http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/artic...-2004Dec14.html

"Electoral problems prevented many thousands of Ohioans from voting on Nov. 2. In Columbus, bipartisan estimates say that 5,000 to 15,000 frustrated voters turned away without casting ballots. "

To be fair (like anyone cares about "fair" when it comes to AMERICAN voters) can you imagine the newspapers running articles on this for a whole month? Nothing was happening. The lack of any motion has been killing all of us. Now..... will they focus on the real questions or plow through all the false leads we've already discarded?

At least is was on 1A above the fold, which is a difficult position to get without the executive editor/publisher agreeing to that. So maybe at long last, the Post is jumping on this. I'm sure after the Rather incident, the MSM are even more cautious. We need to email the Post, and encourage them to stay on this and get to the bottom of it. Don't forget, the Watergate burglary was a 2" local news story on the first day!!

After the election, local political activists seeking a recount analyzed how Franklin County officials distributed voting machines. They found that 27 of the 30 wards with the most machines per registered voter showed majorities for Bush. At the other end of the spectrum, six of the seven wards with the fewest machines delivered large margins for Kerry.

Voters in most Democratic wards experienced five-hour waits, and turnout was lower than expected. "I don't know if it's by accident or design, but I counted a dozen people walking away from the line in my precinct in Columbus," said Robert Fitrakis, a professor at Columbus State Community College and a lawyer involved in a legal challenge to certifying the vote.

This situation could have been easily avoided and the Democrats (because we cannot depend on the Repubs to ensure fair voting) should have seen to it that there were equal # of machines in the precincts. It seems to me that they did nothing on the front end to ensure every one could vote and that every vote was counted. They KNEW that this occurs but did nothing in advance to prevent it.

They may not have been able to deter the rigging of the machines, but then again, maybe they could have. Could they have ensured that whenever someone has access to the voting machines, a witness from the other party is present?

It's a step in the right direction that this is being reported more and more in the MSM and I think the article was pretty fair within the context of MSM. It did cite several examples and noted that despite how both Dem and Repub leaders are being low key about this, the rank and file Dems are outraged.

It just makes me sick that this occurred and I'm very disappointed in my party for not taking steps to prevent it.

Forget lump of coal, send a toy soldier.

This way Bush will get thousands of toy soldiers for his next war and maybe he will spare the flesh & blood ones (or get the hint)