Pay No Attention To that Coshocton County Behind The Curtain

The Ohio Election Justice Campaign

Bob Batchelor
Coshocton County Prosecutor
318 Chestnut Street
Coshocton, Ohio 43812
(740) 622-3566
bobbatchelor@coshoctoncounty.net

April 15, 2009

Re: Questions, Comments, and a FOIA for ongoing request for election fraud investigation of Coshocton County.

Dear Bob Batchelor,

I would like to know if you requested an investigation for possible election fraud in the Coshocton County 2004 General Election in regards to the over 6,800 votes for write-in candidate David Corbett that appear to be in the handwriting of one to several people. There are a small number of votes sprinkled through the 43 precincts that do appear to be in the handwriting of a variety of people, which I have assumed are actual votes. If those 6,800 ballots do indeed contain election fraud, I wonder if they are even real?

I originally wrote to you about this on October 14, 2008, and addressed the apparent conflict of interest for you to investigate as you provide legal council to the Coshocton County Board of Elections. I also recently noticed that you were a candidate on those same ballots. I do not know if that would add to the conflict of interest issue. When I originally wrote to you about this, I sent photos of the actual ballots. The Secretary of State’s (SOS) attorneys say they lost their photos I sent in October. One of the same SOS attorneys, Eleanor Speelman previously lost a request for an investigation into election fraud for the 2004 Coshocton County Recount that was filed by Coshocton resident, Tim Kettler. Kettler is a witness to another SOS employee, Pat Wolfe and her involvement in the alleged rigging of the 2004 recount. I know Peter Jones who witnessed that same SOS employee, Pat Wolfe’s involvement in the alleged rigging of the Green County recount. Please watch out for your county and provide the needed legal guidance.

It certainly seems difficult to get the people paid with taxpayer money to do oversight, people whose job it is to have such investigations done… to actually do those investigations in Ohio. I wonder why? Today is April 15, tax day, I hope for better use of our money in the near future.

It is my understanding that for the Ohio Attorney General to conduct an investigation into the issue of alleged election fraud in Coshocton County, that either the County Prosecutor or the Ohio Secretary of State must request the investigation. Brian Green who was an attorney under Jennifer Brunner did promise me such an investigation last fall. Since making that promise Brian has changed jobs and now works in the State of New York. Strangely he never contacted me to withdraw his promised investigation. I am told that Secretary Brunner has not yet requested the investigation with the Attorney General into alleged election fraud on those David Corbett ballots.

According to Paul Scarsella the Sections Chief of Special Prosecutions at the office of the Ohio Attorney General, you also have not requested the investigation. So what will it take for you to make this request? Lets just start with the subject of the sheriff race, although there are others things we could expand to later. Would you like to join me and view the actual ballots? It is easy to see the similarities. I think it is important enough that I will make the time to do that with you. I have learned that the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification has on staff a handwriting expert. It seems to me that we shall need such talents to figure out what has happened in the Coshocton County 2004 General Election. Could you please quickly request not only the investigation, but to immediately bring in the handwriting expert.

I understand you told a reporter that someone from the Attorney General’s office looked at 30 Coshocton ballots and did not find a problem last fall. Please tell me who this was and when this happened. When I reviewed the security records which detail every person that has entered the storage facility, no such person existed. When I asked Paul Scarsella if he had anyone look at those ballots last fall, the answer was no. So please tell me how you learned of this inspection. Security is very tight at the storage facility, and if someone got in undetected and was posing to be an employee of the Ohio Attorney General, handled the ballots without someone providing oversight, and then lied to you about conducting an investigation, we will need a legal investigation of that also.

Please advise me on how to assist you in requesting the Coshocton County investigation through the Attorney General, and could you kindly answer the questions I have asked. As you can see, I’m confused that this has not moved faster. That requests for investigations and photos of evidence have been lost, employees have promised investigations then quickly left their jobs, imposters have viewed the ballots and slipped through security and made untrue statements to you, an SOS employee who is still employed at the SOS was involved in alleged rigging of your county recount (and I understand you were told of this but no investigation happened), and neither you nor the Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner have taken a leadership position and sought to address the situation. Wow… this is a mess. Do I understand it correctly?

As per ORC 149.43 I request copies of all correspondence in regards to my request for an election fraud investigation for Coshocton Counties 2004 general election and the write-in votes for David Corbett between yourself and any and all staff of the Coshocton County Prosecutor’s office and Sheriff Timothy Rodgers, the Ohio Attorney General and any and all staff, and the Ohio Secretary of State and any and all staff. I request copies of all notes and correspondence from the original reporting by Tim Kettler of the alleged rigging of the recount, including any papers filed. Please send this in paper or electronic format. These requests are severable to speed the processing.

Thank you for your assistance.

Sincerely,


Paddy Shaffer
Director, The Ohio Election Justice Campaign
paddy@columbus.rr.com
(614) 266-5283


CC: Richard Cordray, Ohio Attorney General
Jennifer Brunner, Ohio Secretary of State
Brandi Seskes, Elections Council, SOS
Tim Kettler, OEJC, Coshocton County Resident
Brian Gadd, Coshocton Tribune
Bev Harris, Blackbox Voting
Marian Lupo, OEJC
Marlys Barbee, OEJC
Mike Tigner, OEJC
Victoria Parks, OEJC
Dan Stanton, OEJC
James Nash, Columbus Dispatch
Mark Niquette, Columbus Dispatch
Susan Pynchon, Florida Fair Elections Coalition
David Cobb, Former Green Party Candidate for President of the United States, 2004
John Bonifaz, Esq.
Tim Carpenter, PDA
Mimi Kennedy, PDA
Nancy Tobi, Democracy for New Hampshire
Dan Ashby, Election Defense Alliance
Sally Castleman, Election Defense Alliance
Ian Urbina, New York Times
Greg Palast, BBC

http://electiondefensealliance.org/oejc

Prosecutors Bully Ohio Voters: Ohio Election Justice Campaign Calls for Day of Silence on January 6, 2009

Download this press release as an Adobe PDF document.

Ohio Election Justice Campaign (OEJC) calls for Day of Silence this Tuesday, January 6, 2009 to commemorate "Boxer Rebellion." Four years ago on this day, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-OH) led the challenge to the certification of Ohio's votes in the 2004 presidential election, the first time in U.S. history that an entire state's electoral college votes were challenged. An initiative of the Congressional Black Caucus, the Boxer Rebellion was based on widespread electoral problems in Ohio, most unaddressed to this day. Alleged acts of voter intimidation ongoing during the 2008 presidential election include the alleged assault of an election observer in Lucas County, the refusal of Delaware County to permit certain election observers, and Franklin County Board of Election's ongoing practice of referring public record requests to its prosecutor.

Columbus, OH (PRWEB) January 6, 2009 -- The Ohio Election Justice Campaign (OEJC) calls for a Day of Silence this Tuesday, January 6, 2009, to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the "Boxer Rebellion."

This day marks the peaceful legislative challenge to the re-election of George W. Bush on January 6th, 2005. Our silence stands in solidarity with voters around the world whose voices have been extinguished through violence, fear-mongering, and election fraud.

Four years ago, on January 6th, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-OH) led the challenge to the certification of Ohio's votes in the 2004 presidential election. This was the first time in U.S. history that an entire state's electoral college votes were challenged.

If the challenge had been successful, Bush would have lost the electoral college votes he needed to clinch the election.

Joining Boxer and Jones in the challenge, known as the "Boxer Rebellion," were 30 representatives, including Kucinich (D-OH), Conyers (D-MI), McKinney (D-GA), and civil rights leader John Robert Lewis (D-GA).

An initiative of the Congressional Black Caucus, the Boxer Rebellion was based on widespread electoral problems in Ohio, most unaddressed to this day.

Not only have the election officials allegedly responsible for the acts of voter intimidation, voter suppression, and election fraud in 2004 escaped accountability, many of them still holding office, King-Lincoln, et al. v. Brunner, et al., 2:06 CV 00745 (S.D. Ohio, filed Aug. 31, 2006, Marbley, J.), but also J. Kenneth Blackwell, Ohio's secretary of state in 2004 and state chair of the Bush 2004 re-election campaign, is now a serious contender for chair of the Republican National Committee.

According to Paddy Shaffer, Director of the OEJC, "Although we are grateful for the efforts of thousands of election protection volunteers in Ohio during the 2008 presidential election and the progress made by Ohio Secretary of State Brunner to ensure a fair election for every voter, the OEJC regrets to report ongoing acts of voter intimidation in 2008, which demonstrate that democracy has not yet been restored to Ohio."

As reported by Ms. Shaffer, alleged acts of voter intimidation during the 2008 election include

1. The alleged assault of an elections observer in Lucas County. For the election day interview with this observer, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAKf_SbrMT4 .

2. Under the office of Delaware County prosecutor David Yost, assistant prosecutors Christopher Betts and William Owen denied seven election observers representing a third party access to the polls. Evidence of possible past election fraud was presented to the court to demonstrate the need for observers. Constitutional Party of Ohio v. Delaware County Board of Elections, 08 CV H 10 1462 (Delaware County Common Pleas Court, Ohio, filed Oct. 31, 2008).

Yost was also responsible for attempting to block the 2004 recount in Delaware County, which temporarily blocked the 2004 presidential recount in the entire state while the 2004 results were being certified. Delaware County Prosecuting Attorney, et al. v. National Voting Rights Institute, et al., 2:04 CV 01139 (S.D. Ohio, filed Dec. 29, 2004, Sargus, J.).

3. Franklin County Board of Election's ongoing practice of referring public record requests to its prosecutor, Patrick Piccinni.

In addition, Greene County Board of Elections allegedly threatened to prosecute a voter who took a picture of his own ballot, while Warren County prosecutor Rachel Hutzel still has failed to address the fake level-10 homeland security alert called in Warren County during the 2004 presidential election. http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/11/05/loc_warrenvote05.html.

Under Ohio law, the county prosecutor is the legal counsel for the elections board.

Only two Ohio counties to date have had independent counsel appointed for election justice issues: Cuyahoga and Morgan.

The Cuyahoga investigation led to several criminal indictments. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/24/AR2007012401441.html. .

According to Michael Tigner, of the OEJC, the former Morgan County prosecutor, Richard Welch, was allowed to vote, run for office, and hold the office of county prosecutor for six years in that county, although he was allegedly not a resident.

In 2004, Timothy Kettler, now of the OEJC, filed a police report with the Coshocton County Sheriff's Department requesting an investigation into the 2004 presidential recount. Mr. Kettler informed Coshocton County prosecutor Robert Batchelor that he felt the prosecutor was acting in conflict, which may be seen as improper and unethical.

According to Mr. Kettler, his ethical concerns were dismissed by Batchelor as irrational, and Mr. Kettler was told the prosecutor would no longer take his calls, although he had made only two calls. Mr. Kettler said that Prosecutor Batchelor directed him to resolve any issue about the prosecutor's methods of handling the case with the Ohio Supreme Court.

The OEJC has recently uncovered additional evidence of 2004 electoral irregularities on over 6,800 write-in ballots representing every Coshocton County precinct. Although the Ohio Attorney General, by the request of the Ohio Secretary of State, was asked to investigate this possible election fraud, no results are yet available.

Records released pursuant to public records requests demonstrate that Ohio election officials, their organization, the Ohio Association of Election Officials (OAEO), and their lobbyist, Aaron Ockerman of State Street Consultants, were allegedly linked to 2004 election crimes. King-Lincoln, et al. v. Brunner, et al., 2:06 CV 00745 (S.D. Ohio, filed Aug. 31, 2006, Marbley, J.).

The OAEO, which meets in Columbus, Ohio on January 27-29, 2009, has been brought into a case that contained allegations by the Ohio Secretary of State of fraud in the inducement of contracts for voting technology provided by Premier Election Solutions, a subsidiary of Diebold (DBD). Premier Election Solutions, Inc. v. Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, et al., 08 CV 007841 (Franklin County Common Pleas Court, Ohio, filed May 30, 2008).

According to Ms. Shaffer, the OEJC has several public records requests outstanding from the Franklin County Board of Elections, including public records related to the activities of the board during its October 2008 inquisition of young voters for alleged "voter fraud."

For more information or to donate: http://www.electiondefensealliance.org/OEJC

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See the original story at: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2009/01/prweb1823794.htm