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Election Protection Conference Columbus State Community College

We Do Not ConcedeRecent Zogby polls show that 92% of all Americans believe in full transparency for our democratic system. Since the vast majority of all Americans believe in the principles of democracy, let me recommend the following Election Protection conference at Columbus State Community College this weekend. I hope to see you there. It is free and open to the public.

For more details, go to: https://freepress.org/vrrc Voting Rights Revival Conference
Columbus State Community College, Columbus, Ohio 

October 13, 14 and 15, 2006

Long lines….provisional ballots…intimidation at the polls…
 Don’t let what happened on Election Day in 2004 happen again in Ohio!
 Get involved!
 Come to the Voting Rights Revival conference
 Become an Election Protection volunteer! 

The VRRC focuses on concrete solutions that will empower Ohio voters this November 7, 2006. Free and open to the public, the VRRC will inspire and inform with renowned speakers and hands-on workshops. Workshops will cover the changes in the new laws, basic voting procedures, how to make sure your vote is counted, how to work with Boards of Elections, Election Protection videography, the voting rights of people with disabilities, and post-election audits, to name a few.

Our Mission Statement:
To focus on the election process in Ohio, with the goal of sharing information that enfranchises all voters in Ohio; to encourage civic participation at the local and state level, including the ongoing facilitation of emerging local and student leaders and organizers: the commencement of a public sphere.

Highlights:

Speakers:

  • Steve Freeman, Penn University professor, author of “Was the 2004 Presidential Election Stolen? Exit Polls, Election Fraud, and the Official Count”
  • Bob Fitrakis, author, journalist, political science professor, attorney for Moss v. Bush, co-editor “Did George W. Bush Steal America’s 2004 Election? Essential Documents”
  • Harvey Wasserman, author, journalist, Senior Free Press Editor, co-editor “How the GOP Stole America’s 2004 Election & Is Rigging 2008”
  • Cliff Arnebeck, attorney for post-2004 election challenge
  • Ruth Colker, law professor, OSU Moritz College of Law
  • Greg Moore, civil rights leader, director, Voting Rights Institute of the Democratic National Committee
  • Doris D. “Granny D” Haddock, clean elections activist

Workshops:

  • Voting 101 (Guaranteeing your voter registration, new ID rules, how to use voting machines)
  • Disabilities and Voting
  • Election Day Election Protection Activities: parallel elections, legal, video, observation
  • Post-election Auditing
  • More

Entertainment:

  • “American Blackout,” documentary on e-voting fraud, producer Ian Inaba Guerrilla News Network
  • Eternal Vigilance
  • “Help America Vote on Paper,” video, produced by Ecological Options Network
  • Victoria Parks, singer-songwriter “This is Our Democracy”
  • Tom Neilson
  • Granny D
  • Connie Harris, singer-songwriter, Cultural Creatives
  • Marvin the Robot
  • Miaka Carter
  • Mas Bagua
  • Drum circle

 

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You Too Can Help Prevent Voting Irregularities

The best item in today’s Columbus Dispatch was buried on page D7 under the headline “Bush on Blackwell: ‘a nut,’ Woodward book claims.” The Big D reported that on page 347 of Woodward’s new book State of Denial, Bush told Karl Rove that “I’m the President of the United States waiting on a Secretary of State who is a nut.”

Anyone who knows Blackwell knows this rings true, in the same way if Woodward would have reported that Bush was dim-witted. The beauty of Bush’s America, the Jethro Bodine president relying on the opportunistic former black nationalist to steal the vote in Ohio as the Free Press had previously reported, an eyewitness on election day saw the Secretary of State busy frantically writing in numbers on precinct maps of down state Republican counties. Granted, it’s crazy for the people of Ohio to allow the chief election officer to be involved in such a clearly partisan way – delivering the vote for Bush from his government office. It’s also equally crazy that the Dispatch has refused to investigate the illegality of Blackwell’s activities in the 2004 election.

A then Dispatch reporter claims that Michael Dawson, the press aide to Senator Mike Dewine visited the Dispatch editorial board and convince them not to investigate the massive irregularities in the 2004 election.

You can help prevent irregularities in the 2006 election by adopting a board of elections, being a poll monitor, an election protection volunteer or videotaping the events at polling sites on Election Day – by attending the Voting Rights Revival conference at Columbus State Community College on October 13-15. See www.freepress.org/vrrc for details. The conference is free! 

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We Count Conference, Kucinich Introduces H.R. 6200

The biggest surprise at the “We Count” conference in Cleveland was the announcement by U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich that he’s introduced H.R. 6200, a bill with 19 co-sponsors, that would require “hand counted paper, ballots counted, and posted at the precinct level” for the 2008 presidential election. To a rousing ovation, Kucinich told the assembled voting rights activists that “we heard you.”

He said, in reference to Ohio’s 2004 stolen presidential election “We understand why there’s such great concern…there are lingering questions about the 2004 election and there ought to be.”

What should not be lingering in anyone’s mind is the fact that Blackwell was the point man for Bush boys in stealing the 2004 election. We must do everything in our power to make sure Blackwell does not become governor in the Buckeye State.

To find out more about the 2004 presidential election and Cynthia McKinney’s fight against corrupt politics and election stealing, see the film “American Blackout,” by GNN, a Sundance-award winning film at Studio 35 this week through Thursday in Columbus. Another film documenting the run-up to the 2004 election in Ohio plays at the Drexel Gateway starting this Friday, October 6 – “…And so goes the nation.”

And if you want to ensure that what happened at the polls in 2004 doesn’t happen again: don’t miss the Voting Rights Revival – Tune in, Tune Up, Turn Out! voting rights event in Columbus on October 13-15 at Columbus State Community College, Nestor Hall. Starting on Friday evening we will present speakers, entertainment and workshops to prepare for the 2006 election. Workshops will organize volunteers to work as Election Protection on Election Day – observing, monitoring and videoing at the polls – legal protection – parallel elections and exit polling – and how to adopt-a-board. We will have singers, comedy, spoken word and several films and videos such as “American Blackout,” “Stealing America Vote by Vote” and more! The conference is FREE and open to the public. See the website: www.freepress.org/vrrc or call 614-253-2571.

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Republican War, Democratic Enablers

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I got to speak with Rev. Werner Lange this weekend at the “We Count” voting rights conference in Cleveland. On September 22, within an hour of the funeral of Sgt. David Gordon of Andover who was killed in Iraq, Rev. Lange took to the streets. Bearing a sign that read “Stop the war now!” Lange stood in the middle of the street in Andover’s town square and spread the following message: “Not one more life, not one more wound, not one more dime for this immoral war based on lies.” Lange was eventually arrested and taken to the Ashtabula County Jail. 

Lange’s protest is part of a new nationwide campaign of nonviolent disobedience against the illegal war in Iraq which began September 21 on the International Day of Peace. Lange is an independent candidate for U.S. Congress in Ohio’s 14th district. More of us need to take action like Rev. Lange, support his efforts, as well as his candidacy. The Republican Party is a party of war and Democratic Party are their enablers.

Moderators Comment: See (and click) adjacent calender Oct. 2 for Governors’ debate event on October 4th at Media Bridges in Cincinnati.    

 

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STEALING AMERICA Vote By Vote Film Local Event

STEALING AMERICA
Vote by Vote
A new documentary film by
an OSCAR-nominated, EMMY-wining filmmaker

For more information contact: The Free Press, 614-253-2571, truth@freepress.org
Date: September 10, 2006

On September 24, at 7:30pm the new documentary STEALING AMERICA: Vote by Vote will be shown at the Drexel Gateway Theater, 1550 N. High St.

This film brings together dramatic behind-the-scenes stories related to the election of November 2, 2004. The heart of the story is a candid assessment of ways in which privatized election systems, disenfranchisement of certain populations and vulnerable voting technology are impacting our democracy.
Honors for the Director’s media work include an ACADEMY AWARD nomination and the CPB Gold Medal (Best Short Documentary from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting).

The film features voters in Ohio and interviews with local voting rights activists Bob Fitrakis, Harvey Wasserman and Charles Traylor. The event is a fundraiser for the Columbus Free Press.

WHAT:
A screening of the new film STEALING AMERICA: Vote by Vote

WHEN:
September 24, 7:30-9:30pm. Discussion with filmmaker Dorothy Fadiman, Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman following the screening.

WHERE:
Drexel Gateway Theater, 1550 N. High St., south OSU campus.

ADMISSION: $8 or $5 for students.
Reporters wanting background information on the film, or on invited guests, should call – the Free Press, 253-2571 or email truth@freepress.org.

Parking is available in the garage behind the theater.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Interviewees include poll workers, computer experts, journalists, politicians, voters of all ages and others concerned about reports that certain communities may have been targeted for intimidation. The film introduces a spectrum of issues, including discrepancies between exit polls and final official tallies, the silence of the media following the election and the impact of technological glitches – for example more votes than voters, and vote flipping from one candidate to another. The film documents stories such as those of inner city voters who experienced waiting hours in line, along with the apparent unequal distribution of voting machines. Throughout, we underscore that election reform is not a partisan issue. It is the responsibility of both Democrats and Republicans to work with each other to address these issues. Various solutions to real problems are integrated into the film.

Our goal is to be provocative, but not confrontational. We want to engage viewers who may be uncomfortable addressing the realities of the election system. Our goal is to open people’s minds to the irregularities in the technology and open their hearts to the devastating impact of disenfranchising voters. The final question that the film poses is: How can we create an election system in which voters have confidence, and in which they can trust that their vote is being counted fairly?

 

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If The President Is Spying On Americans

http://tinyurl.com/roa55

Blackwell Faces Green Challenger in Ohio Governor Race

By Matthew Cardinale, News Editor and National Correspondent
Atlanta Progressive News (September 16, 2006)

(APN) ATLANTA – “People need somebody running who can keep Blackwell from stealing an election. Democrats can’t say ‘Quit stealing,'” Bob Fitrakis, 50, told Atlanta Progressive News.

Fitrakis has won the Green Party Nomination for Governor of Ohio and this November he will be facing Republican Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell and Democrat Ted Strickland.

“There’s a socialization process in the media that ‘By god, you don’t challenge the results of the election.’ Because the corporate media would fry them,” Fitrakis said.

Fitrakis is running for many reasons, but one of these is to “give me some [legal] standing,” in case of elections integrity issues in the 2006 Gubernatorial Election in Ohio.

Fitrakis is an amazing person. In addition to running for Governor of Ohio, he is a Professor of Political Science at the Columbus State Community College, the Editor of the Columbus Free Press Newspaper, and an attorney.

Fitrakis’s Republican opponent Blackwell is pretty amazing too.

While apparently treating Blacks not-so-well as Secretary of State during the 2004 Presidential Election in Ohio, Blackwell was also the Co-Chair of the Bush/Cheney Reelection Committee in Ohio. Read more

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Save the Ballots!

We have one week to save the ballots from the 2004 presidential election in Ohio. Although many Democrats remain in denial, because John Kerry told them to shut up, the ballots are evidence of one of the worst crimes in American history.

Whether it’s the absurd claim that the last 359 voters in a Delaware precinct all voted for Bush, or that 36 straight people spoiled their ballots and had to use replacement ballots in Clermont County, or that people only double-punched ballots in urban heavy-Kerry precincts – Karl Rove, Ken Blackwell and a few of their technician friends and theocratic robots stole Ohio blind. The proof is in the ballots. They must be saved.

D-day, destruction of the ballots day, by law is September 3, 2006. The law does not REQUIRE the destruction of the ballots, but merely allows them to be destroyed at the “discretion” of the county boards of elections. When I visited Miami County’s Board of Elections, I found election records there dated back to the 1970’s. But, I’m not sure the boards of elections will keep those from the controversial 2004 election.

So here’s my call to action:
Call Ohio boards of elections and demand they save the ballots from the 2004 presidential election – for investigative and historical purposes. Suggest they turn them over for archiving at colleges, libraries or the Ohio Historical Society. It is important to let election officials know Ohio’s voters want the ballots to be saved!

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Dr. Robert Fitrakis Ohio Green Party Gubernatorial Candidate Finds The People’s Reality At the State Fair

I spent 12 hours at the Ohio State Fair on Saturday and Sunday at the Green Party booth. The best thing the Greens had going for them is that they are not Democrats, and particularly not Republicans. There was a fair amount of hostility against Bob Taft, even from the rock-ribbed rural Republican base. Couldn’t find any fans of Blackwell, either. And Strickland was an unknown to this crowd.

Some people were mad about the voting machines and long lines. We had a special appearance by General Bruce and the talking electronic voting machine on Saturday and Marj Creech, the “Honest Elections Cow” on Sunday. The cow was a huge, huge hit passing out voting instructions and stickers to youngsters. Of course the costume was a bit hot. Roast beef, as it were.

People want reforms and practical solutions. Our problem, as always, is to get the message out with limited resources and a virtual media blackout. Ohio is ripe for new and innovative ideas. Working the fair is a great grassroots way to get the pulse of the people.

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Bill Moss-Carter-Baker Commission-Dr. Fitrakis-We The People-Stand In The Gap

On August 2 one year ago, my dear friend Bill Moss passed away. We had talk about him running for governor this year and envisioned a three-way race with three black men: Bill Moss, Michael Coleman, and J. Kenneth Blackwell – sort of the good, the bad and the ugly of Ohio’s black politics, although Mike’s not really bad, just wishy-washy. That adjective was never associated with the only independently-elected black man in Columbus history. Moss, who ran for mayor as a Democrat and for State Rep, was elected to the Columbus School Board repeatedly without the endorsement of the Democratic Party.

I dedicated my book “A Schoolhouse Divided” to Bill, because he was the key source and the inspiration for giving all children a quality education. Before Bill’s tragic and untimely death, he was working hard to expose the corruption in the 2004 election. His last major performance before the Election Assessment Committee in Houston, Texas was a classic. There he confronted the Chair of the Carter-Baker Commission and asked them what they planned to do when they realized a lot of the suppression of voters in Ohio was pre-planned and criminal.

I wish Bill had lived and I was managing his campaign. All I can hope for now is to follow a few of his last words to me: “Stand in the gap.” Even though he had just suffered from a stroke, there was plenty of fight left in him and he was still planning to restore democracy in Ohio and America. Bill Moss was a warrior and a soldier, but what people didn’t understand – he relished the fight against the forces of oppression and what he called The Money Party.

To Bill, it was always the people vs. the Titans. And he always believed that the people would prevail in the end. He believed in his heart that the choice was between serving God or mammon.

Help me stand in the gap and continue the fight that Bill Moss started.

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We Do Not Concede To The Bush Election Team In Mexico Or Here In Ohio

More than a million people were in the streets in Mexico City in perhaps the largest demonstration in the history of the western hemisphere. What’s the difference between Columbus, Ohio and Mexico City? Both had a stolen election by the same people. When I saw, a week or so before the election, that the Bush team was headed down to Mexico, you could tell that the son of a CIA director was about to steal again. Bush, Rove and Blackwell are chronic kleptomaniacs. They steal because they think they can get away with it – but that only works in Ohio. In Mexico, the difference is that people believe in democracy and they are not brainwashed by a propagandistic corporate media into ignoring the obvious.

We didn’t have a million, but I want to acknowledge the hard core voting rights activists who did hit the streets after the 2004 election and continue to fight for a fair election in Ohio to this day. My campaign is the direct result of that movement – we will not concede.

We should do everything we can to support the nonviolent civil disobedience and massive demonstrations that are rocking Mexico. I’ve enclosed two recent articles Harvey Wasserman and I have written on the elections in Mexico. Let me know what you think.

The Democrats must now say “We Do Not Concede” in the U.S. as it’s being said in Mexico

An open letter from Ohio to the people of Mexico

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