2004 Ohio Recount update

[Racer98]

2 Cuyahoga County employees were sentenced to 18 months in prison for rigging the county's recount in the 2004 Presidential Election. More information coming soon.

EDIT: Story at http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/p...-sentence.html

[Pace Cap'n]

If you truly are smarter than a fifth grader, why do you find it necessary to insert banal comments in nearly every thread?

[JustRalph]

they didn't "rig the count" they did a count of their own prior to the official recount. There is no evidence that they changed anything. In fact, Kerry gained votes.........Bush lost votes........they're getting railroaded. They tried to do their own count first so that they could avoid any embarrassment, apparently. They were stupid........but using the words "rigged the count" is bullshit

From the article

Baxter did not claim the workers' actions affected the outcome of the election – Democratic Sen. John Kerry gained 17 votes and President Bush lost six in the county's recount. Ohio gave Bush the electoral votes he needed to defeat Kerry in the close election.

[46zilzal]

Originally Posted by Racer98

2 Cuyahoga County employees were sentenced to 18 months in prison for rigging the county's recount in the 2004 Presidential Election. More information coming soon.

EDIT: Story at http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/p...-sentence.html

Always thought there was something rotten in Ohio other than National Cash Register.

[Tom]

Do you ever read the article befroe posting about them??????
Clearly, there was NO rigging. but you wouldn't let facts get in your way, now would you????

[JustRalph]

BTW, the Secretary of State asked all officials on the election board in Cuyohoga County to resign last week. They refused. Then two gave in.

Then another. Last I heard one has filed suit to keep his job. The others are anticipating indictments........... it is going to get much worse.

http://news.google.com/news?sourceid...=1&sa=N&tab=wn

[highnote]

The article's opening sentence said the election workers were sentenced for "rigging a recount".

I guess I'm missing something here. Either they were sentenced for "rigging the recount", or they were sentenced for something else. What crime were they convicted of and sentenced for?

CLEVELAND – Two county election workers were sentenced Tuesday to 18 months in prison for rigging a recount of 2004 presidential election ballots so they could avoid a longer, detailed review.

[Show Me the Wire]

swetyejohn,

Read the article.

[The Judge]

Was the count accurate or not they are going to jail so something must be wrong. The fact the Kerry gained a few votes and Bush lost a few means nothing when its possible the election for the President of The United States was not fair.

How can you trust the count when the people responsible for the count are on their way to jail because of the way the count was conducted?

[The Judge]

That what this is all about. The recount can be done my machine "if" after counting 3% of the votes by hand (choosen randomly) there is "no discrepancy" .They "rigged" the 3% count by selecting those ballots that they knew matched, they then ran the recount thru the same machine that gave them the first count. If the 3% random count was off the recount must be done by hand.

Even this so-called recount gave a different number by the same machines.

[Tom]

It is truly amazing that almost 40 years after putting a man on the moon and bringing him home, we have not yet figured out how to do a simple thinkg like tally a vote. This ia bipartisan issue - we are morons as a nation and it is high time to fix this election thing once and for all. Perhaps we need to let someone NOT a lawyer or in governemtn come up with an idea. I bet a 5th grader could come with a better system.

I notice, though, the furor over voting machines dropped way off after the libs won one.. Sec no longer spouts his daily diatribes, like he did leading up to the election.

[46zilzal]

They try and re-invent the wheel. Just have people mark a X. That's it. SImple. If they mark two x's, it does not count.

[highnote]

Originally Posted by Show Me the Wire

swetyejohn,

Read the article.

OK. So I re-read the article. It says, "each were convicted of a felony count of negligent misconduct of an elections employee."


So does that mean they rigged the recount with is considered negligent misconduct?

Either they rigged the recount or they didn't.

JRalph says they didn't rig the count.

The special prosecutor is paraphrased as saying, "Special prosecutor Kevin Baxter said in the defendants' January trial that they worked behind closed doors three days before the public recount on Dec. 16, 2004, to pick ballots they knew would not cause discrepancies when checked by hand, thereby avoiding a full hand recount. "

So he's saying their actions were done with the intent of avoiding a full hand recount. If that's true, then isn't that the same as saying they rigged the recount?

Maybe this article is just poorly written.

All we know is that they were found guilty by the judge. They will probably appeal.

I guess it's the language of the article -- especially the headline -- there is no mention of rigging by the judge or prosecutor. Only the headline mentions rigging.

Maybe "rigging" is not the right word?

I think just saying that the workers did not follow the recount procedure would be more accurate. Maybe they were just being lazy and were trying to avoid another Florida incident?

I think it might be better to read something from a Cleveland Plain Dealer journalist who is closer to the case than a San Diego journalist.

[Show Me the Wire]

The headline is deceptive and the article is poorly written. You are correct when you say the workers did not follow the correct procedure. Seems to me the election workers wanted to avoid work (complete hand count), through choosing select ballots instead of random. Actually what the rigged was the type of recount. The election workers insured a machine recount by selective selection.

Their actions violated election law through rigging the type of recount.