Trainings, Hearings, and Protests
Daily Update
Saturday, December 11, 2004
 David Cobb (Photo: AP) |
Friday was a very busy day, because most of the Ohio county Boards of Elections were finally answering the questions about procedures and start times posed by our Regional and County Coordinators. With 88 counties to recount, it seems like there are 50 different start times. For example, on Monday the 13th, there are counties starting the recount at 7 am, 9 am, 9:30 am, 10 am, 1 pm, and 3 pm.
We have dozens of trainings taking place this weekend, and we expect supporters from Oregon, California, Michigan, Minnesota, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Kentucky, West Virginia to start flooding into the state for protest activities on Sunday and Monday. We are still looking for donations to pay for recount expenses, such as renting halls for training and printing up volunteer manuals, so please give what you can.
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"It is outrageous and irresponsible for the Ohio and New Mexico presidential electors to cast their Electoral College votes on December 13th when the outcome of recounts are still unknown," says Cobb. |
December 11, 12, 13: Protests
Protests are planned across the nation this weekend. On Monday, December 13, protesters will gather outside the Ohio State Capitol from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm to demonstrate their outrage that Ohio's electors will cast their votes on the day the recount finally begins.
To see a list of protest activities taking place in your state, check with your local Green Party organization, or these sites: www.51capitalmarch.com, www.denvervoice.org, or www.Nov3.US.
David Cobb will address the crowd at the Ohio State Capitol on Monday around 12:15 pm with a message he released as a public statement yesterday: "It is absolutely outrageous and irresponsible for the Ohio and New Mexico presidential electors to cast their Electoral College votes on December 13th when the outcome of recounts are still unknown. Just as in Florida in 2000, we have to question the integrity of our voting system and those partisan officials who are in charge of it. With allegations of voter intimidation and suppression looming, an impending Congressional investigation, and recounts just beginning, the presidential electors will cast their votes under a cloud of suspicion."
 Today's protest in Denver: will you be there? photos |
December 13: Hearings
Monday, December 13th also brings lots of activity to Columbus, Ohio. Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones along with Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Reps. Maxine Waters and Ted Strickland, and the Rev. Jesse Jackson will hold a forum addressing Voting Irregularities in Ohio. This will take place at Columbus City Hall, Columbus City Council Chambers, 90 West Broad Street, Columbus.
Recounting...With No Paper Trail
Tuesday, December 14th is the big day for DRE (Direct Recording Electronic) voting machines, with Franklin County (515, 472 votes) and Mahoning County (131, 938 votes) as well as Pickaway and Ross Counties starting recounts of ....what exactly? DREs have no voter-verified paper trail. For more information on DRE voting machines, see the Frequently Asked Questions page of the VerifiedVoting.org website.
Keeping It All In Perspective
As we reach this turning point moment for our democracy, we must remind ourselves that we must never repeat the momentous blunder of 2000, and allow the recount to be stopped, only to be told by the press months later that if all the valid, machine-rejected votes were counted, the man occupying the White House lost the election (SOURCES: 1 [SEE TABLE 1]; 2; 3).
In his opening statement at the Congressional Forum on Wednesday, Rep. Conyers asked us all to take action in support of his efforts to investigate the 2004 election irregularities in Ohio by contacting: (1) Secretary of State Blackwell, and (2) James Sensenbrenner, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. Please respond to Rep. Conyer's request for a strong showing of support by concerned voters. With all three branches of government under one-party rule, only a strong message from America's voters will get results.
Please send comments and information about your events to us at greenrecount@yahoo.com. Thanks, as always, for your support. We couldn't do it without our 6,000+ donors and 3,000+ volunteers! more updates
David Cobb
Green Presidential Candidate to Address Public Rally Monday at Ohio Statehouse
December 11, 2004: "It is absolutely outrageous and irresponsible for the Ohio and New Mexico presidential electors to cast their votes when the outcome of recounts are still unknown. Just as in Florida in 2000, we have to question the integrity of our voting system and those partisan officials who are in charge of it. With allegations of voter intimidation and suppression looming, an impending Congressional investigation and the recounts just beginning, the presidential electors will cast their votes under a cloud of suspicion," said Cobb. more
Rep. Conyers
Members of Congress Take Testimony on Voting Irregularities
December 7, 2004: On Wednesday December 8, Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) and other Members of Congress will hold a "Members Briefing" to investigate the voting irregularities in Ohio during Campaign 2004. It will take place on December 8 starting at 10 AM in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C. Although this is not a fomal "Hearing" — because the Republican head of the Judiciary Committee has not given it his blessing — it will nevertheless take sworn testimony about issues that deserve public scrutiny. Plan to attend, urge your Representatives to attend, and demand C-SPAN coverage! more
David Cobb
Federal Judge Rules That Ohio Recount Will Go Forward in All Counties
December 3, 2004: Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb today expressed his satisfaction with a ruling by a federal judge taking jurisdiction over a Delaware County, Ohio lawsuit and denying the county's attempt to stop the recount of presidential ballots in that county. The judge also provisionally granted the motion by the Kerry-Edwards campaign to intervene in the lawsuit in defense of the position of Cobb and Libertarian Michael Badnarik. more
Jesse Jackson
December 10, 2004, CNN.com Inside Politics
Electoral College Set to Certify Election
Excerpt: ""What we really need is a federal standard for elections, and we need a constitutional, individual, federally protected right to vote," said Jackson, president of the Chicago-based Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. Grassroots activists say politicians who refuse to discuss voting concerns will lose respect — and votes. Ohio's Republican Secretary of State, Kenneth Blackwell, has conceded that a recount would likely alter the vote tally somewhat. But he adamantly dismisses allegations of fraud." moreDecember 10, 2004, San Francisco Chronicle
By Theodore D. Graves
By Theodore D. Graves
Election Fraud or Just Suspicions?
Excerpt: "If this were an election taking place in a Third World dictatorship, or a former part of the Soviet Union (Georgia and Ukraine, for recent examples) people would be in the streets screaming "fraud" and demanding the president's resignation. Democratic pundits have been wringing their hands, trying to figure out the best tactics for future victory. The answer is simple: Make sure every eligible voter gets a chance to vote, and that every vote gets recorded, counted and accurately reported — and that a secure paper trail exists to ensure the validity of any required recount." more
Ohio Protesters
December 9, 2004, Cambridge Chronicle
By Opinion by Luc Schuster
By Opinion by Luc Schuster
Stand up for Your Democracy!
Excerpt: "Fast forward to 2004 and it's deja vu all over again. This time, illegal voter disenfranchisement may not have changed the final result of the election but, again, the Democrats have been largely silent in the fight to have every vote counted... it's third-party presidential candidates David Cobb (Green Party) and Michael Badnarik (Libertarian Party) who are standing up for democracy by formally demanding a recount of presidential ballots in Ohio." moreDecember 11, 2004, DailyKos.com
I've just returned from my training session... I'm the recount coordinator for Cobb in one of the smaller S.E. Ohio counties
Excerpt: "I will try to explain some of what I have learned so you all have a better understanding. Most counties will start next week although some will be later. Originally, a recount was to be held within 5 days after declaration of official results or after an application has been filed. That is now 10 days.( I heard or read somewhere that the change was Blackwell's doing.) ...my hat is off to David Cobb as the hero of this election. He has taken the iniative to push this forward and even personally signed 1000 letters for the volunteers to present to their election boards in order to be permitted as an observer. So far, Badnarik has failed to do this, so we will only be allowed one observer per unit. If we had letters from Badnarik we would be allowed two. (Ironic isn't it that our great leader Bush and his cohort Rumsfeld haven't even bothered to sign the letters to the families of our fallen soldiers over the last 20 months and Cobb has signed 1000 letters by hand within the past few weeks.)" more
December 8, 2004, DailyKos.com
The View From the End of the Witness Table at the Conyers Hearing
Excerpt: "I've been a skeptic of the "Kerry really won the election" argument since back on 2 November...But what I heard today was irrefutable evidence of massive voter suppression on a scale that I never even knew was possible: elderly people collapsing because they wouldn't let them vote; people standing out in the rain for four hours; students in a hot gymnasium; someone who lost her job because she had to stand in line for so long to vote. Now, even if all of these stories are true, I'm not sure that they'd create enough votes to swing the election to Kerry. But that's not the point. That's not where the story is. The story is the suppresison of voters, all in one direction: US. Traditionally Democratic groups of voters. As someone pointed out, there hasn't been a single, solitary report of any Republican voter who wasn't allowed to cast her ballot. It's all coming from the inner cities, from the college campuses, from places that would have voted overwhelmingly for John Kerry." more
December 5, 2004, DailyKos.com
Voting While Black:
Cuyahoga County African American Voting Patterns
Excerpt: "This map shows the distribution of precincts where the number of certified (accepted) provisional ballots exceeded 5% of the total ballots cast in the precinct: Note that these data points represent people who were made to fill out provisional ballots even though they were registered to vote and were at the correct precinct, otherwise their provisional ballot would not have been ultimately certified." more
December 2, 2004, DemocraticUnderground.com, by Ernest Patridge
Why We Must Not "Get Over It"
Excerpt: "The Democrats too readily forget that 2004 was "next time." Why believe that 2006 and 2008 will be different? If in fact GOP control of the mechanisms of the election allowed them to steal this election, they will do so next time, and the time after that. Issues, messages, tactics, attractive candidates will all be unavailing. Republican control of all branches of the government and of the media will be permanent, and independent of the consent of the governed. [There are those who] insist that we "get over it" and "move on," and who dismiss these investigations... This dismissal disregards an essential point: forensic investigation does not begin with proof. Its objective is to end either with proof of a crime and apprehension of the criminal, or with exoneration. Forensic investigation properly begins with probable cause. And probable cause of a stolen election is, I submit, inescapably before us." more
