Story behind the lockdown: Warren County OH & the 2004 election

[theHandpuppet]

I don't know about y'all but I ain't buyiin' what they're selling -- and it's not just "conspiracy theorists" who realize the Ohio vote was stolen!

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080316/NEWS01/303020039
Story behind the 2004 lockdown
Even amid terror warnings, secret count was 'wrong move'
BY JON CRAIG | [e-mail]

It’s one of the lingering mysteries of the 2004 presidential election.

In a key county in Southwest Ohio – amid vague references to “homeland security” – officials locked everyone else out of the board of elections as they counted punch-card ballots. President Bush emerged with more than 72 percent of the votes in Warren County, helping him narrowly win Ohio – and a second term.

Secrecy surrounding the count galvanized bloggers, anti-Bush activists and conspiracy theorists from around the globe. To this day, the lockdown is cited as evidence of an election stolen from Sen. John Kerry and the Democrats.

Now with another presidential election coming, The Enquirer, through public-records requests and interviews, can unravel the story of what happened on the night of Nov. 2, 2004 – and how officials tried to spin the event afterwards....

[Hart2008]

1. Something smells very bad here.

No conclusive evidence has ever emerged showing the lockdown affected the vote count, which was monitored by Democratic and Republican observers.
But on the Web, it became one of the oft-cited “irregularities” in the 2004 election in Ohio.

...

In a federal lawsuit and subsequent books, Richard Hayes Phillips, a scientist from Canton, N.Y., and Columbus attorneys Cliff Arnebeck and Robert J. Fitrakis, among others, documented what they described as abnormalities in the county’s punch-card ballot counts, including high numbers of Republicans who voted in favor of gay marriage in Southwest Ohio – contrary to elsewhere in the state – and supporting a Democratic candidate for chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court. They contend the anomalies indicate ballots were mishandled, miscounted or tampered with, and that the Warren County “lockdown’’ allowed this to happen undetected. Their lawsuit is pending in U.S. District Court in Columbus.

Hoffheimer said no one may ever know the full story of what happened in Warren County, or Ohio that night.

[elizfeelinggreat]

3. smells all right

"Hoffheimer said no one may ever know the full story of what happened in Warren County, or Ohio that night."

Why, are they all DEAD now?

[Peace Patriot]

2. "NOW wth another presidential election coming, The Enquirer...can unravel it?"

Why not THEN?

Hm?

[truth2power]

4. The Enquirer won't "unravel" it. Trust me...

It's my hometown paper. It's good to wrap used cat litter in. 'Nuff said!

[Peace Patriot]

5. Yeah, I figured. nt

[truedelphi]

6. Sorry that's the state of your local paper.

When I lived in Marin County, CA we had the Marin Independent Journal.

Despite Marin being super progressive, that newspaper made it seem like George W was our collective wet dream. Rumor had it that the paper had to be conservative as its owners are.

then I moved north and found out that the owners don't care what philosophy is espoused as long as the paper's ad revenue is at a certain level. And the por-George stuff is probably hurting the revenue.