UPDATE ON ALLEDGED BLACKWELL OHIO VOTER PURGES:
I'm a journalist in Cleveland, Ohio who has followed election issues closely. I hadn't heard about this so I started to make calls. By last night, I had talked to seven people: election protection activists, organizers and attorneys, and people with Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs-Jones' office and the Ted Strickland gubernatorial campaign. I spoke with Vicki Lovegren, founder of Ohio Vigilance http://www.ohiovigilance.org/ and organizer of two big election conferences here, who is all over anything she perceives as an attempt to game the system. I spoke with the Cuyahoga County election protection coordinators, Chris Nance (also of the congresswoman's office) and attorney Lesley Huff. I spoke with the election observer coordinator in Strickland's Cleveland campaign office and with a spokesperson in his Columbus campaign office. None had seen such a letter or heard of anyone receving it. It seemed incredible to me that such a letter could go out and no one in the most urban, Democratic county (or anywhere else) in the state had heard about it.

I would have posted this diary last night, except that in the evening, a piece from OpEdNews came to my attention, purporting that Columbus lawyer, investigative journalist, election activist and also our Green candidate for governor, Bob Fitrakis, was going to court over voter purging, the implication being (although it wasn't spelled out in the article) that it was over this particular letter. I wanted to speak to Bob before posting anything. I left a message for him this morning and didn't hear back, although I did speak in the meantime to Randy Borntrager, the communications director of the Ohio Democratic Party, who said the same thing as everyone else: "If there is such a letter, we haven't seen it." He also said it was his understanding that a voter purge could not happen this way under state law.

This afternoon at 4:30 p.m., I went on the Ed Schultz Show to talk about this. (I wrote to the show an e-mail last night in response to a caller I heard on the way home and this morning I got a call from his producer asking me to go on). A few minutes later, I got an enraged phone call from Fitrakis's campaign manager, who insisted I speak to him immediately. I'm not sure what she was enraged about, because when I spoke to Bob, he simply reiterated what everyone else has said. He has seen no such letter, and the concerns he's legally pursuing (he's always going after some election travesty and you don't have to invent them to find them in Ohio) have nothing to do with any such letter. He mentioned a whole bunch of voter-purge attempts (the man is a fountain of elections-related information -- if you're interested, go to his website http://www.freepress.org/ and check out his articles and books), but none vaguely similar to this one or within the same time-frame. He also echoed what Borntrager said about this particular ploy not being valid.

So to sum up: I have spoken to a large group of people in Ohio who are actively involved in the election, many specifically in voter protection, and none has heard anything about such a letter. I am NOT saying no purging has happened at any time or that no one's registration has been lost. I AM saying that no sinister Diebold program was activated to deliberately target certain demographic groups in time for this election. The way things are going, it won't be necessary to defeat Diebold investor/Secretary of State, chaos division/Republican gubernatorial candidate J. Kenneth Blackwell. He was unendorsed today by a staunchly Republican paper in Findlay, Ohio, due to his disgraceful meltdown in Monday night's debate. Unendorsed! How often have you heard of that happening???? http://www.thecourier.com/...

If you're in Ohio, we need you to be vigilant, we need you to volunteer to be an observer on election day (if you're in Cleveland, call Tom at the Cleveland Strickland office, 216.696.2006), and to work up until election day to make sure Blackwell and his cronies are looking for work outside politics on November 8, and most of all, we need you to vote! Don't let anything discourage you. Oh, and if you're in Northeast Ohio, come downtown to the Plain Dealer Pavilion in the Flats at 7 p.m. for the big Turnaround Ohio rally with the entire statewide ticket- and me! I will be singing with the "Singers for Strickland" Choir! It's free, and parking at the Powerhouse is discounted.

REPORTS EMERGING OF PURGED VOTER ROLLS.
For IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wed., Oct 18, 2006

Officials in 3 unnamed states and in Ohio allegedly involved in plot to purge voter rolls.

Network of Citizens has learned from Daily Kos that efforts to purge the voter rolls have been put into effect through the development of expansive caging lists. Kos, citing an unnamed source, writes

“A friend, in a position to be present at lunches of GOP insiders here in DC …was present as a group of Moderate GOP members with Ohio ties lamented how far the party had strayed. Then, one insider… stopped the conversation. He told table that it was impossible they would lose either house. He also predicts an Ohio GOP sweep.

He informed the group that over the last year, in four critical states the GOP needs to hold huge purges of the voter rolls have just been finished. The insider did not say which four states, but did say Ohio was among them.

His claim was a new Diebold voter registry system had been installed over the last year. The last week of July and the first week of August a "test run" was made of the systems ability to purge ineligable voters. The purge generated names and test letters sent out to 1.2 million Ohio addresses with a focus on University's, Apartment addresses with high turnover. He claims they made the letters seem just functionary, but they have an action component to avoid being purged from the rolls.

He further added, that since it was conducted as a "test" they only sent letters to a limited number of suspect addresses and "I suspect Blackwell chose criteria very very favorable for us."

Note, this is breaking news from this source only. Election reform activists are busy trying to verify information, and identify other sources. It is critical that voters check with their county officials and verify that their registrations are current, even if they successfully voted in the primaries.

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VELVETREVOLUTION.US EXPANDS MULTI-PRONGED ELECTION PROTECTION STRIKE FORCE CAMPAIGN
AS NOVEMBER'S GENERAL ELECTION NEARS

VelvetRevolution.us is expanding its Election Protection Strike Force campaign. The VR EP Strike Force is a new approach to non-partisan grassroots citizen action and includes a multi-pronged campaign to continue VR's fight for putting Americans elections back in the hands of the people.

The Election Protection Strike Force has been and will continue to target electronic voting problems and voter disenfranchisement schemes through:

$250,000 ELECTION FRAUD REWARD FUND to encourage whistleblowers to share information about election rigging. tips@velvetrevolution.us This reward will be paid for information about election fraud leading to overturning a House or Senate race and conviction of the person or persons responsible.

CAMPAIGN FOR EMERGENCY PAPER BALLOTS in every state - Our call for Emergency Paper Ballots in the November 7th election was introduced in both the U.S. House and Senate but was not passed prior to the fall recess. Our campaign has now moved to the state level as a broad coalition of election integrity organizations and leaders call upon Secretaries of State, Governors and State Election Directors to ensure that no legally registered voter can ever be turned away without being allowed to cast a vote.

DAYS OF DEMOCRACY will showcase some of the most egregious acts against fair elections during the days preceding the election. This effort will focus on communities around the nation as individuals and organizations fight for transparent, verifiable elections in the face of flawed new electronic voting equipment and procedures.

ELECTION DAY VIGILANCE CAMPAIGN will work in tandem with VideoTheVote.org to document illegal activities on election-day, and promote groups and citizens providing monitors at polling places around the country, such as PollworkersForDemocracy.org.

EXIT POLLING IN KEY RACES will provide data and information to help us decide if wrongdoing has occurred in elections.

ONGOING LITIGATION EFFORTS to raise money to support continuing lawsuits such as the one we helped launch in the Diebold voting machine "sleepover" fiasco during the Special U.S. House Election in California's 50th Congressional district earlier this year: Legal actions before the election aim to ensure that election procedures are followed. After the election we will pursue justice wherever it has been denied.

ONLINE COVERAGE ELECTION NIGHT OF ELECTION PROBLEMS AND ELECTION PROTECTION WORK AROUND THE NATION

Velvet Revolution Election Protection Strike Force is a national collaboration of grassroots organizations that have joined forces to reclaim our democracy by rescuing our elections from partisan politics and privatization through citizen oversight. www.velvetrevolution.us/electionstrikeforce.