Sunday
Dec052004
Dems ask Blackwell about voting problems
Sunday, December 5, 2004 at 03:20AM
Democrats on the U.S. House Judiciary Committee
have asked Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell to answer for a
host of voting irregularities they say occurred in Ohio Nov. 2. On
Wednesday, the committee is holding a hearing, Preserving Democracy:
What Went Wrong in Ohio. A spokesman for Blackwell said Friday many of
the issues have already been resolved. In a letter dated Thursday, the
Democrats asked Blackwell for explanations regarding 12 irregularities
that have been reported in the news media or which committee staff
members have identified. Among them are claims that Miami County had
19,000 more votes appear after Nov. 3, when the county had already
reported what it said were 100 percent totals. Also, they has asked for
Blackwell to explain why, in Butler County and elsewhere, C. Ellen
Connally, an "underfunded" Democratic candidate for chief justice of
the Ohio Supreme Court, received more votes than the much higher
profile Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. John Kerry of
Massachusetts. The Democrats also included concerns about there being
too few voting machines in Democratic-leaning Franklin County
neighborhoods and allegations of voting problems in Perry, Cuyahoga,
Mahoning counties, and asked why Warren County officials locked down
the county building where the votes were being tallied. [more]