Democratic Process?

The following is an e-mail from an ex-student who has dedictaed herself to making the world a better place through politics and writing. The following allegations are almost absurd. If true, then we all have some work to do:

So as some of you know, I've been co-editing (with Dave Eggers) a book of oral histories about voter disenfranchisement in American elections from the Civil Rights Movement to the present. Well, I've started doing interviews and today I interviewed a guy who is an expert on the Ohio 2004 election - he's been researching it since 10 days after the election. I found out some stuff that is absolutely astonishing...
1. In many counties throughout Ohio, ballots were pre-punched for 3rd party candidates before being sent out to the appropriate precincts, so that when people voted for Kerry (or Bush, although they were targeted at areas that voted 80%+ for Democrats), the presidential vote would be automatically discarded as a double vote. 2. In Clermont County (and possibly other areas as well), when people were counting the paper ballots, elections officials placed white oval stickers over Kerry votes and filled in the Bush vote instead (this was confirmed by elections workers). 3. On Election Day, right before the polls opened, employees of the companies that made voting machines entered the polling places and changed the vote tabulators. Can you say, suspicious?4. 55 of the 60 precincts in which there were the most voters per voting machine (and in turn, the longestlines) were 60% or more for Kerry. There was a direct positive correlation between having too few voting machines and a precinct having voted for Gore in 2000.
5. In areas in which the vote totals were highly unlikely (such as 60% of gay marriage supporters voting for Bush... not to criticize those who are against gay marriage and pro-Bush, but Bush-supporters and gay marriage supporters don't tend to go hand in hand), the unused ballots had been destroyed (which is against the law to do) and the elections officials refused to let people see the cast ballots even though they're technically public record. 6. Projected margin of victory: 118,500. Number of voters purged in Cuyahoga County (heavily African American and Democratic county) alone: 186,000, mostly targed by zip code based on political party affiliation.
So much for the democratic process... I thought you might find that information interesting and disconcerting (to say the least). I'm hoping that the book will be out this time next year, around the time of the New Hampshire primary (why is presidential campaigning starting so soon??? it's madness... if Hillary or Obama get the nomination, I'm switching parties... ). Hope all is well. Take care. :-)
Peace,Miranda