Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News Wednesday May 3

[stillcool]

All members welcome and encouraged to participate.

Please post Election Reform, Fraud, & Related News on this thread.

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4. Start a discussion thread by re-posting a story you see on this thread.
Please
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for the Greatest Page (it's the link just below).

[stillcool]

1. Ohio: Tabulating machines fail in Cuyahoga County

17,000 absentee ballots being counted by hand; investigation likely
By Lisa A. Abraham
Beacon Journal staff writer

Workers at the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections are expected this morning to be poring over 17,000 absentee ballots that had to be counted by hand.
The hand count was ordered by the board Tuesday after tabulators for optical-scan absentee ballots failed their accuracy and logic testing.

and as with every 'glitch' story the standard caveat:

However, it was not clear whether the absentee results would affect any races.

Problems at one polling location in Cleveland caused election results to be delayed across Ohio. Bennett said the board is expected to investigate why a polling place at the Garden Valley Neighborhood House did not open until 1:30 p.m.

As a result, Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell's office directed that no elections board report any results until after 9:30 p.m.
Bennett said Blackwell was overreacting. In the 2004 presidential election, he said, Kenyon College students were voting until 3 or 4 a.m., but Blackwell did not delay results then.

Lisa A. Abraham can be reached at 330-996-3737 or [e-mail]
http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/news/14488112.htm

[kpete]

18. Results delayed on problem-filled election day

Results delayed on problem-filled election day

Reported by Jennifer Murphy
Paul Thomas
Created: 5/2/2006 1:23:08 PM
Updated:5/3/2006 11:57:17 AM

CLEVELAND -- It was a problem filled debut for electronic voting in northeast Ohio.
Election results

Cuyahoga County results not in yet, updates expected throughout the morning

Lack of three-pronged adaptors closes polling site for hours

Video: Governor's race: Blackwell vs. Strickland

Blackwell gets Republican nod in governor's race

Democratic congressman wins nomination in Ohio

13th Congressional District race

51 school districts on ballot

Akron school levy defeated

10th Congressional District

Voter takes rage out on electronic voting machine


There were so many problems that there was talk of extending voting hours and concerns over counting ballots. Some politicians asked that they remain open until 9 p.m. The Garden Valley location did just that because of numerous problems. They remained open until 9:30 p.m.

Because the location remained open later than expected, Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell has decided to delay reporting of any election results until 9:30 p.m.

Officials at the Board of Elections knew they'd have problems with the new machines, but say today was worse then what they expected.

Hope turned to despair at 71st and Kinsman when broken electronic voting machines forced voters to wait until 1:30 p.m. Tuesday to cast their vote.

"I was incensed when I came in this morning and electronic voting machines were down," one voter said.

The faulty machines frustrated the volunteer poll workers too who said they didn't know what to do when the machines wouldn't work.

more at:
http://www.wkyc.com/news/politics_govt/local/politics_article.aspx?storyid=51639

[stillcool]

2. Ohio: Headaches for some voters

By: Justin Maynor
[e-mail]
05/03/2006

Cuyahoga struggles with electronic voting while few problems reported in Lake, Geauga, Ashtabula
While Cuyahoga County struggled with failing machines, faulty ballot scanners and upset voters, elections officials were comparatively serene in Ashtabula, Geauga and Lake counties.

The electronic voting devices were met with little objection among most voters, and no large-scale malfunctions were reported, officials said Tuesday.
Some Cuyahoga County voters had to vote on paper as their touch-screens went down Tuesday morning, according to the elections board.
Others had to wait as poll workers tried to bring faulty machines back online, officials said.

A power outage temporarily halted voting at Hope Ridge United Methodist Church in Concord Township, according to Janet F. Clair, director of the Lake County Elections Board.
It lasted about 45 minutes, and some voters left and came back later, she said.
There were also a few isolated cases of ballots appearing incomplete because the machines had been incorrectly configured, Clair said.

While some counties had more problems than others, Lee said things went fairly smoothly across the state.
"These are all the hiccups that boards of election experience in an election year, not related specifically to the new machines," Lee said.

©The News-Herald 2006
http://www.news-herald.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16574390&BRD=1698&PAG=461&dept_id=21849&rfi=6

[stillcool]

3. Ohio: Confusion, Delayed Results Mark Ohio Primary

Reported by: A.P.
First posted: 5/3/2006 2:27:33 AM

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Tardy poll workers, scattered technical problems and a puzzling order from the secretary of state to delay reporting results marked Ohio's first punch-card free election.

The biggest confusion was over an order by Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, the GOP candidate for governor, to hold election results until all polls closed, citing a judge's decision to keep one polling place open for two hours past the normal closing.
Judge Nancy McDonnell of Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court had ordered the polling site to remain open until 9:30 p.m., after three of the four poll workers at a neighborhood center in Cleveland did not show up for the scheduled 6:30 a.m. opening.
It was unclear how many voters were initially turned away or how many cast ballots during the extended voting.

Blackwell, without citing specifics, said his decision was based on federal law, even though the ruling was by a county judge.
"We don't want the results dribbling out willy-nilly," Blackwell said. "We want to wait until the polls close."
Bob Bennett, chairman of the elections board in Cuyahoga County, who is also chairman of the Ohio Republican Party, said he knew of no federal case that required statewide results to be held and that a local court ruling would not apply.In November 2004, results were reported even though some polling places stayed open until well after midnight. However, only voters in line at 7:30 p.m. were permitted to vote.

About 20 percent of precincts in Franklin County -- more than 160 -- opened as much as a half-hour late.
About 50 people left without voting, Board of Elections Director Matthew Damschroder said.
In northeast Ohio, Stark County was reporting only 97 percent of its vote totals early Wednesday because about 30 cards that record votes in electronic voting machines were missing.

http://www.wcpo.com/news/2006/local/05/02/oh_elections.html

[stillcool]

4. Ohio: Clermont County: KNOCKING DOWN RUMORS

Reporters' notebook
BY KIMBALL PERRY, DAN HORN AND HOWARD WILKINSON | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITERS
KNOCKING DOWN RUMORS

Amid a swirl of anxiety over the vote-counting in Clermont County, Sheriff A.J. Rodenberg made an unsolicited call to The Enquirer Tuesday to knock down what he called a "rampant rumor" that his deputies were seizing ballots cast in Tuesday's election.

"I want you to know that there is no truth in those rumors," Rodenberg said. "We would not do that unless we were asked to by the Board of Elections, and it would have to be some extraordinary reason for us to do that."

Apparently, the rumors started circulating after representatives of two 2nd Congressional District candidates - Republican Bob McEwen and Democrat Thor Jacobs - made requests of the Clermont County Board of Elections to have campaign observers watch the ballot counting.

The county has had ballot-counting problems in recent elections.

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060503/NEWS01/605030381/1056

[stillcool]

5. Ark. drafts contingency plan for voting machine problems

By ANDREW DeMILLO Wednesday, May 3, 2006 4:48 AM CDT

LITTLE ROCK - Early voters in the upcoming party primaries may have to use paper ballots or older voting machines, Arkansas Secretary of State Charlie Daniels says, but new touch-screen machines should be ready for the actual election on May 23.
Daniels said Tuesday that most counties should be prepared to use paper ballots for next week's early voting because of problems with the new electronic voting equipment and software.

Several counties have reported delays in receiving software for the new touch screen computers from Election Systems & Software, with whom the state has contracted for the electronic voting machines.

"ES&S has not provided us with many essential and critical tools necessary for us to conduct the election to the standards set by law and to our own high standards," the commission said in a news release.

In the state's most populous county, election officials were still unable to program and test voting machines for early voting. Pulaski County Elections Director Susan Inman said the county received equipment for the machines Monday, but it was not programmed correctly.

A service of the Associated Press(AP)
http://www.pbcommercial.com/articles/2006/05/02/ap-state-ar/d8hc7ero7.txt

[stillcool]

6. Tenn: Knox County to resume counting ballots Wednesday afternoon

Election Administrator Greg Mackay said he wanted "fresh eyes" looking over the thousands of paper ballots, and felt it was best for everyone involved to get some rest, rather than make fatigue-related mistakes.

Election workers knew counting paper ballots would be a challenge. They were not planning on the technical glitch Tuesday night that delayed the results from machine ballots.
Election Chair Pamela Reeves said the technology that reads results from tapes of election results was unable to read that data. While the contents of the material were never in peril, the glitch delayed paper results by more than two hours.
Reeves apologized for the delay, but said that new election machines would be ready for August, which she hopes will make long nights like Tuesday a thing of the past.

Dan Farkas , Reporter
Last updated: 5/3/2006 9:07:27 AM
http://www.wbir.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=33990

[stillcool]

7. Indiana: Tabulation error keeps office busy

Election roundup:
Web site down after problem counting absentee ballots
BY WHITNEY ROSS
[e-mail]

In the early afternoon on Election Day, things were pretty calm at the Grant County Courthouse, save for a few phone calls here and there.

But by 7:30 p.m., a computer glitch had candidates and voters on edge after tabulation of the votes slowed to a crawl, and updated results were not available on the Grant County Web site, www.grant county.net.
After 10 p.m., there were still a handful of precincts that were unavailable for counting. It was looking to be a long night in the clerk's office and officials tried to tabulate those votes.
County Clerk Carolyn Mowery said there was some kind of an overload on their computer, which caused them to restart counting and reenter the 771 absentee ballots they had received.

There were no major problems with the machines during voting, Mowery said. There were a few glitches here and there, but nothing that held up voting.
"(It was) nothing that we couldn't cure. Just normal things that happened in delivery," said Charlie Williams, a voting machine mechanic.

Originally published May 3, 2006
http://www.chronicle-tribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060503/NEWS01/605030315/1002

[stillcool]

8. Indiana: Computer problems put Randolph election totals on hold

By JOY LEIKER
[e-mail]

WINCHESTER -- In Randolph County's first electronic election, the tally tools malfunctioned, leaving residents and candidates with incomplete -- and possibly inaccurate -- vote totals.
A second expert from Voting Technologies International, the county's election machine vendor, is flying to Indianapolis from Milwaukee today.
County Clerk Paula Thornburg said she expects to have final, official results by 6 p.m. Wednesday.
"The main problem was that the tally tool in the computer didn't like so many 'no-candidates'," Thornburg said.
The computers at two precincts, North and South Lynn, weren't shut down properly when polls closed at 6 p.m., the clerk said, and Mike Burns, Indiana account manager for Voting Technologies International, had to retrieve the data from those precincts using a backup system.

"This is unusual, but things happen," Burns said.

Contact reporter Joy Leiker at 213-5825.

Originally published May 3, 2006
http://www.thestarpress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060503/NEWS01/605030340/1002

[stillcool]

9. Alabama: Justice Department sues state over voter database

PHILLIP RAWLS
Associated Press

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - The U.S. Justice Department is suing Alabama, contending it missed a deadline for creating a statewide computerized database of voters for this year's elections.
The suit says the database is needed to provide accurate voter rolls, and it asks a judge to require Alabama to develop a plan within 30 days to get its voter registration system into compliance with federal law.
Alabama Secretary of State Nancy Worley, who was named as a defendant in the suit, acknowledged the state was not in compliance and cited opposition from some counties and a lack of funding as some of the reasons for the failure to comply.

The suit said Alabama missed that deadline and other requirements, including not coordinating the database with state driver's license records and federal Social Security records to ensure only qualified voters are on the state's rolls.

"HAVA's database requirements are designed to ensure the accuracy of the voter rolls and the integrity of the electoral process in elections for federal office," said Wan J. Kim, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. "This lawsuit is intended to vindicate the rights of the voters of Alabama, who do not, at present, enjoy all of the protections that HAVA affords."

This is the second suit the Justice Department has filed against Alabama this year over election issues. The first suit contended Alabama's primary and runoff were so close together that soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan couldn't get absentee ballots in time to vote in the runoff.
The Legislature answered the lawsuit by passing a law to delay the runoff three weeks, from June 27 to July 18.

http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/news/local/14483390.htm

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10. Alabama: Lawsuit against Worley could cost state millions

Wednesday, May 03, 2006
By TAYLOR BRIGHT
Times Montgomery Bureau [e-mail]
Justice Dept. sues, says Alabama fails to follow Help America Vote Act

MONTGOMERY - The federal government Monday sued Secretary of State Nancy Worley for failure to comply with federal election laws in a dispute that could cost the state federal money for a new voter registration system.

"It is certain that voters will be wrongly denied the right to vote on election day. It is certain that voters will encounter problems they did not create in the course of attempting to register," wrote the Department of Justice's civil rights division in one of the court filings.
"Whether these problems involve hundreds, or thousands, or tens of thousands or more voters will only be known at election time. Further, given the State's dismal track record in addressing its own non-compliance, these harms might continue through several elections."

The suit says that Worley has not complied with nearly all of the requirements for voter registration under the federal voting act, including not having a statewide voter registration system; not having a centralized computerized statewide voter registration list that includes the name and registration of every voter; and does not coordinate with other state agencies to verify eligible voters or remove ineligible voters.

Last year, Worley announced she had chosen Ohio-based Diebold Inc. to implement the system - against the recommendations of the federally mandated HAVA committee, made up of 24 officials ranging from probate judges to state representatives. The committee had recommended another company, Nebraska-based Election Systems and Software. Two months after choosing Diebold, Worley announced she had opened up the bidding again to other companies. She has not chosen a company to implement the system.
The government said it had tried to get Worley, a Democrat seeking re-election, to meet the requirements.

http://www.al.com/news/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/news/114664803673870.xml&coll=1&thispage=2

[kpete]

11. First all-electronic election marred by problems

First all-electronic election marred by problems
Votes not all in on first all-electronic election
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Joan Mazzolini and Grant Segall
Plain Dealer Reporters
Electronic voting in Cuyahoga County began with a thud, with results of most races unknown late Tuesday while an army of election workers prepared to use the most old-fashioned of voting technology - a hand count - to tally thousands of votes.

Glitches with optical scan machines prevented the planned counting of 17,000 absentee ballots. Workers planned to begin hand-counting votes on the ballots at midnight and expected to be at it for hours. And because new touch-screen voting machines did not function properly at first in some polling locations, voters had to fill out paper ballots, which also were to be hand-counted early today.

With the paper ballots accounting for such a substantial percentage of all votes cast Tuesday, the winners in many county races could not be called.

MORE AT:
http://www.cleveland.com/election/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1146645262236420.xml&coll=2

[kpete]

12. Electronic voting switch threatens mass confusion

Electronic voting switch threatens mass confusion
Published: May 1 2006 23:22 | Last updated: May 1 2006 23:22


The last three election cycles in the US have been marked by controversy not only about candidates, but also about the fairness and accuracy of the voting process. And as voters head to the polls today for primaries in some jurisdictions, the coming cycle promises more of the same.

With about 8,000 separate election authorities managing approximately 175,000 polling places and perhaps as many as 150,000 different ballot forms that include choices for everyone from senator to dogcatcher, American elections are complex even when all goes well. But this cycle sees many states and smaller jurisdictions making last-minute efforts to switch to electronic voting, and early signs of trouble are appearing.

MORE AT:
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/a1b985a4-d960-11da-8b06-0000779e2340.html

[kpete]

13. Blackwell, Taft affected more than one race

Ohio

Posted on Wed, May. 03, 2006
Blackwell, Taft affected more than one race
JOHN McCARTHY
Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Scandals in Gov. Bob Taft's administration played a role in more than one primary race as Republicans who tied their opponents to Taft were victorious.

Kenneth Blackwell spent the past few weeks calling Jim Petro "Taft-like" or "Taft-light," and featured the two in his advertising. Blackwell, Ohio's secretary of state, cruised to a victory Tuesday over Petro, the attorney general.

Taft became a target because of an investment scandal that led to him becoming the first Ohio governor charged with a crime while in office. He pleaded no contest last year to ethics charges of failing to report golf outings and other gifts.

With 97 percent of precincts reporting, Blackwell had 441,533 votes or 56 percent, while Petro had 346,524 or 44 percent.

MORE AT:
http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/news/state/14484800.htm

[kpete]

14. Dem Turnout Way Up?

Dem Turnout Way Up?
by Chris Bowers, Wed May 03, 2006 at 12:56:44 PM EST

Over at Hit and Run, Dave Weigel looks at turnout figures from last night's primaries in Ohio and Indiana. He has some information that should be encouraging to anyone looking for a big Democratic year:

The most dramatic race was in the rural 6th district, which borders on Ohio West Virginia and voted basically 50-50 Bush-Kerry. (...)The GOP House committee bought ads attacking one of Wilson's lame opponents, who was on the ballot, thinking they could build up his name recognition and get a critical mass of voters to pull his lever instead of writing in Wilson's name. But Wilson pulled through with 43,692 votes out of a total 65,797. The Republicans' preferred candidate won his primary with a lousy 18,356 votes out of 37,596. Again - this is a district where Bush and Kerry ran even. Where'd the Republicans go?

Indiana looked about the same for both parties. The most surprising race there was probably in the 8th district in Evansville and Terra Haute, a swing seat that voted 62-38 for Bush in 2004. Neither party's candidate had an opponent, and incumbent Republican John Hostettler (one of six GOP votes against the Iraq War in 2003) got 27,366 votes. But Democrat Brad Ellsworth got 43,213 votes.

MORE AT:
http://www.mydd.com/story/2006/5/3/125644/5957

[kpete]

15. Hard write-in campaign works for Democrat Wilson

Hard write-in campaign works for Democrat Wilson
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Sabrina Eaton
Plain Dealer Bureau

Washington - Democratic State Sen. Charlie Wilson last night won an arduous write-in campaign to appear on the congressional ballot in a district along the West Virginia border currently represented by gubernatorial candidate Ted Strickland.

National political parties spent more than $1 million to sway an election that Republicans believed would easily be won by GOP State Rep. Chuck Blasdel if Wilson was off the ballot. Wilson ran as a write-in because his filing petitions lacked valid signatures.

Wilson's race was one of several closely watched elections in politically barometric Ohio.

More at:
http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1146645854236420.xml&coll=2

[kpete]

16. OH 18: Ney Takes Primary, But Cracks in GOP Base Are Clear

OH 18: Ney Takes Primary, But Cracks in GOP Base Are Clear
By Greg Giroux | 12:38 AM; May. 03, 2006
Ohio Republican Rep. Bob Ney, whose past ties to now-convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff have imperiled his political career, easily won Tuesday’s Republican primary in the state’s 18th District.

But the embattled congressman probably did not win overwhelmingly enough to quell doubts about his vulnerability in the November election, which will be the toughest race he has faced since he was first elected in 1994.

Ney had 68 percent of the vote against James Brodbelt Harris, a little-known financial analyst who did not even meet the $5,000 contribution threshold to register with the Federal Election Commission.

That more than three in 10 Republicans backed a political unknown over Ney — long a popular figure in the east-central Ohio district — demonstrated that some voters in the Republican base are disenchanted with the congressman.

http://www.cqpolitics.com/2006/05/oh_18_ney_takes_primary_but_cr.html

[Algorem]

17. OH-"...70 memory cards - with results from 200 precincts - were missing.."

http://www.cleveland.com/weblogs/openers/

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Cuyahoga County: The usual fiasco


Some 17 hours after polls closed, Cuyahoga County STILL hasn't finished counting ballots from an election that will long be known as a fiasco.

Elections workers continued to count votes Wednesday, with about 85 percent of the votes cast on touch-screen machines counted by 11:15 a.m.

But 70 memory cards - with results from 200 precincts - were missing. Board of elections officials are checking the voting machines to see whether the cards were inadvertently left inside.

Meanwhile, a second team of 50 temporary agency employees continued the hand count of 17,000 paper ballots used by absentee voters. Election officials decided to hand-count the paper ballots after tests on the optical scan machines showed innaccuracies. Vote totals for the absentee ballots are expected sometime this evening...

[kpete]

19. Democrats Push Fight for House in the Northeast

Democrats Push Fight for House in the Northeast

WATERBURY, Conn. — In the battle for control of the House of Representatives, Democrats are concentrating their efforts on defeating a particularly resilient set of opponents, Northeast Republicans who have held their seats despite the region's tendency to vote Democratic.

Graphic: Some Races to Watch Independent analysts say there are at least a dozen competitive races in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Connecticut, many involving districts where voters have supported Democrats for president in recent elections while electing Republicans to Congress.

Now, with many polls showing President Bush's support at its lowest level yet, Democrats in those districts are running heavily against the president, hoping to tie Republican incumbents to his agenda. The Democrats need to pick up 15 seats to take control of the House, where Republicans have had a majority since 1994. Party strategists believe that the Northeast, with the largest number of potentially competitive battles, could provide Democrats with the bulk of those seats.

The Democrats' strategy is on prominent display here in Connecticut's Fifth Congressional District, where the Democratic challenger, Christopher S. Murphy, 32, a state senator, has accused the 12-term Republican incumbent, Representative Nancy L. Johnson, of playing a leading role in helping advance the agenda of President Bush and conservative House leaders on issues including the war in Iraq and health care.

more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/03/nyregion/03campaign.html?ex=1304308800&en=89542623fa6e1d5a&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

[kpete]

20. Glitches delay voting and reporting of results

NEW-MACHINE ROLLOUT
Glitches delay voting and reporting of results
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Robert Vitale
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Dozens of polling places opened late yesterday in Franklin County, and a court-ordered extension of voting hours in Cleveland delayed results statewide in Ohio’s first full-scale election with new touch-screen voting machines.

A polling place in Cleveland that didn’t open until 1:30 p.m. affected elections boards statewide after a Cuyahoga County Common Pleas judge ordered it to stay open until 9:30 p.m. The secretary of state’s office then told boards not to post statewide results until that poll closed.

Workers at the polling place in a Cleveland public-housing complex reportedly couldn’t get the touchscreen machines started. After learning of the late start, U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, a Democrat from Cleveland, went to Common Pleas Court to keep the poll open.

In Franklin County, mistakes by poll workers — loading ballots without school levies, following the wrong instructions for start-of-theday printouts — outnumbered technical glitches with the machines themselves, officials said.

more at:
http://www.dispatch.com/?story=dispatch/2006/05/03/20060503-A1-04.html

[Algorem]

21. OH-Wednesday morning quarterback: Focus on voting machine problems

http://www.cleveland.com/newsflash/cleveland/index.ssf?/base/politics-1/1146681555159920.xml&storylist=cleveland

5/3/2006, 2:30 p.m. ET
By CONNIE MABIN
The Associated Press

CLEVELAND (AP) — A variety of problems in Ohio's first punch-card free election have officials, voter advocates and others asking a crucial question Wednesday: Can the state that decided the last presidential race get it together before November?...

"Ohio's quickly getting this reputation as most corrupt and maybe most incompetent," said Chris Link, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio that fielded dozens of complaints from voters across the state...

Cuyahoga County was searching for memory cards holding votes from touch-screens at 74 polling locations. Spokeswoman Jane Platten said the cards might have been left in machines but she would not discuss any more details, citing security concerns. The county had reported results from only about 86 percent of its precincts by midday Wednesday...

"We're not conspiracy theorists unless gross incompetence is a conspiracy, and that's what we saw," Link said. "The elected officials charged with ensuring that citizens get to vote are not doing their job."...

[kpete]

22. Ohio Struggles to Fix Voting Problems

May 3, 2006, 3:40PM
Ohio Struggles to Fix Voting Problems

By CONNIE MABIN Associated Press Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press

CLEVELAND — Ohio's first election without punch card ballots was marred by a slew of problems with new voting machines, raising a crucial question: Can the state that decided the last presidential race get it together before November?

Election officials had trouble printing ballot receipts, finding lost votes and tabulating election results in Tuesday's primary. Some election workers were late or did not show up at all in Cleveland's Cuyahoga County, the state's largest. Others could not figure out how to turn on the machines.

"Ohio's quickly getting this reputation as most corrupt and maybe most incompetent," said Chris Link, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, which fielded dozens of complaints from voters.

Tuesday's primary was the first in which all 88 counties used either touch-screen machines or devices that scan ballots marked by voters.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/3838452.html

[Algorem]

23. OH - (AP) - A sampling of voting problems reported across Ohio

http://www.cleveland.com/newsflash/cleveland/index.ssf?/base/politics-1/114668696130800.xml&storylist=cleveland

5/3/2006, 3:57 p.m. ET
The Associated Press

(AP) — ...

_Stark County in northeast Ohio delayed results until Wednesday because of 30 missing memory cards that held votes. Election workers found several cards in voting machines and the rest were found filed out of numerical sequence in the elections board offices, executive director Jeff Matthews said.

_A man in Mahoning County, confused about how to use the electronic keyboard, used a pen to write in a congressional candidate on the machine's screen; a poll worker used her saliva to clean it.

_About 50 people left without voting at Franklin County precincts that opened as much as an hour late because poll workers were unsure what to do when they made mistakes turning on the machines.

_A few voters left a polling place in Summit County because workers couldn't figure out how to set up new optical scan units...




("I kind of think something fishy is going on..."-poll worker)-

Lack of three-pronged adaptors closes polling site for hours

http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=51671


Reported by Jennifer Murphy
Created: 5/2/2006 10:13:20 PM
Updated:5/2/2006 11:35:16 PM


CLEVELAND -- Elections officials knew there would be problems making the transition from paper ballots to electronic voting and they were right.
In fact, the CEO of the board of elections gave Tuesday's performance a failing grade.

In some cases, the problems with the machines were complicated -- Access cards that didn't work, paper trails that jammed.

But at the Garden Valley Neighborhood Center on Cleveland's east side, it was a "small set back" that caused big problems - the voting machines have three-pronged outlets, but the center didn't have electrical adaptors.

"I kind of think something fishy is going on because I don't understand why it took so long for someone to get here to set up the site," poll worker Paulzalina Wagner said...



election director-"only" 20% of poll workers didn't show up

Election snafu

http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=51716


Created: 5/3/2006 5:54:27 PM
Updated:5/3/2006 7:34:26 PM


CLEVELAND -- ...By the election director's assessment, first touch screen voting went "fairly well," with "only" 20 per cent of poll workers not showing up, leaving or not knowing how to do their jobs...


The biggest glitch was the disappearance of 70 memory cards that record votes. There is a paper backup so the votes did not disappear.

And losing memory cards is better than losing paper ballots.

"In the punch card world, if there was a punch card ballots missing we would never be able to recover those votes," officials said...


Results delayed on problem-filled election day

http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=51639

CLEVELAND -- ...There were so many problems that there was talk of extending voting hours and concerns over counting ballots. Some politicians asked that they remain open until 9 p.m. The Garden Valley location did just that because of numerous problems. They remained open until 9:30 p.m...

Hope turned to despair at 71st and Kinsman when broken electronic voting machines forced voters to wait until 1:30 p.m. Tuesday to cast their vote.

"I was incensed when I came in this morning and electronic voting machines were down," one voter said.

The faulty machines frustrated the volunteer poll workers too who said they didn't know what to do when the machines wouldn't work...



Election results-

http://www.wkyc.com/news/elections/results/20060502/




Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Blackwell to honor prayer day

http://www.cleveland.com/weblogs/openers/


Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken Blackwell, who successfully wooed his party’s conservative base with lots of talk about his faith, shows no signs of backing off his proselytizing...




In God they (bank and) trust


...So what do guns, God and gays have to do with a candidate's ability to manage Ohio's $11 billion portfolio?

Plenty, says Phil Burress, president of Citizens for Community Values, the group largely responsible for the passage of state Issue 1 in 2004, which handed President Bush a second term...







Voter turnout


About 1.8 million people, or 23 percent of the state’s 7.6 million registered voters, cast ballots on Tuesday. The figure is in line with the secretary of state’s prediction last week that about 25 percent of voters would go to the polls...






Newly nominated candidates for governor seek to reach majority

http://www.cleveland.com/newsflash/cleveland/index.ssf?/base/politics-1/114668696130800.xml&storylist=cleveland

5/3/2006, 7:50 p.m. ET
By JULIE CARR SMYTH
The Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio will be at the center of the national political stage again this fall, as both Democrats and Republicans seek to break old molds and win control of the governor's mansion.

U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland, the Democratic nominee, is an ordained minister from Appalachia who is endorsed by the gun lobby. Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, who won the GOP nomination Tuesday, is the first black Republican to run for the office and has campaigned with a Bible in his hand and a government-limiting constitutional amendment in his back pocket.

Moderate Republicans leery of Blackwell's stringent stances and liberal Democrats who find some of Strickland's positions too conservative are watching to see which candidate might be for them.

And they'll have plenty of exposure to the candidates before making their choice. Spending estimates already have reached $50 million...



Death penalty foes hope Ohio execution problems draw attention
5/3/2006, 7:53 p.m. ET
By ERICA RYAN
The Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Defense attorneys and death penalty opponents said Wednesday the unprecedented difficulties injecting a man executed in Ohio illustrate the problems with a method of capital punishment they call unconstitutional.

Problems finding a suitable vein to deliver drugs during Joseph Lewis Clark's execution Tuesday demonstrated the complications that can arise, said David Bodiker, Ohio's public defender. His office has sued the state challenging the effectiveness of its method of lethal injection.

"I think that this underlines or emphasizes the fact that we're not capable of actually imposing a formula for taking the life of the people on death row and doing it a manner that we have committed to which is painless and efficient," he said.

Clark's execution counters the belief that lethal injection is easy and straightforward, said Douglas Berman, an Ohio State University law professor who studies the death penalty...

[Algorem]

24. OH- Investigation Of Election Day Problems Could Take Weeks

Prosecutor's Office Prepared To Take Case To Court If Necessary

http://www.newsnet5.com/news/9156500/detail.html

POSTED: 6:32 pm EDT May 3, 2006
UPDATED: 6:56 pm EDT May 3, 2006

CLEVELAND -- The Cuyahoga County Board of Election is still trying to unravel numerous voting machine problems after Tuesday's primary, and the whole thing could end up in court.

The Board of Elections is expected to finish hand-counting the ballots by Wednesday evening, but it could take weeks before it finally figures out what went wrong at some of the polling places, reported 5 On Your Side's Joe Pagonakis.

As of 4 p.m. Wednesday, as the counting continued, voting machine memory cards had been accounted for and about 17,000 absentee ballots had been hand-counted.

Optical scanners manufactured by Diebolt were not properly reading a significant number of ballots printed by Marketing Communication Resource, in Mayfield Village, forcing a costly hand-count...

[Algorem]

25. OH- Officials: Machines Not To Blame For Problems At Polls

http://www.newsnet5.com/news/9153634/detail.html

Absentee Ballot Reading Issues, Technician No-Shows Caused Problems

POSTED: 12:31 pm EDT May 3, 2006

CLEVELAND -- Problems at the polls during Tuesday's primary election is making people question whether there really were problems with the new electronic voting machines in Cuyahoga County.

According to the county's top election official and a representative from the company that makes the machines, the answer is no.

NewsChannel5's Jack Marshall said the problems at the polls is a tale of two issues, both of which caused a domino effect and a major headache for the voting-machine process in Cuyahoga County.

First of all, electronic optical scanners made by Diebold could not count absentee ballots. But Diebold said it was an issue with the printing of the ballots, not their machines...

[Pissed Off Cabbie]

26. Kill The Voting Machines

Someone finally has the right idea:

http://pissedoffcabbie.blogspot.com/2006/05/oh-no-its-another-election_114650742888764350.html