Blogs and Online Opinion

Everyone votes, every vote verified = Democracy!

April 26, 2005, GuvWorld

Voter Confidence Resolution

Excerpt: "A resolution is being circulated on the internet for local groups and communities to use as a template for resultions they can endorse comparable to the ant-war and anti-PATRIOT Act resolutions that have been passed in the last few years. The resolution says in part: When elections are conducted under conditions that prevent conclusive outcomes, the Consent of the Governed is not being sought. Absent this self-evident source of legitimacy, such Consent is not to be assumed or taken for granted." more

April 23, 2005, Daily Kos
By Rep. John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI)

Congress Members Write DOJ to Stop GA Voter ID Law

Excerpt: "Today was a date of shame in Georgia and our nation, as GOP Gov. Sonny Perdue signed a bill that makes it harder to vote, by requiring a photo identification in Georgia elections. The bill would have an obvious discriminatory impact on the poor, seniors, and minorities, who are less likely to have drivers licenses and less able to have access to the new ID cards." more

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

April 19, 2005, BradBlog
By Brad Friedman

National Election Reform Commission E.D. Charges Harassment

Excerpt: "Earlier this evening, we received a phone call from Dr. Robert A. Pastor, the Executive Director of the Baker/Carter National Election Reform Commission. It was an interesting conversation. Apparently, he was irate at us because Americans are sending Email to him and the commissioners complaining about the fact that James A. Baker, III is co-chairing the Commission. Baker, of course, is the long-time Bush Family loyalist and Bush/Cheney trial law attorney who architected the strategy to ensure that American's votes would not be counted in the 2000 election." more

April 18, 2005, Daily Kos
By JoanReports

Baker Says Voting Machines Neither Republicans nor Democrats

Excerpt: "Let's follow the money and see if he's right. James A. Baker famously told us this in November 2000, in the heated days that followed the election, "Voting machines are neither Republicans nor Democrats." Well, you can find $ $ $ donations by the companies that make and service the voting machines, and their sponsors and forbears, that SAY DIFFERENTLY: Aside from the executives of ES&S, Diebold, Sequoia, Maximus (which services Hart/Intercivic), there are also the $$ donations from the companies, Ciber Inc. and Wyle Labs, that TEST the voting machines." more

Rep. Conyers

April 18, 2005, ConyersBlog
By Rep. John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI)

First Baker-Carter Hearing

Excerpt: "The first meeting of the Baker-Carter election commission was disappointing and, at times, outrageous and tainted with racially-charged innuendo. Let me make absolutely clear that I greatly admire former President Jimmy Carter and believe he was insightful and on-target throughout the hearing. However, given the incredible lack of balance and profound lack of good faith demonstrated by some of Carter’s fellow commissioners and many of the witnesses at this hearing, at times he seemed to be a very lonely voice of sanity." more

April 15, 2005, The BradBlog
By Brad Friedman

Yes to Election Reform! No to Baker and Anti-Reform Cronies!

Excerpt: "Velvet Revolution, a coalition of nearly 100 true Voting Rights and Election Reform organizations is launching a major campaign to bring former-President Jimmy Carter's attention to their myriad concerns about the secretly seated Blue-Ribbon National Election Reform Commission! Specifically, they are calling for James A. Baker — the architect of the Bush/Cheney strategy to ensure that America's votes would not be counted in 2000 — to resign immediately along with a number of the anti-reform partisans and voting machine company officials who have been appointed secretly to this commission!" more

March 31, 2005, Daily Kos
By Benjammin075

Coordinated attack on your voting rights happening NOW!

Excerpt: "It is no accident that James A. Baker III is the co-chair of the new blue ribbon commission on voting issues. Baker helped ensure that the votes in Florida 2000 were not counted. How did Baker get on the commission? We don't know yet. The commission was created in secret. Then there's the Gannon/Talon-like ACVR. The American Center for (although actually against) Voting Rights. The "non-partisan" ACVR sprang into existence 3 business days before a 3/21/05 House Administrative Committee on voting issues of Ohio 2004. ACVR submitted a 31-page report to the Committee. The report, authored by Mark F. Hearne (General Counsel to Bush/Cheney '04), entirely blames ALL potential vote fraud on Democrats. Presently, the ACVR report is being circulated far and wide to every nook and cranny of Freeper Land." more

March 19, 2005, Daily Kos
By Freedom

Voting Rights: Are Progressives Sleeping Again?

Excerpt: "Social Security is important! The Media crisis is important! Fighting controversial bills (Bankruptcy Bill, ANWAR)is important! Working to block controversial nominations (Rice, Gonzalez, Meyers, Negroponte, Bolton, Wolfowitz, ...) is important! Denouncing hypocritical homophobe Busheviks is important! Getting to know Luntz playbook is important! Battling Fox and its goons is important! Working to get rid of Congressman Delay is important! ... Yet all that is NOTHING if come next election the people are not given the means to exercise their right to vote!" more

John Conyers

March 4, 2005, Conyers Blog
By Rep. John Conyers

Conyers Brings Election Reform to House Floor

Excerpt: "I, along with Rep. Maxine Waters, offered an amendment on the House floor that represented the first time we were able to vote on a post-Ohio election reform issue. I thought Republicans would have seen the logic in assuring that we have a fair allocation of machines between the cities and suburbs, but I was unfortunately wrong. The Stakeholder has a summary describing how the entire debate went down today." more

February 28, 2005, The BradBlog

Election Reform Heroes Trump Hollywood Stars

Excerpt: "We live close enough to the Kodak Theater that the persistent buzz of the Oscars' Goodyear blimp was echoing through our windows all morning. Thankfully, we had a date in Santa Monica at the Election Reform Teach-in sponsored by CitizensAct.org, which kept us busy most of the day and night and well out of range of the constant copters, blimps and Joan Rivers." more

TruthOut

February 26, 2005, NYTimes Editorial (via TruthOut.org)

Tackling Election Reform

Excerpt: "After a second consecutive presidential election marred by significant flaws in the mechanics of voting, it's time for Congress to take a hard look at fixing the system. Two Senate bills aim to do that. A Republican-sponsored bill is narrowly tailored around making electronic voting more reliable. A more ambitious bill, sponsored by the Democrats, would take on a broad array of problems, from long lines at the polls to odious maneuvers aimed at keeping people from voting. Both bills would greatly improve the functioning of American democracy." more

February 9, 2005, Daily Kos

Hitchins Thinks Ohio Vote Was Stolen

Excerpt: "Christopher Hitchens has a new article in Vanity Fair entitled, Ohio's Odd Numbers. The lead-in states "No conspiracy theorist, and no fan of John Kerry's, the author nevertheless found the Ohio polling results impossible to swallow: Given what happened in that key state on Election Day 2004, both democracy and common sense cry out for a court-ordered inspection of its new voting machines." more

February 8, 2005, Daily Kos

Electoral Processes Not Ready For 2006

Excerpt: "I have some good news and some bad news about democracy. First, the bad news. The Associated Press reports that many election reforms mandated in 2002 will not be ready by 2006: "Deadlines are looming to make sure the election changes demanded after President Bush's disputed 2000 victory are in place by the Jan. 1, 2006, date ordered by Congress. But many states are not going to make it, many of the nation's secretaries of state warned Monday." more

January 27, 2005, Daily Kos
By Sycamore

Not Crying Wolf This Time

Excerpt: "We're gonna help these guys mount a defense that will put tire tracks in Jim Petro's boxer shorts. Because by attempting to use OUR courts and OUR legal system to harass and intimidate these lawyers, they have inadvertently opened up the Pandora's box they most feared." more

January 12, 2005, DailyKos.com

Soccer Mom Declares War on American Traitors

Excerpt: "It is a basic principle of fair competition in sports, that when a foul is called, the clock is stopped while the foul is addressed. What would happen if a player committed a foul, the referee blew his whistle, and the offending team simply ignored it? What if the team that cheated was called by the referee on foul after foul, but the people controlling the clock and scoreboard never allowed the play to stop and ultimately the cheaters were declared the victors? Something so viciously unfair would likely trigger a violent reaction from the fans. They wouldn't get over it. They'd get fighting mad. All hell would break loose." more

January 9, 2005, An Open Letter to Progressives
By Pat LaMarche, Green Party V.P. Candidate

Run! Run for Your Lives!

Excerpt: "Your voices grew louder and louder since Nov 2. I heard you. Keep going, never again let us search so long for so few who understand the meaning of one person, one vote. Never again let this country be so lacking in leadership." more

January 8, 2005, TruthOut.com Editorial
By William Rivers Pitt

Heroes

Excerpt: "The presidential candidates for the Green Party and Libertarian Party deserve the lion's share of praise and credit for the events of Thursday January 6th... Their lawsuits in Ohio may develop into a truly significant process, particularly if their motions to preserve evidence, examine the voting machines and depose the election players are allowed to proceed. The outcome and ultimate results of Thursday's Electoral challenge may still be in the wind, but one thing is certain: Cobb and Badnarik forced the Democrats to do the right thing, and that makes Thursday a banner day for third parties in America." more

January 7, 2005, Altercation at msnbc.com
(Slacker Friday Opinion Thread)
By Charles Pierce

Sometimes It's Just Good to Say "No"

Excerpt: "Ever since November 2, my wife has been following the shenanigans in Ohio. (And talking about boasting in the open — Ken Blackwell's done everything but hold a press conference in a pirate suit.) She's a better journalist than I, and her outrage was pure, and I spent a lot of time being oh-so-blasé about the whole business, giving it the Irish pol wink-and-a-nod, and wringing my hands. Then, yesterday, up popped Rep. Jones and Senator Boxer, on the same day that a committee of the U.S. Senate was quibbling over the meaning of the word 'torture,' and I thought, good on all of you, and shame on me." more

Kenneth Blackwell

January 5, 2005, BlueLemur.com
By John Byrne, RAW STORY Editor

Blackwell Brags about Delivering State for Bush in Gubernatorial Fundraising Letter

Excerpt: "Ohio's Republican Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell boasted of helping "deliver" Ohio for President Bush and said he was "truly pleased" to announce Bush had won Ohio even before all of the state's votes had been counted in his own fundraising letter, RAW STORY has discovered... The attorney for the Green Party John Bonifaz who has filed suit in Ohio seeking a second recount said he was deeply troubled by the letter." more

January 4, 2005, Dailykos.com
By Georgia10

The Informed Citizen's Guide to the 2004 Election

Excerpt: "Here are ... data and information that bring into doubt the claim that the 2004 was a "clean and legitimate" election. The focus is on Ohio primarily because it was the last state called, thus putting President Bush over the 270 votes needed to win... If you are looking for a smoking gun here, you will not find it. Instead, you'll read about a series of complex and seemingly impossible events, from voter suppression, to vote tampering, to possible cover-ups. It is the totality of the circumstances that compel, at the very least, a full-blown Congressional investigation into the matter." more

No Senator Would
Sign in 2000

January 4, 2005, MakeThemAccountable.com

A Day That Brought Shame to the Senate: Watch the Video of Senators Unwilling to Sign in 2001

Excerpt: "Watch the video of the January 6, 2001 refusal of any member of the U.S. Senate to join those members of the House of Representatives who tried to challenge Florida’s fraud-obtained electoral votes. DON’T LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN! TAKE ACTION!" more

December 30, 2004, DailyKos.com

Breaking: Conyers WILL Object and More...

Excerpt: "while progressives of all stripes whirl through discussions of values and framing, how many think tanks to build and whether to lurch right or go boldly forward, the elephant in the room for us clearly is OHIO... Only one Senator is needed to create a real hullaballoo on January 6th. Fax or (quickly!) mail personal letters calling for your Democratic Senator to take a stand — or to tap someone who will — on the Ohio crisis. We've heard that addressing Chiefs of Staff by fax is effective, and phoning is of course an option too. Find any Congressional member you need at Working Assets' comprehensive site www.actforchange.com." more

Keith Olbermann

December 30, 2004, MSNBC.com Bloggerman
By Keith Olbermann of MSNBC's Countdown

Conyers to Challenge Ohio Electors

Excerpt: "the office of Representative John Conyers of Michigan confirmed late this afternoon that he and several other Congressmen are planning to object — to formally challenge — the vote of the Ohio electors when the Electoral College ballots are opened before the joint session of Congress next Thursday. Conyers says he is still seeking a Senator to join the House members — whom he does not name — and has written to each member of the Senate asking them to join him." more

December 25, 2004, MyDD.com
By Jerome Armstrong

Laying the Groundwork for Electoral Reform in Ohio

Excerpt: "I'm agnostic as to whether Kerry really won Ohio, but that's missing the point that the deeper one looks the more irregularities one finds. In terms of the raw ongoings of the election in Ohio, was the burglary of computers with sensitive voter information from Lucas County Democratic headquarters in Toledo partisan politics? In terms of the votes cast on election day, is it fathomable that Concord South West precinct in Miami County showed a 98.55% (679 of 689 RV's casting votes) turnout in a precinct that favored Bush over Kerry by a 520-157 margin; or that 19.27% (90 of 557), in the Cleveland 6-M precinct didn't vote for a Presidential candidate, in a precinct that favored Kerry over Bush by 367-9 votes?" more

December 24, 2004, DailyKos.com

Georgia10's Holiday Update

Excerpt: "Haven't followed the Ohio issue? Want to annoy your family be talking about it over dinner? Grab some eggnog, let's dive right in... Following in the footsteps of Bush, Cheney, and Rice, Blackwell has developed an allergic reaction to making statements under oath. He has labelled requests to have him testify under oath as "harassment." Several Ohio senators have been calling on Blackwell to resign... Right before the election, Blackwell was blasted by U.S. District Judge James G. Carr in Toledo, who suggested that Blackwell risked denying large numbers of Ohioans the right to vote on Nov. 2 and "apparently seeks to accomplish the same result in Ohio in 2004 that occurred in Florida in 2000." The judge also conluded : "I cannot be confident ... that Blackwell will, indeed, fulfill his obligation to this court, Ohio's election officials, and Ohio's voters," the judge wrote."" more

Keith Olbermann

December 24, 2004, MSNBC.com Bloggerman
By Keith Olbermann of MSNBC's Countdown

Challenges and the Challenged

Excerpt: "Representative John Conyers of Michigan is awaiting a staff report before deciding whether or not to formally challenge Ohio's electoral votes a week from tomorrow. Ted Kalo, the Minority General Counsel of the House Judiciary Committee, advises us by email that Conyers "is waiting until all the facts are in," but notes that Representative Maxine Walters of Los Angeles has already spoken publicly about her willingness to be the house signatory on the challenge. Whether or not there's a senator willing to do the same is still an open question. Mr. Kalo also points out details that make the recount situation in Hocking County, Ohio, seem far less closed than the County's Assistant Prosecutor led me to believe." more

December 14, 2004, DemocraticUnderground.com
By Gary Polvinale

Important Message to the Country from Ohio Protestors

Excerpt: ""Yes, those of us in Ohio ARE on the front lines — and it feels like we are defending the Alamo. We are doing our part. A handful of determined people are working themselves to exhaustion... Ohio is screaming the truth at the top of its lungs, literally, and no one hears us because of all the noise of the media silence. If you want to do something, here's what you can do to help. I am asking the rest of the country to please get out there and find well-known people who's voices are loud enought to be heard by the press who will stand up for us. Get a Senator or a media personality or anyone of very high profile to come out about this. The media blackout is killing us... Give us a voice and we will deliver Ohio. Otherwise SOS Blackwell and the BOE will continue to slap us around like we don't matter a lick, at every turn. We are being squelched by a state government that is willing to violate our rights and even break the law as often as necessary to stand in our way and prevent us from exposing what they've done." more

Keith Olbermann

December 13, 2004, MSNBC.com Bloggerman
By Keith Olbermann of MSNBC's Countdown

Xenia-phobia

Excerpt: "My MSNBC colleague and Newsweek chief political correspondent Howard Fineman shares my amazement at the Inspector Clouseaus of the Ohio Secretary of State’s office. If there’s nothing wrong in Ohio, it sure won’t be because Secretary Blackwell didn’t try to make it look like there was. “I think that Ken Blackwell and his people have behaved in a duck-and-cover mode a la Florida, even before Election Day,” Howard said in a conversation before his appearance on tonight’s edition of 'Countdown'. “By extending the ‘canvassing period’ until now, they make it look as though they have something to hide. They’re supposedly doing it in the name of security, but you can’t do that if you’re leaving the doors unlocked.”" more

December 13, 2004, DemocraticUnderground.com
By dotcosm

What David Cobb Said at Conyers Hearing Today in Ohio

Excerpt: "The Triad Systems representative suggested that if the hand recount had to match the machine count exactly, and since it would be hard to memorize the several numbers that would be need to get the count to come out exactly right, that they should post this series of numbers on the wall where they would not be noticed by observers, such that to make them look like employee information or something similar," reported Cobb to the Committee." more

December 12, 2004, DemocraticUnderground.com
By JohnnyCougar

The Vote Fraud Movement Needs Heart and Head: A Plea for Unity

Excerpt: "We will never accept any compromise of our democratic right to vote. This time, we will not stop because the Supreme Court says we should stop. We will not stop because the Republicans say they won or the Democrats say they lost. We will not stop until every question is thoroughly answered about this election. And if Bush is still president after that, we must not stop until our government takes responsibility for its war crimes, for its neglect of morals, and for it's blatant lying and corruption. If we want our movement to succeed, though, we must stand together with one voice!" more

December 11, 2004, DailyKos.com

I've just returned from my training session... I'm the recount coordinator for Cobb in one of the smaller S.E. Ohio counties

Excerpt: "I will try to explain some of what I have learned so you all have a better understanding. Most counties will start next week although some will be later. Originally, a recount was to be held within 5 days after declaration of official results or after an application has been filed. That is now 10 days. (I heard or read somewhere that the change was Blackwell's doing.) ...my hat is off to David Cobb as the hero of this election. He has taken the iniative to push this forward and even personally signed 1000 letters for the volunteers to present to their election boards in order to be permitted as an observer. So far, Badnarik has failed to do this, so we will only be allowed one observer per unit. If we had letters from Badnarik we would be allowed two. (Ironic isn't it that our great leader Bush and his cohort Rumsfeld haven't even bothered to sign the letters to the families of our fallen soldiers over the last 20 months and Cobb has signed 1000 letters by hand within the past few weeks.)" more

December 8, 2004, TruthOut.com
By William Rivers Pitt

The Conyers Hearing: Interview with John Bonifaz, Attorney for Cobb and Badnarik

Excerpt: ""I think if the recount is proceeding beyond January 6th, that it is the duty of any member of Congress, any member of the U.S. Senate, under their sword duty to the constitution, to prevent a President from being sworn in until it has been determined who won the Presidency. You cannot have an election that is called free and fair, and have people sworn into office, while the votes are still being counted," said John Bonifaz, attorney for David Cobb and Michael Badnarik." more

Keith Olbermann

December 8, 2004, MSNBC.com Bloggerman
By Keith Olbermann of MSNBC's Countdown

Town halls in Washington and Kuwait

Excerpt: "The Constitution says the states have to tally the votes of their citizens before they can send their electors to the Electoral College. If Ohio doesn’t finish its recount before the College votes, or before the vote is unsealed before Congress on January 6th, shouldn’t one of us raise a formal objection to those Ohio electors’ votes?" more

At the Hearing

December 8, 2004, DailyKos.com
By DC Pol Sci

The View From the End of the Witness Table at the Conyers Hearing

Excerpt: "I've been a skeptic of the "Kerry really won the election" argument since back on 2 November...But what I heard today was irrefutable evidence of massive voter suppression on a scale that I never even knew was possible: elderly people collapsing because they wouldn't let them vote; people standing out in the rain for four hours; students in a hot gymnasium; someone who lost her job because she had to stand in line for so long to vote. Now, even if all of these stories are true, I'm not sure that they'd create enough votes to swing the election to Kerry. But that's not the point. That's not where the story is. The story is the suppresison of voters, all in one direction: US. Traditionally Democratic groups of voters. As someone pointed out, there hasn't been a single, solitary report of any Republican voter who wasn't allowed to cast her ballot. It's all coming from the inner cities, from the college campuses, from places that would have voted overwhelmingly for John Kerry." more

December 5, 2004, DailyKos.com
By Joe Knapp

Voting While Black: Cuyahoga County African American Voting Patterns

Excerpt: "This map shows the distribution of precincts where the number of certified (accepted) provisional ballots exceeded 5% of the total ballots cast in the precinct: Note that these data points represent people who were made to fill out provisional ballots even though they were registered to vote and were at the correct precinct, otherwise their provisional ballot would not have been ultimately certified." more

December 2, 2004, DemocraticUnderground.com
By Ernest Patridge

Why We Must Not "Get Over It"

Excerpt: "The Democrats too readily forget that 2004 was "next time." Why believe that 2006 and 2008 will be different? If in fact GOP control of the mechanisms of the election allowed them to steal this election, they will do so next time, and the time after that. Issues, messages, tactics, attractive candidates will all be unavailing. Republican control of all branches of the government and of the media will be permanent, and independent of the consent of the governed. [There are those who] insist that we "get over it" and "move on," and who dismiss these investigations... This dismissal disregards an essential point: forensic investigation does not begin with proof. Its objective is to end either with proof of a crime and apprehension of the criminal, or with exoneration. Forensic investigation properly begins with probable cause. And probable cause of a stolen election is, I submit, inescapably before us." more

December 2, 2004, DailyKos.com

House Judiciary Dems Taking Action on Election Irregularities

Excerpt: "The dems on the House Judiciary Committee have entered the fray in a major way. The first item of note is that they sent a letter to Blackwell, challenging him on a number of issues in Ohio. The second one is not official yet, but there are reports that the Committee will hold public hearings in Washington beginning next Wednesday." more

Keith Olbermann

November 29, 2004, MSNBC.com Bloggerman
By Keith Olbermann of MSNBC's Countdown

It's Alive — It's Alive

Excerpt: "The Cincinnati Post Saturday quoted Chairman Tim Burke of the Hamilton County Board of Elections as saying that approximately 400 of the 3,000 provisional ballots invalidated in his jurisdiction were thrown out for an extraordinary reason. In some cases, one polling place served more than one voting precinct — and though they were in the correct building, voters were disqualified because they got in the wrong line. "400 voters were in the right place," Burke says, "but not at the right table." The newspaper says Burke plans to object to those disqualifications when Hamilton County meets Tuesday to certify its vote." more

November 28, 2004, MyDD.com
By roserock

Framing when the House is Burning

Excerpt: "If you want to frame something — frame this election as fraudulent. We need to wake up and smell the smoke; our democracy is going up in flames. If we don't loudly and strongly stand up to the neocons, they will take our silence as acceptance of their latest framing of our elections as smooth and problem-free. We may never have proof of who won the election, but, if we don't point out the irregularities, it is certain that Republicans will continue to own and control the voting and vote tabulating machines, and our elections will never have verifiable paper trails." more

November 25, 2004, DailyKos.com

New Ohio Voter Transcripts

Excerpt: "In fact, according to the Dispatch, Damschroder's own records show large numbers of voting machines were not deployed on election day despite frantic requests from inner city poll workers. According to the Dispatch, Damschroder's office received 32 calls from precinct judges requesting more machines, not one of which was filled. Only nine of those calls came from suburban precincts, while 23 came from the Inner City." more

Keith Olbermann

November 24, 2004, MSNBC.com Bloggerman
By Keith Olbermann of MSNBC's Countdown

Zogby vs. Mitofsky

Excerpt: "It was a spectacular irony — a Republican senator using the word "fraud" about the presidential election. More spectacular still, he was visiting his condemnation of apparent election manipulation on the incumbent party. And beyond all that, he and others based their conclusions largely on the incredible disparity between the last exit polls and the vote count itself. Of course, Indiana's Richard Lugar was talking about the presidential election in the Ukraine. But in so doing, he underscored that once again, the exit polls appear to have fulfilled the time-honored international tradition of the canary in the mine shaft. If only we could have used them in that way here." more

November 23, 2004, DailyKos.com

GAO Will Investigate 2004 Elections

Excerpt: "On its own authority, the GAO will examine the security and accuracy of voting technologies, distribution and allocation of voting machines, and counting of provisional ballots... As part of this inquiry, we will provide copies of specific incident reports received in our offices, including more than 57,000 such complaints provided to the House Judiciary Committee." more

November 22, 2004, DemocraticUnderground.com

Her ballot thrown out. Right building. Right room. Wrong table.

Excerpt: "Janet Gross of North Canton [Ohio] went to the Knights of Columbus Hall to vote this year like she does every year. When she got there, the poll workers didn't have her name listed. They told her that she had to fill out a provisional ballot, which would be verified after the election. Gross, who has lived on Circle Hill Road SE for 40 years, found out Friday that her vote won't count." more

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