D_Raay
11-28-2004, 03:35 AM
I'm telling you guys it's not over yet, I have a feeling,instinct, if you will, that this will end up somewhat like 2000. I just hope it's just this time.
http://www.northcountynews.com/view.asp?s=11-24-04/news5.htm
A White House spokeswoman told North County News last Friday that citizens should embrace the Election Day results and dismiss recount efforts in Ohio that could hand Democratic Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts the presidency.
"The election has ended, and now is the time for the country to come together to address the challenges our nation faces," the spokeswoman, Suzy DeFrancis, remarked.
Bush won Ohio by a vote of 2,796,147 to John Kerry's 2,659,664, according to the official tally.
In a series of e-mail interviews with North County News two weeks ago, Kerry spokesman David Wade spoke about recount efforts led by a team of 17,000 lawyers that could trigger the removal of President George W. Bush from office.
Since then, under mounting pressure from alternative media outlets as well as progressive voices outside the Democratic Party, Kerry issued a statement to his supporters that left open the possibility that he could obtain--through a recount--the requisite electoral votes to seize the White House.
"Regardless of the outcome of this election, once all the votes are counted--and they will be counted--we will continue to challenge this administration," Kerry said through a web-exclusive statement and video Friday, which, curiously, was not distributed to the press.
The usage of the word 'regardless' in the carefully parsed statement was the first indication Kerry has offered that, in his mind, the official election results might be inaccurate enough to tilt the election in his favor.
Wade was e-mailed the remarks from the White House spokeswoman.
"Any president of the United States should make it a priority to count every vote in our country because every citizen's full faith in the democratic process is critical," Wade responded yesterday (Tuesday). "That's why John Kerry and John Edwards built a voter protection team of lawyers around the country, lawyers who are today monitoring recounts and the counting of provisional ballots including Ohio and New Mexico. Every vote will be counted, and we Democrats aren't afraid to fight to protect voters' rights."
A Kerry victory in Ohio would give the senator enough electoral votes to seize the White House.
In another signal the Kerry/Edwards team is increasing its involvement in the recount effort, a note was posted on the campaign website yesterday that called on supporters to contribute to the Kerry-Edwards 2004 General Election Legal and Accounting Compliance Fund.
"The Federal Election Commission has just granted our request to raise funds now to cover recount expenses," the website states. "Your contribution to Kerry-Edwards 2004 GELAC will provide the resources to make sure we are prepared to win the post election day battles."
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/V/VOTING_INVESTIGATION?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=POLITICS&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Thousands of complaints have poured in to Congress and appeared on Internet sites about problems with the elections, the Democrats said.
In make-or-break Ohio, where Bush won 20 electoral votes, voters cast 155,337 provisional ballots. They are under review by state elections officials, who count them if registration is confirmed. About 78 percent of the ballots counted so far have been deemed valid.
Meanwhile, election officials in two Ohio counties have discovered possible cases of people voting twice in the presidential election, and a third county found about 2,600 ballots were double-counted.
Groups checking election results have overwhelmed Ohio county boards of election with requests for information, and a statewide recount of the presidential vote appears inevitable after a pair of third-party candidates collected enough money to demand one.
Other examples of problems cited by Conyers and other House Democrats:
-In Columbus, Ohio, an electronic voting system gave President Bush nearly 4,000 extra votes.
-An electronic count of a South Florida gambling ballot initiative failed to record thousands of votes.
-In Guilford County, N.C., vote totals were so large that the tabulation computer didn't count some votes, and a recount awarded an additional 22,000 votes to Democrat John Kerry.
-In San Francisco, a glitch in voting machine software left votes uncounted.
-In Youngstown, Ohio, voters who tried to cast ballots for Kerry on electronic machines saw their votes recorded for President Bush instead.
-In Sarpy County, Neb., a computer problem added thousands of votes to the county total. It was not clear which presidential candidate benefited from the error in the overwhelmingly Republican state.
There's more read the whole article.
http://mparent7777.blog-city.com/read/929990.htm
On Sunday, November 28, the Reverend Jesse Jackson will speak in Columbus, Ohio to publicly voice his support for the Ohio recount and other challenges to the controversial Ohio vote. Rev. Jackson will be speaking at the Mt. Herman Baptist Church on 2283 Sunbury Road in Columbus at 3:30 p.m. For more information, read the press release.
"Voter suppression and intimidation is a civil rights issue. Jesse Jackson is the perfect person to bring these concerns to a wider audience and we welcome his participation," said David Cobb, whose campaign has been leading the charge for the Ohio recount. Cobb has been joined in the recount demand by Libertarian candidate Michael Badnarik.
Meanwhile, on November 23rd, a federal district judge denied our request to expedite the recount process. Our legal team is considering our response to the ruling and our next course of action. If the ruling stands, the recount will proceed on the schedule dictated by the Ohio Secretary of State's office. Mr Blackwell is currently stating certification will not take place until December 6th.
Here is a press release [pdf] describing the court proceedings. In the interest of full transparency, read the court documents yourself: the Motion [pdf] for a Temporary Retraining Order (TRO), Complaint [pdf] by the Green Party and others requesting the recount, and the Brief [pdf] supporting the request for a Preliminary Injunction.
David Cobb of the Green Party and Michael Badnarik of the Libertarian Party are represented by John Bonifaz, General Counsel of the National Voting Rights Institute, and Ohio attorney Nancy Holland Myers. A November 17th Cobb-Badnarik letter to Ohio Secretary of State Blackwell said that the lack of a meaningful recount will violate Ohio recount law, as well as, "the rights under federal and state constitutional and statutory law of all Ohio citizens who cast a ballot for President on Election Day….. Immediate action is necessary so that the recount procedures may begin as soon as possible."
"This is consistent with our standing up for the right to vote and for each vote to be counted. What's the point of having a recount if it won't be completed in time? Everyone knows what happened in Florida in 2000 and no one wants to see that happen again," said Blair Bobier, Media Director for the Cobb-LaMarche campaign.
Press coverage in Ohio and around the nation has been growing steadily, as voters realize that the recount is moving forward. Local papers covering the story include the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Toledo Blade. National coverage has been seen in papers as far away as Los Angeles (the Los Angeles Times), Philadelphia (the Philadelphia Inquirer), and northwest Alabama (the Times Daily).
Thanks to the generosity of thousands of small donors coast-to-coast, we raised $250,000 toward the costs of the recount. $113,600 has gone out the door already to pay the State of Ohio for the recount costs, and we now have staff on the ground in Ohio. We’ll be mobilizing thousands of volunteers to observe the hand recount in all 88 counties.
We still need volunteers to come to Ohio for the next few weeks to make this recount happen. Students, seniors, anyone with vacation time - you all are welcome. All political parties and independents are welcome. Anyone who wants to preserve democracy in America is welcome. See you there!
Read our letter of November 17th demanding a recount.
Read the November 19, 2004 response letter from the Ohio Secretary of State's Office [pdf].
HOW IS MY MONEY BEING SPENT? The first $150,000
The money raised on www.votecobb.org was directly responsible for this recount process moving forward. We needed to have the $113,600 filing fee in the bank in order to start the legal process of trying to expedite the recount.
Other monies raised as part of the initial $150,000 have paid for re-hiring staff, travel fees to visit Ohio to hear testimony from voters and work with local organizations on the ground, the numerous conference calls needed to pull the logistics together, the increased web capacity to handle the thousands of inquiries and donations and other general operating expenses.
BUT WHY DID YOU ASK FOR MORE?
Our first goal was to make sure the recount could go ahead. We didn’t want to raise more money until we were certain the minimum needed was raised.
The next round of costs will go toward mobilizing volunteers on the ground in Ohio, paying for certain transportation and lodging costs, and providing training to the many volunteers who will be coming to help make sure every vote is counted in Ohio. We set an initial goal of $100,000 for this effort, and, with the help of thousands of donors, met that goal by our deadline.
WHAT ELSE CAN I DO TO HELP?
We need over 2,000 volunteers to make this effort a success. In addition to recount observers, we are looking for County Coordinators in each of the 88 counties.
Your donations have made this effort possible, so please ask your friends and family to help. It doesn’t matter who you voted for. This is a non-partisan effort, headed by two presidential candidates with differing views on politics, but with a united desire to make sure that all votes are counted.
If you can spare the time, please come to Ohio! It looks like the action will be taking place in early December, but nothing is certain. If you cannot go, consider sponsoring a family member or a local college student. More details can ne found on our Volunteer Page!
Finally, please raise your voice – loudly! - in support of democracy. Write to your local newspapers. Call in to television and radio talk shows. Help to turn the tide away from acceptance of an election that had numerous irregularities in every state in the union. No matter who raises his hand to take the presidential oath on January 20th, we must work to be sure that a viable democracy is in place in 2006 and beyond. Please join us!
http://www.votecobb.org/
http://www.northcountynews.com/view.asp?s=11-24-04/news5.htm
A White House spokeswoman told North County News last Friday that citizens should embrace the Election Day results and dismiss recount efforts in Ohio that could hand Democratic Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts the presidency.
"The election has ended, and now is the time for the country to come together to address the challenges our nation faces," the spokeswoman, Suzy DeFrancis, remarked.
Bush won Ohio by a vote of 2,796,147 to John Kerry's 2,659,664, according to the official tally.
In a series of e-mail interviews with North County News two weeks ago, Kerry spokesman David Wade spoke about recount efforts led by a team of 17,000 lawyers that could trigger the removal of President George W. Bush from office.
Since then, under mounting pressure from alternative media outlets as well as progressive voices outside the Democratic Party, Kerry issued a statement to his supporters that left open the possibility that he could obtain--through a recount--the requisite electoral votes to seize the White House.
"Regardless of the outcome of this election, once all the votes are counted--and they will be counted--we will continue to challenge this administration," Kerry said through a web-exclusive statement and video Friday, which, curiously, was not distributed to the press.
The usage of the word 'regardless' in the carefully parsed statement was the first indication Kerry has offered that, in his mind, the official election results might be inaccurate enough to tilt the election in his favor.
Wade was e-mailed the remarks from the White House spokeswoman.
"Any president of the United States should make it a priority to count every vote in our country because every citizen's full faith in the democratic process is critical," Wade responded yesterday (Tuesday). "That's why John Kerry and John Edwards built a voter protection team of lawyers around the country, lawyers who are today monitoring recounts and the counting of provisional ballots including Ohio and New Mexico. Every vote will be counted, and we Democrats aren't afraid to fight to protect voters' rights."
A Kerry victory in Ohio would give the senator enough electoral votes to seize the White House.
In another signal the Kerry/Edwards team is increasing its involvement in the recount effort, a note was posted on the campaign website yesterday that called on supporters to contribute to the Kerry-Edwards 2004 General Election Legal and Accounting Compliance Fund.
"The Federal Election Commission has just granted our request to raise funds now to cover recount expenses," the website states. "Your contribution to Kerry-Edwards 2004 GELAC will provide the resources to make sure we are prepared to win the post election day battles."
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/V/VOTING_INVESTIGATION?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=POLITICS&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Thousands of complaints have poured in to Congress and appeared on Internet sites about problems with the elections, the Democrats said.
In make-or-break Ohio, where Bush won 20 electoral votes, voters cast 155,337 provisional ballots. They are under review by state elections officials, who count them if registration is confirmed. About 78 percent of the ballots counted so far have been deemed valid.
Meanwhile, election officials in two Ohio counties have discovered possible cases of people voting twice in the presidential election, and a third county found about 2,600 ballots were double-counted.
Groups checking election results have overwhelmed Ohio county boards of election with requests for information, and a statewide recount of the presidential vote appears inevitable after a pair of third-party candidates collected enough money to demand one.
Other examples of problems cited by Conyers and other House Democrats:
-In Columbus, Ohio, an electronic voting system gave President Bush nearly 4,000 extra votes.
-An electronic count of a South Florida gambling ballot initiative failed to record thousands of votes.
-In Guilford County, N.C., vote totals were so large that the tabulation computer didn't count some votes, and a recount awarded an additional 22,000 votes to Democrat John Kerry.
-In San Francisco, a glitch in voting machine software left votes uncounted.
-In Youngstown, Ohio, voters who tried to cast ballots for Kerry on electronic machines saw their votes recorded for President Bush instead.
-In Sarpy County, Neb., a computer problem added thousands of votes to the county total. It was not clear which presidential candidate benefited from the error in the overwhelmingly Republican state.
There's more read the whole article.
http://mparent7777.blog-city.com/read/929990.htm
On Sunday, November 28, the Reverend Jesse Jackson will speak in Columbus, Ohio to publicly voice his support for the Ohio recount and other challenges to the controversial Ohio vote. Rev. Jackson will be speaking at the Mt. Herman Baptist Church on 2283 Sunbury Road in Columbus at 3:30 p.m. For more information, read the press release.
"Voter suppression and intimidation is a civil rights issue. Jesse Jackson is the perfect person to bring these concerns to a wider audience and we welcome his participation," said David Cobb, whose campaign has been leading the charge for the Ohio recount. Cobb has been joined in the recount demand by Libertarian candidate Michael Badnarik.
Meanwhile, on November 23rd, a federal district judge denied our request to expedite the recount process. Our legal team is considering our response to the ruling and our next course of action. If the ruling stands, the recount will proceed on the schedule dictated by the Ohio Secretary of State's office. Mr Blackwell is currently stating certification will not take place until December 6th.
Here is a press release [pdf] describing the court proceedings. In the interest of full transparency, read the court documents yourself: the Motion [pdf] for a Temporary Retraining Order (TRO), Complaint [pdf] by the Green Party and others requesting the recount, and the Brief [pdf] supporting the request for a Preliminary Injunction.
David Cobb of the Green Party and Michael Badnarik of the Libertarian Party are represented by John Bonifaz, General Counsel of the National Voting Rights Institute, and Ohio attorney Nancy Holland Myers. A November 17th Cobb-Badnarik letter to Ohio Secretary of State Blackwell said that the lack of a meaningful recount will violate Ohio recount law, as well as, "the rights under federal and state constitutional and statutory law of all Ohio citizens who cast a ballot for President on Election Day….. Immediate action is necessary so that the recount procedures may begin as soon as possible."
"This is consistent with our standing up for the right to vote and for each vote to be counted. What's the point of having a recount if it won't be completed in time? Everyone knows what happened in Florida in 2000 and no one wants to see that happen again," said Blair Bobier, Media Director for the Cobb-LaMarche campaign.
Press coverage in Ohio and around the nation has been growing steadily, as voters realize that the recount is moving forward. Local papers covering the story include the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Toledo Blade. National coverage has been seen in papers as far away as Los Angeles (the Los Angeles Times), Philadelphia (the Philadelphia Inquirer), and northwest Alabama (the Times Daily).
Thanks to the generosity of thousands of small donors coast-to-coast, we raised $250,000 toward the costs of the recount. $113,600 has gone out the door already to pay the State of Ohio for the recount costs, and we now have staff on the ground in Ohio. We’ll be mobilizing thousands of volunteers to observe the hand recount in all 88 counties.
We still need volunteers to come to Ohio for the next few weeks to make this recount happen. Students, seniors, anyone with vacation time - you all are welcome. All political parties and independents are welcome. Anyone who wants to preserve democracy in America is welcome. See you there!
Read our letter of November 17th demanding a recount.
Read the November 19, 2004 response letter from the Ohio Secretary of State's Office [pdf].
HOW IS MY MONEY BEING SPENT? The first $150,000
The money raised on www.votecobb.org was directly responsible for this recount process moving forward. We needed to have the $113,600 filing fee in the bank in order to start the legal process of trying to expedite the recount.
Other monies raised as part of the initial $150,000 have paid for re-hiring staff, travel fees to visit Ohio to hear testimony from voters and work with local organizations on the ground, the numerous conference calls needed to pull the logistics together, the increased web capacity to handle the thousands of inquiries and donations and other general operating expenses.
BUT WHY DID YOU ASK FOR MORE?
Our first goal was to make sure the recount could go ahead. We didn’t want to raise more money until we were certain the minimum needed was raised.
The next round of costs will go toward mobilizing volunteers on the ground in Ohio, paying for certain transportation and lodging costs, and providing training to the many volunteers who will be coming to help make sure every vote is counted in Ohio. We set an initial goal of $100,000 for this effort, and, with the help of thousands of donors, met that goal by our deadline.
WHAT ELSE CAN I DO TO HELP?
We need over 2,000 volunteers to make this effort a success. In addition to recount observers, we are looking for County Coordinators in each of the 88 counties.
Your donations have made this effort possible, so please ask your friends and family to help. It doesn’t matter who you voted for. This is a non-partisan effort, headed by two presidential candidates with differing views on politics, but with a united desire to make sure that all votes are counted.
If you can spare the time, please come to Ohio! It looks like the action will be taking place in early December, but nothing is certain. If you cannot go, consider sponsoring a family member or a local college student. More details can ne found on our Volunteer Page!
Finally, please raise your voice – loudly! - in support of democracy. Write to your local newspapers. Call in to television and radio talk shows. Help to turn the tide away from acceptance of an election that had numerous irregularities in every state in the union. No matter who raises his hand to take the presidential oath on January 20th, we must work to be sure that a viable democracy is in place in 2006 and beyond. Please join us!
http://www.votecobb.org/