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40 of 41 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
must read in light of orwellian media silence, July 26, 2005
Fitrakis's book should be required reading, especially for those that would prefer to have the next election be fair and honest. The problems in 2000 were not a result of incompetence, instead were created by those who successfully controlled the outcome. Fitrakis's book shows how the level of deceit, corruption, and control was escalated in 2004. Because of the silence of the media, we are faced with ever increasing levels of fraud and manipulation in upcoming elections. But this book sheds light on a very dark place. We will never recover the democractic form of government (that has been lost) until we reestablish honest elections. Nothing could be more important.
(It is not necessary to read all of the backup documents, the essence of the book is covered in 318 pages.
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38 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
No Basis for Confidence without Data and Methods disclosed, July 25, 2005
Fitrakis, a lawyer, knows very well that even in the simplest court case, expert witnesses have to disclose to the court and to the other side the data they use and the methods of analysis they adopt. Even a radar technician in a speeding case will have to disclose the calibration, workings, and methods of a radar gun in a simple speeding case, if they are at issue. Same with the breathalyzer and any other courtroom analysis, due process requires that examination and disclosure.
But in elections and especially in Ohio, the data (ballots) and the methods of analysis (trade secret corporate software) are not disclosed at all. Should any party out of power trust this arrangement? Where are and what happened to the checks and balances?
Of course, Fitrakis still doesn't have all the election data or all the methods. But there's a boatload of citizen documents in this collection to help you decide for yourself what really went on in Ohio 2004.
Without Fitrakis' book, there's no rational basis for confidence in the Ohio election or our elections generally wherever the data and methods are kept secret (only blind faith can get you that confidence). With Fitrakis's book, you'll have a rational basis and a lot of evidence showing affirmatively the inaccuracy and fraud and suppression of the vote in Ohio. My only quibble with Fitrakis is the implicit idea that he has to prove something, when the burden is on those who are keeping things secret and who are also, by the way, paid to administer elections in many cases. We should remember, as one judge put it in 2002, that democracies die behind closed doors.
But, in the absence of such a realization that secrecy is totally inappropriate in democratic elections, this book's information and its significant size will both help prop up and re-open the door to free and fair elections in Ohio and around the country.
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36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Essential Book for Researchers and Authors, July 28, 2005
This collection is a must-have for any author, researcher or concerned citizen interested in studying the volume of evidence strongly suggesting fraud in the 2004 Ohio election. The first 300 pages lays out the framework through a series of essays on how a well-devised multi-pronged plan of attack was implemented; the last 400 pages comprise the Appendix - those essential documents of record from pleadings, affidavits, official letters and statistical analyses, to a complete reprint of John Conyers' (D-MI) "Preserving Democracy: What Went Wrong in Ohio."
Books like these help Americans realize the inappropriate presence of machines in democratic elections, although it's far from the first. VoteScam: The Stealing of America by the Collier brothers (1992) and Black Box Voting: Ballot Tampering in the 21st Century by Bev Harris (2004) are two excellent resources for a more detailed understanding of how easy it is to tamper with election results when machines or computers are involved. "Essential Documents" goes one step further by detailing the tactics involved in vote suppression, voter intimidation, and public record obfuscation. When read together, no doubt remains about this or previous elections.
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