Press Release re: Picketing of Sec. Blackwell's Office

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Warren Linney

707-322-3886



Beginning Monday, December 6, 2004, at 11:30 am we will picket the
offices of Ohio Secretary of State, Ken Blackwell at 189 E. Broad Street
at the Borden Building in downtown Columbus, Ohio an action that will
continue until the Secretary meets our demands to:


1. start the recount; and


2. agree to recuse himself from the recount; and


3. agree to appear before the House Judiciary Committee to answer
questions addressed to him in a 14-page letter dated 12/2/04 (signed by
12 Democratic members of that committee); and


4. refrain from designating the Republican slate of presidential
electors until such time as the recount is finished.



Ken Blackwell has done everything to throw this election and is now
running the clock on the recount. This is not about Kerry or Bush, this
is about having fair elections that we can trust, where we are
represented by people that actually won the election. As Jesse Jackson
recently said about Ken Blackwell, the Co-chair of Ohio Bush/ Cheney,
"you can't have the owner of the team and the referee be the same
person." Having Ken Blackwell in charge of the recount is like
"putting a fox in charge of the henhouse."


Among the people participating in this action is former Congressman Dan
Hamburg. This action is endorsed and organized by Citizens' Alliance
for Secure Elections
(www.caseohio.org) and Wake Up Ohio

(www.wake-upohio.com). These groups held the rally at the State House
on December, 4, 2004.



New evidence of fraud came to light on Saturday as Harvey Wasserman,

(truth@freepress.org) one of the people filing FOI requests, received
his first reply. Selby County replied that they could not produce their
tabulation records because they threw them away in an effort "to reduce
paperwork and confusion." Counties are required to save their election
records for 22 months. Susan Truitt (CASE Ohio co-founder) and Atty Bob
Fitrakis (Free Press) are testifying about fraud in the Ohio election in
Washington before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday, December 8,
2004.



This is the latest in a pattern of voting fraud committed by Mr.
Blackwell and many county election officials. These acts were
premeditated voter suppression because election official knew months in
advance of how many voters were in each precinct. Yet fewer voting
machines were placed in heavily Black and Student precincts, resulting
in lines over 9 hours, versus waiting times of less than 30 minutes in
Republican precincts.



Picketing will continue outside the building or in the lobby area until
Mr. Blackwell fulfills his obligations to the people of Ohio and the
United States.



Thank you for your reporting on this issue that is of monumental
importance to the future of our democracy.



Contact: Warren Linney

707-322-3886

Publisher, Patriotic Press

wlinney@patriottest.org