Fraud, Theft and Judicial Contempt

Common Dreams has an article published in the Columbus Free Press on Friday entitled, "Ohio's Official Non-Recount Ends Amidst New Evidence of Fraud, Theft and Judicial Contempt Mirrored in New Mexico." The article goes into detail about the horrors of the Ohio election and the recount, as well as Gov. Richardson's attempt to squash a recount here in New Mexico. This article is really a must-read in terms of understanding what happened in Ohio and New Mexico, and you're encouraged to click through to the entire text at the link above. Some excerpts:

COLUMBUS -- The Ohio presidential recount was officially terminated Tuesday, December 28.

But the end comes amidst bitter dispute over official certification of impossible voter turnout numbers, over the refusal of Ohio's Republican Supreme Court Chief Justice to recuse himself from crucial court challenges involving his own re-election campaign, over the Republican Secretary of State's refusal to testify under subpoena, over apparent tampering with tabulation machines, over more than 100,000 provisional and machine-rejected ballots left uncounted, over major discrepancies in certified vote counts and turnout ratios, and over a wide range of unresolved disputes that continue to leave the true outcome of Ohio's presidential vote in serious doubt.

Officially, Republican Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell has confirmed substantial errors in the vote count, with a shift of some 1,200 votes based on statewide recounts of about 3% of the vote. But additional new evidence of massive vote-counting fraud across the state continues to be unearthed, calling into question George W. Bush’s alleged victory in Ohio and pending re-election in the Electoral College.
[. . .]
Meanwhile, a new precinct-by-precinct analysis in many Ohio counties indicates that Bush's margin here was likely obtained by fraud. That is the main claim of the election challenge suit now at the Ohio Supreme Court, where Ohio's GOP Supreme Court Chief Justice, Thomas Moyer, has refused to recuse himself, even though allegations of vote switching – where votes cast for one candidate are assigned to another in the computerized tabulation stage – involve his own re-election campaign.
[. . .]
Parallel problems have now surfaced in New Mexico, where a bitter recount battle is also being waged. At a public hearing in Columbus convened by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), senior Democrat on the US House Judiciary Committee, Rev. Jesse Jackson testified that Sen. Kerry was informed in a phone conversation that optical scan machines were being used in New Mexico to steal votes. New Mexico allegedly went to Bush by some 7,000 votes in an election with widespread charges of manipulation and fraud, especially in heavily Hispanic precincts. According to Jackson, Kerry said he know that every single New Mexico precinct fitted with optical scan machines went for Bush, demographically a virtual impossibility.

But New Mexico's Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson has refused to cooperate with Green Party and Audit the Vote activists demanding a recount, acceding to decisions that could raise the price for a recount to well over a million dollars. Despite its huge leftover war chest, the Democratic Party has not come forward to help push New Mexico's recount, which many believe could give the state to Kerry. As of now, no recount has even begun, with the issue still mired in the courts over the question of finances.

On Monday, January 3, Rev. Jackson will lead a rally in Columbus demanding, among other things, an Ohio revote.
[. . .]
The alleged Bush victory could be challenged in the much-anticipated January 6 reporting of the Electoral College to Congress. But given the mounting indications of manipulation, fraud and theft, it is virtually certain the debate over who really won Ohio -– as well as New Mexico and Florida -- and the presidency will be bitterly disputed for many years to come.