Building a case against Blackwell

[AnIndependentTexan]

http://www.kenblackwell.com/news.asp?formmode=release&id=22

is this a conflict of interest?

The Ohio secretary of state’s office has two very different functions — incorporating businesses and overseeing the elections process.

both functions have been streamlined and made more accessible.
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Monday, November 3, 2003

http://www.thelantern.com/news/2003/11/03/Campus/Ohio-To.Elect.One.Of.Six.To.Be.New.Voting.Machine-547022.shtml

Six machines in county board rooms across Ohio are waiting for legal and technical battles to end before one can claim center stage.

The six prototypes of voting machines are being considered as Ohio and the nation replace punch-card balloting. These machines will put an end to hanging chads in the Buckeye state.

The Help America Vote Act, passed in 2002, requires county election boards to phase in electronic voting machines by 2006, said Carlo LoParo, spokesman for Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell.
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7/17/04 12:45:41 PM

http://www.wcpo.com/news/2004/local/07/17/votes.html

Ohio's plan to place electronic voting machines in counties that wanted them for the November 2 election has ended because of security questions and a lack of time to answer them.

Three Ohio counties that were considering a switch will not be allowed to do so because of concerns about the machines' security, Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell said Friday.

Hardin, Lorain and Trumbull counties had tentatively agreed to use the machines made by North Canton-based Diebold Inc.

Mercer County decided this week to stick with its current system, Blackwell spokesman Carlo LoParo said.

The other three counties will do likewise, LoParo said.

Mercer, Lorain and Trumbull counties will use punch-card ballots on November 2, while Hardin will use cards read by an electronic scanner.
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Saturday, August 14, 2004

http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/08/14/loc_voting14.html

Four years after the presidential election hung on a few chads in Florida, Ohio is bracing for another potentially close race with the same troublesome punch-card ballots.

State and county officials promise an accurate count, but critics are skeptical.

"We are headed for a train wreck because the state has not done its job," said Scott Greenwood, general counsel for the Ohio chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union,which is suing the state over the continued use of the old-fashioned ballots.

Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell helped draft a 2002 federal law giving states millions for more accurate voting machines.

But worries about security of the machines derailed Blackwell's effort to bring electronic voting to his own state in time for the Nov. 2 election, which means 69 of Ohio's 88 counties will still use punch cards.
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Posted 7/25/2004 6:32 PM Updated 7/26/2004 2:30 AM

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/state/2004-07-25-ohio-lawsuit_x.htm

<
The trial, set to begin Monday, is the first in the nation, voting experts say. Lawsuits filed by the American Civil Liberties Union against several other states have been settled with agreements that punch-card ballots will be replaced.
<

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The state says it's working as fast as it can to replace punch-cards — but problems with electronic voting technology have stalled the effort.

"They're claiming that the state has been denying the right to vote to African-Americans," said Rich Coglianese, an attorney defending the state. "It's our position that the state has not denied the right to vote to anybody, and the evidence will never be able to show that."
<
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10/27/2004 12:58 PM

http://rdu.news14.com/content/nc_decides_2004/?ArID=57749&SecID=322
Punch card voting will take place in 68 of Ohio's 88 counties, including three of the four most populous -- the counties which include Cleveland, Dayton, and Cincinnati.

The American Civil Liberties Union has filed suit to stop the use of punch cards. The suit is pending in federal court in Akron.

Ohio had planned to use an electronic voting system, but Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell decided against that. Groups complained the electronic system produced no verifiable paper trail to ensure the integrity of the results.
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http://www.washtimes.com/national/20040725-112741-2997r.htm

Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell said earlier this month that three counties that were considering electronic systems cannot switch by November because tests revealed security problems.
Blackwell spokesman Carlo LoParo said Friday that the agency hopes to have electronic voting that meets security requirements in place by 2005.
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Tuesday, September 21, 2004

http://www.columbusdispatch.com/election/election-president.php?story=dispatch/2004/09/21/20040921-B5-00.html

Monitors from Australia, Argentina, South Africa and Thailand arrived in Columbus last weekend to meet with election experts at Ohio State University and Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell’s office. Separate meetings with advocates of voting rights and campaignfinance reform took place yesterday.

"For those who don’t trust the system, you have all the ingredients to assure there is going to be cheating," said Horacio Boneo, a consultant and professor from Brazil who is one of the monitors.

In all, 20 international observers from 14 countries will monitor the U.S. election in Ohio, Arizona, Florida, Georgia and Missouri.

Carlo LoParo, Blackwell’s spokesman, said state law won’t allow them into Ohio polling places during the vote, but they can watch from 100 feet away like other outside groups.

Karen Decker, project manager for Fair Election International, which is sponsoring the visitors, said Missouri law allows international observers to watch from a closer vantage inside the polling places.
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http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/10/09/ohio_voter_intimidation_act/print.html

violation of the Help America Vote Act

Blackwell's backpedaling on his decision to enforce an archaic law requiring that all new registrations be on postcard-weight paper. But it seems Blackwell may have several more tricks up his sleeve.

"What's happening in Ohio," says Talley, "is that the secretary of state has issued a statement saying that provisional ballots should not be issued if voters are in the wrong polling location." With tens of thousands of newly registered voters, confusion about where to go is likely. Withholding provisional ballots -- which the Help America Vote Act, passed in 2002 in the wake of the 2000 election debacle, specifically mentions as an alternative voting method when valid registration is in doubt -- will result in many people simply not voting.
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Sunday, October 10, 2004
http://www.columbusdispatch.com/election/election-local.php?story=dispatch/2004/10/10/20041010-A1-00.html

Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell has raised the specter of bands of lawyers screaming at 70-year-old poll workers if the race is within 1 or 2 points — what he is calling "the margin of litigation."

Democrats and other groups already are accusing Blackwell, a Republican, of making partisan decisions to suppress Democratic votes — such as initially requiring that new voter-registration cards be printed on a certain thickness of paper.

Still, Blackwell argues that Ohio didn’t face the problems that Florida did in 2000 because it had a superior election system and was better prepared to conduct a fair election.

Experts also say Ohio is better able to handle scrutiny than Florida because it has better election laws, uniform recount standards and bipartisan oversight at county election boards.

"There’s nothing to suggest that a Florida fiasco is going to visit Ohio," Blackwell said.

But with a crush of new registrations and intense voter interest, problems are bound to occur and be magnified by a close election, said Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.

"I’m very pessimistic," he said. "The turnout is going to be massive, and (election boards) just aren’t ready."
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Saturday, July 17, 2004

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040717/NEWS24/407170367/-1/NEWS

COLUMBUS - Even if the Lucas County Board of Elections had been able to agree on voting machines, it still would have been forced to make other plans for the Nov. 2 election.
Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell yesterday canceled plans to deploy Diebold Election Systems' touch-screens anywhere in Ohio, because the manufacturer has not fully resolved security questions.

As a result, state Sen. Teresa Fedor (D., Toledo) called on the state to pay $350,000 for Lucas County to rent 386 alternative optical-scan machines, which employ paper ballots that are read electronically.

The lease plan was initially triggered by the 2-2 partisan stalemate of the board over whether to forge ahead with touch-screens this year or wait until they come equipped with a legislatively mandated paper backup system.

"If we would have gone forward to Diebold, we would still be stuck in this situation," said Ms. Fedor. "We would still have to lease machines. The state should pay for the leasing of our machines in Lucas County."

But Bernadette Noe, chairman of the board of elections and the county Republican Party, cautioned against being too quick to accept federal funds for leasing.

"I'm afraid that every county will be allocated a chunk of money and that if we started spending it on leasing and ate away at it, by the time we're ready to purchase we're not going to have any money left," she explained.

Blackwell spokesman Carlo LoParo said Lucas County should expect no federal funds for leasing.

"The election board tied and did not make a decision as a direct result of Senator Fedor's protesting and legislation urged and supported by Senator Fedor and Rep. Uvagi (D., Toledo)," he said. "The indecision of the board resulted in the stalemate in Lucas County and the resulting cost of leasing, not the secretary of state's security assessment."
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Sunday, October 17, 2004

http://www.dispatch.com/election/election-local.php?story=dispatch/2004/10/17/20041017-A1-02.html&rfr=nwsl

Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell acknowledges he finds himself in the awkward position of administering a voting system that he once said "invites a Florida-like calamity."
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[goclark]

1. Kick for building a case against this scum bag!

[DeepModem Mom]

2. Thanks, AIT!