Prosecutor to probe Cuyahoga County recount

[FtWayneBlue]

(Since this is a register-first site, I hope it is OK to paste this whole thing.)



http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/news/11352898.htm
> (c) 2005 Beacon Journal and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
>
>
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Posted on Sat, Apr. 09, 2005

Prosecutor to probe Cuyahoga County recount

2 written complaints allege problems in '04 presidential election

By Stephen Dyer

Beacon Journal staff writer




CLEVELAND - Erie County Prosecutor Kevin J. Baxter is investigating whether
the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections broke the law in its recount of ballots
from the November presidential election.


Cuyahoga County Prosecutor William Mason appointed Baxter as a special
prosecutor in the case because the board of elections is Mason's client, which
could pose a conflict of interest, said Mason spokeswoman Jamie Dalton.


Baxter said he didn't know yet whether the allegations have any validity. He
said his investigators will begin interviewing people in the next several
weeks.


``If it goes nowhere, it goes nowhere,'' Baxter said. ``We'll just start from
the beginning... This is rather preliminary.''


EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT

[meganmonkey]

1. Plese edit it or the mods will delete it...4 paragraph rule

:)

Good article, though - I'm glad I get to read it before it gets edited ;)
when I linked to the article from google it worked without registering ...

http://news.google.com/news?q=edward%20michael%20caner&hl=en&lr=&sa=N&tab=wn

[sportndandy]

10. Dear Moderator: Please waive Four Paragraph rule. Thanks.

And a kick as well.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

16. Oh, I'm sorry.

I must have missed the part of the rules where Do not copy-and-paste entire articles onto this discussion forum. When referencing copyrighted work, post a short excerpt (not exceeding 4 paragraphs) with a link back to the original. doesn't apply to 2004 election threads.

[CatWoman]

22. you know, there's a REASON that rule exists

FreeRepublic lost a court case because of this very same infraction.

[merh]

2. Great article - thanks

Please edit it to 4 paragraphs. I too am glad I got to read it all before you edit it.

Welcome to DU! :hi:

[Merlin]

3. This is excellent. Things are really starting to happen in Ohio

I'm running down an issue on the new Ohio voting bill, HB262. Others are doing statistical analysis. Others are collecting news stories from across the state and posting them. Others are working on informing the media.

The Akron Beacon Journal may be headed for a Pulitzer. This is great work.

We are finally starting to get some genuine statistics rather than guesswork.

This whole issue is beginning to gain critical mass.

An especially interesting part of this story is:

The complaints allege that the board violated state law because the precincts it recounted were neither randomly selected nor was the opening of ballots properly witnessed.

... they contend that the county's vote-tabulation machines were used
improperly and that discrepancies exist between the certified recount and the certified original vote.

All this was done to cover up problems in the November vote and ensure that no hand-recount would have to be done around the county, the letter from Cobb and Badnarik alleges.

The letter alleges that Maiden admitted in a Dec. 22 meeting that "ballots in selected precincts had been opened without the presence of witnesses and had been sorted and hand counted in advance of the original recount" -- setting up a test-run to assure that the recount would comport closely with the original count so that a full hand count wouldn't have to be conducted.

[Selteri]

5. Here in Toledo there were a lot of issues too that were

either underreported or ignored by the cops.

The recount was questionable at best, those I knew who were in part of the recount itself said they weren't able to truly witness it and that some saw 'stickers' on the scantron sheets, they felt that was henky but were brushed aside under 'that's official proceedure for a changed vote'.

we need transparency, not opaque votes.

[Merlin]

9. You're absolutely right.

I'm wondering if the "movement" (such as it is) has somewhere laid out the preferred methodology for recount procedures. Doubt it.

We need to get that on the list.

[KaliTracy]

19. There ARE rules for Recount procedures which were blatantly

ignored.

"The board must randomly select whole precincts whose total equals at least 3% of the total vote, and must conduct a manual count."

"If the tabulator count does not match the hand count, and after rechecking the manual count the results are still not equal, all ballots must be hand counted. If the results of the tabulator count and the hand counted ballots are equal, the remainder of the ballots may be processed through the tabulator (for optical scan and punchcards)."

(Section 3515 of the Ohio Revised Code)


The information here about Recount procedures (mostly about starting a recount, etc.) has most of the Section Numbers listed -- but they are all internal links.

http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/procedures_recount01.html

[Merlin]

20. Thank you very, very much.

This is an excellent link to both the law and somebody who is keeping tabs on it.

It will be interesting to hear what these folks have to say about Section 3506.01(H) of this bill (HR 262) which requires paper ballots to be retained only until the end of the day of the election, viz:
..."The physical paper printout shall be securely retained at the polling place until the close of the polls on the day of the election.."

[KaliTracy]

17. Blackwell asked GOP BOE directors in Lucas county to resign this week

or be FIRED. Looks like they resigned.

First article http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050407/NEWS09/504070363

Resignation Article http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050409/NEWS09/504090402

Lucas had questionable things happen PRIOR to the election (a break in) -- it was one of the last counties to certify results (if not the last county) -- I hadn't heard the stickers on the votes for Lucas County -- know that Conyers asked the FBI to investigate some that happened in Clermont County

http://www.votecobb.org/newsclips/2005/feb/news2005-02-09a.php

[KaliTracy]

18. it's gaining critical mass... and I hope the ball continues rolling

so that more people in other states find out about it. My fear is that it will stay a "closed" issue where people say "That again, why can't they just get over it" instead of indignation and people calling and writing their law makers demanding an explanation.

[Up2Late]

4. I agree with the previous post, but remember, it's paragraphs.

I don't know why this is (maybe it's an old newspaper typesetting habit), but it seems like nobody, writing for the Internet, knows how to use Paragraphs anymore. These are just Long Sentences with double space (enter key twice) between them.

A paragraph is a minimum of two sentences each. Best is to group them into a complete thought or idea, for example, if one of these sentences is a quote, it most likely is helping to complete what was said in the previous sentience.

I helps for clarity also, when you can only use 4 paragraphs. Just don't get carried away with it, and include the link, and you should be O.K.

[Pachamama]

6. So how long before this whole country gets the proof that Ohio & this

election for the Presidency was illegitimate? :eyes:

[Merlin]

11. Indictable crimes may have been discovered

How long it will take to prosecute is anybody's guess.

[oasis]

7. Two bogus national elections. And Condi Rice complains about Hugo Chavez.

[Stinky The Clown]

8. I need to know what team jerseys these guys are wearing

Dem or Repub?

:popcorn:

[AllyCat]

12. How to "register" at the site:

www.bugmenot.com

Paste the home URL of the site into the appropriate blank. Bugmenot will give you a useful and often humorous login and password. For instance, for this site, you enter www.ohio.com and get: [e-mail] with a password of "register". Punch all that into the register page and viola! Whole article pops right up.

It's great!

Welcome to DU!

[MissWaverly]

13. Thanks for the post

It's a funny thing, but when I sent in an affadavit about what happened in Baltimore, I got a response that asked me what action did I want taken as a result of my complaint. I said that it may be naive to hope the election is overturned though it was not a fair election, but that if that was not possible, I wanted those responsible for its failure held accountable. I hope that this will happen in Ohio as well.

[Spiffarino]

14. Keeping this afloat

:kick:

What's the DNC doing about this? Anything? Come on, Howard!

[troubleinwinter]

15. kick

[buddysmellgood]

21. kick

[RawMaterials]

23. kick

a north east Ohioan.

[LiberalFighter]

24. This link will get it without registration requirement

Article

Just substitute ohio with fortwayne -- Any link to a news source that has /mld/ as part of the link.