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Dear Free Press Supporter

Dear Free Press supporter:

I am extremely proud of our pre-election activism. Andrew Kreig at Justice Integrity Project (Did Expert Witness, Activists Thwart a Rove Ohio Vote Plot?) speculates that we (freepress.org) may have prevented another stolen election. Art Levin at Huffington Post agrees as does Brad Friedman at Bradblog.

We need your support! The Free Press went into the red in this effort. We do not send emails asking for money before we get started, instead we get to work and ask for help later :). As a result, we need to ask our friends and supporters to contribute what you can to support what has already been done.

If you saw the Karl Rove meltdown on Fox News on election night, you might have been unaware that the Secretary of State AND the Cuyahoga County websites went off-line at approximately the same time as Rove’s meltdown. Deja Vu, election night 2004.

What we sometimes refer to derisively as “establishment” media validated our reporting efforts.

Forbes : The Technological Foundations Of Today’s Election Are Shaky, Especially In Ohio
http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykosner/2012/11/06/the-technological-foundations-of-todays-election-are-shaky-especially-in-ohio/

Forbes: Dear President Obama, Glad You Won, But Can We Fix The Voting Machines Before 2016?
http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykosner/2012/11/09/dear-president-obama-glad-you-won-but-can-we-fix-the-voting-machines-before-2016/

Associated Press: Judge rejects lawsuit’s Ohio voting software claim
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/public/2012/11/ohio-voting-software-court-hearing.html

Business Insider: Here’s The Truth About The Story About The Romneys Investing In The Company That Makes The Voting Machines
http://www.businessinsider.com/romney-investment-in-voting-machines-2012-10

Fox News local Channel 19 in Cincinnati.
http://youtu.be/KofzJYE1i9o

Computerworld: Update: Lawsuit filed in Ohio over software updates to vote tabulation machines
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9233274/….

Christian Science Monitor: US judge allows Ohio voting software, alleged to be vulnerable to fraud
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Elections/2012/1106/US-judge-allows-Ohio-voting-software-alleged-to-be-vulnerable-to-fraud

Fight Back (Bob’s radio show), interview with Cliff, Gerry and Harvey. (Podcast)
http://www.talktainmentradio.com/podcasts/110712%20Fight%20Back.mp3

We did not plan it this way, but our reporting turned into a three pronged effort.
• First, we reported on Scytl, and again here. Banking Insider called this the “true” October Surprise.
• Secondly, we reported on ownership of voting machine companies, particularly Romney family and business associates of Hart Inner Civic. Vote counting company tied to Romney
• Former National Security Agency data analyst and election software critic Michael Duniho (37 years, retired) testified in the lawsuit brought by Attorney Bob Fitrakis and Cliff Arnebeck. Duniho’s expertise is beyond reproach and his testimony was powerful.
• Finally we reported on the illegal software patch that was applied (as experimental). We filed a lawsuit in both State and Federal courts in an effort to have this patch removed. The Free Press confirms installation, secret justification of uncertified last minute election tabulation reporting software in Ohio The contract was leaked to the Free Press. If the Free Press did not exist, to whom would this person leak the contract? Who else could be trusted to report it?
We at the Free Press…Bob Fitrakis, Cliff Arnebeck, Harvey Wasserman, Gerry Bello, Suzanne Patzer, myself, the Board of Directors, and many others…agree with Andrew Kreig. We believe we prevented another stolen Presidential election. But we may never know for sure. In any case, we could not have mounted a more vigorous defense of voting rights and democracy. We need your support so that we remain as THE most important and most effective defender of election integrity.

Please contribute to the Free Press here — https://freepress.org/store.php
or simply send a check to Columbus Institute of Contemporary Journalism (CICJ) at 1021 E Broad St, Columbus, Ohio 43205. You contribution is tax deductible.

Thank you,
Pete Johnson
CICJ Board President

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Post Election Free Press Second Saturday Salon!

Join us this Saturday night!
Free Press Second Saturday Salon
Saturday, November 10, 2012
6:30pm – midnight
Enjoy food, drink, music, art, good friends and acquaintances for socializing, networking, and just relaxing and having fun. Join us for post-election analysis and social justice planning session.
1021 E. Broad St., east side door, parking in rear.
truth@freepress.org
253-2571

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Free Press FREE Film Night: Pay 2 Play

Tuesday, October 23,2012, 7:30pm
PAY 2 PLAY is a documentary on the costs of running for office, weaving compelling characters and campaign drama with art and activism to show the path to reform.
PAY 2 PLAY shows the need for campaign reform through the compelling stories of first-time candidates in the battleground state of Ohio. From the Supreme Court decision Citizens United to the billionaire Koch Brothers, the film outlines a corporate strategy spanning decades to manipulate the media, the courts, and the public to turn our elections into one big game of Pay to Play politics.
And that’s why PAY 2 PLAY uses a game to make these challenges fun and comprehensive. We use an analogy to the game Monopoly, to show how candidates running for office face costly monopolies in their quest for public service, and how improving the rules of the game through political reform would help our country flourish.
This screening is co-sponsored by the Free Press, the Columbus Film Council, the Central Ohio Green Education Fund, and the Drexel.
Drexel Theater, 2254 E. Main St., Bexley
253-2571
truth@freepress.org

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Free Press Second Saturday Salon Saturday, August 11, 2012

Please join us for the Free Press Second Saturday Salon
Saturday, August 11, 2012
6:30pm-midnight
1021 E. Broad St. (backyard, parking in rear or on street)

This Saturday we will have another backyard cookout with vegan and non-vegan food. We’ll have music, food, drink, a Hiroshima-Nagasaki display, and socializing with progressive friends. See you there!
truth@freepress.org, 253-2571

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The Free Press uncovers one million voters purged in Ohio

Bob Fitrakis
April 15, 2012

The Free Press obtained public records from all 88 of Ohio’s county Boards of Elections (BOE) documenting that 1,092,392 voters were removed from the voting rolls since the last presidential election.

Cuyahoga County, which includes Democratic-rich Cleveland, led the Buckeye State with 267,071 purges. Franklin County which includes the capital of Columbus, removed 93,578 voters. Franklin County went 58% for Obama in the 2008 election. Hamilton County which includes Cincinnati removed 65,536 voters, for a total of 426,185 from these three Ohio counties. Once again, a few rural Ohio counties reported no purges. These include Hancock, Huron, Sandusky, and Wood counties.

The National Voting Registration Act (NVRA) of 1993 mandates that each state make a reasonable effort to remove the names of ineligible voters from the official voting rolls. Some voters were purged for legitimate reasons such as those who are deceased and voters who moved out of the county or out of state. But, the Act also allows BOEs to remove voters who have not voted in two consecutive federal election cycles. BOEs are allowed to mail to registered voters who can be purged if they don’t respond to the mailing – even if they still live at their registered address.

These discretionary mass purges concentrated primarily in Ohio’s urban centers could be the key to whether Obama wins the nation’s most controversial swing state in this year’s election. A similar study by the Free Press during the 2008 year revealed 1.25 million voters purged. After the 2004 Ohio election debacle and recount, the Free Press discovered that between the 2000-2004 election cycles 305,000 voters had been purged in the state.

In 2008, the grassroots activist group ACORN and other groups re-registered many of Ohio’s purged voters before the November election. After Obama’s victory, an obviously concentrated effort by the Right targeted ACORN and succeeded in shutting it down. Without ACORN or a similar operation in place, what will happen in Ohio in 2012?

We could follow the actions of the ACLU in 2008, that won a lawsuit in Michigan halting the mass purging of voters in Detroit. Michigan officials purged an estimated 30,000 voters per year based on their failure to respond to the voter registration material sent to their house. Justice Stephen J. Murphy of the U.S. District Court ordered Michigan to “immediately discontinue their practice of canceling or rejecting a voter’s registration based upon the return of the voter’s original voter identification card as undeliverable.”

Perhaps the ACLU or another organization will step up in Ohio to remedy or eliminate these purges In the meantime, Ohio voters should check their registration status before heading to the polls this November.

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Free Press Second Saturday Salon, April 14, 2012

6:30-midnight. Join fellow progressives for networking, food, drink, music, and art and an evening of socializing with friends. Presentations on local issues: Poindexter Village, School Board, and environmental issues.

Location:1021 E. Broad St, side door, parking in rear, Columbus, Ohio.

Phone:614-253-2571
Email: truth@freepress.org

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Bob Fitrakis Official Site