Ohio residents could help Democrats claim Senate

[Judi Lynn]

Posted on Sun, May. 07, 2006

Ohio residents could help Democrats claim Senate
By Steven Thomma
Washington Bureau
1/83/8

JACKSON | Rachel Joseph is the kind of loyal Republican whose vote made Ohio a dependable GOP machine, one that twice helped send George Bush to the White House and year after year sent fellow Republicans to Congress.
(snip)

Like many of her factory co-workers in this small southern Ohio town, Joseph doesn't follow politics closely, but she's mad about the loss of manufacturing jobs, high gasoline prices and scandals in the Statehouse. She knows Republicans have been in charge. And she's thinking of voting for a Democrat.

"I voted for Bush, but now I wish I hadn't," said Joseph, a press operator and one of more than 300 workers locked out by an auto-parts manufacturer that they say is squeezing them to boost profits.

"Things went bad. There aren't enough jobs for us. And gas, what's the deal with these prices? This is a pretty Republican area. But I don't think any Republican is going to win here this time."
(snip/...)

http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/myrtlebeachonline/news/nation/14521888.htm

[Starbucks Anarchist]

1. Oh, so NOW she hates Bush.

:eyes:

[cyclezealot]

2. Look to Montana.

great Demo candidate there. Gotta get outside of the Eastern states to take back the Senate. South will still be hard to crack. there are 26 seats there alone. Plus, Kansas, Oklahoma, etc. States like Montana, Arizona,New Mexico is where Democrats come again come into vogue. Hope we don't loose Cantwell, Wash. she had some lousy votes on trade issues.

[Peace Patriot]

3. We don't need voters like her. Truly. We need ALL the votes counted.

I'm glad she's changing her mind. Now maybe she will join the vast majority of independent voters who voted for Kerry, and the vast majority of new voters who voted for Kerry, and the vast majority of former Nader voters who voted for Kerry--and, Gore/Bush 2000 voters being a wash (50/50, more or less)--who else is there?

The Democrats blew the Bushites away in new voter registration in 2004, nearly 60/40.

If all the votes had been counted, Bush would have been ousted.

But they weren't.

Want to know why?

Because 80% of the nation's votes were "counted" by two, related, rightwing Bushite corporations--Diebold and ES&S--using 'TRADE SECRET,' PROPRIETARY programming code, in the new, highly insecure, hackable electronic voting systems, with virtually no audit/recount controls--an election system brought to us by the two biggest crooks in Congress, Tom Delay and Bob Ney, and their $4 billion "Hack America's Vote Act" boondoggle.

This pandering to an imagined "middle"--actually, a far rightwing minority often characterized by limited intelligence--has got to stop. Who cares how such people vote? **COUNT** THE VOTE OF THE POOR BLACK GRANDMOTHER WHO STOOD IN A TEN-HOUR LINE TO THROW BUSH OUT! **COUNT** THE VOTES OF THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE ALWAYS VOTED FOR PROGRESS AND GOOD GOVERNMENT, whose votes were lost in the ether of BLACK BOX electronics, programmed by Bushites! COUNT **ALL** the votes, and Ms. Out-of-Work/Voted for Bush will be outvoted SIX TO FOUR!

We DON'T NEED Bushite votes to take over the Congress and the White House. We need ALL THE DEMOCRATIC VOTES and ALL THE PROGRESSIVE VOTES to be COUNTED!

TRANSPARENT vote counting, in broad daylight--no corporate "trade secrets"--with human eyes upon it. THEN you will see the will of the majority done, and the interests of the people of this country attended to in Washington DC.

--------------------

SOME RESOURCES FOR AMERICAN REVOLUTION II:

Hopeful signs - latest news:

California voters sue the state over Diebold:
www.VoterAction.org is suing the state of California and 18 Calif county registrars on behalf of 25 California voter/plaintiffs, on the illegal Diebold "certification" by Schwarzenegger appointee Bruce McPherson.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2180496
Seven of these counties just promised the judge they would use PAPER BALLOTS, and were dismissed from this lawsuit (4/27/06).
http://kcbs.com/pages/29285.php
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2249205

Maryland rejects Diebold:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x418263

Florida - anti-trust accusations against Diebold, ES&S and Sequoia, re: heroic Florida election official Ion Sancho:
(FLA AG subpoenas the companies)
http://www.computerworld.com/governmenttopics/government/legalissues/story/0,10801,110192,00.html
http://www.tbo.com/news/politics/MGBKSY8W8LE.html
(info & discussion)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2183630

Utah county clerk fights back!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x419226

-----

More resources for American Revolution II:

www.votersunite.org (MythBreakers - easy primer on electronic voting--one of the myths is that HAVA requires electronic voting; it does not.)
www.UScountvotes.org (statistical monitoring of '06 and '08 elections--they need donations)


(Activist sites with links to state activist groups or info)
www.votetrustusa.org (news of this great movement from around the country)
www.votersunited.org (good general info, and state links)
www.verifiedvoting.org (great activist site)
www.solarbus.org/election/index.shtml (fab compendium of all election info)

www.freepress.org (devoted to election reform)
www.bradblog.com (also great, and devoted to election reform)
www.TruthIsAll.net (analysis of the 2004 election)* :patriot: :applause: :patriot:
www.votepa.us (well-organized local group of citizen activists in Pennsylvania, where important legal issues are at stake, including state's rights over election systems)
Provisions of the PA lawsuit:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x423739

The Voter Confidence Resolution
http://tinyurl.com/rlnr2 (“We Do Not Consent”)
http://guvwurld.blogspot.com (GuvWurld blog main page)
http://tinyurl.com/amryg (Voter Confidence Resolution

www.debrabowen.com (Calif Senator running for Sec of State to reform election system)
www.johnbonifaz.com (running for Massachusetts Sec of State on strong election reform and antiwar platform)

*Some tributes to TruthIsAll, who is very ill:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x417007
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x417231
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x675477

Congressional bills:

Russ Holt's HR 550 requires a real paper ballot, bans secret software in "voting machines", and has more than 170 co-sponsors, but the audit required is too weak, it promotes electronic voting and centralized power, and the secret software might be permitted to continue in the central tabulators (the bill is not clear). To sign the HR 550 petition: http://www.rushholt.com/petition.html
At lot of discussion at DU of the loopholes/pitfalls in HR 550:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x422926
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x421136
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=203&topic_id=422967&mesg_id=422967
(Note: Senate Bill-SB 330 and House-HR704 simply require a "voter verified paper audit trail" (VVPAT), which may be best for the moment.)


Also of interest:

Michael Collins (Autorank)'s searing election reform article for New Zealand's Scoop.com
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x971363

Bob Koehler (-- four recent election reform initiatives in Ohio, predicted to win by 60/40 votes, flipped over, on election day, into 60/40 LOSSES!--the biggest flipover we've seen yet; the election theft machines and their masters are now dictating election policy! Title: "Poll Shock" 11/24/05)
http://commonwonders.com/archives/col321.htm

Bob Koehler's latest: "Trust us: Take this box and stuff it" (3/16/06)
http://commonwonders.com/archives/col337.htm
More Koehler:
www.tmsfeatures.com/tmsfeatures/subcategory.jsp?file=20051124ctnbk-a.txt&catid=1824&code=ctnbk

Amaryllis (Diebold, ES&S, Sequoia lavish lobbying of election officials - Beverly Hilton, Aug. '05)
www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x380340

HOWARD DEAN remarks on electronic voting machines 04/06
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x994507

------------------------------------------------

Throw Diebold, ES&S and ALL election theft machines into 'Boston Harbor' NOW!

:think: :patriot: :woohoo: :patriot: :think:

-----------

"That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it." --Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence

[greekspeak]

4. Excuse me but we need BOTH

We need our votes counted, and boy howdy do we ever. Vapo-Voting is a travesty on the American people. BUT we need Americans who are waking up from their political daze. People like that Ohio voter are finally suffering enough that they are going to do something about "politics as usual."

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

6. We have an opportunity here...

For fifty years after the political and economic meltdown that spawned the Great Depression, the Republicans were the minority party in the United States (and deservedly so). Only by using the worst sort of race-baiting after the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1964 could they begin to coalesce as a movement. And even then it took them another twenty years to (briefly) regain control of the Senate and another decade to take the House.

The breath-taking corruption of the 1920's, and the Republicans' blind allegiance to their corporate paymasters, caused a generational shift in America's voting habits. The Republican Party was labeled as the party of the fat cats, and that label stuck for two generations. After clawing their way back into power, Republicans have again allowed voters to experience what happens when you allow them to control all three branches of the government.

Massive Fiscal Irresponsibility. Unrestrained Political Corruption.

War.

Rather than point fingers and say, "I told you so," every Republican vote in 2004 should be looked as a New Democratic Voter. For 2008 and for generations to come. We have an opportunity here to realign the electorate until the year 2050, and quite frankly, nothing could possibly be more important.

If we're going to halt the effects of global warning, we'll have to make decisions in the next few years or face climatic disaster. If we're going to develop alternative fuels to avoid global conflict over increasingly scarce fossil fuels, we'll have to redouble our research efforts right now. If we're going to preserve Social Security and Medicare for the next generation, we've got to act soon.

[liberal N proud]

5. My only fear is that Blackwell still owns the voting machines

and he still controls the counting.

[Berry Cool]

7. That's the sad part of it. Long as he's in charge, no change.

But I agree, in a democracy we need EVERY vote to count--not just the votes of people whose votes weren't properly counted last time, or the votes of people who have always been voting the way "we" want. If you believe in a democracy, you believe in counting every vote--even votes for candidates you despise. And you also don't discount the vote of someone who once voted for someone you despise but who now might vote differently.

Oh, and a party that routinely insults the intelligence of people who vote for candidates other than its own is likely to have a long row to hoe. That's another fact that needs to be faced. People don't want to be told they're stupid (true or not). What you do is sympathize with them for having been deceived. "I know you thought that guy had your best interests at heart. But he didn't. Now that you know better, what are you going to do about it?"