50 registered voters disenfranchised - Ohio

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http://www.timesreporter.com/left.php?ID=35737&r=1&Category=5

An additional 915 ballots were counted and added to unofficial election-night vote totals Monday night as the Tuscarawas County Election Board certified the Nov. 2 general election.

The voter turnout on election night was 77 percent. That figure climbed slightly to nearly 79 percent – or 43,786 of 55,656 – with the additional votes.

Of the 987 provisional ballots cast on election night, 143 were not counted. Miller said 93 voters were not registered and the 50 remaining ballots were kicked out because they were cast in the incorrect precinct.

“Most of them were missed by a street,” Miller said. “For instance, someone voted in 1-B and they were supposed to be in 1-C. In some places, both sides of the street do not vote at the same precinct.”

[Newsjock]

1. Unasked question

Just why did those people go to the wrong precinct? Where did the instructions come from? Folks don't just go walking down the street looking for signs that say "polling place." Someone told them to vote at the wrong place. Who?

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2. Perhaps a neighbor from the other side of the street?

My street is one of those questionable places. The east side is in one precinct, the west side the other. To make it more interesting, my backyard neighbors vote in an entirely different ward.

I was fifth in line at 6:30 a.m. By the time I got my ballot, I was third. Two people in front of me were in the wrong precinct. As I left I heard rumbling from behind me from people wondering if they were in the wrong place.

HAVA was supposed to cover problems like this. Those provisional ballots should have been counted!

[liberal_in_GA]

3. Where is the ACLU?

Why isn't anyone talking about these violations of HAVA?

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6. This just came out in the morning paper.

Authorities will be notified.

[Ms. Toad]

4. Most polling places in Ohio

include more than one precinct. Mine included three. If voters were off by a street (or by the side of the street) they were almost certainly in the correct polling place, but checked in at the wrong table.

The polling sheets were on the wall, with the names in about 12 point typeface, and the precinct label 8-10 point in italics. Most people couldn't find the precinct identification on the polling sheets. Even if the correct precinct could be found on the sheet, it did not tell voters which of the three tables to check in at. Once you entered the voting room, there were long lines at each check-in table which had the precinct label at below waist height on the end where the line formed (i.e. the precinct label was hidden by the bodies in line).

If your name wasn't on the list, but you were identified a street in the precinct (maybe the wrong block of house numbers, or a even house number instead of odd, or close to the precinct) the precinct worker may not have realized you belonged at a different table and might have given you a provisional ballot - particularly if you were insistent that you were registered and specifically requested one. (They should have taken the time to verify precinct - but there were a lot of things they should have done, but didn't)

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5. And to add insult to the injury

The voters in my precinct were funneled into a large room through a three foot wide corridor that was made by moving some temporary walls. The voting lists were on the far side of the room. People standing in line could see nothing but the person in front of them. Our Board of Elections did not give out a list of polling places until the day before the election.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

7. both sides of the SAME street do not vote at the same precinct!?!

what godamfuckingbullshitfuckingcrap!!!!

[L84TEA]

8. This is soo stupid!! This is OHIO... for cryin out loud!

EVEN here in Iowa... we had a BIG sign up and plainly mapped out who went to WHAT precinct! We tripple checked ppl. We would ask them when they came in to get in a line, then we asked them again at the door... THEN when they got up to the polling people they would have to find their name in the book!! What the hell... I don't get how Ohio can be that fricken difficult to get it right!
grrr...

[Sapphire]

9. people called and gave wrong polling place

Just why did those people go to the wrong precinct? Where did the instructions come from? Folks don't just go walking down the street looking for signs that say "polling place." Someone told them to vote at the wrong place. Who?

Quoted from first reply I don't see any way to quote things.


There was something in the news or in the paper, I'll have research where it came from but i remember my husband telling me about it.

People were getting calls telling them to vote at the wrong places and once they got there they tried to do the provisional vote but in order to do it they needed some Auth code (or something) ....they were supposed to call a # to get in, simply.....so many people were called and told to go to the wrong polling place and when the workers tried to get the code or whatever from the # they were supposed to call it jammed the lines.

[newyawker99]

12. Hi Sapphire!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Eloriel]

10. Much of this, perhaps all of it, was by design -- voter suppression

is what it's called. Run them off before they get a chance to vote, or make it so difficult (like finding the right precinct/line) that their vote won't count anyway because of the rules.

[Straight Shooter]

11. What of the voters with reading disabilities?

Or the completely illiliterate voters?

"The polling sheets were on the wall, with the names in about 12 point typeface, and the precinct label 8-10 point in italics. Most people couldn't find the precinct identification on the polling sheets."

If America wants to put someone who doesn't read in the White House, they should allow those who can't read to vote. Oh, the irony.

[Eric J in MN]

13. As long as someone is a resident of Ohio, his vote

should count for statewide races including the presidential race.

Was the fed. court ruling saying only provisional ballots cast in the right precinct count ever appealed?