Ohio Whitewash: Basic report from Columbus

[Guest guest]

http://www.spectrumz.com/z/fair_use/2004/11_04.html

 

November 4, 2004

 

Ohio Whitewash

Basic report from Columbus

 

From a lawyer who was in there in Ohio. A database of voter

irregularities is reportedly being assembled, and hopefully there will

be web sites devoted to documenting what really happened.

 

I worked for 3 days, including Election Day, on the statewide voter

protection hotline run by the Ohio Democratic Party in Columbus, Ohio.

I am writing this because the media is inexplicably whitewashing

what happened in Ohio, and Kerry's concession was likewise

inexplicable. Hundreds of thousands of people were disenfranchised in

Ohio.

 

People waited on line for as long as 10 hours. It appears to have only

happened in Democratic-leaning precincts, principally (a) precincts

where many African Americans lived, and (b) precincts near colleges. I

spoke to a young man who got on line at 11:30 am and voted at 7 pm.

When he left at 7 pm, the line was about 150 voters longer than when

he'd arrived, which meant those people were going to wait even longer.

In fact they waited for as much as 10 hours, and their voting was

concluded at about 3 am. The reason this occurred was that they had 1

voting station per 1000 voters, while the adjacent precinct had 1

voting station per 184. Both precincts were within the same county,

and managed by the same county board of elections. The difference

between them is that the privileged polling place was in a rural,

solidly Republican, area, while the one with long lines was in the

college town of Gambier, OH.

 

Lines of 4 and 5 hours were the order of the day in many

African-American neighborhoods.

 

Touch screen voting machines in Youngstown OH were registering " George

W. Bush " when people pressed " John F. Kerry " ALL DAY LONG. This was

reported immediately after the polls opened, and reported over and

over again throughout the day, and yet the bogus machines were

inexplicably kept in use THROUGHOUT THE DAY.

 

Countless other frauds occurred, such as postcards advising people of

incorrect polling places, registered Democrats not receiving absentee

ballots, duly registered young voters being forced to file provisional

ballots even though their names and signatures appeared in the voting

rolls, longtime active voting registered voters being told they

weren't registered, bad faith challenges by Republican " challengers "

in Democratic precincts, and on and on and on.

 

I was very proud of the way so many Ohioans fought so valiantly for

their right to vote, and would not be turned away. Many, however,

could not spend the entire day and were afraid of losing their jobs,

due to the severe economic depression hitting Ohio.

 

I do not understand why Kerry conceded and did not fight to ensure

that all Ohioans would have a chance to vote, and for their vote to be

counted.

 

Ray

Ray Beckerman

Beldock Levine & Hoffman LLP

99 Park Ave (Ste 1600)

New York, NY 10016