http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?Category=13&ID=202944&r=5 Lawyer tries again to question Blackwell about alleged voting irregularitiesSaturday, January 15, 2005 COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — An attorney behind a presidential election challenge dismissed earlier this week asked a different judge on Friday to make Ohio’s top election official answer questions about the Nov. 2 vote.
Attorney Cliff Arnebeck asked a federal judge to allow a group he represents, the Massachussetts-based Alliance for Democracy, to join a complaint filed against Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell on Election Day.
Federal judges ordered election officials in Franklin and Knox counties to do everything possible to help voters in long lines on Election Day after the Ohio Democratic Party filed the complaint. In December, Democrats asked U.S. District Court Judge Algenon Marbley to dismiss the case.
The filing Friday asks Marbley to allow Arnebeck to take Blackwell’s deposition on an emergency basis.“The aim of this is to get to the truth as fast as possible and have anyone held accountable who committed any illegal acts or fraud,” Arnebeck said.
In court filings, Arnebeck alleges that Blackwell helped execute a plan to create long lines in Democratic precincts and other voting irregularities to help President Bush win.
Many of the allegations in Friday’s filing are similar to those in a challenge brought by voters seeking to overturn President Bush’s victory. The Ohio Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed that challenge after the 37 voters, who were represented by Arnebeck, asked to drop the case.
Arnebeck tried to interview Blackwell in that case, but the secretary of state avoided giving a deposition by requesting a protective order.
On Friday, Attorney General Jim Petro’s office said it would wait to see how Marbley rules on Friday’s filing before deciding how to respond.
“Courts are serious places for serious people, and Mr. Arnebeck is not a serious person. His filings are frivolous, without merit and not based in any sort of reality,” Blackwell spokesman Carlo LoParo said.
A message seeking comment was left Friday evening at the office of attorney Kathleen Trafford, who represents the Ohio Democratic Party.
President Bush defeated John Kerry by about 118,000 votes, according to a recount of the official results. Ohio’s 20 electoral votes gave Bush the 270 he needed for victory. Kerry conceded the morning after Election Day.