The possible implications of HB3 - up for vote this week in Ohio - have been covered here recently, in
Dan Harkman's very popular diary [ As Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman write in the Free Press ] "HB3's most publicized provision will require positive identification before casting a vote. But it also opens voter registration activists to partisan prosecution, exempts electronic voting machines from public scrutiny, quintuples the cost of citizen-requested statewide recounts and makes it illegal to challenge a presidential vote count or, indeed, any federal election result in Ohio. When added to the recently passed HB1, which allows campaign financing to be dominated by the wealthy and by corporations, and along with a Rovian wish list of GOP attacks on the ballot box, democracy in Ohio could be all but over.
Ohio residents may very well - if HB3 passes - be stripped of voting rights given to Ukranians and - indeed - citizens of most democracies around the world.RECENT NEWS on HB3 12/13
"American Fundamentalists", By Joel Pelletier
Three Quick Things You Can Do, courtesy of dKos member Einsteinia
PLEASE PASS ON THE WORD
(because the mainstream media is not working for us):
Hello Fellow Guardians of Democracy--
As you may well know, TOMORROW the die shall be cast
in Ohio.
Will 2006 be the year that Ukrainians will
have a bona fide democracy yet Ohio will not?
It is NOT too late:
There is still time to take 3 QUICK ACTIONS that just might
change the course of history.
Because we are all writing history with both our
actions and inactions.
Thomas Paine said, "The price of freedom is
eternal vigilance."
Is democracy worth fighting for--at home?
Please take one minute to see what you can do:
ACTION HERE>>> California Election Protection Network
Separation of Church and State AND Corporation
"Testimony of Daniel P. Tokaji
House Elections and Ethics Committee
Sub H.B. 3
May 4, 2005
My name is Daniel P. Tokaji. I am an Assistant Professor of Law at the Ohio State University’s
Moritz College of Law, and Associate Director of the Election Law at Moritz project. Thank you for
allowing me to speak before you today regarding Sub H.B. 3....: (
click here for a PDF of this testimony )
____________
I posted this [ below, in quote-box ] on the Daily Kos November 22, 2004, where it was graciously allowed stand - it was considered contentious elsewhere - this was a snapshot of the situation as of November 2004.
: In the birthplace of modern democracy, exit poll discrepancies and violations of international norms for democratic elections are ignored by mainstream media -
"This election did not meet a considerable number of international standards for democratic elections" : A tale of two elections suggests compromised media. Ukraine 2004 election, US 2004 election. Despite virtually identical allegations of vote fraud and vote supression ( backed up, in the US election, by hard data from the incumbent-friendly partisan controlled electoral system itself ), one election receives widespread international press attention, the other a nearly complete news blackout.
In the contested Ukranian election, a disparity between exit polls and the official election results - which show a "surprise" upset victory for the incumbent - are cited as evidence of fraud and the election, world media reports, did not meet international democratic electoral norms These norms include 1) transparency of voting process, 2) equal access to voting equipment, 3) impartial professional administration of voting systems, 4) and a uniform national system : all lacking in the US 2004 election, in which exit poll data suggesting a win for the challenger was "adjusted" in dubious and arcane ways to sync exit poll data with actual vote tallies. Professional statistical analysis supports the vote rigging hypothesis ( Freeman Study, Berkeley Study ) and one prominent Republican pollster states "Something is definitely wrong". Official data voter testimony suggest vote suppression by a number of methods including maldistribution of voting machines by a partisan of the incumbent in control of electoral machinery (a violation of UN Electoral guidelines) , to deprive the challengers's stronghold areas of voting equipment are ignored as are professional statistical analyses and controlled rigging via various mechanisms, testimony of disenfranchised voters, and large and growing body of research on the subject. International observers said that the election fell short of best international practices. American machine politics of an earlier era are accepted history : does mainstream US media refusal to acknowledge a new era of machine politics indicate a press and punditocracy now compromised by a class interest aligning with the perogatives of power and wealth ?
_________
That was November 2004, this is now.
Here is a nice
resource of Ohio related links:
Important Legal Events
This list is intended as a resource for those seeking information on important legal events relating to the Ohio election of 2004, specifically relating to issues of (a) fraud, (b) disenfranchisment, (c) voter suppression,
(d) recount obstruction, and (e) vote machine tampering. It is a selective compilation of links which relate to such events.
The links are generally listed in reverse chronological order of posting.
They are numbered in reverse numerical order; the first 2 digits of each link refer to the year of posting. (I.e. “0510" is the 10th post in 2005).
There is, of necessity, some overlap with my separate list "Evidence of Fraud and Disenfranchisement in Ohio, 2004 : A Partial List", since legal documents (a) are often compilations of evidence, and (b) on occasion are in themselves important historical facts.
0549-Blackwell's motion to dismiss in League of Women Voters and Plaintiffs' opposition papers.
0548-Two Cuyahoga County Election Workers Indicted For Recount Obstruction
0547-June 13th trial set for League of Women Voters v. Blackwell
0546-Kerry and Edwards to Stay in Recount Case; Trial Set for August 2006
0545-Cobb and Badnarik Claims in Recount Suit
0544-Cuyahoga Recount Being Investigated by Special Prosecutor, Subponeas Issued -- Cleveland Plain Dealer
0543-Federal Lawsuit Commenced to Reform Ohio Elections
0542-Probe of $10,000 payment to Franklin County GOP on instructions by GOP election official - Cleveland Plain Dealer July 16, 2005
0541-TRO extended to August 15th, and parties proceed to mediation, in Hocking County Sherole Eaton litigation
0540-Open Records Request Filed in Lucas County on July 7th
0539-Criminal Complaint Filed in Hocking County Against BOE Director Lisa Schwartze for Shredding Up To 10,000 Registration Documents
0538-Temporary Restraining Order Issued by Court in Alliance for Democracy v. Hocking County Board of Elections
0537-Alliance for Democracy Brings Motion to Stop Hocking County from Terminating Sherole Eaton Without Compliance with Public Meetings Law
0536-Conyers Attacks Gonzalez "Investigation" Report of Franklin County Voter Machine Misallocation
0535-Paul Harmon Files Ohio Supreme Court Brief Describing Licking County Irregularities
0534-Judge Moyer Denies Sanctions Motion in Election Contest Litigation
0533-Videotapes of EAC February 23rd Hearing
0532-Akron Beacon Journal reports: "Prosecutor to Probe Cuyahoga County Recount"
0531-Franklin County Launches Investigation Into 2004 Election
0530-Blackwell Requests Dismissal or Change of Venue of Recount Case, and Opposes Hearing Unless He Can Take Depositions of Kerry and Edwards
0529-Paul Harmon to Appeal Licking County Case to Ohio Supreme Court
0528-National Voting Rights Institute Update on Ohio Recount Litigation
0527-Kerry & Edwards File Court Papers Agreeing With Cobb & Badnarik that Venue Should Not be Transferred & Summarizing Reports of Recount Coordinators
0526-Cobb & Badnarik File Papers Requesting Court Not to Transfer Venue
0525-Report on EAC February 23rd Hearing by electionline.org
0524-EAC Announces it will Only Hold One More Hearing
0523-Election Fraud by Licking County Officials Exposed in Criminal Complaint Filed by Paul D. Harmon
0522-Report on EAC February 23rd Public Hearing
0521-"Public" hearing not open to the "Public"
0520-Blackwell Fails to Show Up at House Administration Committee; Chair Says "You Can Run, But You Can't Hide"
0519-Congressman Conyers, Senator Feingold, and 17 Other Congresspersons file Amicus Brief Opposing Ohio Elections Contest Sanctions Motion
0518-State Court Judges Prohibit Blackwell from Enforcing Optical Scan Deadline
0517-Ohio Attorney General Tells Franklin County Prosector that Blackwell Exceeded His Authority
0516-Cobb and Badnarik File Memorandum of Law in Recount Case.
0515-Conyers and 22 other Members of Congress Request Congressional Research Service Investigation into Voting Irregularities. 2/2/05
0514-Election Contest Lawyers Oppose Sanctions Motion
0513-FBI Refuses to Follow Up on Hocking County Triad Incident
0512-Cong. Conyers Asks FBI to Expand Investigation into Clermont, Union, Fulton, Hocking, Monroe, Henry, and Harrison Counties
0511-Congressman Conyers Writes to Ohio Attorney General About Sanctions Motion Against Election Contest Attorneys
0510-Sanctions Motion Brought By Ohio Attorney General Against Election Contest Litigation Lawyers
0509-Nine Members of House Judiciary Committee Request Formal Committee Hearings & Investigation
0508-Alliance for Democracy Seeks to Intervene Before Democratic Party Dismisses Its Own Case in Knox & Franklin Counties
0507-Four Members of Congress Call for Special Prosecutor to Investigate Blackwell
0506-Waxman and Conyers Call on GAO to Investigate
0505-Election Contest Suit Withdrawn
0504-January 6, 2005, House & Senate Debate, & Vote Against, Objection
to Ohio Electors
0503-House Democrats Request Joint Congressional Investigation of Ohio Election
0502-House Committee Appendices: Eyewitness Accounts, Linda Byrket Documentary, and Blackwell letter
0501-House Judiciary Democrats Submit Preliminary Report in Support of Objection to Ohio Electors, Entitled "Preserving Democracy : What Went Wrong in Ohio"
If you have documents, court dates, or other detailed material relating to legal events in connection with the Ohio, 2004, election, which you would like to share with this website and my blog, please send to ohioelectionfraud@mindspring.com with "oef" as the subject.
With New Legislation, Ohio Republicans Plan Holiday Burial for American Democracy"
By Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman
The Free Press
Tuesday 06 December 2005
A law that will make democracy all but moot in Ohio is about to pass the state legislature and to be signed by its Republican governor. Despite massive corruption scandals besieging the Ohio GOP, any hope that the Democratic party could win this most crucial swing state in future presidential elections, or carry its pivotal US Senate seat in 2006, are about to end.
House Bill 3 has already passed the Ohio House of Representatives and is about to be approved by the Republican-dominated Senate, probably before the holiday recess. Republicans dominate the Ohio legislature thanks to a heavily gerrymandered crazy quilt of rigged districts, and to a moribund Ohio Democratic party. The GOP-drafted HB3 is designed to all but obliterate any possible future Democratic revival. Opposition from the Ohio Democratic Party, where it exists at all, is diffuse and ineffectual.
HB3's most publicized provision will require positive identification before casting a vote. But it also opens voter registration activists to partisan prosecution, exempts electronic voting machines from public scrutiny, quintuples the cost of citizen-requested statewide recounts and makes it illegal to challenge a presidential vote count or, indeed, any federal election result in Ohio. When added to the recently passed HB1, which allows campaign financing to be dominated by the wealthy and by corporations, and along with a Rovian wish list of GOP attacks on the ballot box, democracy in Ohio could be all but over.
The GOP is ramming similar bills through state legislatures around the US, starting with Georgia and Indiana. The ID requirements in particular have provoked widespread opposition from newspapers such as the New York Times. The Times, among others, argues that the ID requirements and the costs associated with them, constitute an unconstitutional discriminatory poll tax.
But despite significant court challenges, the Republicans are forcing changes in long-standing election laws that have allowed citizens to vote based on their signature alone. Across the US, GOP Jim Crow laws will eliminate millions of Democratic voters from the registration rolls. In swing states like Ohio, such ballots are almost certain to be crucial.