Friday, December 24, 2004

''Default to Bush'' (UPDATED)

“One pattern that has been documented based on the experience of voters in Florida, New Mexico, Ohio, and elsewhere (especially in swing states) is the machines appear to have been set with a default to Bush. Then if the voter successfully punched the ballot for another candidate, Bush was replaced by that candidate.”-from the article tonight, "Kerry votes switched to Bush and ballots pre-punched for Bush," in the Columbus Free Press. Also new, there is, "Lawsuit Before the Ohio Supreme Court." Another legal move in Ohio: "Cobb Asks Federal Court to Preserve Evidence in Ohio." On January 3rd, Jesse Jackson, Progressive Democrats of America and a coalition of grassroots organizations including Moveon.org are holding a “‘Pro Democracy Count Every Vote Rally,” in Columbus, Ohio. Details here. Update: A poster on Kos takes him and other Kossacks to task for:"(s)ilence in response to any poster who contends that, whether or not it changes the outcome, the ongoing fight to count all votes in Ohio is a fight to ensure the rights of African-American voters and thus deserves the party's public attention and commitment. Go review the recent threads yourself. Look at what responses come to anyone who dares mention that the Ohio fight is about African-American voting rights and not about John Kerry and his embarrassing (but in hindsight quite predictable) loss to the Chimp. The silence I mentioned...is particularly deafening, and it is the most common reaction. Including most notably from the "official posters" of this site, such as Kos (and including Kid Oakland, who, living in the city he does, should damned well know better). Let's be clear. Kerry isn't being masterful behind the scenes, as some folks want to pretend. He's saving his political ass, at the expense of the very same Black folks he PROMISED he would not let be cheated out of the right to vote again. Kerry isn't just "waiting his time" - he's hiding in the latrine, terrified to publicly associate himself with anything that confronts the corruption in Ohio because of the potential political cost to himself and the fear that someone might call him crybaby names (i.e. "sore loser")."-quoted in "Folks don't get it," in the San Francisco Bay View. As if to prove the point made above, Solar Bus has an "Election Fraud Action Page" that makes no mention of the disproportionate disenfranchisement of African American voters in Ohio. I signed a petition there anyway.

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