A Special 2008 Subpoena (Regarding The 2004 Ohio Election) For Blackwell From Conyers

By:
Paddy Shaffer
Director, The Ohio Election Justice Campaign

February 1, 2008

J. Kenneth BLACKWELL refuses to come and testify before the wonderful Congressman John Conyers and the House Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. It appears a subpoena may be needed.

Updated information compliment of an article by Jon Craig from the Cincinnati Enquirer, some details on Blackwell and the possible subpoena are provided below this article.

Why is it that Ken Blackwell is still walking the streets of this nation? Why is it that the election officials, for which citizens have documented the alleged election crimes of 2004 (and more since then) are still running our elections? How wonderful that a congressman from Michigan, (the state from up north... for you Buckeye fans) shines as a hero in addressing our Ohio problem, which became the nation and the worlds problem... more years of George W. Bush pretending to be the president, and his illegitimate appointments running the country. Since the FBI, CIA, Ohio's past and current Attorney General's, Petro and Dann, and our current Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, the county prosecutors, and the Ohio Highway Patrol can't look into the landfill sized crime documentation pile of our rotting, and stinky election nightmare scenario. This bit of horrible theater is loaded with real people that should be locked up in jail. We are needing a hero, thanks Congressman Conyers, it seems there are very few real men in Ohio, and most of the women leaders aren't doing much better.

JUST LOOK AT THE EVIDENCE!!!
Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner now has in her possession, over 2200 boxes of the 2004 election records. It should be more. 57 of Ohio's 88 counties destroyed or disposed of (or lost, or spilled coffee on, or shredded, or flooded, or had the Green Team pick up, etc) those election records. The good news is... there still is enough evidence to prove the case that the Ohio 2004 election was stolen, and we the people have the evidence, and we can point to which precinct ballots need looked at. For instance, Delaware County ballots show both the rigging of the US Presidential Election, and of the Ohio Supreme Court. Janet Brenneman was Director of the Delaware County Board of Elections in 2004. To make sure that Ohio is ready for the 2008 election (of which we so often hear is the only thing the top election officials of the state can do), under the guidance of our new Democratic Leaders... Janet Brenneman is again the Director of the Delaware County Board of Elections. How special. Is this what being ready looks like? And this is just one of many problem counties.

It is 2008, another Presidential election year. J. Kenneth Blackwell still walks the streets of this nation, and I hope Congressman John Conyers sends him a subpoena! Michigan and Ohio... Will a Wolverine save the Buckeyes?


____________________________________________________________________

The link for the below article: http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/gov/

By Jon Craig

Blackwell could be subpoenaed
Former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell has been asked to testify next Friday in Washington, D.C., by the House Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.The topic: "Voter Suppression," according to this letter sent Tuesday to Blackwell, who now works for the Family Research Council, Buckeye Institute and other conservative policy groups.The House Judiciary Committee, chaired by U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr., a Michigan Democrat, is investigating election irregularities, including long lines and challenges to voter registrations.Blackwell, a Republican from Cincinnati, said he received the invitation, "however, my schedule will not permit me to attend the hearings."Jonathan Godfrey, a Conyers spokesman, said Blackwell has not responded and could be subpoenaed if he doesn't appear voluntarily."I don't think it's unlikely," Godfrey said today of a subpoena.But it would take a majority vote of committee members to issue a subpoena, probably delaying the day Blackwell would be asked to appear, according to Godfrey."As we look forward to the 2008 Presidential Election, the Committee seeks to explore policies that should be implemented to avoid future voting problems and ensure that every American can exercise their right to vote," Conyers and Subcommittee Chairman Jerrold Nadler wrote in their invitation to Blackwell.Blackwell said, "For a better understanding of Ohio’s voting performance during the 2004 election, I recommend Chairmen Conyers and Nadler review the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2004 post-election analysis."The Census Bureau found Ohio experienced record voter turnout among both African-American voters and those between the ages of 18 to 24, he said."In addition, voter registration rolls grew by one million new voters from the year before and voter turnout increased by one million more voters from the previous presidential election," Blackwell said.
Labels: Columbus, Washington
posted by Jon Craig at 2/01/2008 02:41:00 PM 6 comments links to this post

A Special Two-Hour VOICE OF THE VOTERS with Brad Friedman, Paddy Shaffer and others

 

Around the Country and in the Counties - Reports on
Election 2008
A SPECIAL TWO-HOUR VOICE OF THE VOTERS
Tonight Starting at 7pm!
Special Guest Co-Host: Jim Strait
Special Guests:
Bucks County Commissioner, Diane Marseglia
Alysoun McLaughlin of the National Association of Counties
AND YOU!
on Voice of the VotersWednesday, January 30, 7 pm ET
Heard on 1360 AM and on the InternetCall In to Add Your Questions & Comments
856-227-1360 or 856 232 7078

Part I: Starting at 7pm, We'll Take a Trip Around the County to Hear Reports from Key States and Voting Integrity Advocates

First Brad Friedman of the dynamic website, Bradblog.com, will present an overview of the country's elections/voting systems: what are the chalellenges? Where are the hotspots? What issues most need to be addressed. Will we? Can we? Brad will share his outlook for the November 2008 elections.

Then we'll open a discussion with leading voting integrity advocates as we take a trip around the country to visit Florida, Ohio, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, Colorado and more.

Call in to give your own report on the status of your state's elections and voting issues. What's working? What isn't? What challenges are being addressed? What are the expectations for the November 2008 elections? We want to hear what's happening in your state. Questions also encouraged!

 

First Brad Friedman of the dynamic website, Bradblog.com, will present an overview of the country's elections/voting systems: what are the chalellenges? Where are the hotspots? What issues most need to be addressed. Will we? Can we? Brad will share his outlook for the November 2008 elections.

Then we'll open a discussion with leading voting integrity advocates as we take a trip around the country to visit Florida, Ohio, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, Colorado and more. Call in to give your own report on the status of your state's elections and voting issues. What's working? What isn't? What challenges are being addressed? What are the expectations for the November 2008 elections? We want to hear what's happening in your state. Questions also encouraged!

Part 2: Starting at 8pm, The Counties

Alysoun McLaughlin, Associate Legislative Director of the National Association of Counties - the Voice of America's Counties. (NaCo) will discuss the diversity of challenges facing counties around the nation as we seek to improve our elections process. She will address some of the differences that have developed among elections officials, county governments and voting integrity advocates. "We're in a place of change. The system was designed around election officials, cnadidates and parties," says Ms. McLaughlin. "Now as more and more citizens want to become more involved, how do we integrate? How do we build bridges? How do we deal with hot buttons of technology?"

Ms McLaughlin will also review NaCo's position on HR 5036, The Emergency Assistance for Secure Elections Act of 2008 and will also discuss problems created for the counties, especially for the smaller ones, by voluntary guidelines issued by the U.S. Elections Assistance Commission.

In all the talk and attention on Florida, Ohio and California, Pennsylvania has become the forgotten state. The silence on the issue in the media and from state leaders is deafening. Yet, in 2008, Pennsylvania may be the most critical battleground state, becoming the Florida/Ohio of 2008. Predominantly a paperless state, dependent on DRE (direct record electronic) machines, there is no way to recount results independent of the machines. We are facing a faith-based election in Pennsylvania in 2008.

Bucks County Commissioner Diane Marseglia will share her ideas on improving citizen involvement in county government and improving the flow of information between the citizenry and their government. She will discuss election systems weaknesses in Bucks County as well the possible impact of the 2008 Pennsylvania elections on the country. Commissioner Marseglia will address problems around using paperless DREs and her own position on what remedies are needed in time for 2008.

She will also review her standing on HR 5036 and address whether there is enough time in her county to change systems.

Calls to Ms. McLaughlin and Commissioner Marseglia will be welcome.

As always, the incomparable John Gideon of Voters Unite will be on hand to share up-to-the-minute voting news and analysis you won't hear anywhere else.

****************************************************

Voice of the Voters, hosted by Mary Ann Gould, is an hour devoted to voting rights and election reform. Ultimately it is an exploration of Representative Democracy itself and the responsibilities of citizens and their elected representatives. It airs every Wednesday night at 8:00 PM ET on 1360 AM and on the Internet. (http://wnjc.duxpond.com/)

Dial-up Internet users: Please turn off all other programs in order to receive clearest broadcast.

Listeners can call in questions live at 856-227-1360 and submit questions in advance at the Voice of the Voters website.

Archived Voice of the Voters shows are available here.

Bio for Alysoun McLaughlin

Alysoun McLaughlin is a lobbyist with a decade of experience representing state and local governments on Capitol Hill. As Associate Legislative Director with the National Association of Counties, she organizes lobbying efforts by county officials to oppose unfunded mandates and strives to foster coordination among federal, state, and local governments in addressing a broad range of policy challenges facing the nation. Alysoun is a leading national advocate for the county officials who are responsible for administering most elections for federal, state and local office. She is also a pollworker in Montgomery County, Maryland, and a member of the Board of Advisors for the Pollworker Institute.

Coalition for Voting Integrity

IF IT'S BROKE, DON'T FIX IT

January 29, 2008 at 11:49:52

Headlined on 1/29/08:
IF IT'S BROKE, DON'T FIX IT

by Teresa Blakely (Posted by Victrola) Page 1 of 1 page(s)

http://www.opednews.com



Crony Capitalism and the Demise of Our Democracy
The final chapter?

Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner's EVEREST study has demonstrated how badly the Ohio taxpayers were ripped off by dishonest voting machine vendors and complicit Board of Election Officials. Brunner has been forced to act decisively ahead of the presidential election to address a crisis of election integrity that she inherited from former Secretary J Kenneth Blackwell and former Ohio Republican Party Chair and Director of Cuyahoga County Board of Elections Bob Bennett. Bennett's "kill the messenger" attack on Brunner is a way to divert blame for the consequences of years of corrupt and incompetent "bad old boy" election management. Bennett remains true to his crony constituency, the voting machine vendors, by refusing to address the dangers posed to our democracy by notoriously fraud-friendly touchscreen voting machines. Push a button, accept the computer output, no audits, no questions asked. A most excellent way to choose the next leader of the free world.



It boggles my mind that Bennett, can tell reporters that he had not seen the EVEREST report yet claim there is nothing wrong with the voting machines. This sort of willful ignorance is what contributed to the purchase of inadequately tested, fraud-friendly electronic voting machines in the first place. Secretary Brunner does not want to have insecure, defective voting machines in use in Ohio for the next presidential election. Any attempt to thwart this goal is suspect.

--What confidence crisis?

The following Republicans have not conducted themselves in a manner that inspires trust in their judgment and integrity in managing our elections. Jack Abramoff represented Diebold at the time when the House Government Operations Committee, chaired by Bob Ney, was establishing rules for electronic voting systems. Diebold contributed at least $275,000 in lobbying fees to Jack Abramoff's law firm, Greenberg Traurig. Former Ohio Congressman Bob Ney, another convicted felon and the lead sponsor of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA)strongly opposed legislation requiring a paper audit trail[1]. Ney spearheaded the hasty move to electronic voting machines [2]. Diebold's then CEO Wally O'Dell, who promised to deliver Ohio votes to George W. Bush [3], resigned amidst securities fraud litigation [4]. Ken Blackwell was Secretary of State while co-chairing the Bush/Cheney campaign[5]. Now chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. John Conyers' report on "What Went Wrong in Ohio" described massive and unprecedented voter irregularities in 2004 caused by intentional misconduct and illegal behavior, much of it involving Blackwell [6]. Mitch Given, a Diebold lobbyist contributed $10,000 to Blackwell's gubernatorial campaign. [7] Looking back to the early 1990's, convicted computer fraud felon Jeff Dean programmed what became Diebold's optiscan software.[8] In 2004 Franklin County Board of Election Director Matt Damschroder accepted $10,000 from a Diebold intermediary and donated it to the Franklin County Republican party. [9] Remarkably, in 2007 Damschroder was unanimously elected President of the Ohio Association of Election Officials.[10] In 2006 the Republican dominated Ohio Legislature removed the HB-3 requirement for a random audit of the electronic voting machine tallies. Ethically challenged individuals will always be drawn to high stakes political endeavors. This is precisely why our method of vote counting must be above reproach.

-- Read the Report. I call this broken.
( The following section was previously posted by this author to OP ED news on 1/6/08)[11]

EVEREST like the countless credible, critical, reviews of electronic voting machines that preceded it, found numerous serious security vulnerabilities in basic electronic voting machine system design and implementation. The academic reviewers on the EVEREST team describe the electronic voting system put in place under Ken Blackwell as possessing "critical security failures that render their technical controls insufficient to guarantee a trustworthy election." As part of the EVEREST project, MicroSolved, Inc. (MSI), performed penetration tests of three voting machines systems in use in Ohio: Premier (Diebold), ES &S and Hart Intercivic. MSI's Executive Summary report concluded that all three vendors had failed to adopt, implement and follow "even the most basic set of information security guidelines" used in other industries.

MSI uncovered a myriad of common vulnerabilities and weaknesses many of which have been known for several years and still exist in the system components. They reported that many components lacked basic security controls such as firewalls, antivirus and other mechanisms for protecting system integrity. [12]

Princeton computer scientist Ed Felten considered the EVEREST report to be the scariest e-voting security report yet. He questioned how the ES&S iVotronic touchscreen voting machine ever got certified, noting that a machine with so many design errors must be susceptible to misrecording or miscounting votes due to ordinary glitches that plague computer systems. He considered the iVotronic too risky to use even if all poll workers and voters were angels. Among the many potential touchscreen security breaches that alarmed Felten was an undocumented backdoor function that allows a voter or poll worker to alter vote totals using a magnet and a personal digital assistant. [13]

-- Expensive. What's an honest election worth?

How is it that the cost of moving to a more secure accountable method of vote tabulation is now too expensive? In 2003 Blackwell was moving full speed ahead to purchase Diebold DRE's that he explicitly did not want to have a paper trail. Blackwell issued this directive in January of '05, the same month in which it was discovered he had acquired Diebold stock worth almost ten-thousand dollars. [14] Blackwell and company could not spend 100 million fast enough when purchasing incompetently designed electronic voting machines from disreputable vendors. Ask Ken Blackwell what sort of election official opts for voting technology that is unaccountable in the first place. How does one explain the expenditure of $100 million of taxpayer money on voting machines that are so insecure as to be untrustworthy in our elections? Ohio still has never had a complete accounting of how Blackwell spent HAVA money in 2005. What we see here is unregulated, partisan, crony capitalism from the Federal Election Commission all the way down to our County Boards of Election.

It would be a serious mistake to continue to use DRE voting machines that are extremely fraud friendly in a time when it is widely known how insecure these voting machines are. When a DRE voting machine is corrupted or malfunctions on election night, votes are irretrievably lost. If our election outcomes are to be decided by competing hackers or election insiders who infect electronic voting machines with computer viruses then our democracy is history.

References:

[1] Abramoff-Diebold connection: http://coloradovoter.net/bcv-archive/msg03062.html
/>
[2] Ney opposes audit trail for DREs: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=2262
/>
[3] O'Dell fundraising letter (2003): http://rawstory.com/printstory.php?story=1570
/>
[4] O'Dell securities fraud litigation: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5468
/>
[5] Blackwell co-chairing Bush/Cheney 2004 campaign: http://www.thesentinel.com/283370491126756.php">href="http://www.thesentinel.com/283370491126756.php">http://www.thesentinel.com/283370491126756.php/>
[6] Massive and unprecedented irregularities in 2004: Preserving Democracy: What Went Wrong in Ohio, Status Report of the House Judiciary Committee Democratic Staff (Rep. John Conyers, Jr.), January 5, 2005. Page 4:

[7] Diebold lobbyist donates to Blackwell: http://www.wtol.com/Global/story.asp?S=5012724/>
[8] Jeff Dean: http://www.defendersofdemocracy.com/drupal/node/54
/>
[9] Damschroder: $10,000 donation: http://www.thesentinel.com/283370491126756.php
/>
[10]Damschroder OAEO: http://vote.franklincountyohio.gov/boe/assets/pdf/press-releases/PR-03092007.pdf
/>
[11] Blakely: http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_teresa_b_080106_everest_3a_the_truth_a.htm
/>
[12]Ohio SOS Everest Executive Summary>http://www.sos.state.oh.us/sos/info/EVEREST/04-Microsolved--Comprehensive-ExecSummRpt.pdf
/>
[13]Felton's comments: http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/?p=1236
/>
[14]Blackwell buys Diebold: http://www.dispatch.com/live/contentbe/dispatch/2006/04/04/20060404-A1-01.html
/>
[15]Blackwell can't account for how all HAVA money spent;
http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/081905Madsen/081905madsen.html

BALLOTS WERE NOT SECURED FOR THE NEW HAMPSHIRE RECOUNT

Please take a few minutes and watch the below video from New Hampshire. There is more information coming on this story. I also assisted, along with other patriots to start the investigation days prior to the start of the recount, and then as it began. Bev Harris has stepped up unlike no other citizen I know to make sure that America gets to see "behind the curtain" in New Hampshire's presidential election. Of importance here... New Hampshire holds the first primary for the office of President of the United States, which sets the tone for the nation. The current tone is one hell of a bad song. Please look for yourself, and distribute the below video links and information widely. If you are able, please donate to Blackboxvoting.org.

Onward to Justice,

Paddy Shaffer
Director, The Ohio Election Justice Campaign
paddy@columbus.rr.com
(614) 761-0621
http://www.electiondefensealliance.org/OEJC
http://www.wakeupandsaveyourcountry.com/oejc.html

WOSU Call In Election Reform with Board of Elections Officials

http://streaming.osu.edu/wosu/openline/012808bOL.mp3

11:00 AM - Election Reform with Board of Elections Officials
Franklin County Board of Elections officials discuss reform of the election process.

The New Hampshire recount "Shame of Custody"

For those of you interested in the unfolding story of the New Hampshire recount, take a moment and look at the below link.

http://www.opednews.com:80/articles/opedne_bev_harr_080125_the_new_hampshire__22s.htm

The video has already had over 19,094 views. Many thanks to Bev Harris for inviting me to join her, and for all her work while I was there, and her continuing work after I left. For those of you able to donate, please send off some dollars to www.blackboxvoting.org and know that Bev puts that money to good use.

Onward with Liberty and Justice for All,

Paddy Shaffer

Director, The Ohio Election Justice Campaign

paddy@columbus.rr.com

(614) 761-0621

Slacker BOE Members Ignore Brunner Survey Order

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/gov/default.asp

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Survey says. . .

Despite a directive by Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner ordering all county Board of Elections members to respond to a survey about voting systems by a Friday deadline, Brunner's office has not received responses from 98 of the boards' 352 members as of today.

Jeff Ortega, a spokesman for Brunner, said it's unclear what legal or punitive action board members could face. The office's election division is calling tardy members -- which make up about 28 percent of all board members today, Ortega said, adding: "Just fill out the survey.''

Brunner's survey found 61 percent of Republican board members are not concerned about a scientific report last month that all of Ohio's voting systems "carry serious risks to voting integrity." About 71 percent of the Democratic respondents, however, said they are concerned about the study's findings.

The survey also reflects a split within county boards when asked if they wanted to keep touch-screen voting machines -- which Brunner recommends replacing. If funding is available, about 31 percent of all respondents favored switching from touch-screen to optical scan -- which uses paper ballots.

Of the optical scan counties, only 13 percent said they'd agree to counting ballots centrally instead of at the precinct level.

Preliminary results indicate a general resistance to change, even if funding is provided, Brunner said.

Respondents:
254 total respondents out of 352 (72 percent of total)
133 or 53 percent Republican
121 or 48 percent Democrat

Do you have concerns as a result of the EVEREST findings (Direct Recording Electronic & Optical Scan counties)?
Total respondents 254
180 responded no (71 percent of total)
110 or 61 percent Republican
70 or 39 percent Democrat

68 responded yes (27 percent of total)
20 or 29 percent Republican
48 or 71 percent Democrat
(Four Democrats and two Republicans did not respond)

Do you wish to change your county's voting system to Central Count from the current precinct-level count? (Optical scan counties only)
Total respondents: 97
80 responded no (73 percent of total)
41 or 51 percent Republican
39 or 49 percent Democrat

14 responded yes (13 percent of total)
10 or 72 percent Republican
4 or 29 percent Democrat

7 did not respond

If funding is available to cover costs, do you wish to switch from touch-screen to Optical Scan or Central Count? (touch-screen counties only)
Total respondents: 158
92 responded no (58 percent of total)
44 or 48 percent Republican
48 or 52 percent Democrat

50 responded yes (31 percent of total)
26 or 52 percent Republican
24 or 48 percent Democrat

16 did not respond

"Change is difficult for many people, and our election officials seem to be struggling with our recommendations to move to optical scan paper ballots to provide more security and accountability for Ohio's election system," Brunner said in a news statement. "We must move forward now to prepare for November."

Since the results of Brunner's EVEREST report were made public last month, Brunner said her office "has been barraged with unsolicited calls and e-mails from individuals in the voting public who are mostly in favor of the need for the study and the proposed recommendations."

The running tally of responses is nearly 4-to-1 in favor of Brunner's plans to move to a paper ballot optical scan system to protect the integrity of the vote, according to her staff.

"Most voters seem to be asking why the controversy over a change to paper ballots that will provide for greater accountability and confidence that their vote will be counted," Brunner said today.

For readers able to access an Excel spreadsheet of all respondents, go here