American Way Foundation Files Suit: Provisional Ballots Re-Examined., OHIO

[Karenca]

Updated: 03:21 PM EST
Suit Seeks Provisional Ballots Re-Examined

CLEVELAND (Nov. 26) - A watchdog group sued Friday to try to stop Cuyahoga County's elections board from rejecting thousands of provisional ballots until they are hand checked against voter registration cards.

People for the American Way Foundation said the board wrongly relied only on computerized registration records, which are compiled from the cards and could contain errors such as misspellings.

Provisional ballots are cast when voters say they are properly registered but precinct workers can't find their names on their registration lists.

Two-thirds of the 24,472 provisional ballots cast in Cuyahoga County were later found to be valid, but the other 8,099 were thrown out, mostly because the people who cast them were not found on the county's computerized records.

The national civil rights group filed the suit in the 8th District Court of Appeals against Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell and the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections. Blackwell's office did not immediately return a message seeking comment. The county board said declined to comment until it has reviewed the suit.

The lawsuit also seeks to give voters the chance to have their provisional ballots counted if they cast ballots in the wrong precinct without being directed to the correct one. An appeals court found last month that a provisional ballot cast outside a voter's home precinct isn't valid.

According to unofficial tallies, President Bush beat Democrat John Kerry in Ohio by 136,000 votes. Kerry has conceded not enough outstanding votes exist to sway the election his way in the key battleground state. The deadline for counties to complete their official counts is next Wednesday.


11-26-04 15:08 EST
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[berniew1]

1. Ohio Election Officials obstructing vote count process to run out time

Richard Hayes Phillips, Ph.D.

As of election night there were 155,428 provisional ballots still to be counted in Ohio. The eagerly awaited Ohio recount cannot possibly begin until after the votes are counted for the first time.

It is now Friday, November 26, 2004. Twenty-four days have passed since the presidential election. There are 88 counties in Ohio. To my knowledge, only 13 have examined their provisional ballots, counted them, and posted the results on their websites. The 13
counties are: Ashland, Brown, Butler, Clinton, Geauga, Greene, Hancock, Montgomery, Pickaway, Preble, Tuscarawas, Union, and Warren.

Altogether, there were 23,873 provisional ballots issued in these 13 counties, or 15.36% of the
statewide total. At this rate, it would take five months to count them all. This strikes me as a
deliberate stalling tactic to delay the Ohio recount until after the electoral college meets in December.

Here are the unofficial results in the 13 counties, with the sum totals compared with those reported on election night, so as to compute the net gains:


ELECTION RESULTS AFTER COUNTING PROVISIONAL BALLOTS

County Bush Kerry Others Ballots Not Cast Counted

Ashland 16,171 8,555 234 25,739 779
Brown 12,647 7,140 105 20,281 389
Butler 109,866 56,234 696 168,976 2,180
Clinton 12,938 5,417 58 18,674 261
Geauga 29,974 19,588 205 51,286 1,519
Greene 48,377 30,530 361 80,602 1,334
Hancock 25,101 10,343 140 35,926 342
Montgomery 138,361 142,977 1,205 287,635 5,092
Pickaway 14,160 8,578 123 23,132 271
Preble 13,733 7,274 119 21,559 433
Tuscarawas 23,825 18,854 260 43,760 821
Union 15,869 6,665 96 22,911 281
Warren 68,035 26,043 337 95,512 1,097

Bush Kerry Others

Total 529,057 60.04% 348,198 39.51% 3,939 0.45%
Earlier 516,376 60.18% 337,902 39.38% 3,753 0.44%
Net Gain 12,681 54.75% 10,296 44.45% 186 0.80%

John F. Kerry is actually gaining on George W. Bush as the counting of provisional ballots proceeds. In counties that Kerry lost by 20.8% on election night, he is losing by only 10.3% among the provisional ballots counted. In the 75 counties yet to be heard from, Kerry actually held a lead on election night:

ELECTION NIGHT RESULTS

Bush Kerry Others

88 counties 2,796,147 2,659,664 25,993
13 counted 516,376 337,902 3,753
75 uncounted 2,279,771 2,321,762 22,240


There are 208,696 uncounted ballots in these 75 counties, including 131,555 provisional ballots, and 77,141 regular ballots, mostly punch cards, which will have to be examined by hand during the recount. For a county by county breakdown of the uncounted votes,
read “JOHN KERRY CONCEDED TOO SOON” at

http://web.northnet.org/minstrel/uncounted.htm

Half of these uncounted votes, 104,748 (50.19%) are in 9 counties, 8 of which were won by John Kerry.

http://web.northnet.org/minstrel/summary.htm

There are also 14,799 ballots still uncounted in the other 13 counties, according to the table above. No wonder Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell is trying to slow down the counting of provisional ballots, and trying to delay the recount until after he certifies the winner. There needs to be a firestorm of protest to cause him to recuse himself, or a restraining order issued by the courts.

[Straight Shooter]

2. Provisional ballots should have NEVER been discarded in this election

Everything is evidence against the tainted "president" in this tainted election.