Abel Macias / daily sundial

A recently worn Halloween costume depicts one citizen’s dissatisfaction with President Bush. Although the election has been decided in Bush’s favor, some discrepancies are still being worked out in battleground Ohio.

Legal challenges, voting discrepancies linger in Ohio

Mark York
Daily Sundial

Though the presidential election has been decided, strange vote totals in some Ohio precincts, and similar discrepancies in other states, have sparked legal challenges and ballot disputes.

According to Ohio’s state records, Franklin County’s unofficial results listed George W. Bush as receiving 4,258 votes to John Kerry’s 260 votes in a precinct in Gahanna. The very same records show that only 638 voters cast ballots in that precinct, where electronic touchscreens were used to cast votes.

The official vote count for provisional and absentee ballots began Nov. 13, according to representatives from Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell’s office. The count may take weeks to complete, representatives said.

“There has been a concerted effort by the Republican establishment here, to subvert the vote, especially in the black community,” said Bill Moss of the Friends of Freedom and Justice in Columbus, and executive vice president of HBCU Connect, a group that works to connect historically black colleges and universities.

Moss said he recently held hearings in Columbus and has been taking testimonies of voters who said they were intimidated and deterred in the voting process. He said that although he doesn’t have evidence of unethical actions conducted by the state government, he will continue to investigate if any such actions took place.

Blackwell’s office declined to comment.

More than 92,000 ballots in Ohio registered with no vote, overvote or other disqualifying criteria. As in Florida during the 2000 presidential election, the 92,000 disqualified ballots were all punchcards.

“Ohio has a uniform, statewide system for recounting punchcard ballots,” said Dan Trevas of the Ohio Democratic Party. “Hanging chads and dimpled chads are treated uniformly throughout the state. In 69 Ohio counties, punchcard ballots were used.”

Investigative journalist Greg Pallast reported in a story last week for TomPaine.com, through the Institute of Public Accuracy representative Sam Husseni, that while exit polls showed many votes simply weren’t recorded, records show that most of these spoiled votes came from African American communities.

Pallast also reported that in New Mexico, Latino voters had ballots spoiled at a higher rate than white voters. CNN reported that Bush won New Mexico this year by 11,620 votes.

“The Ohio Democratic Party shares Sen. John Kerry’s insistence that every vote be counted,” Trevas said. “Here is where we stand in Ohio. After the unofficial results reported Nov. 2, (Bush) leads (Kerry) by 136,483 votes. Provisional ballots will be counted.”

Trevas said that 155,000 provisional ballots have been cast in Ohio and have not yet been counted in full. County boards of elections had until Nov. 12 to verify the eligibility of those who cast provisional ballots.

The county boards have until Dec. 1 to certify their vote totals and report them to the Ohio secretary of state. Two Democrats and two Republicans sit on each county election board.

Only if there is a tie in the vote tally does the decision go to the secretary of state.

“In Ohio, a recount is automatic for statewide elections if the difference in the vote is within 0.25 percent of the total votes cast. For a recount in the presidential race, this (would) probably (be) about a 19,000-vote margin between Kerry and Bush. Only a losing candidate can request a recount. A recount may always be requested regardless of the closeness of the race. The request for a recount must be made within five days of the official announcement of the results by the secretary of state.”

Trevas said an examination for errors is going on in all 88 Ohio counties. An error on election night gave Bush 3,893 more votes in a Franklin County precinct than were actually cast for him.

Officials in all 88 counties have been requested to review for similar errors.