Thousands of Black Votes went Uncounted in Ohio

• Black Vote was 3 Times More Likely Not to be Counted in 2000. Same Punch Card System was in use in 2004.

Presidential votes from Ohio's predominantly black precincts went uncounted at three times the rate of those from predominantly white precincts in the 2000 election, according to a newspaper analysis. The prime suspect for the disparity? Punch-card ballots. The Dispatch conducted the first precinct-by-precinct computer analysis that combined Ohio voting results from 2000 with racial data from that year's U.S. Census. The objective was to examine the state's 94,569 residual, or uncounted, presidential votes. In areas with the highest population of blacks, the rate of ballots with no votes counted for president was about 5 percent, the analysis shows. For the rest of Ohio precincts it was less than 2 percent. The disparity is even more glaring if you hone in on the parts of Ohio that had the highest 10 percent of uncounted ballots. The odds of a predominantly white precinct making that list were 2 out of 33. But for predominantly black precincts, it was 2 out of 3. Every one of those black precincts used punch-card ballots in 2000 -- and plans to again this year. A precinct is considered "predominantly" black or white if either race makes up at least 90 percent of the voting-age population. This pattern could be repeated on Nov. 2. [more] and  [more ]

• Simply stated the problem is not just punch card voting. It is punch card voting without using an error notification machine at the polling place. Overwhelmingly, African Americans in Ohio were required to vote in polling places using a "central counting system" - this means that ballots are cast at one place and counted at another outside location. The vote will be checked later for errors at another location and NOT in the presence of the voter. As such, the voting system lacks the ability to provide voters with notice of errors and an opportunity to correct such errors. By and large, this is unlike the voting systems used by white voters in Ohio. Thousands of African-Americans reside and vote disproportionately in election jurisdictions that use punch card voting without error notification - creating a dual voting system.
• Secretary of State Certified Voting Machines with Knowledge of Defects. Three months before the election Blackwell stated, "In a study of 'over' and 'under' voting in Ohio, it was clearly demonstrated that punch-card voting was unreliable to the extent votes cast by thousands of Ohioans were not being counted in the final election tabulation." Columbus Dispatch (Ohio) August 17, 2004
  
• Blackwell has also written: "With Ohio slated by both national parties as a battleground state, the possibility of a close election with punch cards as the state's primary voting device invites a Florida-like calamity." [more]
  
• Fixing a punch card machine is cheap and easy. If Ohio simply placed a card-reading machine in each polling station, as Michigan did this year, voters could have checked to ensure their vote would tally. If not, they would have gotten another card. Ohio Secretary of State and Bush Campaign Co-chair,(Pictured above)  Kenneth Blackwell knows that. He also knows that if those reading machines had been installed, almost all the 93,000 spoiled votes, overwhelmingly Democratic, would have closed the gap on George Bush's lead of 136,000 votes. [more] and [more]
  
• Report: Uncounted votes more likely in predominantly black precincts [more]
• Ohio: Punch cards may hurt Blacks [more]
•  Black Votes in Ohio "spoiled" - Invalidated by Defective Punch Card Machines [more]