There are several new signs from Ohio indicating that the Governor and Sec'y of State have taken steps to ensure that Romney will win the 18 electoral votes from Ohio:

1) In his most recent public appearance, Kasich stated in the most unequivocal and certain terms that "WE will win this election." The intonation and pronounciation of these words indicated that he, as Governor, has made the decision to do whatever it takes to make sure that Romney is found to win the election. There was no doubt in his voice - it was not just a typical slogan, but rather a statement of fact with a tone of warning, to prepare the listeners for the inevitability of this fact.

2) To prepare Americans and Ohioans for the Romney victory, Kasich and Romney conveyed the message that Romney is already ahead in the early voting. In other words, it is already clear, already known to them that they have won the early vote in Ohio. This is tantamount to a pre-announcement of the decision of the governing administration of the State of Ohio, that they will certify that Romney has won the early vote in Ohio.

3) The Governor and Sec'y of State of Ohio have continued to undertake a programmatic and exhaustive effort to reduce the participation of Democratic voters in Ohio. Dozens of efforts have been documented, and although some have been overruled in the courts, others are continuing. These include seemingly "inadvertent errors" (or doing things accidentally, on purpose), which consistently make it harder for Democratic votes to be counted in Ohio (such as mailing voter materials weeks after requested, or with inaccurate information). It is clear that the Ohio efforts are part of a coordinated strategy among Republican administrations in swing states including CO and FL, as well as Ohio.

4) The State of Ohio, by decision of Gov Kasich and Secy of State Husted, has undertaken, just days before the election, a comprehensive installation of Diebold software into voting machines in half of the Ohio voting precincts. The use of Diebold machines in the past has been associated with major vote tabulation errors, which have systematically supported Republican candidates. In 2004, such "errors" delivered Ohio's electoral votes to GW Bush, resulting in Bush being declared the winner of the Presidency. It was discovered, in 2008, that there was a systematic effort undertaken by Ohio Secy of State Blackwell, in coordination with Ohio's Governor and Republican leaders, to hire a private firm to tabulate the electronic votes of Ohio. The private firm hired to tabulate the votes and declare the winner was a major contributor to the Bush campaign. In 2008, the owner of the firm admitted in a statement that the violation had taken place. A few weeks later, he perished while piloting his personal aircraft, thus ending the investigation. However, it is clear that Ohio's vote was stolen in 2004 due to systematic fraud committed by Ohio Governor and Secretary of State in that year. At least 300,000 Democratic votes were not tabulated electronically.

5) Large numbers of Ohio voters have been deprived of the right to vote in the 2012 election, due to decisions by Ohio State officials not to approve registrations, not to provide materials to voters in time, etc.

6) It was announced on Saturday, by the Secretary of State Jon Husted that the vote in Ohio will be transparent, and that he will not learn the results of the election until the voters do. This was the same arrangement as that used in 2004, when hundreds of thousands of Democratic votes were not tabulated, resulting in the election of GWBush.

In 2004, as in 2012, the Secretary of State's office itself did not tabulate the votes, but received the vote tabulation totals electronically, from the private firm that the State had hired to do the electronic tabulation of votes from Diebold voting machines with newly installed software. This had the effect of insulating the Secretary of State's office from accusations of vote tampering - - it provided "plausible deniability" long enough to ensure that the electoral college's decision in 2004 would be irreversible.

In summary, the Ohio Governor and Secy of State (SOS) have been carrying out a systematic program to manipulate the results of the 2012 Ohio election. They are continuing to take measures to hold the number of Democratic voters to a minimum. Some of these measures will be in place on election day, and voters are on notice to expect major difficulties in voting in Ohio on election day, due to multiple restrictions, voter suppression efforts, and voter intimidation efforts.

Kasich and Husted have made it clear that they will do anything within their power to ensure that Romney will be found, in the electronic tabulation of the vote from Ohio, to have won the State's 18 electoral votes.

Although it is clear that Ohio Democrats have over 2,000 lawyers enlisted to assist with the Ohio election, it should be noted that efforts undertaken after the election are often found to have no legal remedy, as in Florida's 2000 election. In other words, after the vote is cast and tabulated, the vote is effectively a "fait accompli," and it cannot be undone or repeated. Votes can be recounted, but the process can become so complex and disorderly that the courts are limited in their ability or inclination to over-rule the State authorities.

Karl Rove is one of the Republican strategists who has worked with Ohio and other State officials to develop kitchen sink efforts to use every conceivable method to deny Democratic voters the right to vote, to suppress their votes, to intimidate them, and to make it harder for them to vote. The Republican planners have effectively used a "game theory" approach, working out all the kinds of legal remedies that the Democratic lawyers might use to limit the damage they are doing to the voting process. In other words, they have "gamed" this out, already. They know how to violate the law in such a way that the courts will not be likely to overcome the net result of their efforts (as in 2004). So, although we can wish the Democratic teams of lawyers, we can be assured that those working with Rove have already "gamed" the whole process carefully, so that no Republicans will be caught and punished, and so that Romney is indeed found to "win" the State of Ohio in 2012.

This is why it is so important for President Obama to be elected via other electoral pathways - - by winning Virginia, Colorado, North Carolina, or Florida.

This is also why it is vital for the Ohio Obama vote to be as high as possible. The Republicans were able to miscount 300,000 Democratic votes in 2004, but they might not be able to mis-tabulate 500,000 Democratic votes in 2012.