NYT/AP: OHIO ASKS CUYAHOGA COUNTY ELECTION BOARD MEMBERS TO QUIT

[DeepModem Mom]

Ohio Asks Election Board Members to Quit
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: March 19, 2007

CLEVELAND (AP) -- All four election board members for Cuyahoga County, troubled by recount rigging charges and voting machine problems, have been told to resign or face being fired, a state official said Monday.

Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner said she called the four board members of Ohio's most populous count late Sunday, asking them to leave by close of business Wednesday.

The county, which includes all of Cleveland, has had difficulty adjusting to electronic voting. Last May's primary, the first attempt at electronic voting in the county, was marred by absent or poorly trained poll workers, lost vote-holding computer cards and a polling place that opened hours late.

Last week, two elections workers were sentenced to 18 months in prison for rigging a recount of the 2004 presidential election, not to affect the outcome but so they could avoid a more thorough review of the votes.

Brunner, a Democrat, said new leadership is needed in the county before the 2008 presidential election. She said that if the board members don't resign by her deadline, they would face public hearings and removal....

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Ohio-Voting.html

[robinlynne]

1. Go Jennifer!

[Selatius]

2. Actually, I want them not to resign.

Why? So that they face public hearings and the harsh glare of the public eye.

[silvermachine]

5. I'll settle for....

...this story getting a lot of play in the news. People need to know what they are up against in order to merely have their votes counted fairly.

[geiger]

7. It gets Chair Bob Bennett out, who is also Chair of the Ohio Republican Party

[geiger]

3. already posted in Ohio Forum. Hurrah, plus ACLU chimes in and agrees

per today's Cleveland Plain Dealer

[David Zephyr]

4. Kudos for Jennifer Brunner

This is how you do it.

[Vidar]

6. Way to take out the trash!

[Kolesar]

8. That f'k-head Robert Bennett, head of Ohio GOP who organized the voter purge

"Bennett said Monday he plans to finish his term, which expires in 2010."

[Eurobabe]

9. PURGE, PURGE and when you are done, look at Warren Co. BOE Jennifer!

Those fucking crooks that locked down, so no one could observe the final tally in 2004. Given the lies and manipulation we are seeing come out about this administration, does anyone think that Ohio wasn't stolen by Warren Co BOE/Rove/O'Dell-Diebold operatives now??

[Botany]

11. al Qaeda wanted to attack "King's Island" in 2004

Also any doubt that bush didn't use the NSA in 2004 against
Kerry?

[Eurobabe]

28. With all the shit that has hit the fan lately, who knows WHAT they

used on anyone? The level of corruption and malfeasance in the Bush White House is just mind-boggling.

My neck hurts like Linda Blair's on a daily basis. :crazy:

[Botany]

10. I loves me some Brunner!

Go Jenny Junk! Her name in high school.

I think the 2004 vote & count might get back in the news.
She is going to clean house and watch how a fair vote in
Ohio goes in 2008.

[xxqqqzme]

12. Does anybody know

if either of the sentenced election workers were among those featured in the HBO documentary Hacking Democracy?

That documentary pointed out the suspicious 'recount'; noting the choice of precincts to recount was not random as the law specifies. Person recounting even smelled a rat.

[Kolesar]

13. These two?

[MasonJar]

14. I am just hoping that the Ohio jail time for the election team scares future

Pug cheaters.

[Kolesar]

15. I recall previous SOS Ken Blackwell threatening to dismiss members of the Cuyahoga County BOE

...when they threatened to not follow his imperial edicts from Columbus. Brunner is being too fair. I don't know why she did not just show up Wednesday with some deputies from the sheriff's office and clear the place out.

[Heidi]

16. Kick.

:kick:

[AnOhioan]

17. Ohio Asks Election Board Members to Quit

Source: AP

CLEVELAND (AP) -- All four election board members for Cuyahoga County, troubled by recount rigging charges and voting machine problems, have been told to resign or face being fired, a state official said Monday.

Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner said she called the four board members of Ohio's most populous count late Sunday, asking them to leave by the close of business Wednesday.

The county, which includes all of Cleveland, has had difficulty adjusting to electronic voting. Last May's primary, the first attempt at electronic voting in the county, was marred by absent or poorly trained poll workers, lost vote-holding computer cards and a polling place that opened hours late.

Last week, two elections workers were sentenced to 18 months in prison for rigging a recount of the 2004 presidential election, not to affect the outcome but so they could avoid a more thorough review of the votes.



Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/OHIO_VOTING?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US

[sasquatch]

18. I'm so damned happy I want to sing Buckeye Battle Cry

:bounce:

[Doctor_J]

19. Dang. I was hoping they would be prosecuted.

Some sentences in a federal pound-me-in-the-ass prison would be a significant deterrent to other would-be election fixers.

[Kolesar]

24. conjugal visits?

[AnOhioan]

20. Even though two of the Board members are Dems....

I agree with Sec. of State Brunner's call to clean house and make a fresh start.

[liberal N proud]

21. It is the only way to move toward restoring the publics confidence in the system

This system was so screwed up and so corrupt that it needed to be completely refreshed.

[AnOhioan]

22. The backgrounds of the board members

Board Chairman Bob Bennett, 68.
Republican
Serving his eighth term as full-time chairman of the Ohio Republican Party, a position he has held since 1988. Born in Columbus. He has a bachelor's degree in business administration from Ohio State University and holds a law degree from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law.
Salary: $21,854.
Term expires: 2010

Edward C. Coaxum Jr., 63.
Democrat
Law partner with Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs of Cleveland. Has a bachelor's degree from Williams College and a law degree from Boston University School of Law.
Salary $21,854
Term expires: 2010.

Sally D. Florkiewicz, 62.
Republican
Former chairwoman of Cuyahoga County Republican Party. Owner of an antiques and collectibles store and philanthropist. Appointed to the Cleveland State University Board of Trustees in June 1998; re-appointed by Governor Bob Taft to a full term ending May 2012.
Salary: $21,854
Term expires: 2008.

Loree K. Soggs, 60.
Democrat.
Executive director, Cleveland Building and Construction Trades Council. Former chairman of the board of the Cleveland AFL-CIO Federation of Labor.
Salary: $21,854.
Term expires: 2008.

[Kolesar]

23. The two o'clock thread

Don't miss my pissiness: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2772469

[AnOhioan]

25. Damn....missed the fact that it was posted earlier....

May the Mods merge

[Kolesar]

26. I've done that before

I mean, I missed threads. I never merged with a mod.

[AnOhioan]

27. Thanks for the laugh :)

[MGD]

29. Yeah, throw the swine in prison and make a harsh example out of them for future election tamperers.

All of these assholes need felony convictions to follow them around for the rest of their lives.

[DemReadingDU]

30. Good News!

[heatstreak]

31. kick