This Is How A Loser Wins in Ohio

Bob Fitrakis writes in "The Free Press," "And so the sorting and discarding of Kerry votes begins."

Have you ever heard of starting a game and then changing the rules in the middle of the game? Well, I've heard of doing that when you are eight years old, but I don't recommend it for a presidential election. Here is what happened in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, last week:

A new rule for counting provisional ballots in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, was implemented onTuesday, November, 9, at about 2:30 p.m. This new rule mandates that provisional ballots in yellow packets must be "Rejected" if there is no "date of birth" on the packet. The original "Provisional Verification Procedure" stated that "Date of birth" is not mandatory and should not reject a provisional ballot. Requirements included the voter's name, address and a signature that matched the signature in the county's database.

Election observer Victoria Lovegreen reported that nearly 80 yellow-jacketed provisional ballots were rejected due to lack of DOB in just an hour and 45 minutes after the "new" rule was created. How many ballots will end up in the "Reject" bin before it's all over?

There will be a recount in Ohio. Both the Green party candidate and the Libertarian candidate have requested it and have paid the required fee before the deadline. However, does anyone doubt that Katherine Blackwell, Kenneth Blackwell, that is, will do whatever it takes to foil any serious attempt to get an accurate count? The Republican party simply will not lose Ohio, no matter what.

[Click on the blog title to read the press release from Truthout.]