How much say and pull did Blackwell actually have?

[AnIndependentTexan]

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Feb04/Fitrakis0226.htm

If Ohio’s Republican Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell has his way, Diebold will receive a contract to supply touch screen electronic voting machines for much of the state. None of these Diebold machines will provide a paper receipt of the vote.

[AnIndependentTexan]

1. Electronic Voting Plan Scraped Over Security Concerns

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.

[AnIndependentTexan]

7. WTF is up with this 2005 and not 2004 on security being there?

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.

[AnIndependentTexan]

10. self delete

[LisaL]

2. I suspect Blackwell was to cheap to buy those Diebold

machines. They set some money aside, but never got the machines.
Blackwell apparently decided it would be much easier to just suppress voters by not giving the Democrats enough machines to vote on.

[geo]

24. also...

don't want the pattern to be too obvious... have to spread the fraud out between machines and paper. :) -G

[ooglymoogly]

3. depends on whether you are honest ,a dem

or a fraud, a repub.

[No Mandate Here.]

4. One of the biggest, if not the biggest , travesties of justice

is that * had the State secretary of state, fully in charge of the elections, as his State campaign chair. This happened with Harris in Florida, and with Blackwell this time in Ohio.

This, coupled with Diebold's president saying he would do "everything possible" to deliver Ohio to *, says it all. They targeted Ohio as the ultimate battleground state early, had their compliant media harp on it over and over, and - lo and behold, their prophesy came true. By steering everyone that way, the ultimate smokescreen was set up.

...and they stole it right from under our eyes.

[AnIndependentTexan]

5. Punch-card ballots raise new worries

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.

[AnIndependentTexan]

6. ACLU punch-card lawsuit goes to trial

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

<[snipit>]
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.
<[snipit>]

<[snipit>]
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."
<[snipit>]

[AnIndependentTexan]

9. American Civil Liberties Union filed suit

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.

[AnIndependentTexan]

8. Blackwell acknowledges

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."

But with increased poll-worker training and the extensive public-education campaign — especially with minority groups — he now says Ohio’s voting setup "isn’t so dysfunctional that no one should trust the outcome."

George Forbes, former Cleveland City Council president who is now head of the city’s branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said black leaders in Cuyahoga County are working with elections officials in an attempt to head off problems on Election Day.

"It’s not going to do us any good to go in the day after the election and say we got cheated," he said.

Guides to using punch-card ballots are being mailed to all registered voters, Forbes said, and every precinct in Ohio’s largest county will have a coordinator with a direct line to the county elections board for troubleshooting during the vote.

"I still anticipate problems," Forbes said. "I think that it’s going to be an overload of people at the polls," which might make some voters reluctant to ask for assistance.

[AnIndependentTexan]

11. Superior election laws

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."

[AnIndependentTexan]

12. provisional ballots

Wednesday, November 3, 2004; Page A21
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20565-2004Nov3.html

To complicate matters further, some voters in the state were still casting ballots as late as 2:30 a.m. today because of long lines at the polls. Nearly three-quarters of the state's registered voters cast ballots.

Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell estimated early this morning that the number of provisional ballots could be 175,000, although he had said earlier that the total could reach 250,000. As of 2:20 a.m., at least 96,221 of the ballots had been used, but 25 counties had not reported their numbers, according to Blackwell's Web site and the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections.

[AnIndependentTexan]

13. federal mandate to replace punch-card voting machines

Friday, July 09, 2004

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,125160,00.html

COLUMBUS, Ohio — When Hardin County replaces its lever voting machines with electronic ones on Nov. 2, the board of elections will be relaxed but ready should any problems arise, its director says.

A federal mandate to replace punch-card voting machines with electronic devices has fizzled to the point that only four of Ohio's 88 counties will consider the idea for this year, the secretary of state's office said Thursday.

The four counties — Hardin, Lorain, Mercer and Trumbull — must decide after the state completes a test of the machines, made by North Canton-based Diebold Inc. The tests should be completed by July 19, said Carlo LoParo, a spokesman for Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell.

Initially, up to 31 counties were prepared to switch from punch cards and lever voting devices to electronic machines, but the number has dwindled to four. The rest of the state must complete the conversion to electronic machines by the 2006 primary election.

The original deadline set by the federal Help America Vote Act (search) was the Nov. 2 election, but Blackwell received a waiver because of security questions.

[AnIndependentTexan]

14. Blackwell warned in a letter to the Senate president

Sunday, September 12, 2004
http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/109499220014350.xml

Even Ohio's top elections official, Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, warned in a letter to the Senate president that "the possibility of a close election with punch cards as the state's primary voting device invites a Florida-like calamity."

Nearly three-quarters of Ohio voters will cast ballots on the punch-card machines that were so vilified after the tortured recount of 2000, when George W. Bush squeaked by Al Gore in Florida. More than 175,000 votes in that state went uncounted because of errors with the ballots.

Ohio had a similar problem: It scrapped about 94,000 votes for president because machines couldn't read the ballots and nearly 89 percent of those "spoiled" ballots were cast on punch cards. The state's lost votes got little attention at the time because Bush defeated Gore in Ohio by more than 166,000 votes.

But every vote will be critical in Ohio if this year's election is a dead heat. Indeed, pollsters, pundits and even Gov. Bob Taft have portrayed Ohio as the Florida of 2004, the swing state of swing states that could decide the presidential election.

[AnIndependentTexan]

15. The power Blackwell Has over recount

Tuesday, November 16, 2004
by Greg Palast

http://www.alcaabajo.cu/sitio/stop_ftaa/iv_reich/why_kerry_conceded_230904.htm

<[snipit>]
After the swindle of 2000, who would have the nerve to keep these machines in operation? Answer: the co-chair of Ohio's Bush-Cheney reelection campaign, J. Kenneth Blackwell, who also happens to have the convenient post of Ohio secretary of state. Blackwell, who makes Katherine Harris look like Thomas Jefferson, concedes the racially bent effects of punch-card voting; but in spite of this -- or because of this -- he refused to replace or fix these machines for the 2004 election.
<[snipit>]
<[snipit>]
WHY KERRY HAD TO CONCEDE

Lacking evidence to refute the hard stats and demographics that the uncounted votes are mostly Kerry's, Manjoo ducks behind this tautological rock: He can "prove that Kerry couldn't have won in Ohio: He conceded."

Kerry did not concede because he did not have the votes. He conceded because he could not get them counted. Kerry would have to demand a hand count of the spoiled punch cards. But the hard fact is that, just as Katherine Harris stopped the hand count of the punch cards in Florida, Blackwell would undoubtedly do the same in Ohio. And face it: In a legal showdown, Blackwell could count on the help of that pus-hole of partisanship, the U.S. Supreme Court. Been there, done that. Add in the ballot-by-ballot litigation required to force a count of all the provisional ballots under rules à la Blackwell, and Kerry, realistically, didn't stand a chance.
<[snipit>]

[AnIndependentTexan]

16. Kenneth Blackwell yesterday canceled plans to deploy Diebold

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."

[AnIndependentTexan]

17. Again another problem with funding

TUESDAY JANUARY 27, 2004

http://www.the-daily-record.com/article.php?pathToFile=/archive/01272004/news/&file=_news2.txt&article=1&tD=01272004

<[snipit>]
Federal legislation requires punch-card systems be replaced, and Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell had asked that counties select an equipment vendor by Jan. 15.
<[snipit>]

<[snipit>]
Counties could select from four vendors for the equipment - Diebold, Election Systems & Software, Maximus/Hart Intercivic/DFM Associates and Sequoia Voting Systems. More than 30 counties, including Wayne, Holmes and Medina, selected Diebold.
<[snipit>]

<[snipit>]
Johns said she would like to phase in the new machines, perhaps using the touch-screens in about one-fourth of the county’s precincts per election. The setup would help provide a smoother transition to the new equipment and give the county time to train pollworkers.

Johns said she expects some pollworkers will decide not to work future elections because of the equipment, which is heavier than the existing systems (about 26 pounds per unit compared to about 14 pounds) and more technical in nature.

“I think some of this may be too overwhelming and they may decide they don’t want to do it anymore,” she said.

The replacement is contingent on the availability of funding, however, Johns said. The machines will cost about $3,500 each. Federal funding is available for some, but the county likely will have to pay a portion of the total cost.
<[snipit>]

[AnIndependentTexan]

18. state laws don't allow international poll observers within 100 feet

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.

[AnIndependentTexan]

19. Help America Vote Act passed in 2002

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.

[AnIndependentTexan]

20. violation of the Help America Vote Act

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/10/09/ohio_voter_intimidation_act/print.html

GOP dirty tricks in Ohio?
Voter registration is exploding in the swing state, but a ruling by the obstructionist Republican secretary of state may result in thousands not voting.

- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Lisa Chamberlain

With the registration deadline past, the focus for the numerous groups in Ohio that are working to mobilize voters has now shifted to making sure those voters get to the polls and, once they get there, are able to vote. Conventional wisdom has always held that the hard part is getting people signed up and to the polls. But with millions of dollars being spent by groups such as America Coming Together, MoveOn PAC, 21st Century Democrats and others on such efforts, a more important problem may be getting those votes counted -- a fear given definite shape thanks in no small part to Ohio's obstructionist Republican secretary of state, Kenneth Blackwell.

While there had been a lot of hand-wringing among elected officials, voting rights groups and the public over electronic voting, Ohio passed a law in May requiring that all new machines have a paper receipt by 2006. This, of course, won't occur until after the 2004 presidential election, but the change has had a deterrent effect on a switch to electronic voting machines. According to Petee Talley, who is chairing the Ohio Voter Protection Coalition, made up of labor, civil rights, voting rights, retiree and community organizations: "Ninety-five percent of Ohio's voters will be voting on the same equipment they did the last time."

So, befitting the state's anachronistic Rust Belt economy, tactics have turned to good old-fashioned voter suppression and intimidation rather than high-tech tampering. In a recent campaign stop in Cleveland, Sen. John Kerry suggested that such intimidation was already underway. His comments came on the heels of 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.

We "sent a letter to the secretary of state saying that it's a violation of the Help America Vote Act," says Talley. Not getting an adequate response, the Ohio Voter Protection Coalition filed a lawsuit on Tuesday. The Ohio Democratic Party has already sued on this issue, and a judge is expected to issue a ruling on that suit by Oct. 15.

[AnIndependentTexan]

21. more on ACLU lawsuit

http://www.votersunite.org/article.asp?id=2300

``Voting systems that do not provide voters notice of errors and a chance to correct their ballots to eliminate errors... result in larger racial differences in over- and/or undervoting than do systems that provide such notice and opportunity, such as electronic voting,'' ACLU attorney Paul Mokey said in his opening statement.

On Monday, the state's attorneys tried to separate Ohio from the conclusions of a national study used to bolster the ACLU's claim.

``You need to focus on what happens in each precinct, what happens in each county,'' said Assistant Attorney General Richard Coglianese.

Ohio is one of the few states still steeped in punch cards. The ballots will be used in 69 of Ohio's 88 counties this fall, representing about 70 percent of voters. A few counties, such as Franklin, will use older touch-screen or optical scan machines.

Initially, that ratio wasn't good enough for Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell. He tried for months to buy e-voting machines from companies like Green-based Diebold Inc., but legislators delayed his efforts to work out security concerns.

Now, trial or not, Ohio won't get new voting equipment before 2005. Mokey said the ACLU understands that, and just wants punch cards replaced with electronic voting equipment ``as soon as practicable.''

Still, this week's trial has put Blackwell's office in the awkward position of defending the very method of voting that it tried so hard to ditch.

[AnIndependentTexan]

22. Election Reform : HEARING REPORT

April 25, 2001

http://www.nist.gov/hearings/2001/elecref2.htm

Secretary Blackwell said elections are state business and should remain so. Universal standards should be established to assure voters that each ballot will be counted in the same manner within each individual state. Ohio House of Representatives has passed election reform bill to codify rules and provide clear instructions to county election officials. Bill would strengthen the authority of the secretary of state to issue instructions regarding the conduct of elections and create a committee to study voting machines and funding methods. He estimates it would cost Ohioans at least $120M to replace punch card machines. Congress should provide federal funds for matching grants to states and localities to improve voting systems.

Ms. Preist stated that NASS recommends that Congress: provide sustained funding for the Office of Election Administration to update the Federal Voting System Standards; fund the development of voluntary management practices standards for each voting system; and promote intergovernmental cooperation among state and local elections officials to facilitate the maintenance of accurate vote registration rolls.

Secretary Harris called for a uniform, statewide voting method for the entire State of Florida and a statewide real time voter registration database to provide elections officials with a reliable listing of all registered voters. Problem affecting the American electoral system cannot be solved by local and state governments alone–funding is not there.
Secretary Vigil-Giron said under New Mexico laws and ballots are uniform throughout the state and compatible with the types of voting machines used. Uniform standards and procedures are required by law for all county, state and federal elections. Training is mandatory for County Clerks, precinct poll workers and voting machine technicians. Important to have Congressional funding to allow the Federal Elections Commission to complete its update of the voting machine certification standards.

Secretary Thornburgh said that America’s confidence in its voting system has been shaken. American needs uniform voluntary standards for our voting equipment, technologies and processes. America does not need the same ballot or voting machine in every precinct. State and local governments must continue to be in charge of the election process. We must ensure that voter registration records are accurate and up-to-date. Urged Congress to fund section 8(b) of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 allowing first class handling of official election mail at third class rates.

Speaker Stephens said that the National Conference of State Legislature (NCSL) is charged with determining the appropriate Federal role in State elections processes and to serve as an expert body providing information to the States on creative solutions to elections issues. NCSL has adopted an emergency policy regarding Federal election reform–policy calls for Congress to refrain from enacting legislation which would limit the ability of State legislatures to exercise discretion over their election processes. NCSL task force recommends that any Federal funding to the States be in the form of a block grant to States and based on broad principles, not specific mandates.

Majority Leader Hurson described some of the bills being considered by State legislatures and stated NCSL’s commitment to a comprehensive review of the Nation’s election laws and processes. Very concerned about the public confidence in the integrity of the voting process and hopes that rather than crafting a one-size-fits-all solution that Congress will defer to State lawmakers who have been engaged in this issue since the first ballot was looked at in Florida.

Commissioner Mayfield believes the Federal government should not adopt a regulatory approach. Instead it should address the weaknesses of the current system by funding improvements in equipment and administration, sponsoring research and disseminating information. Recommends three programs: a grant to help State and local governments cover the one-time cost for upgrading voter registration and voting systems; an ongoing formula-based funding program to share the cost of the administration of Federal elections; and the assistance in mailing election-related materials as recommended by the National Association of Secretaries of States. (NASS) He believes that attempts at national uniformity, such as a uniform national ballot would be impractical.

[AnIndependentTexan]

23. is this a conflict of interest?

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

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.