{{subst:#ifeq:a|b||{{subst:#ifexist:Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/{{subst:PAGENAME}}|{{subst:lessthan}}!-- The nomination page for this article already existed when this tag was added. If this was because the article had been nominated for deletion before, and you wish to renominate it, please replace "page={{subst:PAGENAME}}" with "page={{subst:PAGENAME}} (2nd nomination)" below before proceeding with the nomination.
-->}}}}This template must be substituted. Replace {{afd
with {{subst:afd
.
{{subst:lessthan}}!-- Once discussion is closed, please place on talk page:
This article was nominated for deletion on {{subst:#time:j F Y|{{subst:CURRENTTIMESTAMP}} }}. The result of the discussion was keep. |
-->
- Parent article: 2004 U.S. presidential election controversy
During the 2004 U.S. presidential election, there were numerous problems with the election process in Ohio, including but not limited to missing/uncounted votes, machine malfunction, machine shortage, machine mis-voting, >100% turnout, and abnormal statistical discrepancies such as the vote count having an abnormally low correlation with the exit poll.
Below is a county map of Ohio. The blue counties represent counties that voted democratic in the 2004 presidential election, darker shades representing higher population density. The dark blue county in the upper right is Cuyahoga County.
Voting machines in Ohio
File:Ohio machine problems.jpg
No Ohio County used Diebold Electronic Voting Machines. Nonetheless, there were numerous reports of machine shortages and malfunctions, the plurality of which came from Cuyahoga County. [1]
Vote suppression in Ohio
Machine shortages
Precints in some counties reported recieving less than half of the voting machines requested. [2]
Cuyahoga County, Ohio
141 long line incidents have been reported from Cuyahoga County, Ohio [3]. This amounts to an average of 0.098 per precinct, over eight times the avg. outside of Cuyahoga of 0.012 per precinct. Likewise, reported long line incidents in Cuyahoga per person is more than eight times as high as outside of Cuyahoga. Voter turnout in Cuyahoga compared with the rest of the state was 4.5% less than usual. Cuyahoga County has an inverse relationship between voter turnout and support for Kerry. This means that, where support for Kerry was high, the voters didn't turnout, for whatever reason. This could possibly be explained by vote suppression, but more analysis is necessary. [4] However, significant machine shortages seems in black neighborhoods is a more likely explanation.
Detailed analyses indicate that reports of malfunctioning voting machines were tightly clustered in black neighborhoods, further exacerbating machine shortages. Of the 82 precints for which voters reported that one or more voting machines were not working, the vast majority were in neighboroods where over 75% of the population were black, while non-working machines were reported in only five precincts where less than 5% of the population were black. In one precinct 7 of 17 voting machines were not working. In another, 3 of 9 voting machines were not working. In yet another 2 of 3 voting machines were not working. In two precints, all the machines were not working for a significant period during the day. In addition to reports of machines not working at all, there were multiple reports of voting machines that would not accept a vote for the presidential race, multiple reports of voting machines which highlighted a vote for Bush when Kerry's button was pressed, and multiple reports of voting machines that indicated that a vote for Bush had been registered on the summary screen, despite repeated attempts to select Kerry. [5]
Franklin County, Ohio
The pattern of machine malfunctions identified in Cuyahoga county also occurs in Franklin County. Reported incidents of malfunctioning voting machines are tightly clustered in neighborhoods where a large percentage of the population is black. 24 of 27 precints in which malfunctioning voting machines were reported were precincts in which the majority of voters voted for Kerry. [6]
54 incidents have been reported in Franklin County, Ohio, an avg of .065 per precinct. Franklin County has sparked particular attention because the long lines were disproportionately in poor and african-american communities, and largely due to machine shortages in those precincts, in posssible violation of the Equal Protection Amendment.
File:Franklin votes per machine.jpg
Voting machines in Franklin County were well over capacity, averaging 184 recorded votes per machine. The amount the machines in a precinct were over capacity was directly proportional to the percentage of voters in that precinct voting Kerry. As the graph below shows, this led to suppressed turnout in Democratic precincts. [7]
Voter turnout in Franklin County was expected to be significantly higher than normal, but was in fact significantly lower than normal.
Voter Turnout Franklin
CountyThe rest
of OhioDifference 1992 75.03% 75.62% 0.60% 1996 64.81% 68.14% 3.33% 2000 61.27% 63.88% 2.62% 2004 60.95% 70.91% 9.96% Although low population precincts were allocated relatively many voting machines and were well within the limits of processing capacity, high-population centers often were not "Is there inner-city election suppression in Franklin County, Ohio?":
- "Document reveals Columbus, Ohio voters waited hours as election officials held back machines. One telling piece of evidence was entered into the record at the Saturday, November 13 public hearing on election irregularities and voter suppression held by nonpartisan voter rights organizations. Cliff Arnebeck, a Common Cause attorney, introduced into the record the Franklin County Board of Elections spreadsheet detailing the allocation of e-voting computer machines for the 2004 election. The Board of Elections' own document records that, while voters waited in lines ranging from 2-7 hours at polling places, 68 electronic voting machines remained in storage and were never used on Election Day.... An analysis of the Franklin County Board of Elections' allocation of machines reveals a consistent pattern of providing fewer machines to the Democratic city of Columbus, with its Democratic mayor and uniformly Democratic city council, despite increased voter registration in the city. The result was an obvious disparity in machine allocations compared to the primarily Republican white affluent suburbs."
- "The ... Republican enclave of Upper Arlington has 34 precincts. No voting machines in this area cast more than 200 votes per machine. Only one, ward 6F, was over 190 votes at 194 on one machine. By contrast ... 17% of Columbus’ machines were operating at 90-100% over optimum capacity while in Upper Arlington the figure was 3%. In the Democratic stronghold of Columbus 139 of the 472 precincts had at least one and up to five fewer machine than in the 2000 presidential election. ... 29% of Columbus’ precincts, despite a massive increase in voter registration and turnout, had fewer machines than in 2000. In Upper Arlington, 6% had fewer machines in 2004. One of those precincts had a 25% decline in voter registration and the other had a 1% increase. Compare that to Columbus ward 1B, where voter registration went up 27%, but two machines were taken away in the 2004 election. Or look at 23B where voter registration went up 22% and they lost two machines since the 2000 election, causing an average of 207 votes to be cast on each of the remaining machines ... Thus, in four years, the ward went from optimum usage to system failure."
Anecdotal reports can be found at freepress.org.
Voter registration in Ohio
Above is a map of voting registration incidents reported to the EIRS. The two red counties (over 100 incidents), are Cuyahoga and Delaware. - The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections has botched the registrations of more than 10,000 voters, preventing them from heading to the ballot box next week, according to a lawsuit filed late Monday.
- The Citizens Alliance for Secure Elections, the Alliance of Cleveland HUD Tenants and seven residents sued the board in federal court and claimed election board employees failed to enter new registrations on voter rolls, update changes sent in by voters and enter addresses correctly...
- ...On Sept. 17, there were more than 10,000 names on the list. As of Monday, the suit claims, few errors have been corrected. [8]
- Mr Arnebeck said that hearings held in Ohio cities have brought to light new evidence of malpractice. He said one voter of a pro-Republican group caught destroying Democratic registration documents in Nevada before the election, had also been operating in Ohio. [9]
- We've done a post-election poll of 1,400 rural and exurban voters in Ohio counties that Bush won by an average of 17 percentage points. Their answers, and a closer look at other poll data, explode a few widely held theories about what happened...
- ...Third myth: A wave of newly registered Republican voters in fast-growing rural and exurban areas carried Bush to victory.
- Reality: Among Ohio's rural and exurban voters, Bush beat Kerry by just five points among newly registered voters and by a mere two points among infrequent voters (those who did not vote in 2000).
- Fourth myth: Republicans ran a superior, volunteer-driven mobilization effort.
- Reality: When we asked new voters in rural and exurban areas who contacted them during this campaign, we learned that they were just as likely to hear from the Kerry campaign and its allies as from the Bush side. (In contrast, regular voters reported more contact from the GOP.) [10]
Provisional ballots in Ohio
With 80 of 88 counties reporting, there are 135,149 provisional ballots; according to Ruth Coulter at Moritz College, this should be presumed to be the accurate and complete list for those 80 counties. If the same proportion of votes went provisional statewide, the remaining counties will produce 19,252 provisional ballots. Even if all of those ballots are found to be valid votes (and Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell has repeatedly noted that in 2000, 90 percent of provisional ballots were eventually counted), they're not remotely skewed enough toward the heavily Democratic counties to provide the margin Kerry would need. By my math, if every one of my projected 154,401 provisional ballots is counted, Kerry would need to win over 88 percent. That's not going to happen. [11]
Provisional ballot counting in Ohio begins Saturday November 13 and by law must be finished in 4 days. The number of provisional ballots is greater than the vote difference between Kerry and Bush. Most of the challenges were made by Bush supporters, presumably the provisional ballots may NOT be 51%-49% but instead be lopsided. Secretary of State Ken Blackwell had issued a ruling disqualifying a provisional ballot if date of birth is not written on the envelope [12], but ultimately, that ruling was cancelled. [13]
One third of 24,472 provisional ballots cast in Cuyahoga County, Ohio (8,099) were thrown out. The norm in Ohio is 9%. On November 27th, People for the American Way filed a lawsuit seeking to have provisional ballots re-examined. [14] [15] The suit demands that provisional ballots be accepted regardless of the precinct they were filed in, in accordance with Ohio state law and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and that registration be checked against voter registration cards, rather than just electronic voting lists.
Ballot spoilage in Ohio
- These are the same type of punch card machines used in Florida in the 2000 election. Anyone paying attention to the coverage of the Florida recount may be aware of the need to remove the chads underneath the grid ("punch guide") inside the punch card machines. If this is not done, voters would be unable to punch out the perforated chads, creating the infamous dimpled, hanging, and pregnant chads. Worse, if enough chads build up beneath the grid, the stylus - the metal pin that actually punches out the chad - can't even push the chads through the holes in the grid. When this happens, you have a "broken" machine. Since there was no coverage at all - neither local nor national - of the large number of machines "broken" on election day, there is no way of knowing if this was the problem - we can only speculate. But if chad build-up was not the problem, then why were there "broken" punch card machines in 34 polling places, consisting of 70 precincts, in the Cleveland area? And where were these broken machines located? In heavily Democratic, pro-John Kerry, predominantly black communities. [16]
Other Problems in Ohio
Auglaize County
In October, a former employee of Election Systems and Software (ES&S), the company that provides the voting system in Auglaize County, was allegedly on the main computer that is used to create the ballot and compile election results, which would go against election protocol. [17]
Youngstown
A precint in Youngstown recorded a negative 25 million votes.
Franklin
- Machines gave votes to libertarian candidates when the voter choose straight Democratic.[18]
- 3893 votes in were misappropriated. [19]
Mercer
- 4000+ lost votes in mercer county PA **wrong state
- Oddly enough, the Election Results on the Board of Elections webpage show they are hosted on the Mercer County Republican Party website.
Miami
Warren
Individuals and Organizations in Ohio
Read about Ohio election law in regards to recounts here.
Read House of Representatives Judicial Committee formal enquiry letter to Ohio Secretary of State Dec. 2 2004 here.
investigation statewide recount recusal of Blackwell legal action Organizations GAO systemic N/A N/A N/A Black Box Voting underway endorse Freedom of Information Act requests Common Cause collecting info pending petition Headed by Cliff Arnebeck Alliance for Democracy collecting info pending endorse Headed by Cliff Arnebeck Move On petition endorse endorse People for the American Way endorse endorse provisional ballots CASE Ohio endorse endorse National Voter Rights Institute pending Representing Cobb & Badnarik U.S. House underway People David Cobb endorse pending early recount, recount deadline, move case to federal court, against Blackwell Michael Badnarik endorse pending early recount, recount deadline, move case to federal court, against Blackwell Dennis Kucinich endorse endorse Jesse Jackson (interview, video) endorse endorse, "set aside" current results endorse, removal Greg Palast endorse endorse John Kerry underway pending petition, provisional ballots, join cobb/badnarik suit *Cliff Arnebeck & Bob Fitrakis, representing a group of voters collecting info pending *Cliff Arnebeck is the Chair of Common Cause Ohio and a Co-Chair and attorney for the Alliance for Democracy.
U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary
The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary has requested an investigation by the GAO, asked Kenneth Blackwell for an explanation, and scheduled a Public Congressional Forum. The hearings are currently scheduled for Wednesday, December 8th @ 10:00am [20]. Among the many potential attendees and invitees are Jesse Jackson, Cliff Arnebeck, Ken Blackwell and Warren Mitofsky.
Press releases:- Blackwell asked to explain irregularities in Ohio (pdf)
- Open congressional forum to be held on Dec. 8 (pdf)
Letters:
- To Mitofsky, requesting raw data for election exit polls (pdf)
- From Mitofsky, denying request (pdf)
- To Kenneth Blackwell, concerning Ohio election irregularities (pdf)
- To Kenneth Blackwell, concerning Ohio election irregularities, follow-up (pdf)
- Request for media coverage of Dec. 8 forum [23]
Green Party
- Green Party Candidate David Cobb, in conjunction with his Libertarian opponent, have completed their fundraiser for recount of the Ohio state presidential vote. A recount request is pending. [24], [25]
- On Nov. 17, The National Voting Rights Institute, on Behalf of David Cobb and Michael Badnarik, wrote this formal letter to the Elections Directors demanding a recount.
- On Nov. 19, Kennenth Blackwell responded with this letter.
- On Nov. 23, the Court denied the request to expediate the recount. [26]
- On Nov. 29, Cobb filed official requests for a recount in New Mexico and Nevada. [27]
- On Nov. 30, Cobb filed a motion to move the case to Federal court. [28]
- On Nov. 30, John Kerry joined the litigation. [29]
- On Dec. 1, the Federal court refused to uphold the temporary restraining order issued by the Ohio State court and set a hearing for Dec. 3rd. [30]
- On Dec. 2, the Cobb campaign filed a lawsuit against Republican Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, asserting that Blackwell is stalling the Ohio recount and abusing his authority. [31]
- On Dec. 2, the Cobb campaign decided not to pursue Nevada recounts. [32]
Libertarian Party
- Libertarian candidate Badnarik has joined the effort with Green party candidate David Cobb to recount the Ohio state presidential vote. [33], [34]
BlackBoxVoting.org
Led by Common Cause and the The Alliance for Democracy [35], both David Cobb (Green Party) and Michael Badnarik (Libertarian Party) will be filing for official recounts in Ohio. Black Box Voting is also launching a fraud audit in Ohio. Accuses Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell of failing to properly account for provisional ballots, and refusing to allow citizens to see the pollbooks.
Ohio recount
In Ohio a recount is automatic for statewide election if difference in the vote is within 0.25% of the total votes cast.
For a recount in the presidential race, this is probably about a 19,000-vote margin between Kerry and Bush.
Only a losing candidate can request a recount. A recount may always be requested regardless of the closeness of the race. The recount is requested by the losing candidate. The request for a recount must be made within 5 days of the official announcement of the results by the Secretary of State.
The fee for a recount is set by each Board of Elections and may be between $5 and $10 per precinct. You can limit the recount to specific precincts. The cost is deposited by the person making the recount request at the time of the application based on the number of precincts requested to be recounted. The entire recount and contest procedures are outlined at ORC 3515. [36]
In the news
November 2004
Nov. 2:
- Judge orders officials to provide paper ballots - Long lines of voters in Franklin, Knox counties; Bush makes Election Day visit [37]
Nov. 5:
- Ohio: CNN. Glitch gave Bush extra votes in Ohio [38]
- Ohio: Machine Error Gives Bush Extra Ohio Votes [39]
- Ohio: Solvig, Erica. "Warren's vote tally walled off." The Enquirer (OH). [40]
Nov. 6:
- Ohio: Gwin, Harold. "Democrats' leader decries voting glitches." The Vindicator (OH). November 6, 2004. [41]
- Ohio: Glitch Found in Ohio Counting [42]
Nov. 7:
- Ohio: Fitrakis, Bob. "None dare call it voter suppression and fraud." The Free Press (OH). [43]
- Ohio: Voting Problems in Ohio Set Off an Alarm [44]
Nov. 10:
- Ohio: Fitrakis, Bob. "And so the sorting and discarding of Kerry votes begins." The Free Press (OH). [45]
- Bronis, Jason. "Ballot counting turns into legal fiasco." News 14 Charlotte. [46]
- Ohio: Cincinatti Enquirer. Warren Co. defends lockdown decision, FBI denies warning officials of any special threat [47]
- Ohio: Cuyahoga board deflates vote suspicions Plain Dealer Reporter [48]
Nov. 11:
- Ohio: AP. Democratic lawyers on "fact finding" mission in Ohio. [49]</small.>
Nov. 13:
- Ohio: 33,000 ballots lost in shuffle - Salt Lake Tribune, OH [50]
Nov. 14:
- Ohio: Ohio voters tell of Election Day troubles at hearing [51]
Nov. 15:
- Ohio: Ohio recount all but certain [52]
Nov. 16:
- Ohio: Document reveals Columbus, Ohio voters waited hours as election officials held back machines [53]
- Ohio: Questioning Ohio: No controversy this time? Think again. [54]
- Ohio: Ohio To Go Through Statewide Vote Recount After All [55]
Nov. 17:
- Ohio: Blackwell, J. Kenneth How Ohio pulled it off [56]
- Ohio: Ohio Finds Possible Double Votes, Counts [57]
- N.C.: New NC statewide Attorney General election possible [58]
- Ohio: Common Cause Joins Coalition Supporting Recount in Ohio [59]
Nov. 18:
- Ohio: Kucinich Supports Green Party Demand for Ohio Recount [60]
- Ohio: Hearings on Ohio voting put 2004 election in doubt [61]
- Ohio: Ohio Democratic Party seeks uniform ballot count [62]
- Ohio: Lucas County, OH - Prosecutor to check out 35 voters (and related events) [63]
Nov. 20
- Ohio: Lawyers to challenge election in Ohio [64] [65]
- Ohio: Franklin County, Ohio voting machine assignments [66] [67]
Nov. 24- Ohio and Florida: Allegations of vote fraud in Ohio, Florida: Was the 2004 presidential election stolen? [68]
- Ohio: Ohio judge denies recount request [69]
Nov. 26
Nov. 27
Nov. 29
- Ohio: Re-vote, Not Recount, in Ohio [74]
- Ohio: Jackson wants to set aside Bush's win in Ohio [75]
- Keith Olbermann Interviews Kenneth Blackwell (Video)
Nov. 30
- David Cobb: America needs a recount in Ohio [76]
- Ohio: "Fight for Democracy" rally scheduled for Dec. 4th [77]
- Ohio: Green Party Presidential Candidate Seeks Federal Court Jurisdiction in New Ohio Recount Case [78]
- Ohio: Statement From the Green Party Presidential Campaign Concerning John Kerry's Intervention in Ohio Recount Court Case [79]
- Ohio: Electors to be Chosen Before Recount [80]
- Ohio: Jesse Jackson article in Chicago Sun-times
December 2004
Dec. 1
- Ohio: Voters to challenge US election [81]
- Ohio: Green Party is seeking funds to place volunteers in 88 Ohio counties for recount. [82]
- Ohio: certified results from all counties are in, Kenneth Blackwell hasn't certified state results, recount case moved to federal court. [83]
- Voters to challenge U.S. election [84]
- Ohio: Federal judge refuses to extend a OH State Court temporary restraining order preventing the Libertarian Party from initiating a recount of Delaware OH, sets hearing date to decide the matter [85]
Dec. 2
- Ohio: Two groups vow to contest election results [86]
- David Cobb: Greens had good reason to ask for this recount [87]
- Ohio: 1,644 ballots invalid, Summit board rules [88]
- Ohio: AP. Kerry campaign keeping an eye on Ohio cases [89]
- Ohio: Cobb Sues Blackwell in Federal Court Over Ohio Recount [90]
- Ohio, House Committee on the Judiciary: House Judiciary Democrats ask Blackwell (Ohio Sec. of State) to explain apparent Ohio election irregularities (pdf)
- Keith Olbermann interviews Jesse Jackson (Video)
Dec. 3
- Ohio, House Committee on the Judiciary: Conyers and other congressmen to hold forum on Ohio voting irregularities (pdf)
- Ohio, House Committee on the Judiciary: Conyers follow-up letter to Blackwell (Ohio Sec. of State) (pdf)
- Ohio, House Committee on the Judiciary: Judiciary Committee holding forum Dec. 8 for interested parties to discuss this and related issues (same source)
- Ohio: Federal judge rules that Ohio recount wil go forward in all counties [91]
Dec. 5
- Ohio: Hundreds gather at Ohio statehouse to demand recount of votes [92]
- Ohio, FBI: The FBI refused to accept a complaint detailing allegations of compound felonies of voter fraud, conspiracy and other offenses in connection with the Ohio conduct of last month's presidential election. Letter includes summary of evidenced cases requesting investigation.[93] (video)
Dec. 6
- Ohio: Kenneth Blackwell certifies state vote count [94]
Dec. 7
- Ohio and Florida: Common Cause is looking for volunteers to gather documents [95]
- Ohio: Suspended Lucas County elections official resigns [96]
- Ohio: Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell certifies election results. Two parallel vote count efforts are pending, one claims evidence that John Kerry is the legitimate winner of Ohio. (Associated Press) (NYT)
Dec. 8
- Ohio: Third party candidates call for Ohio recount [97]
- Ohio: Reluctant officials and few rules [98]
- Profile: Voting activist to observe Ohio recount [99]
Dec. 9
- Ohio, U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, Forum:
- Ohio: Lucas County recount to begin Tuesday [103]