October 20, 2012

"My father's vote was just stolen in Ohio" -- reprint from Democratic Underground

The following is reprinted from this post at Democratic Underground:

****************************************************************


My Father's vote was just stolen in Ohio...


My father had a stroke a few years ago, and he has trouble reading. He votes absentee, so my mother can help him with the ballot. Well, he sent in his ballot a couple weeks ago, and he did EVERYTHING as instructed. Everything was signed, documented, etc. Proper postage and everything.

Yesterday, he got a letter from the Butler County board of elections saying something was not up to snuff with his ballot, and he had to provide one of the following blah blah blah. One of the choices is his drivers license number, which he already included on the absentee ballot. It says he has to deliver it by hand to their office and his deadline is November 16th.

So basically they're only gonna count it as a provisional ballot. What really happened is they opened his ballot, and saw that he voted for Obama, and now they're not going to count it. I don't know who to contact. I'm so pissed I can't see straight.


Original post at Democratic Underground


October 19, 2012

Website to sign up as election protection volunteer

Here is a website to go to, to sign up as an Election Protection Volunteer.

http://www.866ourvote.org/pages/election-protection-volunteers

"Ohio Should Be Out Voting" By Gary Polvinale

(Reprinted with permission from http://www.madogmusic.com)

Ohio Should Be Out Voting
by Gary Polvinale (Sandusky, Ohio)
http://www.madogmusic.com

Got a few million bucks to spend on a comic book?  I see that someone just paid three million dollars for a Superman first edition.  And you can bet he didn’t have to save his nickels and dimes.  Currently, right-wing politicians want to give people like this a $250,000 tax break and pay for it with contributions from poor Americans.  And it’s Jon Husted’s fault.  How’s that?  Who’s he?  I’ll get to that in a minute.

There’s plenty of money out there.  Money that could provide security, healthcare, education and jobs for every American.  But it’s a safe bet you haven’t seen any of it lately.  Because it’s in the hands of a few, the job creators – and this is what they do with it.  And that comic book?  Well, your deprivation bought it.  Republicans chant, “Nothing wrong with being wealthy and well compensated.”  That’s baloney.  Doing well for yourself is one thing – having 3 mil from overseas investments to drop on a comic book is something else.  Something obscene, when 50 million Americans can’t pay the rent or feed their kids. 

While the rich have become obscenely rich, seniors you’ll be forced to give up the Social Security and Medicare you paid for all your life, and sick people you’ll be left to die because you can’t afford insurance.  It doesn’t have to be that way.  We’re the richest nation in the world.  With enough wealth for every single family to live happy, healthy and productive lives.  Instead, a few live in the lap of unimaginable luxury while the rest of us get squashed under their Gucci boot.  And now the Republican party pledges to deliver what’s left of your money to these rich guys, spending billions on advertising lies, scary billboards… and vote suppression in swing states.  Which brings me to Jon Husted’s part in all this.

Husted is Ohio’s Secretary of State, the man in charge of Ohio’s elections.  And he’s after your vote – literally.  100,000 Ohioans, mostly Democrats, used the weekend before election day to vote early in the last presidential election.  Husted refused to provide that early voting time, even though two federal courts have ordered him to do so.  For months Husted has ignored the court’s ruling.  However, a few days ago on Oct 16 the United States Supreme Court unanimously denied Jon Husted’s appeal to squelch early voting the three days before the election.  Even so, aside from the early voting restrictions, Husted’s tougher voter ID requirements are making it harder for seniors, shut-ins, nursing home residents, low wage earners and college students to vote. And all that theatre is distracting media attention from the rest of the disenfranchising being wrought from hacking electronic voting machines, shorting machines in Democratic precincts, purging largely Democratic voter rolls, intimidating billboards in low-income neighborhoods and malarky advertising.  In this close election, all it takes is a couple of hundred thousand votes to swing Ohio and snatch the presidency.

You would be behind bars if you ignored a federal judge.  But every time there has been another court ruling come down on Ohio’s early voting, I have called the board of elections and asked whether those early voting hours were in effect.  And every time the same answer, “No early voting the three days before… orders from the Secretary of State… there is an appeal pending.”  The Secretary of State has said he doesn’t want to confuse Ohio voters by changing the hours to comply with the court while it is being appealed.  So his website and local Board of Elections sites showed no early voting hours available during that time, until the Supreme Court finally said “or else”.  And the early voting flyer I received in the mail from the Secretary of State didn’t show them.  The local print and broadcast media had no idea until the Supreme Court decision.  Even the Obama early voting info website didn’t show them.  Even though by law, those hours should have been in effect.  The damage has been well done.  Ohio voters are completely confused and disgusted. 

That’s pure vote suppression, designed to discourage Democrats from voting.  Husted’s true motives were revealed months ago when he attempted to block early voting in highly Democratic precincts only.  Sure, it seems outlandish, over the top, so outright outrageous that people can’t wrap their heads around it.  But that’s why they can do it.  At stake right now in Ohio, control of the American people (that’s you), their money and their lives; both Obama and Romney have been camped out here in Ohio for months.  If Jon Husted doggedly continues to follow his Koch Bros directive to confuse Ohio’s election process and stifle Democratic votes, he should be locked up until the election is over.  Ohio Boards of Elections need to encourage people to vote, instead of disenfranchising them. 

An encouraging bit of information.  As of Tuesday Oct 16 when I voted, twenty percent of Ohio’s registered voters had already voted early.  And seventy five percent of them were Democrats.  It’s possible that the grassroots thing in Ohio is working, and that Democratic Ohioans are determined not to be bulldozed. 

It’s up to you Ohio:
      - ID requirements are a hassle, but not impossible.  Go to the
        “Ohio Secretary of State” website
        http://www.sos.state.oh.us/SOS/elections.aspx to learn official
        voter ID requirements. 

      - You can vote early during the week, daytime and evenings at
        your local Board of Elections.  Call them or visit their website for
        hours and info. 
      - Owing to the Supreme Court’s decision, early voting hours are
        also posted for those all-important three days right before the
        election. 
                                Sat    Nov. 3rd   8:00 am - 2:00 pm
                                Sun   Nov. 4th   1:00 pm - 5:00 pm
                                Mon Nov. 5th   8:00 am - 2:00 pm

      - Ask your local Democratic Party or Obama headquarters about
        obtaining transportation to vote. 

      - If you can’t get there in person, mail-in absentee ballots are
        available on your local Board of Elections website or they
        can mail one to you. 

      - All this info is also available on Obama’s voting website
        http://vote.barackobama.com/en/OH/early-voting/ or call
        Obama’s vote hotline 800-311-VOTE. 

      - Or for voting issues and information visit my music website
        http://www.madogmusic.com and my voting website
        http://www.madogmusic.com/vote

      - Anyone interested in using my new song “Gotta Vote” to dress
        up your voting programs, presentations, websites or advertising
        can download the recording for free on
        http://www.madogmusic.com.

Ohioans, don’t be suppressed.  Find a way to vote.  That’s what it comes down to.  Help someone else find a way to vote.  We all want to be able once again to look at our spouse and say, “Honey, it’s gonna be ok.”  But we have to make it ok.

August 27, 2012

Turning Point Novel Suggests 2012 Presidential Election Shaping Up as Chilling Déjà vu of Recent Voter Suppression Controversies


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Contact:     George Clarke
    703 447-6885


Turning Point Novel Suggests 2012 Presidential Election Shaping Up as Chilling Déjà vu of Recent Voter Suppression Controversies


August 26, 2012 – Alexandria, VA – Turning Point provides a chilling reminder of voting controversies in recent presidential elections and a warning for what could happen again in 2012.  From the critical role of swing-vote Supreme Court justices to current concerns over voter suppression and voter identification in key battleground states, author and political veteran Charles A. Santangelo writes a thrilling political narrative, Turning Point:  A Compelling Vision of America Today Had the Supreme Court Recounted the Florida Votes in the 2000 Presidential Election.

Santangelo’s well-crafted novel is the first book to provide a compelling vision that America would be a far different place today had the Supreme Court decided in 2000 to recount all the rejected ballots in Florida. This powerful narrative is presented through an action-packed love story between a liberal Democratic environmentalist and a conservative Republican Air Force pilot that extols the virtue of compromise, rather than adherence to extreme ideology.

In telling the story, Turning Point answers the great questions of our time.  If a Democrat had been elected in 2000, would we have invaded Iraq?  Would Bin Laden have been captured at Tora Bora?  Would our economy still be flourishing and what would we have done with the projected $4.5 trillion budget surplus?  Would America have turned the corner on global warming? Would the financial crisis have been averted?  Would Israel and Palestine be on a path to peace?

“Recent concerns with voter identification and suppression in Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and other states suggest a potential replay of the 2000 and 2004 presidential voting irregularities,” said author Charles A. Santangelo, who has served as a White House aide and in press roles for more than six presidential campaigns.

But Turning Point is not a pessimistic look back at what America could have been if a Democrat been elected in 2000.  Rather, it provides a credible narrative of inspirational leadership in fighting terrorism, combatting suppression of minority voters, and taking on electronic voting fraud and global warming politics. 

Turning Point is available on-line in hardcover and paperback through Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com (keywords: Turning Point Santangelo).  Trade discounts in quantities of ten or more are available at www.outskirtspress.com/bookstore.  Turning Point will also be available in selected brick and mortar bookstores.


Turning Point format options:

6 x 9 paperback cream            ISBN: 978-1-4327-9396-8               SRP:  $16.95
6.14 x 9.21 hardback with jacket       978-1-4327-9398-2                         $25.95
e-Book, Kindle, Nook                                                                            $  9.99

Genre: Political/Historical/Fiction/Action and Adventure/Romance

About the author:

Charles Alfred Santangelo is a veteran of six presidential campaigns and a former White House aide who has served in senior positions in the Clinton, Bush and Obama Administrations at NASA, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and U.S. Department of Homeland Security.  Mr. Santangelo is the author of numerous articles and has been interviewed by CNN, Newsweek, Time, Associated Press, and other media outlets.  He is a former assistant professor of information technology policy and the Co-Editor/Researcher of the award-winning political biography, Lucky Corner: The Biography of Congressman Alfred E. Santangelo.
To reach the author for interviews contact George Clarke, whose contact information is listed above.  For more information about Turning Point, visit www.outskirtspress.com/turningpoint or www.turningpointnovel.com.
Outskirts Press offers high-quality, full-service self-publishing and book marketing services for writers and professionals who are seeking a cost-effective, fast, and flexible way to publish and distribute their books worldwide while retaining 100% of their rights, 100% of their profits, and 100% of the creative control. www.outskirtspress.com.
# # #
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http://outskirtspress.com  1-888-OP-BOOKS

August 22, 2012

Stop voter suppression in Ohio


Ohio’s secretary of state wants to roll back the clock on voting rights.
Demand extended early voting hours for all Ohioans
Tell Jon Husted: Extend voting hours for all Ohioans.
Join Us

In 2008, we saw just how important weekend voting is to Black Americans. In Ohio, which had narrowly gone Republican in 2004, Black voters took advantage of extended hours and helped Obama win the state.1 By opening the polls on Saturdays and Sundays, this battleground state enabled Black and low-income Ohioans to vote in record numbers.
But now, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted wants to put an end to weekend voting. It’s clearly a partisan move to secure Ohio for Mitt Romney.
As Ohio’s top election official, Husted has the power to restore weekend hours statewide. He needs to know that the nation is watching. Please join us in calling on him to make sure that all Ohioans can exercise their basic right to vote this November. It only takes a moment:
http://act.colorofchange.org/sign/early_voting_ohio
Earlier this month, state election officials decided that if you lived in a Republican-leaning county in Ohio — mostly suburban and rural areas — you could stroll into your polling place to vote late into the evening or on weekends in the weeks leading up to Election Day. But if you lived in a county that encompassed a racially diverse city such as Cleveland, Cincinnati or Columbus, you had to make it to the polls between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on weekdays.2
Husted stood by county Republican election officials who voted to put this disparity in place until a national outcry forced him to announce a new plan.3 As secretary of state, Husted had the power to expand evening and weekend early voting hours to people in urban counties, making access to the polls a priority everywhere. Instead he chose to eliminate weekend voting statewide. And now he's even trying to fire Board of Elections officials who would open their county's polling place doors on weekends.4
Ohio’s recent history around elections is key to understanding why early voting is so important. In 2004, Black voters and others in the state’s urban areas experienced faulty machines and lengthy voting lines.5 Many eligible voters gave up in frustration, returning to work or home without getting to cast their ballot. But starting in 2006, the state allowed people to vote in the weeks leading up to the election, including evenings and weekends.
Evening and weekend hours have been especially critical to Black voters who cast their ballots after work or after church in the weeks preceding elections.6 In the 2008 election, 56% of early voters in Cuyahoga County, where Cleveland is located, were Black. African Americans of voting age make up only a quarter of the county’s population.7 Our communities take advantage of extended hours.
Husted’s efforts to limit early voting in Ohio is just one piece of a larger, coordinated effort to derail democracy. Across the country, right-wing legislators are erecting barriers for Black voters including discriminatory voter ID laws,8 failure to restore the vote to people with felony convictions,9 and predatory voter purges.10
As Ohio’s secretary of state, Jon Husted is charged with ensuring that every Ohioan has equal access to the voting booth. Please join us in telling him to rise above party politics and protect Black voters and all Ohioans by extending early voting hours:
http://act.colorofchange.org/sign/early_voting_ohio
-- Rashad, Gabriel, Dani, Matt, Arisha, Aimée and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team
   August 21st, 2012

Help support our work. ColorOfChange.org is powered by YOU—your energy and dollars. We take no money from lobbyists or large corporations that don't share our values, and our tiny staff ensures your contributions go a long way. You can contribute here:
http://www.colorofchange.org/donate
References
1. "Ohio Early Voting Cutbacks Disenfranchise Minority Voters," The Nation, 08-08-12
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/1706?t=6&akid=2600.1372604.DI3a8P

2. "Ohio Limits Early Voting in Democratic Counties, Expands in Republican Counties," ThinkProgress, 08-10-12
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/1691?t=8&akid=2600.1372604.DI3a8P

3. "Ohio Secretary of State Restricts Voting Hours in All Counties," ThinkProgress, 08-16-12
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/1702?t=10&akid=2600.1372604.DI3a8P

4. "Husted suspends Democrats on election board," Dayton Daily News, 08-17-12
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/1708?t=12&akid=2600.1372604.DI3a8P

5. "Several Factors Contributed to 'Lost' Voters in Ohio," Washington Post, 12-15-04
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/1692?t=14&akid=2600.1372604.DI3a8P

6. "Equal voting processes for Ohio counties may still be unfair for voters," WKSU, 08-16-12
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/1703?t=16&akid=2600.1372604.DI3a8P

7. "Black Pastors Group Criticizes Ohio For New Rules That Limit Early Voting," The Huffington Post, 08-14-12
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/1695?t=18&akid=2600.1372604.DI3a8P

8. "Top PA GOP politician admits voter ID is a partisan move," ColorOfChange.org blog, 06-24-12
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/1709?t=20&akid=2600.1372604.DI3a8P

9. "Few Felons Regain Right to Vote in Florida," FCIR, 08-13-12
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/1705?t=22&akid=2600.1372604.DI3a8P

10. "Thousands petition Department of Justice to ‘protect the vote’ in Florida," Florida Courier, 07-12-12
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/1710?t=24&akid=2600.1372604.DI3a8P


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July 21, 2011

New court filing reveals how 2004 Ohio presidential election was hacked ~ Bob Fitrakis, The Free Press

Good article by Bob Fitrakis in The Free Press:
New court filing reveals how the 2004 Ohio presidential election was hacked
by Bob Fitrakis
July 20, 2011

A new filing in the King Lincoln Bronzeville v. Blackwell case includes a copy of the Ohio Secretary of State election production system configuration that was in use in Ohio's 2004 presidential election when there was a sudden and unexpected shift in votes for George W. Bush.

The filing also includes the revealing deposition of the late Michael Connell. Connell served as the IT guru for the Bush family and Karl Rove. Connell ran the private IT firm GovTech that created the controversial system that transferred Ohio's vote count late on election night 2004 to a partisan Republican server site in Chattanooga, Tennessee owned by SmarTech. That is when the vote shift happened, not predicted by the exit polls, that led to Bush's unexpected victory. Connell died a month and a half after giving this deposition in a suspicious small plane crash.

Additionally, the filing contains the contract signed between then-Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell and Connell's company, GovTech Solutions. Also included that contract a graphic architectural map of the Secretary of State's election night server layout system.
Complete article

August 03, 2009

Cliff Arnebeck: "King Lincoln Election Fraud Case Alive and Well in Columbus, Ohio"

We received this statement from attorney Cliff Arnebeck:
You recently published on your web site a press release from Paddy Shaffer containing various assertions against counsel for the plaintiffs in the King Lincoln case. Paddy's group apparently felt this might be helpful to their effort to persuade the US District Court to change its decision denying their motion to intervene in our case. We responded to those assertions in court.

However, for the information of your readers, our effort continues to be to fully expose the ongoing fraudulent manipulation of our nation's elections. To succeed in this we need the help, not only of our election reform community, but also our nation's investigative press corps and law enforcement agencies--particularly at the national level. The fraud and cover up of the 2004 election was national in scope, and directed by Karl Rove out of the offices of the White House.

-Cliff Arnebeck
Trial Attorney for the Plaintiffs in the King Lincoln case in Columbus, Ohio

June 15, 2009

OEJC Claims Insiders Cause Collapse of Ohio's Election Fraud Lawsuit

Report from Paddy Shaffer:

OEJC Claims Insiders Cause Collapse of Ohio's Election Fraud Lawsuit

Citizens' group Ohio Election Justice Campaign (OEJC) calls on media to investigate collapse of Ohio's landmark 2004 election fraud lawsuit; deadline for prosecution for destruction of evidence expires soon.

Columbus, OH (PRWEB) June 15, 2009 -- As the deadline for prosecution of election officials looms, Brunner's office has taken no action to investigate the 2004 election or the destruction of key evidence in the landmark 2004 Ohio election fraud lawsuit, King-Lincoln v. Blackwell, 2:06-cv-00745 (S.D. Ohio), according to the Ohio Election Justice Campaign (OEJC).

In a May 2009 blog, Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner admitted, "Numerous election activists have reviewed the centrally stored ballots in great detail, some with conclusions that allege wrongdoing." Brunner live blog on May 16, 2009 (Link).

The deadline for prosecution for the destruction of key evidence in the election fraud case will expire in the next few weeks.

As alleged in court documents, a private corporation, The Ohio Association of Election Officials, encouraged the destruction of evidence in violation of federal court order. Motion for Special Grand Jury (pdf). This group will be holding its summer conference June 15-17th, 2009 in Columbus at the Columbus Renaissance Hotel.

SOS Brunner is hosting this conference, entitled "Election Officials Summer Conference and Trade Show." In Ohio's current tight budget, the SOS office will not give costs for conference hosting.

The OEJC, a citizens' group, believes the problematic history of activities among Brunner, local officials, and the attorneys for the plaintiffs indicate a concerted effort to a) avoid a speedy trial against the State, b) destroy evidence, and c) protect the officials that committed the wrongdoing.

Members of OEJC say for over two years, the press, including the progressive media, has virtually avoided this aspect of the story. Curiously, media outlets that broke the story of the stolen 2004 election have been silent on the collapse of the election fraud lawsuit. One of these outlets, the Columbus Free Press, is controlled by an attorney in this case.

OEJC also believes the attorneys, including lawyer/lobbyist Clifford O. Arnebeck, Jr., who for years claimed to be protecting the records, are failing to take steps to prevent ongoing destruction of evidence.

OEJC member Mark Brown said, "At best, Arnebeck and his associates are providing useful distractions to cover up the wide net of perpetrators. If the Ohio election were investigated, it could pull down the legitimacy of the United States for those four years of the stolen presidential term. Just as with our banking crisis, the media will not pay attention until it is too late."

For more information, visit "Resolve It or Relive It: A Summary of Ohio's Unresolved 2004 Election Fraud Lawsuit".

###


Contact Information
Paddy Shaffer
Ohio Election Justice Campaign
http://electiondefensealliance.org/OEJC
614-266-5283