Ohio 2008 Opens With a Subpoena, A Surge and Calls For Election Protection

Ohio 2008 has opened with a surge of first-time voters and the subpoena of a shadowy Bush electronic operative who may have helped steal the White House, a subpoena that may be followed by one for Karl Rove.

The presidency could again be decided here by how well what's left of the American democratic process can be protected. So election activists are asking concerned citizens everywhere to become registration volunteers, poll workers and judges, Video the Vote observers and to conduct post-election hearings with legal standing.

In-person balloting began Tuesday, September 30, as new Ohio voters registered and voted simultaneously. Thousands crammed into county facilities throughout the state. Set to continue until October 6, the innovation came by accident in an otherwise repressive piece of legislation foisted on the state by Republican legislators after the theft of the 2004 election.

The GOP has since sued to stop this simultaneous register-and-vote process, but lost 4-3 in the Republican-dominated Ohio Supreme Court. Thousands of new Buckeye voters have now surged into election centers, and may do so through October 6.

Election officials predict as many as a third of Ohio voters---around 2 million---will vote absentee this year. But the GOP now appears to be mailing to Democratic voters fake absentee ballots with bogus return addresses and features that could result in their being discarded. The Republicans are also using caging techniques, such as fake mailings, to eliminate likely Democratic voters from the registration rolls.

Democratic Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner has tried to make paper ballots available at every polling station for those who don't trust electronic touchscreen machines. But GOP legislators intervened, claiming "cost problems," and Brunner so far has limited availability to just a quarter of the potential demand. Pro-democracy activists are suing to make them universally available.

While that fight proceeds, Attorneys Bob Fitrakis and Cliff Arnebeck have subpoenaed IT specialist Michael Connell, a shadowy operative who managed the Bush-Cheney 2000 web site. Connell has a checkered history in highly partisan behind-the scenes information manipulation (http://www.freepress.org/columns/display/3/2008/1665).

In 2004, Connell was paid with state funds by GOP Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell to shunt the Ohio vote count to the same basement in Chattanooga, Tennessee, which housed the servers for the Republican National Committee. In the wee morning hours of election day, vote counts mysteriously shifted from John Kerry to give George W. Bush his second term in the White House.

Connell has since been fingered by Stephen Spoonamore, a McCain supporter and GOP computer operative who has charged that Connell may have manipulated the Ohio 2004 vote count. As a Repubican insider, Spoonamore's sworn testimony is being given legal credence by Federal Judge Algernon Marbley, who certified the subpoena against Connell.

Connell and the GOP are certain to continue fighting demands for public testimony. But as the case escalates, it becomes increasingly likely that Connell's close associate, former White House advisor Karl Rove, could also be subpoenaed as part of the on-going King-Lincoln-Bronzeville civil rights lawsuit.

The final outcome of the case is not likely to be settled until long after the 2008 election. Amidst what is likely to be the largest voter turnout in US history, election protection activists are recruiting and training thousands of democracy advocates to register new voters and to check the registrations of those who may be knocked off the rolls without their knowledge. More than 300,000 Ohio voters were disenfranchised in the run-up to 2004, and at least 170,000 have since been eliminated in Franklin County alone. Many citizens who believe they are registered may not be.

Democracy advocates are also asking citizens throughout the nation to serve as poll workers, poll judges and Video-the-Vote observers, and to organize post-election pubic hearings. With thousands of new voters already surging to the polls, with millions of absentee ballots beginning to pour in, and with an energized electorate expected to overwhelm the precincts on November 4, the difference between what happened in 2004 and who next enters the White House will likely be determined by how well the 2008 electoral process can be protected.

Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman have co-authored four books on election protection, including As Goes Ohio, now at www.freepress.org, where they are publisher and senior editor. They are attorney and plaintiff in the King-Lincoln-Bronzeville federal lawsuit.

Comments

[ejcc824]

Thank you for an excellent and intelligent article that comments on the truth of our electoral system--this election could come down to one state and one state only. For those of you interested in more commentary and news about the Presidential race as it stands in Ohio, check out my blog OhMyOhio at http://ohmyohio.wordpress.com/wp-admin/edit.php . Thanks!

[politicky]

Will the GOP malfeasance never end? Haven't they done enough damage, especially in Ohio? Didn't they also allow the predatory lenders in?
http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/330/

[scared4ALL]

Very scary>>>

Greg Palast: Rove Has Already Fixed the 2008 Election

http://www.truthout.org/video/greg-palast-rove-has-already-fixed-2008-election

[TexasDem0]

Any form of election fraud, tampering, misdirection, or anything else that interferes with an open and honest election should carry a minimum sentence of 20 years with no option for parole or reduced sentence.

[Swedishgal]

I totally agree with that. The question is why hasn't this been taken care of yet? It happened in 2004 and why hasn't the media jumped all over it? They need to and ASAP. Keith is the only one that has talked about caging. When I go out campaigning I always ask if they are registered to vote 'at this address'. Always, and they are the majority of the time. I just can't believe that our democracy has become a banana republic because of the Repubs, you know, the 'patriotic' ones or so they claim.

[brody4bho]

I hope O bama wins so he can make it a federal crime to knowingly commit voter fraud.

[BeckyJustice]

I sure hope this tells all voters not to get comfortable with Obama's lead. The more people who vote, the less chance there is that they can steal the election by their shenagins.

[Swedishgal]

I don't know. They're pretty slick. John Kerry to be sure had a huge number of votes but they stole it anyway. I'm going to be a poll worker and if they try to take the machines somebody's gonna get hurt and I don't mean me.

[uscitizen]

GOP now appears to be mailing to Democratic voters fake absentee ballots with bogus return addresses and features that could result in their being discarded. The Republicans are also using caging techniques, such as fake mailings, to eliminate likely Democratic voters from the registration rolls.
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This ought to make everyone's blood boil. Ethically and morally bankrupt. One simple step would solve this problem. If such techniques can be legally tracked to the GOP, then the GOP is completely disqualified for that election. End of story.