Ohio-Workers accused of fudging '04 recount,"no evidence of fraud"

[Algorem]

Prosecutor says Cuyahoga skirted rules

http://www.cleveland.com/election/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1144312870224340.xml&coll=2

Thursday, April 06, 2006
Joan Mazzolini
Plain Dealer Reporter

After the 2004 presidential election, Cuyahoga County election workers secretly skirted rules designed to make sure all votes were counted correctly, a special prosecutor charges.

While there is no evidence of vote fraud, the prosecutor said their efforts were aimed at avoiding an expensive - and very public - hand recount of all votes cast. Three top county elections officials have been indicted, and Erie County Prosecutor Kevin Baxter says more indictments are possible.

Michael Vu, executive director of the Cuyahoga County elections board, said workers followed procedures that had been in place for 23 years. He said board employees had no objection to doing an exhaustive hand count if needed, meaning they had no motive to break the law.


Internet bloggers have cried foul since 2004 about election results in Ohio, one of the key states in deciding the election. They have been tracking Baxter's investigation with online posts about the indictments...

Chronology of a recount

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1144313142224340.xml&coll=2

Nov. 2, 2004. Election Day:

Nationally, George W. Bush beats John Kerry, 60,693,281 to 57,355,978.

In Ohio, Bush beats Kerry 2,858,687 to 2,740,244.

In Cuyahoga County, Kerry beats Bush 448,503 to 221,600.

After the votes are counted, Cuyahoga County election workers secure the ballots and seal them...

[Chi]

1. No evidence of fraud??? I guess that means they recounted the votes

Where can I find the results?
:sarcasm:

It would only take a few hours to count the presidential votes, why isn't done!
The Greens paid for a recount...the court should order a recount to be completed 100% by hand count.

Thanx for posting this Algorem

[MissWaverly]

2. Yes, I help pay for that recount

Why is the State of Ohio not required to do it. They are admiting it was rigged then
they should be obligated to provide one that is fair, and what right did thay have
to go in and handle the ballots in private.

[bleever]

3. Hey, I contributed too, as did many DUers. We were defrauded.

Class action suit? Even "Sea Monkeys" was less of a gyp than that recount.

[MissWaverly]

4. I agree, at least with sea monkeys you got a count!

[bleever]

14. Good point! LOL.

[me b zola]

5. Recount FIXED in Ohio for 04 Presidential Contest

I'm cross posting DUer debbierlus's GD thread. It is sinking like a rock with all of the other big news going on, but this, too, is BIG news!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x862061




From the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

"After the 2004 presidential election, Cuyahoga County election workers secretly skirted rules designed to make sure all votes were counted correctly, a special prosecutor charges.

While there is no evidence of vote fraud, the prosecutor said their efforts were aimed at avoiding an expensive - and very public - hand recount of all votes cast. Three top county elections officials have been indicted, and Erie County Prosecutor Kevin Baxter says more indictments are possible."

~~snip~~

"Days before the Dec. 16 recount, workers opened the ballots and hand-counted enough votes to identify precincts where the machine count matched.

"If it didn't balance, they excluded those precincts," Baxter said.

"The preselection process was done outside of any witnesses, without anyone's knowledge except for the Board of Elections."

On the official recount day, employees pretended to pick precincts randomly, Baxter says. Dozens of Cuyahoga County election workers sat at 20 folding tables in front of dozens of witnesses and reporters."

http://www.cleveland.com/election/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1144312870224340.xml&coll=2




Help kick this story up in GD to help get the word out!!!!! :kick:

[Amaryllis]

6. K and R Go kick the GD thread!

[intheflow]

7. Already on GP with 20 votes.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2211320

[me b zola]

9. Hoot, thanks for the info

If you don't mind, I'll post that link on autorank's thread, I have asked the mods to combine my thread with his or delete it.

[ellenfl]

8. kicked. eom

[ThomCat]

10. So they fix certain precincts and then only recount

the ones that they did not fix. If everyone looks the other way then nobody will notice where the fraud took place.

Geez. No wonder the republicans keep getting away with this shit.

[andyhappy]

11. kickin

[Stand and Fight]

12. Kicked and recommended. n/t

[kster]

13. KNR.nt

[MissWaverly]

15. What makes me the maddest about this

Is the spin, this wasn't about fraud, we didn't cheat, we just fixed it because we
wanted to spare the expense of a recount. First, they should have had a reliable
recount, they are required to hold a valid election. This is not Stalingrad, they
should be held accountable. If the results did not jibe, they should have held a
recount anyway but no someone had to jump through legal hoops like David Cobb and
the Green Country to petition and then pay a fee and they still refused to do
a valid recount because it was too much trouble. Explain to me again how this
is supposed to be part of the democratic process.

[Fovea]

16. Ohio GOP sells Brooklyn Bridge

"No evidence of fraud."