By James Donahue

While they had their hands on the reigns, the Republicans, especially in key pivotal states where electoral college winners control the outcome of presidential elections, did all they could to make sure the poor and minority groups, that tend to be Democrats, could not get their votes counted even if they got to a voting booth.

Consequently, there was a rash of “provisional” ballots cast by people who were allowed to vote, but their vote was set aside for counting later, in the event of a close race and a court decision that allowed the “provisional” ballots to be added to the tally.

The provisional ballot concept was apparently part of a compromise in the federal Help America Vote Act, signed into law by President Bush in 2002. This act has been found to have been a camouflage for making voter identification rules so tough not all citizens are allowed through the screening process. The act changed voting technology so computerized electronic voting machines, which have been found to be easily rigged, are used in place of paper ballots.

The impact of this act, and many other “tricks” by Republican dominated state and county clerks and election workers, were clearly felt on Tuesday.

Provisional ballots were cast by hundreds of thousands of voters in every state in the union. Nearly all were disqualified from having their votes counted for such reasons as: they did not have a photo identification, they were forced to move and no longer lived at the address showing on their voter identification card, or perhaps somebody in a public office misspelled their name when it was entered into the computerized voting system.

The problem appears to have been by design, and aimed directly at the very people who would tend to cast votes for Barack Obama. We heard one estimate that as many as one in every 10 voters were forced to use provisional ballots, thus did not have their vote counted.

Obama and his campaign workers were well aware of this Republican generated snag. This is why they worked so hard, knocking on doors, pouring billions of dollars into a barrage of television advertising, and urging blacks, Hispanics and the young people to get involved in this election. That so many Americans heeded the call, and felt so strongly about kicking the crooks out of Washington and many state offices, Obama achieved the victory he sought.

Some people are saying that Obama did not win a landslide victory but we believe he did. If all of the votes could be counted, we believe Obama may have carried more precincts, counties and states than are now showing on the election maps. We also believe more Republican senators and Congressmen and women would be giving up their seats in January.

This issue is still a hot one. If the Democrats pursue possible acts of clear-cut election manipulation and fraud, and can prove their cases in the courts, we believe the final election tally will be drastically changed.

We urge a careful investigation of this very probable crime, and the sentencing of all people involved to some serious prison time. What it involved was a secret attempt to take over the operation of our nation by adopting complex and crooked voting laws and twisting their legal interpretations to destroy our Constitutional and Democratic system. And that is treason in our book.