http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...el_pr/ohio_vote

400 Demand Recount at Ohio Statehouse

9 minutes ago Top Stories - AP


By JOHN McCARTHY, Associated Press Writer

COLUMBUS, Ohio - About 400 protesters gathered outside the Statehouse on Saturday to support a recount of the presidential election in Ohio and call for an investigation into Election Day irregularities.

Speakers addressing the crowd alleged that many voters were the victims of a fraud in which votes intended for John Kerry (news - web sites) were given to President Bush (news - web sites).


"I would like to welcome you to the Ukraine," said Susan Truitt, referring to the country where a new presidential runoff election was ordered after observers said the first one was rigged.


On Friday, a federal judge in Columbus ruled that a recount may proceed if two minority party candidates who sued for it can pay for it. Green and Libertarian party officials say they can.


A recount would likely not begin before Dec. 13, when Ohio's 20 electoral votes are officially counted.


Kerry would have won the presidency had he carried the state's 20 electoral votes. He conceded the day after the election, saying there were not enough provisional and other ballots to swing the results his way.


Bush won the state by about 119,000 votes, or 2 percentage points, according to an analysis of county board of elections results by The Associated Press.


Critics say Ohio's numbers are suspect because of several irregularities on election night. Those included disparities in the vote totals for different Democrats on the same ballot and the disqualification of more than 90,000 presidential votes on punch-card ballots because the choices could not be determined. A computer glitch on election night also recorded an extra 3,893 votes for Bush in one precinct in suburban Gahanna.


"There was no doubt in my mind that Kerry had enough votes. My fear was the votes would not be counted and that's been borne out," said Melissa Hedden, one of the protesters.


State and county election officials have said there were irregularities on Nov. 2, but no more than in any other election. They adamantly have denied there is any evidence of widespread wrongdoing.


The Kerry campaign has joined the lawsuit seeking a recount. Officials said they are not disputing the outcome of the race but want to make sure any recount is "done accurately and completely."

Nobody wants Ken in the henhouse!!

I hate to be the one to complain but:: Why the hell were there only 400 protesters at the Court House?
IMHO we better get our heads out of our A$$! We better get organized and start showing up to these events in force or we will be screwed.

ditto!

makes us look like "fringe"...

Americans are so lazy and stupid...bad combo in a democractic citizenry

First let me apologize for cross-posting this, but the original posting will soon be lost as it was on the thread regarding the live broadcast.

Just returned from the rally - it was fantastic! Would have liked to have seen more faces there, though. My estimation of attendees is higher than reported above, but could not see the end of the crowd, so will not guess. The speakers did a wonderful job, the band was great and so was the crowd!

I urge each and every one of you to attend the fair election rallies anytime they are near your area. Most people I have talked to offline in Ohio chose not to go to the rally as they are giving up hope. Although I haven't given up hope, the rally did "pump me up" and helped regain the strength to keep marching forward.

It was asked by the speakers for people to wear their suits to Blackwell's office (Borden Building) Monday at 11:00 to ask to him to recuse, let us get started with the vote counts, and to let him know that we are NOT going to let this theft of democracy happen!

If anyone of the people who worked to put this rally together are listening, THANK YOU and know that your efforts are greatly appreciated! It was cold, the wind was piercing, but it was worth every minute to hear people stand up and know that the vote is being challenged!

I got to come too and yes it was very cold but it was great, afterwards I went up and got to meet Cliff Arnebeck and Greg Palanst (sp). We are in a motel room right now and we are going to hear Jesse Jackson in a few minutes. After driving all this way, I want to hear it all!
Mr. Arnebeck said they will be filing the law suit on Mon. He also told me to my face they have the PROOF votes were changed.
I told him how proud and thankful I was watching him on C-span. I told him it brought tears to my eyes and that must have touched him, cause he leaned down and kissed me on the cheek.
Anyway I am so glad I came! Tell your friends not to give up now, we are just getting started. Off to hear Jesse

4democracy! Wonderful that you talked to Cliff and Greg. I started to approach them as well, and should have. I wanted to ask a question - to try to get an off the record answer - why is Kerry staying quiet on this? If you get a chance to ask this tonight, please do and send me a pm with the answer! I should have PM'ed you before you left for the rally so we could meet. Glad you made it and thank you for driving so far to be there!

wish we could hear jesse now.

4democracy - Thanks for the "up close and personal" report. Get all the info you can! It's disappointing only 400 turned out, but it probably wasn't widely publicized. Makes me wish I'd checked on flights to Columbus.

Had tears in my eyes through much of the rally.

Thanks for sharing with those of us who couldn't go. I couldn't even afford a plane ticket or gas. I would like to know if anyone got any other information out of Jesse Jackson or Greg Palast.

First I would like to say I am not being critical towards any of the people that showed up they deserve to be commended, but cold? I live in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and we had a rally to try and prevent the invasion of Iraq, and it was about 20 degrees Farenheit below zero, and over 200,000 people were there and the rally lasted for a couple of hours. For only 400 people to show up at this rally is pathetic. No disrespect intended towards you personally.

LOL, that is why I haven't moved there yet

The personal accounts are cool. Thanks. The headline/link to the article is, or was, on Yahoo's homepage. It's the first about the recount or related issues that I've seen posted there.

At least it is being covered. I remember when Kerry was at Wakefield, the amount attending was misrepresented by the media. It is difficult to estimate from the ground how many were there, but I thought it was more. Not near as many as should have been, though. I think when Monday's law suit is filed it will draw attention from MSM and maybe then the people who have given up will get with the program!

will we be able to hear jesse etc here?

http://blog.radioleft.com/

according to this thread there were 3000/4000 people in attendance.

don't know since i wasn't there but check it out:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discu...ress=203x112098

Probably, Palast is on live now.

i'm hearing ray beckerman now?

Oops it is Ray Beckerman on live now.

Okay - not live but should have a live broadcast soon! I just put a pot of coffee on, hopefully will have less errors in my postings after I drink a few cups

yay i must have the right station then

Hope Cliff remembers my friend Andy and his team!!!! If it wasn't for them, they would not have even got this far with the proof Ohio's votes were altered by the hacker!!!! I know a little work goes a long ways, good job to all the citizens standing up and fighting tooth and nail!!!!! :o :o :o

http://kpftweb.mcleodusa.net/

this address in real player

cliff arnebek beginning to speak now

Is there a replay of this? I missed it!

I wish I would have thought to ask that about Kerry today, I would love to know the answer to that question!
I was worried about the lawsuit since they didn't file it on Thurs, then they still didn't file on Fri. So I just knew it had fallen apart or something, but Mr. Arnebeck assured me it was going ahead on Monday. He said the name of the suit will be Moss v Bush, that is for Reverend Moss.
Tonight when they started the question and answer, we didn't stay for much of it and I wasn't able to get close to anybody there anyway. Except for Greg Palast,I bought his Dvd about Bush from him and he autographed it but he was so busy, I really didn't get to talk to him.
I wish we had made plans to meet up also, I didn't know for sure I was going to come until late last night. Who knows, we may come back and camp out on Blackwell"s doorstep! Ya'll really need to get rid of him. of course Bush will probably make him a cabinet member or something soon anyway, to thank him for selling out Ohio.
Bob Fitrakis has the best plans for Blackwell, he would like to see him in handcuffs being prosecuted for violating the RICO ACT.

400?

Yikes. That's really sad.

It was on a weekend. Most people did not have to work. Ohio is within driving range of hundreds of thousands of very active Democrats.

What the hell is going on?

Your welcome, I was very excited to meet these people as they have become so important in my life. All my free time is spent learning about and discussing Election 2004.
I wish there had been more people there also, but think about this, in 1965 about 600 hundred people changed the course of history in the march from Selma, Al to Montgomery.
http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/civilrights/al4.htm

It was mentioned several times today about this grassroots movement being like other events in history, such as the Sufferage and Civil Rights Movements. Someday people may be looking back at this and see all of us "conspiracy nuts" on the "internets" as real patriots who stood up for democracy.

At 1:45AM eastern I Google News'd the lead sentence: "Protesters support recount of Ohio ballots"

364 hits!

Winston-Salem Journal, NC - 1 hour ago
About 400 protesters gathered outside the Statehouse yesterday to support a recount of the presidential election in Ohio and call for an investigation into ...
Protesters Gather at Ohio Statehouse Washington Post
400 Demand Recount at Ohio Statehouse ABC News
all 363 related »

God bless Ohio. I wish I could be there rallying with you guys!

You said it for me rayray

Did this finally update again?

Does anyone know how many did show up for this rally? I don't trust the media's #s, as they always seem to trivialize anything that could benefit the democrats...

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My best guess from my own observation was approximately 1,500. I have been searching for photos of the event, so that I could make a better estimation. The only photo I have seen only has about 1/4 of the crowd. Maybe when people post more images, we can make a better estimation.

We need news of upcoming rallies or protests in Ohio highlighted on the front page of this sight so folks know what's happening and can attend. Moderators please help if at all possible!

Would like to see rally info cross pinned on each topic area.

Here's the Dem House Judiciary Committee members filed complaint letter to Blackwell:

http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/o...ellltr12204.pdf

Thanks for posting - read the letter yesterday, your post reminded me to print it out. Planning to put a copy of it on every bushee's desk that I work with. Maybe they will stop with their * tin foil hat comments!

Am I the only one who can't get this link to work for me....it just wont load...

Are you clicking on BrokeInOhio's link or typing it in?

I've tried it both ways

It wasn't my link but do you have a pop up blocker? If so, disable it and retry.

Still does not work....maybe non-american users are denied access <_<

Can you normally open pdf files? It is a pdf file.