Ten Ways the McCain/Palin GOP Is Now Stealing the Ohio Vote

[FlyingSquirrel]

http://www.truthout.org/article/ten-ways-gop-is-now-stealing-ohio-vote

The McCain/Palin GOP is already in the process of stealing the Ohio vote, as was done in 2004. Among those at the center of the GOP strategy is Bush Family computer operative Michael Connell, who programmed the key vote counting mechanisms that were used to give George W. Bush his second term.

Except for John Kennedy in 1960, no candidate since 1856 (James Buchanan) has won the White House without carrying the Buckeye State. No Republican has ever done it.

(snip)

But much of the electoral apparatus remains beyond public control. Serious questions remain about how reliable the final vote count will be, and how much of it the Republican party will cage, confuse and steal in its crusade to put John McCain and Sarah Palin into the White House.

Here are some of the key factors that still endanger the vote in Ohio and around the nation:

1) Illegal Destruction of Evidence Surrounding the Vote Count
2) Massive Residual Elimination of Registered Voters
3) Renewed Attempts to Eliminate Additional Registered Voters
4-5) Resisting Universal Access to Absentee Ballots While Re-Introducing Chaos
6) Resisting Same-Day Registration and Voting
7) The Persistent Spread of Electronic Voting Machines
8) Residual Chaos From Precinct Elimination and Manipulation
9) Data Mining
10) Expanded Voter Identification Requirements

Much more at link

[Wetzelbill]

1. I would think Strickland and Brunner will be a big difference

here. At least from 2004. Fair and vital. Although, Richardson wasn't a big help in New Mexico four years ago, where evidence suggests that the suppression of Native votes could have been the difference.

[FlyingSquirrel]

2. The Repukes still control the legislature. See 4-5:

Ohio's GOP leadership has made a loud public show of supporting this universal access to absentee ballots. But the Republican-controlled legislature pointedly failed to authorize enough money to the Secretary of State's office to pay for the full mailing. In a stunning display of public cynicism, the GOP leadership has since told Brunner, in a non-binding promise, that she should just go ahead and order the local BOE's {Board Of Elections} to do the mailings. The Legislature, they say, will then vote the additional money at some point in the future.

Brunner has refused to do this, pointing out that the potential shortfall would be in the millions, and that such an order - in essence, an unfunded mandate - might be illegal. As a result, using a calculation based on per capita postage rates, she has informed every BOE how much state money they can expect. She is encouraging those that have the additional money in their budgets to do the mailings on their own.

The GOP-sponsored shortfall has thus introduced chaos into what should have been the orderly, manageable process of providing every Ohioan with a paper ballot prior to election day. As it now stands, some counties will be mailing absentee ballots and others will not. The uneven distribution is expected to favor GOP voters in better-funded rural and suburban districts. Should problems arise as a result of this uneven distribution, the GOP will certainly blame Brunner.

[Berry Cool]

4. Pardon me while I mention a fact.

I live in Cuyahoga County, one of the bluest of the blue and urban of the urban counties.

I got my mailing regarding our "Vote by Mail Application" (we don't call it an absentee ballot anymore because anyone can do it) yesterday.

For those wondering, it was mailed in a mailer clearly marked that it should be returned if undeliverable (caging-proof).

Draw what conclusions you will. But this makes me feel better than a bunch of people in other states running around in panic.

[flamingdem]

3. Get involved with EDA: What you can do to Defend Election '08 links

http://electiondefensealliance.org/what_you_can_do_defend_election_08

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