http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/12/20/215458/51
Armando's Challenge -- Final Edition
by rincewind
Mon Dec 20th, 2004 at 18:54:58 PST
First, the challenge: as Categorically Imperative put it,
the idea is to post a diary laying out the most comprehensive case possible for there having been fraud in Ohio. If the case made is at least as convincing as the case that Bush was AWOL from TANG, then Armando will do a front-page post on Ohio fraud.
Second, I hoped that my previous diaries on this topic would generate lots of fact-filled comments, and serve as a collection-point for the evidence that people think is most persuasive and/or most provable. Didn't happen, oh well.
So I've written up some of the facts I believe are supported by evidence AND persuasive of fraud. It's long, but I hope it's worthwhile. Read on!
Trumbull County
The county's website doesn't provide precinct-level or poll/absentee/prov breakouts, so I've been unable to independently verify Dr Lange's information. He did testify under oath to one of Cong. Conyers' hearings.
Dr. Werner Lange's report, dated Dec 12, 2004:
"All absentee voters must be identified as such by name and residence in the precinct poll books of the precinct in which they are registered. Over 100 precinct poll books in Trumbull County were checked for absentee voters and that number of actual absentee voters was compared to the certified number of absentee votes. There was an inflated difference in nearly every precinct of the five communities examined. The five communities whose poll books were carefully inspected for an absentee vote overcount are: Warren City (311), Howland Township (138), Newton Falls City (34), Girard City (57), and Cortland Township (40). The 106 precincts of these five Ohio communities, about 39% of all precincts in Trumbull County, netted a total of 580 absentee votes for which there were no absentee voters identified in the poll books."
Dr Lange's full report can be read here
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Lucas County
The Director of Elections has resigned, and 4 BoE employees have been suspended by the board, pending an unspecified "investigation" into the conduct of the Nov 2 election.
Google-cached page of a
WTOL news report
You may remember that it was also the Lucas County Dem HQ in Toledo that was broken into in Oct.
Google-cached page of a
Toledo Blade article
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Greene County
The BoE office was "left unlocked" or broken into over the night of Fri Dec 10 - Sat Dec 11.
Sworn statement of witnesses (PDF)
The witness statements also include a litany of "irregularities" in the registration books and precinct books, which they documented before the BoE Director removed the books and demanded they leave.
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Franklin County
Franklin County reported a striking peculiarity in its "Unofficial Abstract of Votes" published on its web site on Nov 3, 2004. On pages 35-39 of the 414-pg PDF document is found a "Ward Recap" for the presidential and senate races. On page 39 are 2 line entries labeled "Absentee 1" and "Absentee 2", both of which are included in the grand-total summary line (I hand-tallied every ward entry, for every column, to verify this fact). The reported results are as follows:
Candidate Absentee 1 Absentee 2
--------- ---------- ----------
Badnarik 69 70
Bush 10158 10159
Kerry 10025 10025
Peroutka 25 25
Removed 0 0
Write-In 0 0
Fingerhut 7416 7417
Voinovich 11930 11931
Public
Precinct
Count 20680 20680
Does anyone want to calculate the odds of 2 separate bundles of absentee ballots adding up to exactly the same number of ballots? Much less the odds of those 2 separate bundles producing exactly the same or ONE more vote for each candidate?
The "Official Abstract of Votes" published on the Franklin County web site after certification (Dec 6, 2004) is also a 414-pg PDF document, and on page 39 of the "Ward Recap" for the presidential and senate races, there are 3 line entries labeled "Absentee 1", "Absentee 2", and "Absentee 3". The "Public Precinct Count" for "Absentee 3" is 12,124 and the SoS-published number of provisional ballots for Franklin County is 14,446 so it seems logical to conclude that this line item is for the valid, counted provisionals. The reported results for "Absentee 1" and "Absentee 2" are as follows:
Candidate Absentee 1 Absentee 2
--------- ---------- ----------
Badnarik 81 81
Bush 11426 11312
Kerry 11683 11491
Peroutka 29 29
Removed 0 0
Write-In 4 0
Fingerhut 8576 8511
Voinovich 13393 13340
Public
Precinct
Count 23710 23403
While there are some differences between the votes tallied in "Absentee 1" and "Absentee 2" in the official report, they're still remarkably close. I haven't seen any official declaration of how many absentee ballots were requested/mailed out/returned in Franklin County, nor any thorough examination of the poll books showing the number of registered voters who were marked as absentee; so I can't make any judgment as to whether there really were 47,113 absentee ballots, or 23,710 or 23,403.
A further note: the Franklin County web site has removed the "Unofficial Abstract" PDF file (I had downloaded it weeks ago); the only file available is the "Official Abstract" -- even though the results for the March Primary election still lists both the "Unofficial" and the "Official" abstracts.
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Warren County
The lock-out of qualified observers on Election night, in violation of OH law, has never been adequately explained, and as far as I can tell, has never been pursued.
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Recount Issues
First, what they were supposed to do:
OH SoS official recount procedures (PDF)
Of particular note:
Item C.2.a)
Boards of Elections must notify all candidates in the race of the time and place by certified mail not later than five days before an automatic or requested recount is held.
Item C.3.a)
Each candidate in the race is entitled to one witness for each counting team or tabulating unit.
Item E.2.d)
The board must randomly select whole precincts whose total equals at least 3% of the total vote. These precincts' ballots must be manually counted.
Item E.2.f)
If the computer 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.
Now, what actually happened:
=
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Coshocton County
11/2/04: "Unofficial" Vote Total Released to Press (and published on OH SoS web site)
Bush: 9,121
Kerry: 6,763
Peroutka: 65
Badnarik: 17
Total: 15,966
11/19/04: "Official" Vote Total Released to Press (after processing Provisionals)
Bush: 9,277 (+156)
Kerry: 6,878 (+115)
Peroutka: 67 (+2)
Badnarik: 17 (0)
Cobb: 1 (+1)
Total: 16,240 (+274)
12/06/04: "Certified" Vote Total Announced By Blackwell (and published on OH SoS web site)
Bush: 9,277 (0)
Kerry: 6,878 (0)
Peroutka: 67 (0)
Badnarik: 17 (0)
Cobb: 1 (0)
Schriner: 2 (+2)
Total: 16,242 (+2)
12/14/04: "Pre-Recount" Vote Total Distributed to Recount Observers
[Vote Total Alleged By Coshocton County Officials to be "Official November 2nd, 2004" Vote Total]
(Computer printout dated 12-10-2004)
Bush: 9,839 (+562)
Kerry: 7,378 (+500)
Peroutka: 68 (+1)
Badnarik: 15 (-2)
Cobb: 1 (0)
Schriner: 2 (0)
Total: 17,300 (+1,058)
12/15/04: "Post-Recount" Vote Total Released By Coshocton County
[To Be "Certified" as "Official" Coshocton County Results]
Bush: 9,826 (-13)
Kerry: 7,412 (+34)
Peroutka: 68 (0)
Badnarik: 13 (-2)
Cobb: 1 (0)
Schriner: 2 (0)
Total: 17,319 (+19)
Coshocton County apparently performed a "recount" on 12-10-2004, 4 days in advance of the time scheduled for the "official" recount, without issuing the required notice or permitting authorized witnesses to attend; and apparently "found" 1,077 more valid votes than they had certified 4 days earlier.
The Coshocton Tribune, on 12-18-2004, further muddied the waters by publishing the following totals as "Official Results":
Bush: 9,830 (+4)
Kerry: 7,413 (+1)
Peroutka: 68 (0)
Badnarik: 15 (+2)
Cobb: 1 (0)
Schriner: 2 (0)
Total: 17,329 (+10)
Cobb observer statement
See more/updated info about Coshocton County in this diary by jiffykeen.
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Washington County
In addition to other irregularities, the recount in this county appears to have "lost" even more votes than Coshocton County "found". Blackwell certified the following totals (SoS web site):
Badnarik 71
Bush 17,480
Kerry 12,475
Peroutka 69
The totals printed out and given to the recount observers as the FINAL, COMPLETE tally:
Badnarik 68
Bush 15521
Kerry 10958
Peroutka 60
So, somewhere between the certification on Dec 6 and the recount on Dec 15, Washington County lost at least 3,488 votes. No explanation has been given for this discrepancy.
============================
Confirmed tampering with tabulating machines:
Hocking County (Triad technician)
reference here (PDF)
Greene County (Triad technician)
reference here (PDF)
Monroe County (Triad technician)
reference here (PDF) and here
Mercer County (Triad technician)
reference here
Lucas County (Diebold technician)
reference here
Union County (Triad technician)
reference here
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Confirmed non-random selection of "3% hand count" in recount procedure:
Monroe County
reference here (PDF)
Mercer County
reference here
Allen County
reference here
Fayette County
reference here
Cuyahoga County
reference here
Huron County
reference here
Lucas County
reference here
Morgan County
reference here
Morrow County
reference here
Medina County
reference here
Fairfield County
reference here
Clermont County
reference here
Washington County
reference here
Hocking County
reference here
Mahoning County
reference here
Holmes County
reference here
Jefferson County
reference here
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Confirmed discrepancy between 3% hand count v. machine recount NOT resulting in full-county hand count:
Monroe County
reference here (PDF) and here
Tuscarawas County
reference here
Fairfield County
reference here
Clermont County
reference here
Summit County
reference here
Mahoning County
reference here
Unable to confirm the results of the 3% count:
Lucas County
reference here
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Confirmed lack of access to public records (most BoE's claim direct order from Blackwell):
I started to list and reference each county in which this problem was reported, but it became apparent that only a handful of county boards allowed access to the records (disobeying Blackwell's order).
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In addition, there are numerous first-hand reports of a variety of "irregularities" in the conduct of the recounts:
- Many counties failed to seal or even lock up ballots and other election materials;
- Many counties refused to allow witnesses to see all stages of the recount process;
- An astonishing number of counties report a PERFECT match between their certified results and their recount results. Given the high proportion of punch-card counties, this strains credulity beyond the breaking point.
I've linked to most of the Cobb observers' reports above, but they're all worth a read.
Therefore, I, Rincewind, hereby submit these witness reports, sworn statements, MSM reports, and numerical discrepancies as evidence that election fraud did occur in Ohio.
