in the wake of the "Crime of November 2."

As we careen toward Congress' historic confrontation, we are reminded that above all this is a human tragedy, a moment in time where the world's oldest continuous democracy allowed millions of its citizens to proceed in good faith to its polling places, only to have that good faith cynically abused.

Those who have questioned, investigated, reported and challenged the Ohio vote continue to face facile criticism in exchange for their hard, selfless work. But despite pledges to the contrary, it wasn't the Kerry campaign or the Democratic Party that convened public hearings after the election to create a record while memories were fresh. It was a coalition of activists, lawyers and independent journalists.

What follows are 45 Election Day problems, as described by more than 85 people who came to independently convened public hearings in Columbus on Nov. 13 and 15, and Cleveland on Nov 20, and filed affidavits on Election day. These are the voices of the election protection volunteers, poll workers and ordinary voters who testified under oath about the harm they personally experienced and the damage they saw done to their most fundamental civil right, the right to vote.

These voices - excerpted from transcripts and affidavits - have not been published before. They the voices of people who expect more from American democracy. Listen to what these people have to say about the 2004 presidential election in Ohio. Then ask, Was this a free and fair election? Why should the certified results be trusted and believed?

Until those questions can be answered, Congress should not certify the 2004 Electoral College.

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Election Day Problems

Republican-majority districts did not have voting problems

1. No waiting, plenty of voting machines in GOP strongholds.

Joseph Kuspan, affidavit, 11/15/04 (Bexley, near Columbus):

No problems. I was a runner in Bexley precincts 1A, 1B, 1C. There were no lines in my visits to these precincts three times. I will point out that 1B is perhaps the wealthiest precinct in Franklin County including the Governor, OSU (Ohio State University) President, etc.

Julie Jacobson, affidavit, 11/13/04 (Columbus):

I was a volunteer all day on Nov. 2 and noticed a big discrepancy in the number of voting machines. Where I vote, in an affluent neighborhood, a voting machine had been added (total of five machines). In the lower-income neighborhoods, there were two-three machines and people waiting over three hours to vote!

Robin Smith, testimony, 11/15 hearing (Columbus):

The only conclusion I can draw from this is there was an intentional effort to usher Republican voters through relatively short lines while creating excessively long lines in Democratic areas to suppress their right to vote by ensuring some people would leave without voting, because they were incapable of standing in lines for three or four hours or they had to get to work.

2. Plenty of voting machines at GOP-leaning university, but not nearby liberal school.

Mike Swinford, testimony, 11/13 hearing (Mt. Vernon):

You had a previous person talk about Kenyon College. Knox County has two colleges. The one that has been profiled is Democratic, had long lines, that has already been testified to. The other one, Mt. Vernon Nazarene University, that has been profiled as a Republican. That one did not have any problem as to waiting lines.

Voter Registration and Absentee Ballot Snafus

"Snafus" is American slang for confusion, chaos

3. New registrations not properly processed, voters told not on rolls at poll.

Alessondra Hernandez, affidavit, 11/13/04 (Toledo):

A young African-American woman had been denied her right to vote at Glenwood Elementary School. I was told she was one of many from earlier that day.

4. Voters with multi-year residences told not on rolls, given provisional ballot.

Patricia Jackson, testimony, 11/20 hearing, Cleveland:

I had a lot of people in my precinct who vote religiously and some of them, their names were not in the poll books.

Gorman Paul Gregory, affidavit, 11/13/04, (Columbus hearing):

My friend, Kathy Janosksi, attempted to vote in our precinct 73F, but she was not on the rolls. I saw her being given the punch card to vote provisionally. Ms. Janoski and I have resided together at the above address since 2001. Between 2001 and 2004, I personally saw communications from the Board of Elections to her address.

5. College student vote suppressed, 2004 voter registrations not processed.

Kyle Gebhart, statement, (Bowling Green):

I am a student at Bowling Green State University and moved from on-campus housing to an off-campus apartment over the summer. By mid-October, I had still not received my voter registration card. They then told me that they never received my registration form and I would have to come down and fill out a change of address form. I went to my polling place; they looked on their printed voter rolls and my name was not on it.

6. Absentee ballot requests not properly processed in timely manner.

Max M. Lachman, affidavit, 11/15 (Cincinnati):

I never received the absentee ballot for the Nov. 2004 election. I went in person to the Hamilton County BOE on Oct. 29 to cast an early ballot and was informed there that they had mailed me an absentee ballot earlier that week. The BoE informed me on Nov. 15, that somebody else was able to register a counted vote with my absentee ballot.

Harvey Wasserman, testimony, 11/13 hearing (Columbus):

I filled out my form with the same address I have lived at since 1986, and I checked my registration as a Democrat, which I decided to do this year, and a few days later I received in the mail a rejection of my application for the absentee ballot stating that I had filled in the wrong address. But it came to the right address.

7. Voters bringing absentee ballots to polls told to go to county offices.

Natalie Dobie, affidavit, 11/13/2004 (Cincinnati):

I was a poll worker, my group witnessed numerous people who received absentee ballots but had not mailed them in. When these voters tried to vote in their precincts, they were not allowed to cast regular ballots or their absentee ballots at their precincts. Instead they were told that in order to vote they had to bring their absentee ballots downtown and cast them at the Board of Election office.

8. Longtime voters not receiving absentee ballots, given provisional ballots.

Barry McPeek, affidavit, 11/15/04 (Reynoldsburg):

I was sent a provisional ballot card forwarded by the post office due to a permanent change of address. I have been a resident at this address since 1980 - January to be exact.

Voting Machines Shorted In Minority Districts

9. Polls in urban precincts assigned too few machines.

Ted Dyrdek, Jr., affidavit, 11/2/04 (Columbus):

I waited in line for 1 hour 45 minutes. A friend of mine left after voting. At this time I was standing where he was when I came in. I have a 1 hour 45 minute wait until I get to vote. Total three and one-half hours. My voting place had three voting machines and appears to be 90 percent black voters.

Gorman Paul Gregory, affidavit, 11/13/04 (Columbus):

11:30 am. I visited the Columbus Precinct 25C, where 1275 voters had voted. I observed three voting machines only. 4:30 pm, I visited the 25C precinct again. The lines were longer, well past the inside front door. I personally observed at least 175 voters in line, plus babies and children.

The building was hot and uncomfortable. Almost all people in line were black. Less than 20 were white.

Kay Kranz, 11/15/04, affidavit, (Columbus):

Our register went from 300 odd voters to 825 and we still had only three machines to process our votes.

Jason Parry, testimony, 11/15 hearing, Columbus:

I live in Franklin County and was a poll monitor at Columbus 12A the whole day. My concern is that they knew the Franklin County Board of Election knew the voter registration was double what it was in previous elections and they made absolutely no efforts to account or make any availability of (machines for) these people to vote.

10. Voters recall more voting machines at same polling place in past elections.

Marcia Woods, 11/2/04, affidavit, (Columbus):

I arrived at 1:45 and left at 4:20 pm in order to vote. Most time when I vote there were six booths. Today the most important election in 75 years there were only three booths in my voting area. That is unfair to the people.

Loretta Ingram, affidavit, 11/2/04 (Columbus):

Long line, a wait of two and one-half to three hours. That s too long. Help. Recalled in the past there were five voting machines.

11. Too few machines assigned to liberal college campuses, suppressing vote.

Mathew Segal, testimony, 11/13 hearing, Columbus:

I am here to represent Kenyon College. Kenyon students and residents of Gambier had to stand in lines up to 10 to 12 hours in the rain, through a hot gym, and crowded narrow lines, making it extremely uncomfortable.

Penny Maroldo, statement, (Oberlin):

Right next door in Oberlin, where the Board of Election knew well that there was a huge increase in voter registration at Oberlin College (up from 600-700 students to over 2,100 this year!). The two polling places where students voted had lines that snaked around blocks for hours, and the students were forced to stand in the rain for up to 5-6 hours.

12. Broken machines delivered to democratic precincts.

Angela Greene, affidavit, 11/13/04 (Whitehall):

Usually, we have five-to-six voting booths, but there were only three on this day. One of the three machines was not working and had not been since 6:30 am.. At 9:45 am people arrived to fix the machine. The repairmen reported that the machine had been sent without a cartridge. Whitehall is a racially diverse with a significant youth and African-American voting population.

Sandra L. Francesconi, affidavit, 11/13/04 (Akron):

A larger than normal turnout out the door! Which is great except there were too few voting machines (though plenty of booths) and one of them broken.

13. Voters turned away because of broken machines.

Eliza Jane Synder, testimony, 11/13 hearing, Columbus:

What I witnessed was at Columbia Alternative High School, during the hours of 6:30 am to 8:30 am. Everyone was turned away due to broken machines. They started turning people away because they did not have any working machines.

14. Calls by poll workers to get more machines mostly unanswered.

Margaret Thomas, 11/2/04, affidavit, (Columbus):

We were busy all day. Voters waiting 2-3 hours. We had an overflow all day. No breakfast. No lunch snack. I called several times to get more machines. The lines were always busy. I then called 462-4100. No luck. No answer. They refused to send any more machines.

Pat Johnson, testimony, 11/15 hearing, Columbus:

I called downtown to the Board of Elections, and I asked how they allocated their voting machines. And he said you get approximately one to one and one-half machines for every 300 people. So I said, at 1,200, how many should you have? He said, Well, you should have six, possibly, seven, maybe eight. There were four in this precinct. This is a highly Democratic precinct and there were four machines.

Carol Shelton, testimony, 11/13 hearing, Columbus:

I was the presiding judge. I called to get more machines and ended up being connected to Matt Damschroder, the Director of the Board of Elections. After a real hassle and someone here has it on videotape he sent me a fourth machine which did not dent the length of the line.

Patricia Jackson, testimony, 11/20 hearing, Cleveland:

I had a shortage of equipment. I called them about seven in the morning I needed another booth. I had another apparatus to accommodate another poll booth, but I did get one at six in the evening.

Catherine Cheney, affidavit, 11/13/04 (Columbus):

My precinct, Perry Township Precinct A at Worthington Hills Elementary School had four voting machines. However, the poll workers told us that only two were working. I saw someone come in and fix the machines. The voters I observed that day and in the past at my precinct are almost all white.

15. Poll workers improvise solution, but votes may not be counted.

Sandra L. Francesconi, affidavit, 11/13/04 (Akron):

The director tried to alleviate my precinct s wait by borrowing from the other precinct (where the line was much shorter). When I asked if this switching back and forth might damage the vote count, she assured me not.

Poll Worker Snafus

16. Polls opened late, overwhelmed poll workers.

Donald D. Germany, affidavit, 11/2/04 (Columbus):

When I arrived to vote at Livingston School at 6:30 am, the polls were not open. The machines were not up. The election officials who sign you in had not arrived. I left without voting, as did a number of other people. This is precinct 4-B.

Jason D. Kimble, affidavit, 11/2/04 (Columbus):

I arrived at my polling place (17B) ay 11:30 am. I voted at 3:25 pm. The polling place was very disorganized, not enough machines. The poll workers were rude and inefficient.

17. Long lines, people waiting for three-to-five hours, at times outside in rain.

Luther Greene, affidavit, 11/2/04:

I reside in Columbus& My race is black. I am, or believe I am, a registered voter in Columbus, OH. I have been registered for 40 years. On Nov. 2, 2004, I arrived at the polls at 9:45 am. I left at 1.15 pm. There were only three voting booths. I had to wait three and one-half hours to vote.

Vincent Bomar, affidavit, 11/2/04 (Columbus):

I had to wait in line for approximately four hours before I could actually vote.

Christopher C. McQuoid, affidavit, 11/12 (Columbus)

I got in line at 4:25 pm and voted at 9:33 pm. Luckily for me COLS 18-A line was indoors. However, COLS 18-C had to wait mainly outdoors in poor weather.

8. Elderly and handicapped people not accommodated.

Mary Taylor, affidavit, 11/2/04 (Columbus):

I requested curb-side voting at Wards 17A and B. A chair would single me out as disabled. This is an unacceptable accommodation. No curbside voting was provided& My disability is unable to stand for long periods of time.

The wait is over three hours.

Bertha Boatley, affidavit, 11/2/2004 (Columbus):

I came to vote around 2 pm. I had to wait approximately two hours to cast my vote. I completed voting around 4 pm. I am 90 years old.

Toi Crimley, affidavit, 11/2/2004 (Columbus):

I had to wait a long time to vote. I was unable to vote until 3:15 pm. There were a lot of people waiting. There was a handicapped woman and they told her there was no one to help her.

Werner Lange, affidavit, 11/13/04, (Newton Falls):

(2) An with a wheelchair-bound voter pulled up to the voting site (Hillman Elementary School); he driver tried for one hour to gain access to the voting machines; He couldn t, so he drove OFF with the disabled voter who did not cast his vote.

19. Once inside polls, people not told they were waiting in wrong lines.

Donna Adassa, affidavit, 11/13/04, (Columbus):

There were two unidentified lines. It was not clear which line to stand in.

Kris Usselman, affidavit, 11/2/04 (Columbus):

I saw many people leave because of the long lines. I also saw people stand in the wrong lines for long periods of time and then have to get in other lines.

Tanya Thivener, affidavit, 11/2/04 (Columbus):

After I was directed into one line and waited for approximately one hour. I was told that we were changing lines and I had to wait an additional two hours and 20 minutes. This site was understaffed and not enough booths.

Jackie Scott, affidavit, 11/2/2004 (Columbus):

(1) I waited one hour and 45 minutes. Many people were in line for two hours.
(2) The room was small and crowded and everybody was very confused.
(3) There are different lines and it is not clear where people are supposed to go.
(4) I was not given sufficient direction on where to go, what lines to be in, etc.

20. Poll workers did not send people to proper polling place.

Steven Mason, affidavit, 11/2/04 (Columbus):

My name was on voter list at precinct 26B but I was sent to precinct 56 and waited two hours, then called and got correct info and came back to vote.

Margaret Downs, affidavit 11/2/04 (Cincinnati):

Told I was not registered and unable to vote. Was not told there was another precinct around corner where I could vote.

21. Voters were not adequately instructed how to use machines.

Frankie Hines, affidavit, 11/2/04 (Columbus):

The lady at the booth explained to me that once I voted for each issue, I was to push the vote button. I was not told how to properly work the machine until after I cast my first vote, then the machine shut down and I was told it could not be restarted.

22. Cops ticket illegally parked cars at poll, because of long wait.

Boyd Mitchell, testimony, 11/13 hearing, Columbus:

What I saw was voter intimidation in the form of city employees that were sent in to stop illegal parking. Now, in Driving Park Rec Center, there are less than 50 legal spots and there were literally 100s and 100s of voters there, and I estimate that at least 70 percent of the people were illegally parked in the grass around the perimeter.

Michael Hayes, testimony, 11/13 hearing, Columbus:

Imagine the sight, in a Black neighborhood where a lot of young black voters are showing up for the first time, you have full police presence, even though they are sitting in cars&. You have six cars in the parking lot, and you have a well-known Republican businessman in the community asking people, please disperse, please get into your cars.

Long lines, People Waiting, People Leaving

23. People waiting in the rain for long time.

Joann Clark, affidavit, 12/12/04 (Franklin):

Long lines. My vote would have been for Kerry. Not enough machines for people to vote. About 200 people in line ahead of me and it was pouring down the rain and freezing cold. I had worked all day and had the flu.

John Wooden, Sr., affidavit, 11/14/04 (Columbus):

I stood in the rain, then once on the building it took three and one-half before I could place my vote. The process was slow and relentless. It was like playing musical chairs. I was amazed to see only three voting booths - and all the people that were inside and outside waiting to place their vote.

Issac Kinser, Jr., affidavit, 12/19/04 (Franklin):

The line was long. It was raining and I had to wait in line for one and one-half hours. I believe the turnout was at least 80 to 85 percent.

24. People left without voting, citing long wait.

Christopher J. Collins, affidavit, 11/2/04 (Columbus):

I served as a volunteer for the Ohio Voter Protection Coalition outside the polling place for Precinct 6C, City of Columbus. At least 12 voters told me that they were leaving without voting because the line was so long.

Harry R. Kelly, Sr., affidavit, 12/19/04 (Columbus):

We had five machines, needed about 10 machines. People could not wait two to three hours to vote. They had to go to work, school, doctors, etc.

Danielle Speakman, affidavit, 12/12/04 (Columbus):

The lines were three hours long. I have three children and no one to watch them for that long. I was not able to vote. However, I would have liked to have voted for John Kerry. I wish we could have the chance to vote again.

Heather Shannon, affidavit, 11/2/04 (Columbus):

I waited for one and one-half hours but heard that it was a three-hour wait. I had to leave because I didn t have anyone else to watch my child. At the time I was there, only two machines were working.

John Saler, affidavit, 11/2/04 (Columbus):

I have to work!

25. People returning to polls several times to try to vote.

Dawana Martin, affidavit, 11/2/04:

After arriving at about 12:45 pm, I waited on line outside of Shepard Branch Library. I finally voted at shortly before 4:00 pm, probably at 3:55 pm. I had attempted to vote twice earlier in the day, waiting 30 minutes for my first attempt and one-and-one-half hours the second time.

Jeff Szczygiel, affidavit, 11/2/04 (Columbus):

I cannot wait three hours to vote. I have to pick up my children. This is the third time today I have been here today I cannot wait in excess of one hour. I would be willing to return after 7:30 pm.

26. Time taken to vote took undue personal toll.

Marion Brown, affidavit, 11/14/04, (Columbus):

I'm here on behalf of a friend, Evelyn Nesbitt Fox. She came to my home saying she will never vote again as long as she lives. While she stood four hours voting, her husband passed away. Mr. Larry Fox, his funeral was on 11/13/04.

Stacy G. Hunt, affidavit, 12/1/04 (Columbus):

There are only three voting booths!!! I have been here for hours, standing in the rain, waiting to vote. People are leaving without voting due to work policies. My husband (age 77) fell from fatigue while waiting. It is now 2:07 and I have not been able to vote. This is wrong.

Carlos Pace, affidavit, 11/2/04 (Columbus):

I took 3 hours of vacation time to vote. Now I have to try and get 3 hours more of vacation.

Voters Challenged; Given Provisional Ballots; Provisionals Not Handled Properly

27. College students challenged, given high number of provisional ballots.

Ian MacConnell, testimony, 11/13 hearing, Columbus:

My name is Ian McConnell and I voted at precinct 16 B, which is on the Ohio State University campus, I attempted to vote in the same place that I voted in the primaries and was told that my name was not in the rolls. I was then told that I needed to vote provisional, was very disturbed about that, because I didn t know exactly what they meant. I said, Will my vote be counted? They said, Yes, it would.

28. Minorities, youth in urban areas targeted, challenged, some given provisional ballots.

Sherri Suarez, affidavit, 11/15, (Reynoldsburg):

I was told that I was being challenged. Asked for ID and told Sorry I would be unable to vote today. I refused to take this and then I was asked for a utility bill. I looked in my car nothing. I called and had a bill faxed to my polling location. Walked in with a bill, ID, and registration from Internet, again told no. I demanded representation from Democratic Party and attorney and I was told no. Then offered provisional ballot.

Susan Husami, testimony, 11/13 hearing, Columbus:

I received a letter from the Lucas County Board of Elections containing both the challenge of (my) right to vote and correction of registration list, as well as a notice of hearing. The challenge of my right to vote was filed by Daphne Sims, with an address included here. I never met Ms. Sims, and I have reason to believe Ms. Sims does not know who I am.

Don Brezine, affidavit, 11/13/04 (Xenia):

There were about 1,600-1,800 ballots at the four precincts, of which 90 were provisional. My observation was about 10 percent of the voters were black. About 40-50 percent of the provisionals were black. Other than that disparity, things went rather smoothly. No Republican challenger was present.

29. Minority youth incorrectly challenged by alleging they had felony record.

Renee Smith, affidavit, 11/13/04 (Columbus):

(1) Ward 48, Precinct D excessive long line.
(2) Ward 48, Precinct D inadequate no. voting machine.
(3) Witnessed a young black youth first time voter who was initially told he was not allowed to vote because he had a felony. When they made a call and determined he had no record, he was allowed to vote.

30. Ex-felons targeted by disinformation campaign saying they cannot vote.

Catherine Buchanan, affidavit, 11/12/04 (Toledo):

I met numerous ex-felons who absolutely believed they had no right to vote. The ones I had approached prior to Oct. 4th I was able to convince to register. The ones I had encountered after Oct. 4th still honestly believed they had no right to vote.

31. Longtime voters challenged, poll workers incorrectly cite address changes.

Richard M. Smith, Sr., affidavit, 11/15/04 (Columbus):

My wife received a notice on Nov. 2 challenging her right to vote. She was to appear before the Franklin County Board of Elections for a hearing (Oct. 28th, 9 am). The challenge was in Ward 68 (2003). Her current address is Ward 55 (2004). Her voting record is current: 40-plus years.

32. Longtime voters incorrectly were given provisional ballots.

Micheal Sowiski, statement (Cuyohoga County):

Too many provisional ballots were cast as opposed to real ballots. Voters who had been voting for years at the same location weren't on lists, and so had to cast provisionals ballots.

Michael Greenman, testimony, 11/15 hearing, Columbus:

I voted there in elections for the last five years; I came in and looked at the list and my name was not on the list. It was a computerized list. My wife s name was on the list. I asked them how could this be? They had no explanation. They were very cooperative, gave me a provisional ballot. But I cannot imagine my name could have been removed from the list without some active action.

Martha Parge, affidavit, 11/13/04 (Lebanon):

Precinct 16, City of Lebanon, Warren County. Two voters not related, had I.D. Required next to their names on the voter roll. They presented valid I.D., then were told they needed to fill out a HAVA Provisional Voter Statement of Affirmation. They voted and their ballots were put in a provisional envelope. I questioned why..

33. Poll workers not familiar with provisional ballots, improperly recorded.

Daniel G. Johnson, affidavit, 11/2/04 (Mt. Gilead):

I was transporting voters to polling place at 2355 Middlehurst Ave. and South Mifflin School. I found that the polling place had no provisional ballot booklets resulting in that no one has been allowed to vote provisionally the whole day.

Daniel Lotz, testimony, 11/20 hearing, Cleveland:

I was a Democratic Party poll challenger at Election Day Ward 13, precinct K. Nearly 50 percent of the provisional ballots were not completely properly filled out.. I m concerned that the counting might not be a standard inclusive approach.

Patricia Blochowiak, testimony, 11/20 hearing, Cleveland:

None of the election officials at the polls knew how to deal with the provisional ballot issue, and we were forever trying to go back to the rules and clarify them. But no-one seemed to have received training about how to deal with provisional ballots. When we had problems, we were unable in many cases to reach either of the two phone numbers we had for the board of elections.

34. Precinct judges not familiar with provisional ballots, ballots not offered to voters.

Kay Kranz, 11/15/04, affidavit, (Columbus):

When setting up for voters, we asked for paperwork to deal with provisional voters. At the end of voting while closing up, the Presiding judge mysteriously found the information needed to guide provisional voters. We were not able to guide voters to the correct precinct and they were made to vote provisionally.

Voting Machinery Flawed

35. Ballot layout and design confusing, leading to mistaken votes.

James R. Hanson, statement, 11/26/04 (Columbus):

Both my wife and I wee slowed down in our voting because the layout of the presidential race confused us. I couldn t get over the feeling that I was looking at a botched ballot. The feeling I got was that I was being tricked, but passed the test.

36. Voters given punch card ballots with presidential choices already punched.

Lisa Casini, affidavit, 12/28/04, (Independence, Cuyohoga County):

I was handed a ballot in the usual sleeve. I took it out of the sleeve and was ready to put it in the voting apparatus, when I noticed that the bottom third of the ballot had already been punched out.

Micheal Sowiski, statement (Cuyohoga County):

Ballots with holes already punched in them when voters received them.

37. Punch-card machine not working properly.

Patricia Blochowiak, testimony, 11/20 hearing, Cleveland:

I was a Democratic challenger. We had a machine malfunction. It was off-set. We don't know if those votes were counted accurately or not.

38. Electronic machine malfunction, no flashing lights for presidential vote choice.

Sarah Locke, affidavit, 11/13/04 (Columbus):

Once in the voting machine, I was puzzled that the lights were flashing for candidates for all the offices except the presidential office. I wondered why these didn't flash so I just looked for Kerry's name and pressed the rectangle and the red light came on.

Gorman Paul Gregory, affidavit, 11/13/04 (Westerville):

When I went in my voting booth, the red blinking light was not on in the presidential race. I voted for president and then told the presiding judge of the problem. He then told me that he could not do anything. I finished my other voting selections. No one checked the machine after I was done voting.

39. Electronic machine malfunction, voters chooses Kerry; machine selects Bush.

Jeanne Smith White, affidavit, 11/15/04, (Youngstown):

I pushed the button besides John Kerry's name and my vote jumped up to George Bush. I began complaining about them cheating again this year. The attendant ran over to my booth and announced just push the button again, that's been happening a lot. I then pushed the button again. It remained on John Kerry. Many others in different precincts experienced the same problem.

Josephine Hulett, affidavit, 11/19/04 (Youngstown):

When I press Kerry I get Bush. I press it three times, then I get Kerry. I speak to the presiding judge. I had them call the Board of Election. They show up about 11:30 am.

40. Electronic machine malfunction, screen goes black or registers no vote.

Esther Hampton, affidavit, 11/13/2004 (Columbus):

The electronic voting machine would not take my vote although I tried repeatedly by pressing the vote button. Election officials tried to help, then finally the screen (front of machine) went black and I was told had voted. I felt that I had been blocked from voting. Multiple calls resulted in no help.

Thom Pintello, affidavit, 11/15/04. (Columbus):

A problem with the voting machine. It would negate my vote for John Kerry by returning to no-vote status.

Vote Counting Problems

41. Homeland Security Threat, banning press from observing Warren County count.

Elizabeth Kent, affidavit, 11/2/04 (Lebanon):

Problems I saw in Warren County during Election Day. They claimed level 10 Homeland Security threat to bar all media out of the BOE (Board of Election) during the vote count. They did not warn the citizens of Warren County through the color code system. They did not warn the Board of Election of the threat level.

42. Secretary of State orders Election records sealed until after vote is certified.

Victoria Lovegren, testimony, 11/13 hearing, (Columbus):

The other thing that I have seen is they are not letting us look at the records. They are not letting us go to the Board of Elections and look at the records. Blackwell, again, made phone calls to counties, telling them that we are not to see those records, and this is public information. The Ohio Open Records Act says so.

Werner Lange, affidavit, 11/13/04, (Newton Falls):

On Nov. 12, I went to the Trumbull Board of Elections and asked to see precinct logs; This was denied and the BOE official said I could not see them until after the official vote was given.

43. Secretary of State's last-minute provisional rule change disenfranchises voters.

Victoria Lovegren, testimony, 11/13 hearing, Columbus:

I was also concerned about the directive or whatever you want to call the rules or the laws that Blackwell comes up with. The date of birth has to be on the envelope of the provisional ballot for it to be acceptable, and this is a change in the rules.

44. Reports of spoiled ballots or no votes for president don't make sense.

Sarah Taylor, testimony, 11/20 hearing, Cleveland:

Look at the ballots cast for president, in practically all cases, there's a discrepancy. In the case of my precinct, where I was at, 16A, you'll see there's a discrepancy of about 18 people. That means 18 people voted but are not reported as voting for president. That means 5 percent of the people who voted did not have their votes counted for president. It's unlikely that 5 percent of the people who showed up on Election Day and stood in line for an hour or so, actually didn't want to vote for president.

45. Reported turnout numbers did not match what people at polls saw.

Cyrus Taylor, testimony, 11/20 hearing, Cleveland:

It was quite a day - I was in some sense heartened by the long lines; figuring this meant that we'd had an incredible turnout. So when the next day when the first canvass report was posted, I was astounded to see that in my precinct, that according to the official numbers, we actually had fewer people vote than voted in 2000. When there was essentially no campaign at all.

Tragically, there is still much more to report. The election of 2004 is not over.

* * * * * *

Bob Fitrakis, Steve Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman are co-authors of OHIO'S STOLEN ELECTION: VOICES OF THE DISENFRANCHISED, 2004, forthcoming from www.freepress.org. Contributions are welcome via www.freepress.org or at the Columbus Institute for Contemporary Journalism, 1240 Bryden Road, Columbus, OH 43205.

RELEASED TODAY: New Status Report of the House Judiciary Committee

Democratic Staff: Download it now.

Also, download Appendix A - Video the Vote A Film by Linda Byrket and Text of Fundraising Letter from Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell.

NOTE: for those who do not read their email whilst online, the URL of the above movie is

http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/video%20the%20vote.mov

the letter

http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/blackwellfundraisingltr.pdf

and if you never saw the early cuts for a full-length film Votegate that I gave in a previous email, go to http://www.votergate.tv if you have trouble activating the click, go directly to this download page

http://www.votergate.tv/movie_links.html

The first movie documents events on voting day, the second investigates the voting machines and procedures.

* * * * * *

Protest in the Congress

January 7, 2005

Dear Friends,

Something historic happened yesterday. For the first time since 1877 a member of the House and a member of the Senate stood up together to object to the outcome of a presidential election.

This is the first step on a necessary road toward making sure that everyone is allowed to vote and that every vote is counted (something we did not see in 2000 or 2004) so the next time around ALL of us can be confident, when the election results come in, that they reflect the will of the people, not the whim of mechanical error and human obstruction.

Unlike 2000, when the black members of Congress were told to sit down and shut up, this time a senator had the courage to stand with them, as the law requires, to force Congress to go back to their separate chambers to discuss and debate the issues surrounding the vote count. Senator Barbara Boxer rose to the occasion and stood with Ohio Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones and 29 other Representatives "to cast the light of truth on a flawed system which must be fixed now." The ensuing debate, at times, became a debate over me and all of you and the fact that we would dare make the attempt to protect our democracy.

I was blown away when Representative Maxine Waters took to the floor and said, "Mr. Speaker and members, I dedicate my objection to Ohio's electoral votes to Mr. Michael Moore, the producer of the documentary '9/11' and I thank him for educating the world on the threats to our democracy and the proceedings of this house on the acceptance of the electoral college votes for the 2000 presidential election."

I am honored to the point of embarrassment because it is Maxine Waters who deserves thanks for defending our most basic right, not once, but twice.

Coming out of the gates like this in the very first week of session sent a strong message that we are not going to be pushed around. If the Republicans think the next four years are going to be a cakewalk, they've got another thing coming. With Michigan Representative John Conyers leading the charge, we showed them something not seen in over 120 years. And we're just getting started!

Congratulations to the tens of thousands of you who called, faxed, and e-mailed Barbara Boxer and other senators. You have shown the world, with the strength of your convictions, that the movement toward a truly representative democracy will not be stopped in its tracks. Yesterday's actions will be marked by history books as a turning point for the electoral process and for a Democratic Party that has for too long sat back and taken it on the chin.

Your voices have echoed all the way up to the hallowed halls of Congress and for that, you deserve thanks more than anyone.

Yours,

Michael Moore
www.michaelmoore.com

* * * * * *

Nadia McLaren
Union of International Associations
Rue Washington 40
B-1050 Brussels, BELGIUM
Tel: +32 2 643 61 91 Fax: +32 2 643 61 99
http://www.uia.org