First and foremost, thank you for your persistence, patience and dedication yesterday.

With the exception of a few glitches early on, Election Day was surprisingly tame compared to recent years. Here's a link to some Columbus Dispatch coverage of voting issues.

While the headline and lead are congratulatory, deeper in the article there are many of the same observations and concerns Video the Vote documented as well. Confusion over paper versus provisional ballots and early voting as opposed to absentee demonstrate the need for clearer communication at all levels of the voting process. Poll worker training, independent voter registration and increased media coverage leading up to Election Day did turn out voters in greater numbers, but still not in the quantities anticipated. Further, the high number of provisional ballots, especially in urban areas, suggests opportunities for improvement.

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A former Montague resident and plaintiff in a federal class-action lawsuit says he's "100 percent certain" that the 2004 presidential election was stolen, and believes the Republican Party is attempting to steal the 2008 election as well.

Harvey Wasserman, who lived in Montague for 14 years and is now editor of the online Freepress.org as well as author of four books on vote-tampering and disenfranchisement in Ohio four years ago, predicts that Democratic candidate Barack Obama will need a 10 percent vote margin to compensate for election manipulation and racism if he's to win the presidency.

"There have been political shenanigans throughout history," said Wasserman, who authored an alternative history of the United States in 1972 and 11 other books, including "How the GOP Stole America's 2004 Election & Is Rigging 2008." But in 2000, 2004, "and here again in 2008," the Republican party has been working "to disenfranchise as many potential Democratic voters as possible."