Fw: Tuesday recount update

----- Original Message -----
From: "RICHARD JOHNSON"
To:
Sent: Wednesday, December 22, 2004 3:08 AM
Subject: PRA: Tuesday recount update


> Woulds't thou confound thy enemy,
> be good thyself.
> -- BEN FRANKLIN, Poor Richard's Almanac
>
>
>
> FELLOW RADICAL:
> Here is the Tuesday news from www.votecobb.org. Go there to see more.
>
> What we are not seeing at this point is a legal intervention
> in the Ohio recount by those who do have a possibility of winning
> electoral votes: Kerry and Edwards.
> Edwards has retired from politics, and Kerry is sitting in
> his Senate office with $15 million in unspent presidential campaign
> funds.
> As they did four years ago, the Democrats stopped campaigning
> too early. They were apparently only there as long as the campaign
> donations were flowing. Now the funds have stopped, so have they.
> Perhaps they are taking bible study courses.
>
> What is emerging from the recount drama is another murky
> picture. There is no way to tell from these reports if the Ohio
> popular vote would go for Kerry, even if all the allegations of
> voting irregularity in these articles were proven.
> The deadline is January 6. So we have to be prepared that
> Congress will affirm the electoral vote, and Bush will have been
> elected -- albeit for the first time.
>
> Ralph won't take the rap for this, the Democrats did it to themselves.
>
>
>
>
> iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiid
>
>
> Voting Problems Detailed in County Reports
> Ohio Recount Eyewitness Reports
> Daily Update
> Tuesday, December 21, 2004
> Almost No Recounts Were "Random"
>
> Eight days after the recount has started, almost all counties have
> completed their recounts - at least, in their opinion. But the Ohio
> Recount effort is far from over. Please visit our new County Reports
> file to see the true stories of the recount. For example:
>
> * Hamilton County: Approximately 400 provisional ballots
> allegedly were rejected because they were cast in the wrong precinct,
> despite the fact that they were cast at the right polling station
> (i.e., at a polling station with more than one precinct).
> * Fairfield County: When the hand recount of the 3% test sample
> did not match the official vote totals, a full recount should have
> been ordered for all county ballots. Instead, the recount was
> "suspended" by county officials who said that Secretary Blackwell
> recommended that the recount should begin again "from scratch." The
> Green recount observers then were told that it was 4:00 PM, the
> building was closed, and all had to leave. The Republican contingent,
> however was allowed to stay in a conference room for an additional
> ten minutes or so for a private discussion.
> * Belmont County and Summit County: Recount witnesses were
> threatened with expulsion if they spoke to counting teams. In some
> instances, they were expected to "observe" from up to 20 feet away,
> despite Ohio Election Law allowing observers to be close enough to
> actually observe.
> * Medina County: Election officials were aware of several
> "problem" districts, but instead chose to perform the manual 3% test
> recount on two precincts that had been part of a School Levy Recount
> the previous Monday. That meant that those ballots had been taken out
> of the standard "double lock" situation and had been handled several
> times since Monday.
> * Huron County: The punchcard tabulator test was observed only by
> Republican witnesses. This test was conducted the day before the
> Green witness was invited to observe the recount.
>
> Despite the start of the holiday season, some of our county observers
> and coordinators are still writing their reports, and our core staff
> are still hard at work meeting with election officials, interfacing
> with the press, and coordinating with other groups addressing recount
> and Election 2004 voting irregularities. Please take a moment today
> to do your part by making a donation (of any amount) to help defray
> the substantial costs of this effort.
>
>
>
> Meanwhile, the New Mexico Supreme Court heard a motion yesterday by
> the Green Party and others to start the recount. We'll update that
> story later today. Meanwhile, you can read the December 16 Verified
> Petition for Mandamus and the Supplement, which detail the reasons
> why the New Mexico recount should proceed.
>
>
> On December 7, 2004, our attorneys sent a letter via facsimile and
> via overnight mail, on our behalf, to Secretary Blackwell outlining a
> series of issues relating to his Outline of Recount Procedures as
> posted on his official website. We stated in the letter that
> "resolution of these issues is necessary in order to ensure that the
> recount is conducted uniformly in the various county boards of
> election and in accordance with state and federal law."
>
> As reports from conversations with the different Boards of Elections
> and our County Coordinators began to come in last week, we grew
> concerned about the varying standards throughout the State of Ohio as
> to how the recount in each of the counties would be conducted.
>
> Those varying standards raised serious equal protection and due
> process concerns. We attempted to go back to Federal Court again on
> Friday, December 10th before the recount began. The judge denied our
> Motion for Injunctive Relief citing, as before, the lack of
> 'irreparable harm' that we would encounter - the third time our
> efforts to seek a timely and meaningful recount was denied because
> David Cobb and Michael Badnarik, the Green and Libertarian
> presidential candidates, respectively, were unlikely to get any
> electoral college votes.
>
> The Attorney General had until end of business day on December 16th
> to respond, which he has now done. Basically, the Secretary of State
> and the Brief of Amici Curiae, filed by the County Commissioners
> Association of Ohio and Ohio's Association of Election Officials,
> asked the Court to deny our motion. Notice this phrase in their
> papers: "...However, these Plaintiffs are doing something far worse.
> Through this litigation, they are asking this Court to replace the
> Ohio Secretary of State."
>
> Meanwhile, over in the Ohio Federal District Court, the Affidavit of
> Sherole Eaton, Deputy Director of the Hocking County Board of
> Elections, was filed in court, along with an Affidavit from Computer
> Science professor Douglas Jones. These documents, which describe
> actions that might constitute vote tampering, were first described by
> David Cobb in a speech to the Dec. 13th hearing convened in Columbus
> by Rep. Conyers and others. Rep. Conyers mentioned the Cobb testimony
> with approval in his formal letter to the FBI and Hocking County
> prosecutor.
> --
> RICHARD JOHNSON, publisher MENDOCINO COUNTRY newspapers
> P.O. Box 533, Talmage, CA 95481
> (707) 468-1009
>
>