Ohio - Statewide Recount Appears Inevitable

Statewide recount appears inevitable
Third-party candidates say they want to ensure votes counted properly
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
Mark Niquette
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

It seems the presidential election in Ohio is headed for overtime, even if the outcome isn’t in doubt.

A pair of third-party presidential candidates, Libertarian Michael Badnarik and the Green Party’s David Cobb, said yesterday that they have raised enough money to pay for a statewide recount after the results are certified in early December.

The goal isn’t to overturn President Bush’s unofficial 136,000-vote victory in Ohio but to ensure that all votes were counted properly in the face of concerns about Election Day irregularities, the candidates say.

"Our bottom line is to stand up for the integrity of the voting process because the voting process is the heart of the democratic process," said Blair Bobier, a spokesman for Cobb.

Bobier said yesterday that the campaigns have raised more than $150,000 in four days, mostly in small donations from contributors nationwide. Ohio law requires payment of $10 per precinct for a recount, or $113,600 statewide.

But that law dates to 1956, and Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell’s office has estimated the actual costs to county elections boards would be a combined $1.5 million, spokesman Carlo LoParo said.

"A recount on a whim, while permissible under Ohio law, has a substantial impact on the process," LoParo said. Still, he added that Ohio "welcomes scrutiny of the process."

Bobier said it will be worth the price to ensure the final outcome can be trusted.

"There’s certainly suspicion about the results, and hopefully a recount will be part of the effort to dispel that cloud of suspicion," he said.

Supporters of Sen. John Kerry have pointed to several reported election problems — including a Gahanna precinct that had more unofficial votes for Bush than registered voters because of a computer error — and Internet sites have been buzzing with suspicion of fraud.

Ohio Republican Party Chairman Robert T. Bennett said yesterday that a recount wouldn’t bother him because "it’s not going to change any results."

Election-law experts also doubt a recount is necessary but say it’s important to put the state election system under the microscope and make changes for future elections.

State law requires a recount if the margin in a race statewide is less than one-fourth of one percent of the total vote. Based on unofficial results, that would be about 13,700 votes in the presidential race.

Otherwise, candidates may file in each county to pay for a recount, as long as the filing is done within five days after results are certified.

County boards must certify their results by Dec. 1 and send them to Blackwell, who will certify the state results between Dec. 3 and Dec. 6, LoParo said.

Besides raising money for the recount, Badnarik and Cobb are seeking volunteers to monitor the recount in all 88 counties, Bobier said.

During the recount, elections workers in counties with punch cards or paper ballots hand count 3 percent of the ballots, then run them through counting machines to determine whether the totals match.

If they do, the rest of the county ballots are run through the machines. If not, the manual count is rechecked and, if the count is still off, all ballots are counted by hand.

In Franklin County and other counties with electronic voting devices, workers must prepare test computer cartridges to run through tabulators to ensure vote totals match.

Those requesting a recount also may ask for each ballot to be physically inspected, and all work must be done with equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans.

LoParo couldn’t predict how long the recount would take, saying it could be "several days to several weeks."

The last statewide recount was in 1990 in the attorney general’s race between Democrat Lee Fisher and Republican Paul E. Pfeifer. That recount was finalized Dec. 20 and cost $72,737, Dispatch files show. Fisher’s narrow Election Day victory held up after the recount.

Kerry’s campaign and election experts have said they think the unofficial results will stand. Kerry’s legal team continues to monitor the official vote count but doesn’t expect the outcome to change.

Still, some observers point to unanswered questions and continue to ask, "What if?"

They note, for example, that there are about 155,000 provisional ballots yet to be counted, as well as an undetermined number of military and overseas ballots that were due last Friday. Then there are the 92,672 votes statewide that were not counted on election night, either because people cast more than one vote in the presidential race or none at all.

Some undervotes are intentional, and some overvotes are the result of voter mistakes. But critics fear the heavy use of punch cards in Ohio means there could be other errors — and the uncounted ballots should be scrutinized to determine if a vote should have been counted.

Panel hears more complaints about Election Day problems
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
Matthew Marx
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

In a room where 100 people shared accounts of suppressed votes, machine malfunctions and other Election Day problems, Jennifer A. Delaney stood out.

Maybe it was the black X scrawled on her forehead, as well as on the foreheads of several others attending last night’s public hearing at the Franklin County Courthouse.

Delaney, 29, of Hilliard, gave a simple explanation for why she made the mark.

"The X is because I don’t know if my vote was counted on Nov. 2."

Or maybe it was because disenfranchisement seemed to follow Delaney from one swing state to another.

"I lived in Florida in 2000. . . . I voted for (former Vice President Al) Gore. I was eager for every vote to be counted," Delaney said. "Afterward, I was suspicious for months."

This year, she voted in Ohio, where she is a teaching assistant at Ohio State University.

"I voted for (Sen. John) Kerry. I think I see similarities to last time. I keep thinking to myself, ‘Could this really be happening again?’ "

Delaney was one of about 30 people who spoke to a panel organized by local watchdog groups.

Addressing a panel of citizen advocates, Delaney explained that she had a "very easy" time, voting in 30 minutes at the Prairie Township firehouse.

Then she went to Ohio State and learned from her students about the problems they had. She submitted affidavits from 13 people who experienced long waits or had their voting rights questioned.

Other speakers told of problems with voting machines and uninformed poll workers.

"I pushed John Kerry and my vote went for George Bush," said Jeanne Smith White, who voted at St. Anthony School in Columbus Ward 3, Precinct B. "I started yelling. The poll worker came over and said, ‘That’s happened a lot.’

"I’m still not sure if I voted for John Kerry," she said.

A similar meeting drew twice as many people to a Near East Side church on Saturday. Testimony from both meetings will be used in formal complaints being filed with county and state elections officials.

The director of the Franklin County Board of Elections thinks that’s a good idea.

"It’s a good thing whenever people want to get together to air concerns. Just like the right to vote, the right to assemble and air concerns is important," Matthew Damschroder said from his home last night.

He said he heard many of those complaints — and about long lines — on Election Day.

"The bottom line is we had 102,000 more people vote this year on Election Day than in 2000. It is a phenomenal, wonderful thing, but we had the same amount of machines," he said.


ANGRY VOTERS AIR COMPLAINTS
Hundreds at hearing question process, suspect fraud
Published: Sunday, November 14, 2004
By Suzanne Hoholik and Jeb Phillips
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

An elderly man who was refused an absentee ballot left his hospital bed and showed up at a polling site with an IV still in his arm.

Another man had to convince four elections workers that he still lives in his Bexley house.

Broken voting machines, cars being towed from a Driving Park polling site, three- to five-hour waits and too few machines -- these were some of the stories shared by voters, poll workers and elections observers yesterday at a Near East Side church. Robert Fitrakis, a lawyer and political-science professor at Columbus State Community College, organized the hearing so attendees could air their election grievances -- then send the information to state officials.

It drew more than 200 people and ran hours longer than planned.

Most of the crowd favored Sen. John Kerry, with many wearing campaign stickers and buttons.

They cheered when one man called for Kerry to "unconcede'' the presidential election and booed at the mention of Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell.

A sign leaning on the New Faith Baptist Church of Christ read Voting fraud = death to democracy and many cars had Kerry-Edwards bumper stickers.

Stories were collected by a court reporter, and the hearing was videotaped and broadcast on a local radio station.

Fitrakis said he'd give transcripts and tapes to Blackwell as well as county boards of elections, and if any glaring issues arise, he's ready to file criminal or civil lawsuits.

"I believe there is enough evidence for systematic voter suppression,'' he said. "To pretend that it went well on Election Day is wrong.''

Matthew Damschroder, Franklin County Board of Elections director, said later in an interview that the election was a success.

"Nothing happened in this election that doesn't happen in any other election,'' he said. "The difference in this election was there was far more attention being paid by everyone.''

Harvey Wasserman has been a voter since 1976 and has lived in Bexley since 1986. He knew he'd be out of town Nov. 2 and applied for an absentee ballot.

"A few days later, I received a rejection,'' he said. "It said I filled out the wrong address even though (the letter) came to me.''

After four phone calls, he received a ballot.

"How many other absentee ballots were rejected?'' Wasserman asked.

Carol Shelton was the presiding judge at the Linden library precinct, with three machines for 1,500 registered voters. At her home precinct in Clintonville, she said there were three machines for 730 voters.

"I called to get more machines and got connected to Matt Damschroder, and after lots of hassle he sent a fourth machine,'' she said. "It did not put a dent in the long lines. This was a clear case of voter suppression.''

Damschroder agreed in the interview that adding one machine per precinct wouldn't have made a difference with 102,000 more people voting than in 2000.

"We need to have a public discourse about what is the appropriate level of resources and funding for county boards of elections,'' he said.

Although there were enough machines at Derek Winsor's Victorian Village precinct, three broke down while he was in line for three hours. He asked how poll workers knew the votes cast on those machines would be counted and said he was told, "They just are.''

"How do we as voters and poll workers receive assurances that the votes are stored?'' he asked.

Floyd Mitchell Hall, a volunteer for the nonpartisan Election Protection group, worked at a Driving Park precinct where the man showed up with an IV in his arm.

"He was told he could not vote absentee, that he had applied too late,'' Hall said.

Before the hearing, about 15 people who planned to attend stood on the Broad Street sidewalk outside the Statehouse holding signs reading Count Every Vote.

Roxanne Ziegler, 41, of New York City, applied for the demonstration permit after she heard stories of voting and counting problems in Ohio.

"I started getting angry -- one, because my candidate didn't get elected, and because our votes weren't getting counted,'' she said.

She decided the best way to draw attention to that was to fly to Columbus and demonstrate. Via the Internet, she found Jeff Nolish, 23, a Bowling Green State University senior, who organized a rally in Columbus the day after the election. She got the permit Friday, and most of the 15 demonstrators yesterday were Bowling Green students.

Another hearing will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. Monday at the Franklin County Courthouse auditorium, 373 S. High St.