News Articles

April 25, 2005, Philadelphia Inquirer
By Josh Mitteldorf

My Election 2004 Bad Dream

Excerpt: "We've been painted as conspiracy theorists and worse by Democrats and Republicans alike, and even the liberal arm of the press has steered clear of this issue. But when I arrived at Jefferson Street Baptist Church in Nashville, my doubts about the election were reinforced by a group of sober professionals, none who seemed overtly loony." more

April 14, 2005, Tribune Media Services
By Robert C. Koehler

The Silent Scream of Numbers

Excerpt: "I just got back from what was officially called the National Election Reform Conference, in Nashville, Tennessee, an extraordinary pulling together of disparate voting-rights activists — 30 states were represented, 15 red and 15 blue — sponsored by a Nashville group called Gathering To Save Our Democracy. It had the feel of 1775: citizen patriots taking matters into their own hands to reclaim the republic. This was the level of its urgency." more

David Cobb

April 11, 2005, The Tennessean
By Laura Luxor

Electronic Voting Is Out Of Hand

Excerpt: "While many Americans are intrigued by the idea of electronic voting, the process is out of control, creating an unhealthy democracy, experts said at the National Election Reform Conference. Jonathan Simon, Harvard Law School graduate and author of "While America Slept: The Theft of Election 2004 and the Death of American Democracy," told an audience of about 200 Saturday that losing control of voting systems puts citizens at risk of losing control of their government. Later that afternoon, the energy level rose as the crowd at Jefferson Missionary Baptist Church whooped and hollered in response to former National Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb." more

April 10, 2005, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) Extra!
By Miranda Spencer

America's Broken Electoral System

Excerpt: "As BBC reporter Greg Palast argued in "In These Times" (12/13/04), the more than 90,000 spoiled ballots in Ohio — mentioned nowhere in our sample but in the New York Times (11/7/04, 12/24/04) — nearly make up the 118,000-vote difference between Bush and Kerry. That fact alone suggests that, just as in 2000, the White House's occupant may be there due to system failure rather than any mandate. The leading media should not have dismissed this crucial issue of democracy — regardless of how much they, like Senator Kerry, craved closure." more

April 12, 2005, The Beacon Journal (Cleveland, OH)
By Stephen Dyer

Prosecutor To Probe Cuyahoga County Recount

Excerpt: "Erie County Prosecutor Kevin J. Baxter is investigating whether the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections broke the law in its recount of ballots from the November presidential election. Cuyahoga County Prosecutor William Mason appointed Baxter as a special prosecutor in the case because the board of elections is Mason's client, which could pose a conflict of interest, said Mason spokeswoman Jamie Dalton. Baxter said he didn't know yet whether the allegations have any validity. He said his investigators will begin interviewing people in the next several weeks." more

April 4, 2005, VelvetRevolution.US

Voting Software Developers Endorse Divestiture Campaign

Excerpt: "The Open Voting Consortium (OVC), a non-partisan group with Republican, Democratic, Green Party and Libertarian Party support, is the first Election Software Developer to publicly endorse Velvet Revolution's "Divestiture for Democracy" campaign! In an open letter sent today to VR by OVC President, Alan Dechert, the group announces their intentions of adopting the standards set forth in VR's February 21st letter to America's Voting Machine companies, calling on them to do the right thing for their country by — amongst other things — voluntarily opening hardware and software for inspection and certification to ensure transparency in our electoral system." more

March 25, 2005, Reuters

Jimmy Carter to Chair Election Reform Commission

Excerpt: "Former President Jimmy Carter will lead a bipartisan commission to examine problems with the U.S. election system, American University's Center for Democracy and Election Management said on Thursday. Carter, a Democrat whose Carter Center has monitored more than 50 elections around the world, will co-chair the private commission with Republican James Baker, who served as Secretary of State under President George H. W. Bush." more

The Free Press

March 28, 2005, The Free Press (Columbus, Ohio)
By Steve Rosenfeld, Bob Fitrakis, and Harvey Wasserman

As Blackwell Says, Ohio’s in 2004 Was a National Model

Excerpt: "Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell finally testified — something he had refused to do in the Moss v. Bush Ohio election challenge before the State Supreme Court and refused to do in Washington, D.C. His testimony proved so contentious that at one point Rep. Stephanie Tubbs-Jones, D-OH, told him to "haul butt" if he was unwilling to answer questions about irregularities in the 2004 election. Blackwell vigorously defended his role in last fall's presidential election at a congressional hearing on Monday, March 21, at the Ohio Statehouse, claiming critics have smeared his state as if it were a "third world country" rather than the national model of election administration that Blackwell said it was." more

David Cobb

March 22, 2005, The Lone Star Iconoclast

Green Party Presidential Candidate Joins Divestiture Campaign

Excerpt: "Green Party Presidential candidate David Cobb has endorsed the Velvet Revolution's "Divestiture for Democracy" campaign that seeks to assure accurate and fair voting procedures in future elections. Cobb last week sent a letter to voting machine companies urging them to adopt VR's recommendations to restore confidence in the electoral system." more

March 21, 2005, VelvetRevolution.com

23 Representatives Send Letter to Voting Machine Companies

Excerpt: "Sending a clear signal to the nation's voting machine companies, 23 U.S. House of Representative members signed on to a letter authored by Rep. Maxine Waters and Rep. John Conyers demanding transparency and accountability from the private companies which now run the public function of America's electoral system. The letter, which was sent to colleagues last Thursday, was signed and sent late last Friday. It outlines — in no uncertain terms — the position of the 23 members of the U.S. House who signed on that all government funding via the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) should be withheld from the companies that do not comply with the standards originally set forth in Velvet Revolution's February 21 letter to the companies." more

The Free Press

March 16, 2005, The Free Press (Columbus, Ohio)

National Conference on the 2004 Election, April 8-10

Excerpt: "Since November 3, 2004, there has been a groundswell of concern, and a plethora of evidence, that the conduct of the 2004 Presidential election in the United States was highly problematic. These concerns have been belittled by many and ignored by the corporate media in this country. However, the weight of the evidence is overwhelming that a multi-faceted strategy of voter intimidation and disenfranchisement, potential manipulation of electronically cast votes in many states, and other instances of election fraud and theft improperly influenced the will of the American people and may have subverted the consent of the governed." more

Dr. M. L. King

March 12, 2005, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
By Samira Jafari

Hundreds Re-enact Selma Civil Rights March

Excerpt: "Black politicians must urge Congress to extend the Voting Rights Act, civil rights leaders said Saturday at the finale of the re-enactment of the Selma-to-Montgomery march that helped lead to passage of the law. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 "was the single most significant piece of legislation in the century," the Rev. Joseph Lowery, a co-founder of the Atlanta-based Southern Christian Leadership Conference, told a crowd of nearly 300 marchers at the state Capitol." more

Rep. Jackson

March 9, 2005, Common Dreams
By Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr.

Securing the Right to Vote As A Citizenship Right

Excerpt: "The U.S. Constitution does not contain a right to vote and therefore Congress fails to establish enforceable uniform standards or a unitary voting system. While it is true that the Constitution does protect against voter discrimination based on race, sex or age and prohibits the use poll taxes or literacy tests, it does not explicitly guarantee that U.S. citizens have a right to vote." more

March 6, 2005, NewsChannel 14 (Raleigh, N.C.)
By Tracey Early & Web Staff

N.C. Judge Hears Arguments Over Provisional Ballots

Excerpt: "The hotly contested race for [North Carolina] state superintendent of public instruction heads back to the courtroom Wednesday. This time, a Wake County Superior Court judge will hear arguments in the case. The outcome of this race has been tied up in a legal dispute over provisional ballots for months now. But that could end when the judge determines what to do with those ballots." more

Dr. King's Dream:
Still Alive

March 3, 2005, USA Today
By Sebastian Kitchen

Impact of Civil Rights March Felt 40 Years Later

Excerpt: "People from throughout the world will meet in central Alabama this weekend to remember the 40th anniversary of "Bloody Sunday" and the Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march. Historians, civil rights leaders and former presidents believe the march and Bloody Sunday, in which 17 people were hospitalized after they were beaten by state troopers and local law enforcement officers, galvanized national support for voting rights for all Americans." more

March 3, 2005, The Raw Story
By Jesse Kanson-Benanav

Group Launches Divestment Campaign Against Voting Firms

Excerpt: "The Velvet Revolution has begun! This time, however, it’s not in Ukraine, but right here in the United States. Led by Brad Friedman of BradBlog.com, the Velvet Revolution is a coalition of 80 progressive groups who say they have united to bring accountability and transparency to American voting procedures. Targeting the nine leading vote machine manufacturers–Diebold, Sequoia Voting Systems, Election Systems and Software, HartInterCivic, MicroVote, Danaher-Guardian, TriadGSI, UniLect, and Advanced Voting Solutions–the Velvet Revolution hopes to open vote-counting procedures in America to greater public scrutiny." more

Can't Trust the Election, Can't Trust the Government

February 26, 2005, Ft. Wayne (IN) Journal Gazette
By Jane Eisner

Election Reform a Crucial Step in Addressing Democracy's Ills

Excerpt: "There's no right to vote enshrined in the Constitution, but it's certainly enshrined in the national psyche. We moan when voter turnout declines, and exult when other nations — most recently Iraq — use the ballot box to shape their political destinies. Yet as often as Americans sing the praises of democracy, our actions say otherwise. We're very good at extending the franchise and then taking it away, or making it more difficult or less attractive." more

Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones and Senator Barbara Boxer

Rep.Tubbs Jones
and Sen. Boxer

February 24, 2005, The Backbone Campaign

Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones Receives Backbone Award

Excerpt: "Community leaders in Cleveland, Ohio, honored Congressperson Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-OH) Wednesday afternoon with a Backbone Award. The Honorable Tubbs Jones received the Backbone Award for her courageous challenge to force a highly unusual House and Senate debate in January on the certification of Ohio's presidential electors." more

Kenneth Blackwell

February 24, 2005, The News-Herald (Ohio)
By Mark Niquette

Blackwell, Cuyahoga Official Differ on Provisional Voting

Excerpt: "Moments after Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell told a federal panel Wednesday that Ohio's provisional ballot system is a "model for other states," the director of Ohio's largest county elections board came to the opposite conclusion. Citing late directives from Blackwell's office and other problems last fall, Michael Vu, director of the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, said more must be done to clarify the process and update state law." more

February 14, 2005, House Judiciary Comm. Press Release JUD-109-02/14/05

Rep. Conyers and Others File Ohio Amicus Brief

Excerpt: "Today, Congressman John Conyers, Jr., Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, will be filing an amicus brief in the Ohio Supreme Court with the support of Senator Russ Feingold and 17 other members of the House of Representatives recommending that the Court not sanction the attorneys who brought Ohio election contest in Moss v. Bush (no.04-2088)." more

Kenneth Blackwell

February 10, 2005, Boston Herald

Judges Dissolve Ohio Voting Machine Deadline

Excerpt: "Two judges Wednesday ordered Ohio's secretary of state not to enforce a deadline for their counties to choose a voting machine vendor, saying the elections official had exceeded his authority. Judge Laurie Pittman of Portage County and John Bessey of Franklin County issued the orders in response to complaints filed by their boards of elections." more

February 9, 2005, Cincinnati Enquirer
By Reid Forgrave

FBI Checking Clermont County (OH) Voting

Excerpt: "The Federal Bureau of Investigation is interviewing members of the Clermont County Board of Elections because of a Democratic Congressman's claim of vote-tampering during the presidential election. The allegations stem from white oval-shaped stickers, about the size of an M&M, placed on fewer than 100 ballots." more

Kenneth Blackwell

February 9, 2005, Office of Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones

Blackwell Refuses to Testify at House Committee Hearing

Excerpt: "Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones spoke before the House Administration Committee today during their hearing on the Implementation of the Help America Vote Act following the 2004 election. She expressed disappointment that the Secretary of State from her home state of Ohio, Ken Blackwell, chose not to testify today before the Committee." more

February 8, 2005, Houston Chronicle
By Kristen Mack

Recount Upholds Democratic Victory in Texas

Excerpt: "Former Republican state Rep. Talmadge Heflin withdrew his election challenge Monday after a fellow Republican who investigated the matter concluded that Heflin narrowly lost to Democrat Hubert Vo. Heflin conceded hours after state Rep. Will Hartnett, R-Dallas, issued a report saying Vo won the election by at least 16 votes. Hartnett served as "master of discovery" to investigate the election contest." more

February 3, 2005, The Free Press (Columbus, Ohio)
By Steve Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman

Mountain of Evidence Helps Election Protection Attorneys

Excerpt: "Stiff legal sanctions sought by Ohio's Republican Attorney General James Petro against four attorneys who have questioned the results of the 2004 presidential balloting here has produced an unintended consequence — a massive counter-filing that has put on the official record a mountain of contentions by those who argue that election was stolen." more

February 3, 2005, New York Times Op-Ed

Blaming the Messengers

Excerpt: "One of the strengths of our democracy is that citizens are free to question the results of an election. But four lawyers who did just that in Ohio, contesting President Bush's victory, are now facing sanctions. These lawyers, and other skeptics, may not have cast significant doubt on the legitimacy of the outcome. But punishing them for trying would send a disturbing message." more

January 29, 2005, Corvallis (Oregon) Gazette-Times
By Mary Ann Albright

Voter Recount Tale

Excerpt: "Bobier contends that, among other improprieties, voting machines in Ohio were allocated in such a way that the lines to vote were drastically longer in inner-city areas with predominantly black and Democratic populations than in more affluent neighborhoods. Blair said some voters in these precincts waited 10 hours to cast their ballots — and that plenty of people who wanted to vote simply couldn't because of the outrageous time commitment." more

Jesse Jackson

January 26, 2005, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
By Jesse Jackson and Greg Palast

Black Voters in U.S. Disproportionally Disenfranchised

Excerpt: "The inaugural confetti has been swept away and with it, the last quarrel over who really won the presidential election. But there is still unfinished business that can't be swept away. After taking his oath, the president called for a "concerted effort to promote democracy." The president should begin with the United States." more

January 25, 2005, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
By Paul Loeb

Revote Washington State? Only If Florida and Ohio Go First

Excerpt: "Washington state's bipartisan counters and observers looked at every questionable ballot, trying to validate voter intent. Republican Secretary of State Sam Reed has placed public service over partisanship, already suggesting ways to address the problems that did occur. I'd be delighted to revote Washington's governor's race. But only if we could also rerun Ohio and Florida." more

Billionaires
for Bush

January 22, 2005, Washington Times
By Donna Borak, UPI

Thousands of Protesters Descend on Washington

Excerpt: "As thousands of protesters from Veterans for Peace, Code Pink and various student organizations gradually filtered into the park, more than 1,000 coffins covered with U.S. flags and black clothes were being prepared for the march down 16th Street toward the White House." more

January 21, 2005, The Free Press (Columbus, Ohio)

Conyers Expresses Concern About Ohio AG Sanction Quest

Excerpt: "Rep. Conyers writes to Ohio's Republican Attorney General, who seeks to sanction those attorneys who brought a legal challenge to last year's presidential election in Ohio. Rep. Conyers is concerned that by seeking official censure and fines, Attorney General Petro is engaged in a selective and partisan misuse of his legal authority." more

January 19, 2005, The Free Press (Columbus, Ohio)
By Steve Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman

Ohio Attorney General Sues Election Protection Legal Team

Excerpt: "In a stunning legal attack, Ohio's Republican Attorney General has moved for sanctions against the four attorneys who sued George W. Bush et. al. in an attempt to investigate the Buckeye State's bitterly contested November 2 election." more

Senator Strom
Thurmond fought
to preserve the
Electoral College

January 16, 2005, By Alexander Keyssar

Peculiar Institution: Critics Say the Electoral College is Antiquated, Undemocratic

Excerpt: "In 1969, the House of Representatives passed an amendment to abolish the Electoral College by a huge bipartisan vote of 338 to 70. President Nixon endorsed it, and prospects for passage in the Senate seemed reasonably good. A poll of state legislatures indicated that the amendment would likely be approved by the requisite three-quarters of the states. However, Senators Strom Thurmond (R-SC) and James Eastland (D-MS), die-hard segregationists who had voted against every civil-rights and voting-rights measure that had come before them, fiercely opposed having presidents elected by a national, popular vote, and were able to stall the measure until support for it waned." more

January 11, 2005, Progressive Democrats of America

Progressive Dems Addressing Voting Reform January 21-23 in D.C.

Excerpt: "Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) will meet with hundreds of activists from across the country in Washington DC on January 21 -23, 2005 to discuss election reform and other progressive plans for 2005 and beyond. Key leaders of the movement to contest the 2004 Presidential vote, including Green Party Presidential Candidate David Cobb, will speak on a panel about the lessons learned. In the audience will be hundreds of activists committed to PDA’s 9-point electoral reform package." more

Ohio protesters
allege Blackwell's
actions tainted
the election

January 8, 2005, The Columbus Dispatch
By Mark Niquette

Blackwell Under Fire: Letter Asks for Illegal Money

Excerpt: "Blackwell sent a letter last month to Republican donors and activists statewide asking for contributions and lauding their efforts in the fall presidential campaign... "Such a blatant statement acknowledging the commingling of his official duty to ensure a fair election with his partisan duty to re-elect President Bush, made in a political fund-raising appeal, evidences Secretary Blackwell's poor judgment at best, and the manipulation of election administration for partisan purposes, at worst," Conyers said in a statement... Meanwhile, the fund-raising letter also says that "corporate & personal checks are welcome" — when Ohio law clearly says such donations are illegal." more

Rep. Conyers

January 7, 2005, Detroit News Editorial
By U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr.

Ohio Voting Problems Show Need for Election Reform

Excerpt: "In forums I held in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio, I learned of massive and unprecedented voter irregularities in Ohio... [but] not a single election official in Ohio provided us with any explanation for these massive and widespread irregularities. I hope Congress will respond to the calls of millions of citizens to fix [these] flaws ... We can begin to do so by appointing a select committee of the House and Senate to get to the bottom of what went wrong in Ohio on election day." more

January 7, 2005, CNSNews.com Commentary
By Frank Salvato

The Electoral College Scheming of Boxer and Jones

Excerpt: "The tactic employed Thursday by Jones and Boxer can be described as both political grandstanding and usurping the scheduled agendas of both chambers of Congress. Election reform is an issue best left to the states with as little federal interference as possible... Perhaps Boxer's and Jones' actions can best be described as an unethical, albeit constitutional, narcissistic desire for attention and political divisiveness. Their politically motivated actions were an abuse of the power vested in them by their constituents and a maneuver that comes very close to usurping the state rights of Ohio." more

January 7, 2005, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
By Tony Norman

Political Protest Overwhelmed by Voter Apathy

Excerpt: "One day when we're once again able to talk about political profiles in courage without gagging, we'll look back on the first week of January 2005 [and] be amazed by the courage of some Democrats in Congress who, in the face of relentless mockery from conservative pundits and an increasingly complacent media class, questioned the extent of voting irregularities in Ohio on Election Day. According to conventional wisdom that always seems to favor Republican realpolitik, interrupting the tally of the Electoral College to push for debate about the Ohio vote was just another pathetic attempt by back-benchers to delegitimize President Bush's victory over Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry... But the point couldn't have been clearer: what happened in Ohio stunk to high heaven." more

January 7, 2005, Long Island, NY Newsday
By Melissa Harris Lacewell

It's One Tentative Step Toward Fairer Elections

Excerpt: "African-Americans learned from the unholy alliance of the Hayes-Tilden compromise that the rights of citizens can never be left to unexamined processes in Washington or in the states. The Democrats who objected yesterday were castigated as lunatics and undignified extremists. Their opponents lamented that their actions were pathetic, and advised these representatives to "get over it" and allow the Congress to get back to work. The reality is that democracy is messy, difficult and often dangerous. The issue at stake is simple. On Nov. 2, voters cast ballots in 50 separate and unequal elections. Not only do voting procedures, machinery and oversight vary tremendously among the states; they also differ precinct to precinct. The evidence is clear. We live in a nation where it is systematically more difficult for some citizens to exercise their right to vote." more

January 7, 2005, Boston Globe Editorial

Ballot Box Basics

Excerpt: "Computer voting systems should be required to leave paper records. The handling of provisional ballots should be standardized. Ineffective systems should be modernized. And access to the ballot should be comparable in areas that are rich and poor, white and minority, Democratic and Republican. At least in elections for federal office, these improvements should be mandated by Congress. It is a disgrace that the 2002 legislation fell so far short. The two Democrats who demanded congressional debate on the issue yesterday — Senator Barbara Boxer of California and Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Ohio — deserve credit, not scorn, for advancing a cause fundamental to the union." more

Rep. Jones (OH),
Sen. Boxer (CA)

January 7, 2005, The Nation
By John Nichols

Keep Objecting

Excerpt: "[The] lodging of a formal objection, and the debates in the House and Senate that followed it, focused attention on the mess that Ohio officials made of the presidential election in that state — and on the lingering questions about the extent to which the problems were intentionally created in order to make it harder for supporters of Democrat John Kerry, particularly those in predominantly minority, urban and low-income precincts, to cast their ballots on November 2... After two months of work by Greens, Libertarians and groups such as Progressive Democrats of America — which highlighted flaws in the practices and procedures of Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell — there was little question that a legitimate case had been made for challenging Ohio's electoral votes during what is usually a perfunctory post-election review by Congress. " more

January 7, 2005, Chicago Sun-Times
By Lynn Sweet

Lawmakers Launch Historic Protest of Electoral Vote

Excerpt: "[Rep. Jesse] Jackson Jr. has been pushing a constitutional amendment to guarantee a national right to vote. At present, each state decides the rules and has its own system. Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, was not keen for Boxer to file the objection. Nonetheless, when it came time to speak, Durbin, to my surprise, opened the door to supporting Jackson Jr.'s constitutional amendment. So did Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa). "I am loathe to jump on the bandwagon for constitutional amendments,'' Durbin said from the Senate floor. "But I will take this one seriously.''" more

30% of all U.S. votes are on unverifiable touch screen machines with NO PAPER TRAIL

January 7, 2005, The Washington Times
By Stephen Dinan and Amy Fagan

Democrats Contest Ohio's Votes

Excerpt: "Republicans ridiculed the attempt, which Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic nominee, did not join... "It's called sour grapes, and it's sad to see in this House," said Rep. J.D. Hayworth of Arizona... "The purpose of this petition is not justice, but noise," [House Majority Leader Tom DeLay] said. "It is a warning to Democrats across the country 3 now in the midst of soul-searching after their historic losses in November — not to moderate their party's message."" more

January 7, 2005, New York Times
By Sheryl Gay Stolberg and James Dao

Congress Ratifies Bush Victory After a Rare Challenge

Excerpt: "In many ways, the debate came about because of the relentless efforts of a small group of third-party activists, liberal lawyers, Internet muckrakers and civil rights groups, who have been arguing since Election Day that the Ohio vote was rigged for Mr. Bush. 'I think we're seeing a political realignment going on,' David Cobb, the Green presidential candidate, said at a rally across the street from the White House. 'The rank and file of the Democratic Party are far more progressive than the corporatist leaders of the party.'" more

Congr. Jesse
Jackson Jr.

January 6, 2005, Common Dreams
By Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr.
(Floor Statement during Challenge to Ohio Election)

Our Voting System Needs a New Constitutional Foundation

Excerpt: "The fundamental reason is this: most Americans and many in this body will find it shocking and hard to believe, but we have these problems because Americans don't have the right to vote in their Constitution! In 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court in Bush v. Gore said in very plain language, 'the INDIVIDUAL CITIZEN has no federal constitutional right to vote for electors for the President of the United States.' You say, 'Congressman, I'm a registered voter and every time there's an election I'm entitled to vote — and I vote. What do you mean I don't have a "right to vote"?' I mean as an American you don't have a citizenship right to vote. Voting in the United States is a 'state right' not 'citizenship right.' " more

January 6, 2005, San Francisco Chronicle
By Steve Freeman

Keeping Our Democracy Alive: Did Voters Really Count in US Election?

Excerpt: "... the United States has introduced electronic voting, a new system of potential mass and undetectable manipulation. Thirty percent of Americans in this election used electronic voting machines, which produce no confirmation that votes are recorded as cast — the "paper trail." Stanford University computer scientist David Dill draws the analogy of telling a man behind a curtain whom you want to vote for and trusting that he has recorded it faithfully. Voters using electronic voting machines likewise blindly trust that the programmer has written code that can and will record their votes as cast." more

January 4, 2005, The Modesto Bee (Editorial)

Ditch Rickety Old Electoral College

Excerpt: "Sen. Dianne Feinstein recently remarked that the current Electoral College system is an anachronism and should be replaced. She's right. The Electoral College was an anachronism from the beginning. It was a jerry-built contraption adopted because delegates at the 1787 Constitutional Convention couldn't agree on a method to elect the president... It has been rife with problems throughout its history... The presidency is a national office and election of the president should reflect the directly expressed will of the American people." more

Jesse Jackson

January 4, 2005, Chicago Sun-Times Editorial
By Jesse Jackson

Senators Should Object to Ohio Vote

Excerpt: "This Thursday in Washington Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), the senior minority member of the House Judiciary Committee, will formally object to the counting of the Ohio electoral vote in the 2004 presidential election. If any senator joins him, the counting of the vote is suspended and the House and the Senate must convene separately to hear the objections filed, and to vote on whether to accept them. The grounds for the objections are clear: The irregularities in the Ohio vote and vote count are widespread and blatant. If the Ohio election were held in the Ukraine, it would not have been certified by the international community." more

January 4, 2005, Z Magazine
By Ted Glick

Re-Vote Ohio

Excerpt: "The issue facing us now... is not the election of Bush, Kerry, or even the Green or Libertarian presidential candidates. The issue is that we do not know who won Ohio. And as the people of the Ukraine have shown us, a re-vote is possible. Indeed, there are 48 million voters in the Ukraine and only 5.5 million in Ohio, so the process would be ten times easier." more

January 3, 2005, New Mexico Channel
By Helen Thomas

Liberal Voices Disappearing from Mainstream Media: Bill Moyers Showed Courage

Excerpt: "'The biggest story of our time is how the right-wing media has become a partisan propaganda arm of the Republican National Committee ... and a mainstream press that's interested in the bottom line,' Moyers declared. 'Therefore,' he added, 'we don't have a vigilant, independent press whose interest is the American people.'" more

January 3, 2005, The Free Press (Ohio)
By Bob Fitrakis, Steve Rosenfeld & Harvey Wasserman

Why Congress Must Investigate Rather than Certify the Electoral College

Excerpt: "On Thursday, January 6, the Electoral College will be challenged by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) and other members of Congress under a law passed in 1887 in reaction to the fraudulent election of 1876. A fuller investigation requires assent by at least one Senator. As this vote nears, Ohio's certified presidential vote (and quite likely those of at least Florida and New Mexico) is simply not credible. George W. Bush's 'victory' appears to have resulted from multiple frauds — a GOP 'do-everything' strategy to win the state that swung the election. In today's article, we list the top ten glaring flaws in the Ohio vote that have allowed Bush to gather the votes to 'win' the presidency in Ohio with an apparent margin of 118,775 votes — the result from an official recount that manually examined only 3 percent of ballots cast. This list involves very large totals of uncounted, tainted or fraudulent votes. Taken together, they exceed Bush's margin of victory in Ohio." more

Senators: Reject Tainted Electoral College Votes

January 3, 2005, Common Dreams
By Thom Hartmann

Dialing In For Democracy — Now Is Critical

Excerpt: "Given how often Republicans in the House and Senate have placed the interest of their party's power above the needs and interests of democracy or the nation in the past few decades, it's extremely unlikely that a challenge will result in a change in the election. But — vitally — it will put the issues of vote fraud in America on the table in a way that even the mainstream media can no longer ignore. And it may lead to getting private, Republican-affiliated corporations out of handling our votes in secret, and to other electoral reforms such as IRV and public financing of elections. It could be a huge step in pulling us back from the brink..." more

January 1, 2005, Washington Post Op-Ed
By Bill Bradbury

Vote-by-Mail: The Real Winner Is Democracy

Excerpt: "While many states were embroiled in fights over touch-screen voting machines and provisional ballots and struggling to find enough people to staff polling places, Oregon once again quietly conducted a presidential election with record turnout and little strife. Oregon's vote-by-mail system has proved reliable and popular. Critics said that vote-by-mail is prone to fraud. But signature verification of every voter before a ballot is counted is an effective safeguard against fraud." more

December 30, 2004, The Free Press (Ohio)
By Warren Stewart

Impossible Phantom Votes in New Mexico

Excerpt: "Mathematically, phantom votes are merely the inverse of undervotes. Undervotes, which show up when there are less votes than ballots cast, can be accounted for more or less persuasively in one way or another but I have yet to come up with any acceptable explanation for phantoms. Much less, 2,087 of them statewide in New Mexico, just about one third of the margin of victory that determined the selection of that state's presidential electors." more

Veterans Didn't Die for Rigged Elections

December 29, 2004, Star-Tribune (Minneapolis)
By Mark Halvorson and Kirk Lund

We May Never Know What Happened in the Ohio Vote

Excerpt: "We will never have a clear picture of Ohio's election results because of the lack of a statewide manual recount, lack of a voter-verified paper trail for many of the state's voters who used electronic voting machines, questions of possible machine tampering, and untold numbers of discouraged voters deterred by long lines. We call on Sen. Mark Dayton to join Rep. Maxine Waters and other members of Congress to stop the approval of the Electoral College votes on Jan. 6 until there is a full investigation into what really happened in Ohio." more

Blackwell asks
for protective
order to avoid
questions

December 27, 2004, Akron Beacon-Journal
By Andrew Welsh-Huggins

Blackwell Doesn't Want to be Interviewed in Vote Challenge

Excerpt: "Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell has requested a protective order to prevent him from being interviewed as part of an unusual court challenge of the presidential vote. Citing fraud, 37 people who voted for president Nov. 2 have challenged the election results with the Ohio Supreme Court. The voters refer to irregularities including long lines, a shortage of voting machines in minority precincts and problems with computer equipment." more

December 27, 2004, The New York Times Op-Ed

Setting Standards for Fair Elections

Excerpt: "The much-delayed work of setting federal standards for electronic voting machines is speeding up, and there is reason for concern. Voting machine companies and their supporters have been given a large say in the process, while advocates for voters, including those who insist on the use of voter-verified paper receipts, have been pushed to the margins. The chairman of the working group preparing the standards for voting machines is a top executive of Election Systems and Software [ES&S], a large and controversial voting machine maker." more

Kenneth Blackwell
wants to prevent
"mischief"

December 26, 2004, Chillicothe (Ohio) Gazette
By Jim Siegel, Gazette Columbus Bureau

State Lawmakers Look to Prevent Future Recounts

Excerpt: "State lawmakers will look at ways next year to make it harder and more expensive to get election recounts. Lawmakers and Secretary of State Ken Blackwell are considering restrictions on who can ask for a recount.... The proposals likely will be part of a broader election reform bill. Blackwell calls the $10 cost per precinct a "basement bargain price" that has been unchanged since 1956, likely because a candidate has never requested a statewide recount in Ohio. "Allowing them to trigger this enormously detailed process — a process where they're only charged one-tenth of the cost — it's too inviting for mischief," he said." more

December 25, 2004, The Free Press (Ohio)
By Richard Hayes Phillips, Ph.D.

Another Third Rate Burglary

Excerpt: "[A few weeks prior to Election Day] Thieves shattered a side window overnight at Lucas County Democratic headquarters in Toledo, stealing computers with sensitive campaign information and jeopardizing the party's ability to deliver crucial votes on Election Day. Among the data on the stolen computer of the party's office manager were: e-mails discussing campaign strategy, candidates' schedules, financial information, and phone numbers of party members, candidates, donors, and volunteers. Also taken were computers belonging to a Lucas County Commissioner and to a Texas attorney working with the Kerry campaign to ensure election security." more

December 24, 2004, The New York Times
By James Dao, Ford Fessenden, & Tom Zeller Jr.

Voting Problems in Ohio Spur Call for Overhaul

Excerpt: "From seven-hour lines that drove voters away to malfunctioning machines to poorly trained poll workers who directed people to the wrong polling places to uneven policies about the use of provisional ballots, Ohio has become this year's example for every ailment in the United States' electoral process... In the two weeks since Mr. Bush was certified the winner here by 118,000 votes out of 5.7 million cast, watchdog groups have filed lawsuits contesting the outcome and questioning the counting of provisional ballots. The state has nearly completed a recount, at the request of the Green and Independent Parties. Liberal Democrats have demanded investigations into whether there was voter fraud, tampering and intimidation in urban districts." more

December 24, 2004, The Free Press (Ohio)
By Dr. Werner Lange

Kerry Votes Switched to Bush and Ballots Pre-Punched for Bush

Excerpt: "A December 15 article in The Washington Post reveals that Jeanne White, a manager of the Buckeye Review, an African-American newspaper in Northeast Ohio, pushed the button for Kerry and watched her vote jump to the Bush column. 'We've never seen anything like this before' Mark Munroe, Chairman of the Mahoning County Board of Election is quoted as saying in the November 3rd edition of The Vindicator. Monroe confirmed that vote switching problems occurred in at least 16 precincts and involved some 20 to 30 ES&S machines that 'needed to be recalibrated during the voting process because some votes for a candidate were being counted for that candidate's opponent.'" more

Rep. Conyers,
casting a spot-
light on violations

December 23, 2004, The Black Commentator

No Holiday for Vote Thieves

Excerpt: "Recounts and investigations of systematic Black voter suppression are made to seem ridiculous if the results do not alter the outcome. By such reasoning, it would not matter if all the Black voters of Alabama and Mississippi were turned away from the polls, since whites were going to give George Bush the electoral votes of those states, anyway. Crimes against Black citizenship do not matter unless it can be proven that the election was tipped in the process (or maybe not even then). Television news personalities smirk while presenting election protest items, conveying the message: 'You lost. Why don't you people quit?' As if the harm done to untold numbers of Black citizens is of no consequence." more

December 23, 2004, Common Dreams
By Blair Bobier, Cobb-LaMarche Media Director

Mock the Vote

Excerpt: "While much attention has been focused on Mr. Blackwell, as the Katharine Harris clone of 2004, New Mexico Governor Richardson has also done his utmost to delay and obstruct the initiation of a duly requested recount in New Mexico. Ohio's Republican Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell and New Mexico's Democratic Governor Bill Richardson are two elected officials who seem to care little for the laws governing elections or the people who put them in office." more

Rev. Jackson

December 22, 2004 (updated 12/25/), The Free Press (Ohio)
By Bob Fitrakis, Steve Rosenfeld & Harvey Wasserman

Ohio Electoral Fight Becomes 'Biggest Deal Since Selma' as GOP Stonewalls

Excerpt: "As Republican officials stonewall subpoenas and subvert the recount process, Rev. Jesse Jackson has pronounced Ohio's vote fraud fiasco "the biggest deal since Selma" and has called for a national rally at "the scene of the crime" in Columbus January 3. Another major national demonstration will follow in Washington on January 6, as Congress evaluates the Electoral College. Should at least one US Representative and one Senator challenge the electors' votes, a Constitutional crisis could ensue." more

David Cobb

December 22, 2004, Common Dreams
By David Cobb

Ohio County Reports: Details of an Injustice

Excerpt: "The Ohio recount is uncovering serious problems in our electoral processes that must be addressed immediately, both in Ohio and other states. While many of the local election officials and staff members we have met in Ohio’s 88 counties are hard-working, well-meaning people, almost none of them have allowed the recount to proceed using “random” recount processes. In addition, we have found election and recount procedures in several counties that do not appear to follow the spirit or letter of Ohio Election law. Finally, election laws appear to have been applied unevenly across Ohio in ways that produced unfairness against poor and minority voters." more

December 20, 2004, Scripps Howard News Service
By Thomas Hargrove

Election Study Finds Widespread Ballot-Counting Problems

Excerpt: "A review of election results in a 10-county sampling revealed more than 12,000 ballots that failed to record a vote for president, almost one in every 10 ballots cast. The unofficial audit by Scripps Howard News Service uncovered malfunctioning voting machines, improperly designed ballots and poor accounting procedures around the nation." more

December 18, 2004, The Free Press (Ohio)
By Bob Fitrakis, Steve Rosenfeld & Harvey Wasserman

Ohio Vote Count Battles Escalate Amidst New Evidence of Potential Criminal Activity

Excerpt: "New affidavits point to possible criminal activity by top Ohio election officials, raising yet more questions about the 2004 vote. Rhonda J. Frazier, a former employee of the Ohio Secretary of State's office, has confirmed in an affidavit taken by Cynthia Butler, working with freepress.org, that the Office had secret slush funds. Frazier says it also failed to comply with the requirements of "The Voting Reform Grant" that required all the voting machines in Ohio to be inventoried and tagged for security reasons... A letter from the Shelby County Board of Elections, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, admitted that data critical to a meaningful recount had been discarded, possibly illegally. Sworn testimony from election observers in Greene County indicated that ballots had been left loose on tables in an unlocked, unguarded building, open to manipulation and theft, prior to a recount. And in Lucas County and Hocking County, it was revealed that technicians from the Diebold and Triad companies had inexplicably taken control of voting machines and dismantled them, rendering verifiable recounts impossible." more

December 18, 2004, The Cincinnati Post (Post staff and wire reports)

Ohio Court Asked to Overturn Election

Excerpt: "Even as a recount not expected to change the outcome of Ohio's presidential race continued Friday, voters who said problems with voting machines last month indicated fraud asked the Ohio Supreme Court to overturn the Nov. 2 results. The 40 voters involved in the challenge cite reports of machine errors, double-counting of some ballots and a shortage of voting machines in predominantly minority precincts as reasons to throw out President Bush's narrow win over Democrat John Kerry in Ohio. The challenge is backed by the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Cliff Arnebeck, a Columbus attorney for the Massachusetts-based Alliance for Democracy, who accused the Bush campaign of 'high-tech vote stealing.'" more

December 17, 2004, Albuquerque Journal
By Andy Lenderman

Green Calls for Vote Compromise

Excerpt: "David Cobb said his side would like to propose a partial recount — perhaps 10 percent of the votes cast in New Mexico. A full recount could proceed if significant problems were discovered in the sample." more

Ohio voters waiting in line when polls closed

Some Ohio voters
still in line were
turned away when
polls closed Nov 2

December 15, 2004, The Washington Post
By Michael Powell and Peter Slevin, Washington Post Staff Writers

Several Factors Contributed to 'Lost' Voters in Ohio

Excerpt: "Electoral problems prevented many thousands of Ohioans from voting on Nov. 2. In Columbus, bipartisan estimates say that 5,000 to 15,000 frustrated voters turned away without casting ballots. It is unlikely that such 'lost' voters would have changed the election result — Ohio tipped to President Bush by a 118,000-vote margin and cemented his electoral college majority. 'There isn't enough to prove fraud, but there have been very significant problems in running elections in Ohio this year that demand reform,' said Edward B. Foley, who is director of the election law program at the Ohio State University law school and a former Ohio state solicitor. 'We clearly ended up disenfranchising people, and I don't want to minimize that.'" more

December 15, 2004, The New York Times
By Tom Zeller, Jr.

Lawmaker Seeks Inquiry Into Ohio Vote

Excerpt: "The ranking Democratic member of the House Judiciary Committee, Representative John Conyers Jr. of Michigan, plans to ask the Federal Bureau of Investigation and a county prosecutor in Ohio today to explore "inappropriate and likely illegal election tampering" in at least one and perhaps several Ohio counties. The request for an investigation, made in a letter that was also provided to The New York Times, includes accounts from at least two county employees, but is based largely on a sworn affidavit provided by the Hocking County deputy director of elections, Sherole Eaton." more

Rep. Conyers

December 15, 2004, The Free Press (Ohio)
By Bob Fitrakis, Steve Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman

American Democracy Hangs by a Thread in Ohio

Excerpt: "'At the outset of this hearing, I would like to announce that 10 members of Congress, including myself, have written to (Ohio) Gov. Taft asking him to either delay or treat as provisional the vote of Ohio’s presidential electors,' Rep. John Conyers, the senior Democrat on the Judiciary Committee said at the outset. 'The closer we get to Columbus and the Ohio presidential election, the worse it looks. Each and every day it becomes increasingly clear that the Republican power structure in this state is acting as if it has something to hide.' " more

Gov. Richardson

December 15, 2004, The Albuquerque Journal
By Andy Lenderman, Journal Politics Writer

Cost of Recount $1.4 Million; State Wants Money by Thurs. to Start

Excerpt: "The state Canvassing Board on Tuesday, after some deliberation, granted a late November request for a recount by presidential candidates David Cobb of the Green Party and Michael Badnarik, a Libertarian. Recount backers say their goal is to verify the accuracy and credibility of New Mexico's voting systems. They have raised concerns about touch screen voting machines and the so-called undervote. But according to state election officials, recount proponents will have to come up with $1.4 million by 10 a.m. Thursday in order to proceed. "I don't think a recount will reform our election laws... We need to move forward," New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said." more

Kenneth Blackwell

December 14, 2004, ElitesTV.com
By Steven Leser

Ohio Recount: County Election Board Chair Disputes Comments from Spokesperson for Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell

Excerpt: "Yesterday, I reported on a phone interview with Carlo LoParo, a spokesperson for Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell. One of the items LoParo repeatedly stressed was that 'each county in Ohio has an election board consisting of two Republicans and two Democrats' and that each board 'unanimously voted to certify their election results on December 6th.'...he urged me to contact these Democratic party chairs if I 'had any doubt' as to the conduct of the elections in any of Ohio's 88 county's, including oft discussed Franklin and Hamilton counties. So, I contacted Hamilton County's Board of elections Chair (Franklin's board did not return calls), but his comments did not line up with those coming out of the Secretary of State's office." more

Jesse Jackson

December 13, 2004, Washington Post
By Carrie Spencer, Associated Press Writer

Groups Ask Ohio Court to Review Vote: Delegation Casts Electoral Votes for Bush

Excerpt: "The Rev. Jesse Jackson and attorney Cliff Arnebeck of the Massachusetts-based Alliance for Democracy accused President Bush's campaign of "high-tech vote stealing." Jackson said the challengers noticed Bush generally received more votes in counties that use optical-scan voting machines and questioned whether the machines were calibrated to record votes for Bush. The dissidents claim there were disparities in vote totals for Democrats, too few voting machines in Democrat-leaning precincts, organized campaigns directing voters to the wrong polling place and confusion over the counting of provisional ballots by voters whose names did not appear in the records at polling places. If the court decides to hear the challenge, it can declare a new winner or throw out the results." more

December 13, 2004, Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin)
By Samara Kalk Derby

150 Protesters Allege Voting Irregularities

Excerpt: "Nathan Simmons won't be able to vote for another four years, yet he is so disturbed by what has become of the American voting system that he withstood brutal winds Sunday to protest irregularities in the presidential vote count. The 14-year-old, who attends Wingra School, was among about 150 people who turned out at the State Capitol to demand fair and accountable elections. 'Not all the votes were counted,' Nathan said about last month's presidential election. 'They use electronic voting machines because they can be hacked. I think it doesn't make sense to have a private company ruling our democracy.'" more

December 13, 2004, Village Soup Times (Knox County, Maine)
By Steve Burke

Midcoast Residents Picket in Support of Ohio recount

Excerpt: "They came to support the ballot recount effort that is going on in Ohio and to call for the abolition of the electoral college, the replacement of partisan oversight of elections with nonpartisan election commissions and the prevention of lawless vote suppression and voter intimidation. In addition they called on Maine's congressional delegation to draft and support legislation that would guarantee a voter-verified paper trail for voting machines in all states." more

Protests continue

December 13, 2004, Canton (Ohio) Repository
By John McCarthy, Associated Press Writer

Dissidents Protest Monday’s Electoral College Vote in Key Swing State Ohio

Excerpt: "“In Ohio, there has not been a final determination. Therefore, any meeting of the Electoral College in Ohio prior to a full recount would in fact be an illegitimate gathering,” said John Bonifaz of the National Voting Rights Institute. The dissidents claim there were disparities in vote totals for Democrats, too few voting machines in Democrat-leaning precincts, organized campaigns directing voters to the wrong polling place and confusion over the counting of provisional ballots by voters whose names did not appear in the books at polling places." more

December 13, 2004, Columbus Free Press
By Bob Fitrakis, Steve Rosenfeld and Harvey Wasserman

Startling New Revelations Highlight Rare Congressional Hearings on Ohio Vote

Excerpt: "In one exit poll affidavit, Jonathan David Simon, an expert witness, notes that at 12:53 a.m. the exit polls altered the projected winner — even though the same number of votes had been cast. "Although each update reports the same number of respondents (872), the reported results differ significantly, with the latter (12:53 a.m.) exit poll results apparently having been brought into congruence with the tabulated vote results." In other words, the exit polls were made to conform to a political decision to declare Bush the victor." more

December 12, 2004, CapitalNews9.com
By Sean O'Grady

Group Rallies at the New York State Capitol

Excerpt: "Bill Kelsey said, 'The purpose of our demonstration is to support the efforts in Ohio, to get the Ohio vote recounted. We feel that there's gross fraud in this election, and we need to get a true counting of what happened out there.' The activists believe the electronic voting machines used in this year's election can be hacked into manipulating the true ballot count. Barbara Ehrentreu is the New York State coordinator for the 51 Capitals March organization. She helped organize the protest because she's a firm believer that this year's ballot collection was flawed. " more

Kenneth Blackwell

December 12, 2004, Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch
By Mark Niquette

GOP Strongholds Saw Increase in Voting Machines

Excerpt: "County officials said they also considered using punch-card ballots to supplement electronic machines and establishing regional zones for provisional voting, but they were advised against it by Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell's office... Dispatch analysis shows that predominantly Democratic precincts in Franklin County — almost all of them in Columbus — had fewer machines on Nov. 2 compared with 2000, while heavy GOP areas had more. Election officials say voter-registration totals and past turnout — not favoritism or politics — determined where machines went. Any differences between Democratic and GOP areas were an "unintended coincidence," they say." more

Matthew
Damschroder

December 11, 2004, Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch
By Mark Niquette

39 voting Machines Unused; 17 Never Activated at Inner-City Precincts

Excerpt: "When election officials called the county warehouse on the afternoon of Election Day to see whether other machines were available, they were told that only 29 machines were there — when there were actually 51, Damschroder said. He couldn't explain why the wrong number was provided. Workers then programmed counting cartridges for the 29 electronic machines to be sent to inner-city precincts. But 17 of those cartridges never were activated, meaning they were never used by voters, he said." more

Thousands stage
massive protest
in central Kiev

December 12, 2004, WorkingforChange.com
By Geov Parrish

Winning in the Streets: What We Can Learn From Massive Demonstrations in the Ukraine

Excerpt: "After hundreds of years of rule by Moscow, independence is a cherished thing in Ukraine. After 80 years of communist rule, most Ukrainians well understand the dangers of autocratic government, or that state-controlled media lies. Democracy is not taken for granted. In America, by contrast, we have no such history, and instead of skepticism about authority our heads are swelled from birth with jingoistic bilge about how perfect American democracy is, how great and infallible our country is, how righteous is our form of government. For all the decades of conservatives bashing big government, we have surprisingly little skepticism, and for all the triumph of our popular will, we have a surprisingly widespread belief that there's nothing ordinary people here can do to change things." more

Jesse Jackson

December 10, 2004, CNN.com Inside Politics

Electoral College Set to Certify Election

Excerpt: ""What we really need is a federal standard for elections, and we need a constitutional, individual, federally protected right to vote," said Jackson, president of the Chicago-based Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. Grassroots activists say politicians who refuse to discuss voting concerns will lose respect — and votes. Ohio's Republican Secretary of State, Kenneth Blackwell, has conceded that a recount would likely alter the vote tally somewhat. But he adamantly dismisses allegations of fraud." more

December 10, 2004, San Francisco Chronicle
By Theodore D. Graves

Election Fraud or Just Suspicions?

Excerpt: "If this were an election taking place in a Third World dictatorship, or a former part of the Soviet Union (Georgia and Ukraine, for recent examples) people would be in the streets screaming "fraud" and demanding the president's resignation. Democratic pundits have been wringing their hands, trying to figure out the best tactics for future victory. The answer is simple: Make sure every eligible voter gets a chance to vote, and that every vote gets recorded, counted and accurately reported — and that a secure paper trail exists to ensure the validity of any required recount." more

Ohio Protesters

December 9, 2004, Cambridge Chronicle
By Opinion by Luc Schuster

Stand up for Your Democracy!

Excerpt: "Fast forward to 2004 and it's deja vu all over again. This time, illegal voter disenfranchisement may not have changed the final result of the election but, again, the Democrats have been largely silent in the fight to have every vote counted... it's third-party presidential candidates David Cobb (Green Party) and Michael Badnarik (Libertarian Party) who are standing up for democracy by formally demanding a recount of presidential ballots in Ohio." more

David Cobb

December 9, 2004, Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal
By John McCarthy (Associated Press)

Candidates Differ on Issues, Unite on Recount

Excerpt: "Together, David Cobb of the Green Party and Michael Badnarik of the Libertarian Party collected less than 1 percent of the national vote on Nov. 2. However, that has not suppressed their desire to get pivotal Ohio to count its votes again and expose what they see as grave discrepancies in the state's election process. While they agree on few policies or in their ideas of what government should do, they have united in the cause of election integrity and third-party respect." more

Chellie Pingree

December 8, 2004, Los Angeles Times
By Nick Anderson

Activists Hold Forum Spotlighting Voting Issues in Presidential Election

Excerpt: "While President Bush secured his reelection with a 119,000-vote victory in Ohio, voting-rights advocates dwelled Tuesday on a statistic they said told another story — more than 414,000 calls to national hotlines established to monitor complaints and compile eyewitness observations about the Nov. 2 vote. Among those calls, according to a new report from the Common Cause Education Fund, were many accounts from Ohio." more

December 8, 2004, The Newark Advocate (Associated Press)

Independent Party Candidates Begin Recount Requests

Excerpt: ""When these sorts of things happen, we have to stand up," Cobb said at a news conference in Columbus. "It's not as a Green Party member I am standing up, it is as a citizen of his country. And citizens across this country, citizens across the state of Ohio, are demanding to know exactly what happened."" more

Lynne Serpe

December 8, 2004, Common Dreams
By Lynne Serpe

Voting While Black: Racism in the Coverage of the Recount?

Excerpt: ""By looking only for provable fraud, and not investigating the obvious question why minority voters and white voters had extremely different experiences on Election Day, [newspaper] editors — and each of us — are choosing to accept as a given that when minority voters receive second-class status, it is not really news... That is indeed a sad commentary for a country that purports to be ready to support the development of democracy in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Ukraine. Fifty years after Rosa Parks took a stand, I guess it is still okay if some of us ride in the back of the bus."" more

David Cobb

December 8, 2004, Yahoo.com News
By Andrew Welsh-Huggins, Associated Press Writer

Candidates Officially Request Ohio Recount

Excerpt: ""David Cobb, Green Party presidential candidate, said the election was full of irregularities, including uncounted provisional ballots. 'There is a possibility that George W. Bush did not win Ohio. If that is the case, it would be a crime against democracy for George Bush to be sworn into office,' he said... The recount will probably not begin until next week because of a five-day waiting period to allow candidates time to arrange witnesses to the counting. Cobb, Badnarik and the Kerry camp gave permission for the recount to start before the five-day period. The Bush campaign did not waive the waiting period."" more

Jesse Jackson

December 8, 2004, CNSNews.com
By Marc Morano, Senior Staff Writer

Jesse Jackson: 2004 Election 'Ain't Over'

Excerpt: "The 2004 presidential election was plagued by fraud and voter suppression, according to some Democratic members of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, liberal special interest groups and big-name private citizens, who used the formal surroundings of a congressional office building Wednesday to present their evidence. Many of those present declared the election of 2004 not yet over. 'It ain't over,' Rainbow PUSH Coalition founder Jesse Jackson declared. 'This race is not over until it is certified — every vote is counted and honored.' ...U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee from Texas called for nationalizing federal voting. 'We cannot declare that the election of 2004 was free, transparent and real for all those who attempted to vote,' Lee said to applause. 'The system of voting broke down November 2, 2004,' she added." more

December 7, 2004, The New York Times
By James Dao And Albert Salvato

As Questions Keep Coming, Ohio Certifies Its Vote Count

Excerpt: "...many Democrats and members of third parties around the country share a perception that the Ohio election was riddled with technical problems and fraud. The anger with the results has fueled successful fund-raising drives by groups that contend widespread irregularities occurred... The Ohio Green Party and Libertarian Party said they had raised more than $250,000 to defray the cost of recounting ballots in all 88 counties." more

December 6, 2004, Chicago Sun-Times Editorial
By David Orr

Lingering Flaws in Election System Can't Be Ignored

Excerpt: "The federal Help America Vote Act — ironically intended to reform elections and prevent Florida-type debacles — created a patchwork of election laws and procedures that differed greatly, not only state to state, but sometimes county to county... To remove barriers that threaten to disenfranchise eligible voters and ensure accurate vote counts, we need to adopt uniform standards in administering federal elections." more

December 6, 2004, The Toledo (Ohio) Blade (Opinion)
By Fritz Wendel (with reader response)

Election Still Has Readers Riled Up

Excerpt: "(from a reader's letter criticizing the columnist) "The Libertarian and Green call for a recount is not making some 'obscure political point,' " wrote Nick Raleigh of Minneapolis. "We live in a democracy. Our government is supposed to be for, by, and of the people... For democracy to work and for us to have confidence in our government, every vote counts and must be counted.... Even if Ohio's electoral vote does not change because of the recount, voters in Ohio will at least know their votes were counted properly and their voice was accurately heard. In addition, a recount will reveal whether voting fraud or Election Day tampering occurred to give the state to Bush. Both of these benefits are well worth the minuscule public expenditure required. Interesting article. I can't say I agreed with a single thing you wrote."" more

December 4, 2004, John Seewer, Associated Press Writer

Bush Victory Margin in Ohio Shrinks

Excerpt: "President Bush's victory over John Kerry in Ohio was closer than the unofficial election night totals showed, but the change is not enough to trigger an automatic recount, according to county-by-county results provided to The Associated Press on Friday. The Green and Libertarian parties said they have raised enough money to cover the cost [of a recount]. The narrowing of Bush's margin only increases the possibility that the election results could be changed, the Green Party said. "Who knows what else will turn up when we examine the discarded ballots?" Green spokesman Blair Bobier asked." more

Protesters outside
Ohio Statehouse

December 4, 2004, Washington Post
By John McCarthy

Protesters Gather at Ohio Statehouse

Excerpt: "About 400 protesters gathered outside the Statehouse on Saturday to support a recount of the presidential election in Ohio and call for an investigation into Election Day irregularities. "I would like to welcome you to the Ukraine," said Susan Truitt, referring to the country where a new presidential runoff election was ordered after observers said the first one was rigged. On Friday, a federal judge in Columbus ruled that a recount may proceed if two minority party candidates who sued for it can pay for it. Green and Libertarian party officials say they can." more

David Cobb

December 2, 2004, Minneapolis Star Tribune Editorial
By David Cobb

Greens Had Good Reason to Ask for This Recount

Excerpt: "On Nov. 13 and 15, hearings conducted by the Ohio Election Protection Coalition in Columbus featured oral and written testimony from a number of voters, poll workers, precinct judges and legal observers. A pattern emerged: The complaints came disproportionately from blacks, young people and precincts where Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry had strong support... Regardless of whether a recount changes the outcome of the election, we must protect the right to vote and the right for all votes to be counted. Either every vote is sacred, or democracy is a sham." more

Juan Gonzalez

November 30, 2004, New York Daily News
By Juan Gonzalez

Ohio Tally Fit for Ukraine

Excerpt: "And now Daily News reporter Larry Cohler-Esses and I have uncovered some more unusual vote totals, this time in black neighborhoods of Cleveland. Those results are from the precinct-by-precinct tallies released by the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, where Cleveland is located.... If this same pattern held true in other cities around Ohio, then quite possibly thousands of votes meant for Kerry somehow ended up in the tallies of the two independent candidates. So far, however, precinct-by-precinct results have not been posted by boards of elections in other counties, but by Thursday all official results are due." more

November 30, 2004, Chicago Sun-Times Editorial
By Rev. Jesse Jackson

Something's Fishy in Ohio

Excerpt: "'In the Ukraine, citizens are in the streets protesting what they charge is a fixed election. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell expresses this nation's concern about apparent voting irregularities. The media give the dispute around-the-clock coverage. But in the United States, massive and systemic voter irregularities go unreported and unnoticed. Ohio is this election year's Florida. The vote in Ohio decided the presidential race, but it was marred by intolerable, and often partisan, irregularities and discrepancies. U.S. citizens have as much reason as those in Kiev to be concerned that the fix was in,' writes Rev. Jackson" more

November 30, 2004, Albuquerque Journal
By Barry Massey

Recount Sought in New Mexico Presidential Election

Excerpt: "Green and Libertarian Party presidential candidates are seeking a statewide recount of ballots in New Mexico's presidential contest that President Bush won by a 5,988-vote margin. Green Party nominee David Cobb and Libertarian candidate Michael Badnarik want a recount in all precincts and a recheck of voting machines to ensure an accurate count of presidential ballots, said Blair Bobier, a spokesman for the Cobb campaign." more

November 29, 2004, Common Dreams
By Thom Hartmann

How to Take Back a Stolen Election

Excerpt: ""... the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (Madeleine K. Albright, Chairman) has