Support Ken Blackwell on Paper Ballots.

[Eric J in MN]

You may hate Ken Blackwell. He may dserve that, but he's still right on the issue of paper ballots.

He's calling for optical-scan ballots. Those are second-best only to plain-paper ballots, which aren't being considered.

With optical-scan ballots, which we use in Minnesota, there are shorter lines, because a polling booth is just a table, and tables are cheap and plenftiful.

Also, people check their optical-scan ballots. With electronic voting machines, even if they print paper ballots, most voters don't check that prinout.

Republican Matthew Damschroder, director of the Franklin County Board of Elections. is opposing optical-scan ballots. This article
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=519&e=8&u=/ap/20050114/ap_on_re_us/ohio_voting_machines
doesn't make clear what system he wants. But Matt Damschroder divertied voting machines from the city to the suburbs and I don't trust him.


Please tell Ken Blackwell you support him on this, tell your local election officials you want optical-scan ballots, and tell your state reps. you want optical-scan ballots.

To find contact information for your Ohio State Rep., use this form:
http://www.house.state.oh.us/jsps/Representatives.jsp

[skippythwndrdog]

1. I agree that these are a great choice. ScanTron...Here I Come!

Should be no problem to divine voter intent. It'll feel like I'm taking the ERBs or the Stanfords again.

[KerryOn]

12. I will not support Blackwell

on anything period. If its his plan, then I can guarantee you it is dirty. I live in Columbus Ohio and have gone to every single Blackwell protest, and will continue to do so until the man dead or gone. I actually trust Bush more than that man, and that is saying something brother.

Whoops correction:
If Blackwell wants to resign, I will support him.

On Edit: (I ment to reply to the original post #1 sorry)

[realisticphish]

18. honestly

the only way i will trust an election under blackwell is if i, personally, count every vote.

(i'm in columbus too, what area do you live in?)


:hippie: The Incorrigible Democrat

[consciousobjector]

2. Don't be too quick to approve this

The problem with the optical scan machines is that they still rely on easily hacked software for the tabulation of votes. There has been discussion about it on the "2004 Election Results and Discussion Board" here at DU...I'll try to find the links. These were the machines involved in the Volusia Co.,Florida incident where Bev from BBV found poll tapes in the trash and the same system is used in all of the counties in Florida where most of the registered voters were registered as Democrats, yet the counties went to Bush by extremely high percentages, this anomaly was never adequately explained. Also, Blackwell has stated that the systems must be purchased from one of only two suppliers: Diebold and ES&S - both bad news:

Orlando Weekly News
By Alan Waldman
Published 11/18/04:
A quartet of companies control the U.S. vote count. Diebold, ES&S, Sequoia and SAIC are all hard-wired into the Bush campaign and power structure. Diebold chief Walden O'Dell is a top Bush fund-raiser. According to "online anarchist community" Infoshop.org, "At Diebold, the election division is run by Bob Urosevich. Bob's brother, Todd, is a top executive at 'rival' ES&S. The brothers were originally staked by Howard Ahmanson, a member of the Council For National Policy, a right-wing steering group stacked with Bush true believers. Ahmanson is also one of the bagmen behind the extremist Christian Reconstruction Movement, which advocates the theocratic takeover of American democracy." Sequoia is owned by a partner member of the Carlyle Group, which is believed to have dictated foreign policy in both Bush administrations and has employed former President Bush for quite a while.

Blackwell has also said that the purchases of the machines must be made by February 9th because he "has to meet a federal timetable"...That doesn't leave much time if we want to speak to these problems...

I don't trust Damschroder either, but doesn't Franklin county have DRE machines? He may be opposing the change simply because it will mess up the BOE County budget.

[fliesincircles]

3. Opti-scans are a waste of money.

You are right about shorter lines. Since a table can be used to fill out a paper ballot, the ballot media shortens the line, not the machines.

What Ohio needs is smaller precincts and a real time hand count at the precinct level. No ballot leaves the precinct before it is counted and reconciled with the poll books.

The machines are just expensive calculators. Use the HAVA money to modernize the voting rolls. Statewide database networked to a precinct level laptop. Let the technology help the voters get in and out, just keep it away from the ballots.

[realisticphish]

10. definately smaller precincts

my precint covers around 20,000 osu students, not to mention all the non-students who live in the area

:hippie: The Incorrigible Democrat

[KaliTracy]

4. Before you Support Blackwell on Optiscan devices -- Ask him

Why he cut 900 precincts in 1999, prior to the 2000 election and over 700 prior to the 2004 election, when there have been over 800,000 newly registered voters.

Ask him why in some areas the ratio of 1 machine per 99 voters was followed (and then some), and why other areas had 1 machine to 250 or more voters? (in a 12 hour day, at 3.5 minutes per voter would be 204 voters -- the 5 minutes per voter scenario would be 144 voters per machine) .

Ask him why he hasn't answered any of the questions that Rep Conyers and House Judiciary Committee Democratic Staff asked, or why he refuses to give a deposition, or why he feels he is above the law. Ask him why he can so easily dismiss this Status Report -- that's over 100 pages as "frivolous" http://www.pdamerica.org/field/final%20status%20report.pdf

Ask him if he would have had his children or grandchildren stand in line for 4 hours to vote.

Ask him what happened in Lucas County (several precincts there use Optiscan -- my mom's did)http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2004/975

I live in Ohio -- and what Blackwell has done, and is doing is wrong. Pushing a deadline on Optiscans when he balked at getting a vendor for e-voting http://www.kenblackwell.com/news.asp?formmode=release&id=39 is quite fishy to me. He's trying to take pressure off of what happened and to say he's offering a solution. Don't buy it!

It's not like HAVA was passed yesterday. He had years to make changes -- and the changes he made were in merging precincts, increasing the amount of people per polling place, and making it virtually impossible for every person to vote (changing requirements at the last minute, etc.). Oh, this year, he blamed it on preparing for e-voting http://www.portlandphoenix.com/features/other_stories/multi1/documents/04258174.asp , but that does not tell us why in 1999 -- over 900 precincts were lost. My suspicion is that this was the beginning -- and that the reason we had, for the first time in 20 years under 65% voter turnout is because people saw the lines in 2000 and walked away -- and Florida overshadowed this!

Push on him for Accountability! Don't reward him for a decision "well made" when it isn't.

I'm mad at him -- not anyone here! :)

***
From http://www.sos.state.oh.us/sos/
PRECINCT DATA INFORMATION
It has come to my attention that in the 1980s and early 1990s there were little changes to precincts. Consistently Presidential Elections had more turnout (in the 70% range usually) than off-year elections (in the 30%-40% range usually) .

From 1992 on as we added voters to our registry, somehow our precincts began to go down, but the most they declined were after Kenneth Blackwell, Ohio's Secretary of State, took office.

From 1980 to 1984 there was an increase of voters by 369,950.
From 1980 to 1984 there was a decrease of precincts by 36.

From 1984 to 1988 there was a decrease of voters by 56,816.
From 1984 to 1988 there was a increase of precincts by 285.


From 1988 to 1992 there was an increase of voters by 261,298.
From 1988 to 1992 there was an increase of precincts by 157.

Since 1992 things started going a little different.

From 1992 to 1996 there was an increase of voters by 300,485.
From 1992 to 1996 there was a decrease of precincts by 602.

From 1996 to 2000 there was an increase of voters by 697,767.
From 1996 to 2000 there was a decrease of precincts by 985.

From 2000 to 2004 there was an increase of voters by 439,482.
From 2000 to 2004 there was a decrease of precincts by 785.

**From 1992 to 2004 there has been an increase of voters by
1,437,734

** From 1992 to 2004 there has been a decrease of precincts by 2,372 -- the most not occurring this year, but in 2000!

I got this all from the SOS website. This is your data.


1980
Precincts Reporting.......... 100%
# of Precincts............... 13,332
# of Registered Voters.......5,962,864
Total Votes Cast.............4,378,937
Percent of Votes Cast........73.88%

Actual Voters/Precincts...... 328 (This would be the number if voters to precincts were evenly distributed -- in this case would be 328 voters per precinct -- not the real number per precinct, but just for reference -- you'll see why as you get further down.)


1884
Precincts Reporting.......... 100%
# of Precincts............... 13,296
# of Registered Voters.......6,332,454
Total Votes Cast.............4,664,223
Percent of Votes Cast........73.66%

Actual Voters/Precincts...... 351


1888
Precincts Reporting.......... 100%
# of Precincts............... 13581
# of Registered Voters.......6,275,638
Total Votes Cast.............4,505,284
Percent of Votes Cast........71.79%

Actual Voters/Precincts...... 331

1992
Precincts Reporting.......... 100%
# of Precincts............... 13,738
# of Registered Voters.......6,536,936
Total Votes Cast.............5,043,094
Percent of Votes Cast........77.14%

Actual Voters/Precincts...... 367

1996
Precincts Reporting.......... 100%
# of Precincts............... 13,136
# of Registered Voters.......6,837,421
Total Votes Cast.............4,638,108
Percent of Votes Cast........67.83%
Actual Voters/Precincts...... 353


Non-Presidential Election 1997
Precincts Reporting……………………99.98%
# of Precincts ………………………… 13124 (Precincts reporting 13100??)
# of Registered Voters………………6,943,831
Total Votes Cast ………………………. 3,163,091
Percent of Vote Cast………………………………45.46%
Actual Voters/Precincts…………………………241


Non-Presidential Election 1998
# of Precincts............... 13,079
# of Registered Voters.......7,096,423
Total Votes Cast.............3,534,782
Percent of Votes Cast …..49.81%
Actual Voters/Precincts…………270
(Lost 57 precincts from 1998)

Non-Presidential Election 1999
No precinct data
# of Registered Voters.......7,146,895
Total Votes Cast.............2,467,736


2000
Precincts Reporting.......... 100%
# of Precincts............... 12,151
# of Registered Voters.......7,535,188
Total Votes Cast.............4,795,989
Percent of Votes Cast........63.6%
Actual Voters/Precincts...... 394
(Lost 926 precincts since 1998 (no precinct data 1999))


Non-Presidential Election 2001
# of Precincts............... 11,844
# of Registered Voters.......7,153,796
Total Votes Cast.............2,574,915
Percent of Votes Cast........35.99%
Actual Voters/Precincts...... 217
(Lost 307 precincts from following year)

Non-Presidential Election 2002
# of Precincts............... 11,756
# of Registered Voters.......7,113,826
Total Votes Cast.............3,356,285
Percent of Votes Cast........47.17%
Actual Voters/Precincts...... 285
(Lost 88 precincts from following year)


Non-Presidential Election 2003
# of Precincts............... 11,488
# of Registered Voters.......7,138,493
Total Votes Cast.............2,649,482
Percent of Votes Cast........37.11%
Actual Voters/Precincts...... 230
(Lost 268 precincts from following year)



2004
Precincts Reporting.......... 100%
# of Precincts............... 11,366
# of Registered Voters.......7,974,670
Total Votes Cast.............5,722,211
Percent of Votes Cast........71.75%

Actual Voters/Precincts...... 530
(Lost 122 precincts from following year, 786 since 2000)

[skippythwndrdog]

5. Asking him would be stupid, ask the County Boards.

They control the elections. Two Democrats and two Republicans per Board, per County. Anybody who thinks that the person who holds the position of Secretary of State controls this stuff is wrong. The 2dems and 2reps per county decide where the machines go, decide the boundaries of precincts, and all that. Blaming Blackwell is incorrect.

[KaliTracy]

6. If you are in charge of something, then you must be culpable for

what those under you did -- especially if you help raise the ratio of voters to machines.

From The Portland Phoenix.com

"But Republican governor Bob Taft and Blackwell did prepare: they reduced the number of polling places, ensuring long lines.

As noted above, the state had been anticipating the purchase of DRE machines, which are both more expensive and — at least in theory — quicker. That meant, according to Blackwell, that counties could make do with fewer machines without affecting the lines, and fewer faster machines meant that counties could merge small precincts together to share them. The Republican-led legislature helped encourage precinct consolidation by raising the maximum allowable number of registered voters per precinct. So, some counties merged their polling places, cutting as many as 48 percent in some cases.

When the state suddenly nixed the new machines, those counties were left with fewer polling places for more voters, with the old slow machines, and about the same number of poll workers. Erie County consolidated 101 precincts in 2000 into just 62 this year. As a result, the average number of voters per precinct in Erie nearly doubled, from 355 to 640." http://www.portlandphoenix.com/features/other_stories/multi1/documents/04258174.asp

It's not rocket science to figure out if 70% of voters are expected (as has been the norm for the past 20 years) -- how many machines one would need for a precinct of 750 (70% expectation 525 -- 1 machine per 99 voters about 5 machines. One machine per 200 voters?? that's just stupid unless they are given only 2.5 minutes each to vote! (2-3 machines per estimated 70% turnout but at five minutes per voter would only be 288 people on a 12 hour day (144 each)).

Someone had to give the directive, someone had to carry it out -- and if someone carried it out (on a large level, many districts doing the same thing) do you honestly think Blackwell had no knowledge of it? and as for the rest of the things I stated -- please read the Conyers' report.http://www.pdamerica.org/field/final%20status%20report.pdf

Blackwell was in charge, and there are many things that are being investigated surrounding his direction of this election, not just precinct changes. The precinct changes (and machine misallocation) led to long lines -- which led to voter suppression.

I don't think Conyers would be asking for an Independent Investigation of Blackwell if he thought it was just the BOEs that were involved for any of the things that happened.

Conyers and the Democratic Judiciary Committee have requested Independent Council to investigate Blackwell...

Original Letter here: http://miamedia.com/news/20050114dojelectionspconltr.pdf

Article with Letter Here: http://www.bluelemur.com/index.php?p=552

[skippythwndrdog]

7. I appreciate it, allow me time to look into this further.

I have always been told that the County boards make the decisions.

[KaliTracy]

9. no problem. one other thing -- the Secretary of State Appoints

the BOEs. Now -- it's possible that they are carryover jobs -- and that he kept the status quo. I don't know if that was the case (some say it was). It's true they have to be 2 Democrat and 2 Republican.

I know that when I contacted Several Democratic BOE directors in a 60 mile radius to find out how machine allocation was determined, and to ask why my neighborhood had so many, only one wrote me back -- Tim Burke, and he told me that Punch card machines were less expensive and that it wasn't a Partisan matter because Mason (in Warren County, home of the "lock down") had long lines, and they shared the same demographic as my area (upper/middleclass/affluent/mostly Caucasian/"excellent schools" 3 years in a row/Bush rallied here to 50,000 people (some no doubt from Dayton and Cincinnati -- I'm in West Chester). Mason's lines were about an hour compared to some areas in Ohio that had 2, 4 and even more lines.

Tim Burke also told me that Cincinnati (Hamilton County) didn't have any problems -- that he had been to several polling places and everything went smoothly, yet Alicia Reece, Cincinnati's Vice Mayor was at Jackson's Rally in Columbus on the 3rd of January, and was livid -- talked about Challenges from people who don't even live in the city, etc. That's Tim Burke's district. There was a contigent from Butler county too (my county) at the rally, but I didn't have time to talk with them. I have a feeling that their complaints weren't mine -- but I don't know that for sure.

Blackwell's job description is as follows -- and it just seems to me to be a bit odd that he wouldn't be pitching a fit about the problems and irregularities experienced that day -- and in fact, refuses to talk about it, and dismisses people's experiences. And...in my opinion, this decision to go Optiscan is a smokescreen. However, other people's ideas about this may vary.

The Job Description of the Secretary of State in Ohio: http://www.sos.state.oh.us/sos/

The Duties on the Ohio Secretary of State website state:
Chief Elections Officer
As Ohio's chief election officer, Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell oversees the elections process and appoints the members of boards of elections in each of Ohio's 88 counties.

He supervises the administration of election laws; approves ballot language; reviews statewide initiative and referendum petitions, chairs the Ohio Ballot Board, which approves ballot language for statewide issues; canvasses votes for all elective state offices and issues; investigates election frauds and irregularities; trains election officials and reimburses counties for poll worker training costs.

The Elections Division compiles and maintains election statistics, political party records and other election-related records. Statewide candidates' campaign finance reports are filed with the office, together with the reports for state political action committees (PACs), state political parties and legislative caucus campaign committees.

The Secretary of State's office also licenses ministers to perform marriage; registers alien land; and issues apostilles, which are certifications verifying signatures on documents going out of the country.
All laws passed by the Ohio General Assembly, municipal charters, administrative rules adopted by agencies, and all executive orders issued by the Governor are filed with this office, as well.

on edit: Blackwell took office in 1998.

[ok_cpu]

8. This is Blackwell

trying to wash the stink off before he runs for Governor.

[KerryOn]

13. Very Good!

I wish I had the time to post such good statistics and information. Excellent post!

Says it all.

[Kolesar]

11. Cuyahoga BOE director Michael Vu hates this edict

He was on public radio this week

1. There are only two vendors
2. Blackwell gave the BOEs only 2 months to make an acquisition. The next big election is two years away.
3. They still need to buy touch screen/DRE units for blind voters at each precinct
4. The cost of initial purchase vs. ongoing costs of all technologies had not been "worked out". Blackwell just made an arbitrary decision.
5. Blackwell is a pig

*note Michael Vu may not have said exactly all of these quotes.

[Carolab]

14. Optically scanned tabulators are very susceptible to hacking.

Why do you think BLACKWELL and KIFFMEYER are happy pushing them?

PAPER BALLOTS, HAND COUNTED. NO MACHINES!

[Norbert]

15. He may be right on this but I still can't stand him

I can't and never will utter or type a good work about this ultra-crooked politician.

[KaliTracy]

16. I don't think he's "right" on this -- I think it's a smokescreen. Though

I could just dislike the man so much and be biased..... Why now?

two interesting articles:

"Making a Smart Buy" March 2003 -- about e-machines
http://www.kenblackwell.com/news.asp?formmode=release&id=39



this one on the Challenge on January 6th
http://www.kenblackwell.com/news.asp?formmode=release&id=51

[Wilms]

17. Nice work, Kali. n/t

[KaliTracy]

19. thx, Wilms. Appreciate your support. n/t