Ohio's spreading stolen 2004 election scandal claims another victim

With two felony convictions already in its wake, Ohio's spreading stolen 2004 election scandal has claimed another victim---Michael Vu, the controversial executive director of the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections.

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Most damning were felony convictions stemming from the botched recount of 2004 presidential ballots that was, according to Cuyahoga County prosecutors, "rigged." Forced by the Green Party and Libertarian Party, the recount process required recounting precincts chosen at random. But a jury has convicted two Cuyahoga poll workers of, among other things, choosing the precincts based on specific criteria, which is illegal. Though Vu remains unindicted, the convicted workers were operating under his supervision.

Vu fell out of favor with the county Democrats who brought him in as election after election was engulfed in chaos. Calls for his removal rang out from the election protection community, including the Columbus Free Press.

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On February 6, after a two-hour closed-door meeting, Vu, 30, submitted his resignation, a decision he said was mutual between himself and the BOE. A search committee is now seeking a replacement for the $119,000 per year job.

http://www.freepress.org:80/departments/display/19/2007/2410

roots Democrats and others who sweated blood to get that recount, vindicated! Our party's scandalous, corrupt, disgusting, disreputable, cowardly, vile behavior regarding the theft of the 2004 election, and its rotting, stinking silence as Bushite corporations took over our election system, nationwide, will live in infamy.

We are STILL seeing fallout from it, in a Congress that is still not representative of the American people. A bit improved, yes. Truly representative, no way. Why? 1. Non-transparent vote "counting." 2. Filthy money. 3. Filthy ties to the "military-industrial complex." 4. Filthy war profiteering corporate news monopolies.

And all this filth and corruption swirled around those events in Ohio, where Terry McAuliffe & co., permitted the Bush Junta to outright steal some 200,000 mostly black votes, keeping Bush and Cheney in power, and their heinous war profiteering machine in money and blood.

This, after their screaming silence at the fascist coup that occurred on Oct. 29, 2002, with the passage of the "Help America Vote for Bush Act."

The whole bunch of them are war criminals, half of the leadership of our party included.

I have never had any love for prosecutors, cops or the military. But I have to say I am learning respect for some of them, in the common ground we stand on: devotion to lawful, Constitutional government. Our party leadership may be completely lacking in such devotion (some of them), but it sure looks like we have some prosecutors, FBI agents, cops and military officers, and a few judges as well, who are showing their spine in defense of the rule of law, as opposed to the rule-of-Bush. I applaud them--and send blessings and joy to those dauntless believers in democracy, the Ohio '04 recount crew!

My feelings exactly.
Especially after learning this morning that the Democratic showpiece of Lobbying Reform was completely toothless. Business as usual in DC.

"Filth & Corruption", only now the Dems are skimming off the top instead of the Repubs.

The Democratic Party is a BIG TENT, but there is NO ROOM for those
who advance the agenda of THE RICH (Corporate Owners) at the EXPENSE of LABOR and the POOR.

Hoping people in the know will submit names for the search.

Super employment opportunity in Cleveland, Ohio!

Job Opening: Executive Director of the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections.
Duties include: Administering and directing the electoral process in Cuyahoga County.
Compensation: $119,000 per year job, plus benefits.

Are you passionate about Democracy? Are you honest? Do you long to renew the people's faith in the electoral system and remedy the black eye left from the 2004 Ohio election? This is a historic opportunity to clean up elections and restore faith in the democratic process. Thorough background check required. Constant oversight during employment. The people will be watching!

The special prosecutor in a local television interview alluded to the fact the "procedure" the workers followed leading to their conviction may have been in practice for over two decades. The defense attorney used that inference as major part of defense strategy. Mr. Vu may be complicate in allowing the illegal activity ....he did not create the procedure. The prosecutor also alluded the practice of presorting punch cards may haven taken place in other counties as well.

The real question is WHO set the procedure.

might I inquire

WHY?

registration back.

I registered Green after they left Al Gore standing at the alter.

If there was a good answer to this question, I'd switch back.

Because of David Cobb.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/121604Z.shtml

http://www.kathymcmahon.utvinternet.com/mrn/audio/InsideTrackNews041213_3pm.mp3

http://www.iwantmyvote.com/newsclips/2005/apr/news2005-04-09.php

.... the writing was on the wall.

"There are several important considerations you should be aware of with respect to this matter. First, this course of conduct would appear to violate several provisions of federal law, in addition to the constitutional guarantees of equal protection and due process. 42 U.S.C. §1973 provides for criminal penalties against any person who, in any election for federal office, "knowingly and willfully deprives, defrauds, or attempts to defraud the residents of a State of a fair and impartially conducted election process, by . . . the procurement, casting, or tabulation of ballots that are known by the person to be materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent under the laws of the State in which the election is held." 42 U.S.C. § 1974 also requires the retention and preservation, for a period of twenty-two months from the date of a federal election, of all voting records and papers and makes it a felony for any person to "willfully steal, destroy, conceal, mutilate, or alter" any such record. Further, any tampering with ballots and/or election machinery would violate the constitutional rights of all citizens to vote and have their votes properly counted, as guaranteed by the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Second, the course of conduct would also appear to violate several provisions of Ohio law. No less than 4 provisions of the Ohio Revised Code make it a felony to tamper with or destroy election records or machines.1 Clearly, modifying election equipment in order to make sure that the hand count matches the machine count would appear to fall within these proscriptions.

Moreover, bringing in Triad officials into other Ohio Counties would also appear to violate Ohio Revised Code § 3505.32 which provides that during a period of official canvassing, all interaction with ballots must be "in the presence of all of the members of the board and any other persons who are entitled to witness the official canvass," given that last Friday, the Ohio Secretary of State has issued orders to the effect that election officials are to treat all election materials as if they were in a period of canvassing,2 and that "Teams of one Democrat and one Republican must be present with ballots at all times of processing."

Third, it is important to recognize that the companies implicated in the wrongdoing, Triad and its affiliates, are the leading suppliers of voting machines involving the counting of paper ballots and punch cards in the critical states of Ohio and Florida. Triad is controlled by the Rapp family, and its founder Tod A. Rapp has been a consistent contributor to Republican causes.4 A Triad affiliate, Psephos corporation, supplied the notorious butterfly ballot used in Palm Beach County, Florida, in the 2000 presidential election.

Sincerely,

John Conyers, Jr. "

from your upper link

God bless that man. (Spaghetti monster, whatever...)
But I don't see him getting a meeting room UPSTAIRS!

If it would be one thing this country should be able come together on is accurate representation. ... even Republicans (gasp).

With the departure of Kenneth Blackwell and the incoming Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner and Attorney General Marc Dann Ohio seems to be in good hands. What we have seen so far is just the tip of the iceburg.

IF you want to stay up to date you should be a daily student of the election forum.


Peace.

There would have been a trial in the media. You know, the media that refused to run MoveOn.org's antiwar ads. The media that appointed bush* in 2000 'cuz he was such a regular guy. The media that demonstrated that it could not find the obvious lies and half-truths in the run up to the attack on Iraq.

since the gerrymandering of elections went into full swing with the 2000 vote. There are a whole host of people that should be swinging from the gallows over this mess. They have put the entire WORLD in danger by fiddling with our elections.

Hand Counted Paper Ballots. That is what will protect our Democracy.

That, and a free press wouldn't hurt, either.

:kick::kick::kick::kick::kick::kick::kick:

So...for the year 2004, he got paid $1 for every vote in Bush's margin of "victory?" Perhaps he should serve 1 day in prison for every vote stolen in Ohio; proportional justice, you know.

If he thinks it is more important to serve democracy than to protect his already-politicized career, he could write a great book:

1. Detailing how the head of the Ohio GOP got on the Cuyahoga Cty BOE and purged tens of thousands of voters
2. Machinations of how DRE electronic voting machines were selected
3. What he knows about how g-damned insecure the whole concept of voting machines are
4. What he knows about those bogus recounts of preselected ballots in downstate Ohio
5. What he knows of how voting machines were misallocated, creating long waiting lines at the polls in Dem districts.

We need a liberal-leaning book publisher to set Vu up with a big, sweet $advance$ and a ghost writer so that he could spill the beans about corruption and be financially secure.

were stolen, that would be great too. These break-ins were occurring with frequency around the country and none of them so far as I know has ever been solved or the perpetrators brought to justice.