I live in Marysville, OH, and I voted one week ago for all of the Reform Ohio Now measures (2, 3, 4, and 5). Today, I read the following article, which is a must read for all here. This article nearly brought me to tears, when I realized that my vote no longer counted in this sad state.
...
But none of the on-the-ground glitches can begin to explain the impossible numbers surrounding the alleged defeat of Issues Two through Five. The Dispatch polling has long been a source of public pride for the powerful, conservative newspaper, which endorsed Bush in 2004.
http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2005/1559
The Dispatch was somehow dead accurate on Issue One, and then staggeringly wrong on Issues Two through Five. Sadly, this impossible inconsistency between Ohio's most prestigious polling operation and these final official referendum vote counts have drawn virtually no public scrutiny.
Though there were glitches, this year's voting lacked the massive irregularities and open manipulations that poisoned Ohio 2004. The only major difference would appear to be the new installation of touchscreen machines in those additional 41 counties.
I write this with my heart filled with anger and almost a sense of denial. I live in Marysville, OH. Everyone that I talked to was going to vote for measures 2, 3, 4 and 5. There was clearly impetus in that direction. Unfortunately, something happened. Diebold and Ohio Republicans put Diebold machines in 40+ new counties, and stole my voice.
More important then the ability to speak, more important than my right to blog, is my right to speak publicly by voting. I voted for all those measures, as did probably a very large sector of the state population, and they took it away. They put us in an echo chamber, sealed the door, and explained to the world that we said something else. Something that was a lie.
I don't think that my anger can be understood. I was so deeply hurt as to almost bring tears to my eyes. It takes a terribly corrupt individual to determine that their own voice is more important than the entire population of the state that they are supposed to represent. For that person to believe that their own best interest is more important than the best interest of the peoples that they claim to represent.
This illness in Ohio is like a cancer in middle America, in the 'heart' of America, as they like to call it here. The cancerous growth in this state could, and likely will grow out, unless you can do something about it now. RON was the right idea, but it will never pass here until indictments are passed down and people go to jail.
You must protect yourselves. Introduce protective amendments in your own state to prevent these things from happening. Ohio is gone, but whether you are Dem or Rep or Ind, it is key that your voice is not silenced. You can save your states from this terrible fate NOW. Ohio is broken, we tried to fix it, but now that you see the issue, make sure that your home is not broken.
You don't want to feel this pain.