User:Kizzle/Ohio


 * Parent article: 2004 U.S. presidential election controversy



During the 2004 U.S. presidential election, there were some problems with the election process in Ohio, including but not limited to missing/uncounted votes, machine malfunction, machine shortage, machine mis-voting, and anomalous statistical discrepancies in vote tabulations such as more votes than voters. Statistical analysis of the demographic distribution of these problems and which candidate they favored have led some to believe that there was a slight possibility of coordinated election fraud throughout the state for both parties.

Voting machines in Ohio


There were numerous reports of machine shortages and malfunctions, the plurality of which came from Cuyahoga County. Precincts in some counties reported receiving less than half of the voting machines requested. 

Cuyahoga County, Ohio
141 long line incidents were reported in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. This amounts to an average of 0.098 per precinct, over eight times the average outside of Cuyahoga. Likewise, reported long line incidents in Cuyahoga is more than eight times as high per person as outside of Cuyahoga. Voter turnout in Cuyahoga compared with the rest of the state was 4.5% less than usual. Cuyahoga County has an inverse relationship between voter turnout and support for Kerry. This means that, where support for Kerry was high, the voters didn't turnout, for whatever reason. This could possibly be explained by vote suppression, (such as significant machine shortages in black neighborhoods) but more analysis is necessary. 



Detailed analyses indicate that reports of malfunctioning voting machines were tightly clustered in black neighborhoods, further exacerbating machine shortages. Of the 82 precints for which voters reported that one or more voting machines were not working, the vast majority were in neighborhoods where over 75% of the population were black, while non-working machines were reported in only five precincts where less than 5% of the population were black. In one precinct 7 of 17 voting machines were not working. In another, 3 of 9 voting machines were not working. In yet another 2 of 3 voting machines were not working. In two precincts, all the machines were not working for a significant period during the day. In addition to reports of machines not working at all, there were multiple reports of voting machines that would not accept a vote for the presidential race, multiple reports of voting machines which highlighted a vote for Bush when Kerry's button was pressed, and multiple reports of voting machines that indicated that a vote for Bush had been registered on the summary screen, despite repeated attempts to select Kerry. 

Franklin County, Ohio
54 incidents have been reported in Franklin County, Ohio, an avg of .065 per precinct. Franklin County has sparked particular attention because the long lines were disproportionately in poor and African-American communities, and largely due to machine shortages in those precincts, in possible violation of the Equal Protection Amendment.



The pattern of machine malfunctions identified in Cuyahoga county also occurs in Franklin County. Reported incidents of malfunctioning voting machines are tightly clustered in neighborhoods where a large percentage of the population is black. 24 of 27 precints in which malfunctioning voting machines were reported were precincts in which the majority of voters voted for Kerry. 




 * "An analysis of data provided by the Franklin county board of elections reveals disparate voter to machine ratios. It went from as low as 108 registered voters per machine in Gahana, to as high as 550 in the Ohio State University area.


 * An analysis of the distribution of voting machines also raises questions. This year nearly 2/3 of the precincts that lost machines went for Kerry. And, nearly 2/3 of the precincts where elections officials placed additional machines, favored President Bush." NPR

*The vertical scale of the second graph is twice that of the first.

Voting machines in Franklin County were well over capacity, averaging 184 recorded votes per machine. The amount the machines in a precinct were over capacity (measured by "active", not registered voters) was directly proportional to the percentage of voters in that precinct voting Kerry. As the graph below shows, this led to suppressed turnout in Democratic precincts. 



Voter turnout in Franklin County was expected to be significantly higher than normal, but was in fact significantly lower than normal.

Although low population precincts were allocated relatively many voting machines and were well within the limits of processing capacity, high-population centers often were not "Is there inner-city election suppression in Franklin County, Ohio?":
 * "Document reveals Columbus, Ohio voters waited hours as election officials held back machines. One telling piece of evidence was entered into the record at the Saturday, November 13 public hearing on election irregularities and voter suppression held by nonpartisan voter rights organizations. Cliff Arnebeck, a Common Cause attorney, introduced into the record the Franklin County Board of Elections spreadsheet detailing the allocation of e-voting computer machines for the 2004 election. The Board of Elections' own document records that, while voters waited in lines ranging from 2-7 hours at polling places, 68 electronic voting machines remained in storage and were never used on Election Day.... An analysis of the Franklin County Board of Elections' allocation of machines reveals a consistent pattern of providing fewer machines to the Democratic city of Columbus, with its Democratic mayor and uniformly Democratic city council, despite increased voter registration in the city. The result was an obvious disparity in machine allocations compared to the primarily Republican white affluent suburbs."


 * "The ... Republican enclave of Upper Arlington has 34 precincts. No voting machines in this area cast more than 200 votes per machine. Only one, ward 6F, was over 190 votes at 194 on one machine. By contrast ... 17% of Columbus&#8217; machines were operating at 90-100% over optimum capacity while in Upper Arlington the figure was 3%. In the Democratic stronghold of Columbus 139 of the 472 precincts had at least one and up to five fewer machine than in the 2000 presidential election. ... 29% of Columbus&#8217; precincts, despite a massive increase in voter registration and turnout, had fewer machines than in 2000. In Upper Arlington, 6% had fewer machines in 2004. One of those precincts had a 25% decline in voter registration and the other had a 1% increase. Compare that to Columbus ward 1B, where voter registration went up 27%, but two machines were taken away in the 2004 election. Or look at 23B where voter registration went up 22% and they lost two machines since the 2000 election, causing an average of 207 votes to be cast on each of the remaining machines ... Thus, in four years, the ward went from optimum usage to system failure."

Anecdotal reports can be found at freepress.org.

Voter registration in Ohio



 * The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections has botched the registrations of more than 10,000 voters, preventing them from heading to the ballot box next week, according to a lawsuit filed late Monday.


 * The Citizens Alliance for Secure Elections, the Alliance of Cleveland HUD Tenants and seven residents sued the board in federal court and claimed election board employees failed to enter new registrations on voter rolls, update changes sent in by voters and enter addresses correctly...


 * ...On Sept. 17, there were more than 10,000 names on the list. As of Monday, the suit claims, few errors have been corrected.


 * Mr Arnebeck said that hearings held in Ohio cities have brought to light new evidence of malpractice. He said one voter of a pro-Republican group caught destroying Democratic registration documents in Nevada before the election, had also been operating in Ohio.


 * We've done a post-election poll of 1,400 rural and exurban voters in Ohio counties that Bush won by an average of 17 percentage points. Their answers, and a closer look at other poll data, explode a few widely held theories about what happened...


 * ...Third myth: A wave of newly registered Republican voters in fast-growing rural and exurban areas carried Bush to victory.


 * Reality: Among Ohio's rural and exurban voters, Bush beat Kerry by just five points among newly registered voters and by a mere two points among infrequent voters (those who did not vote in 2000).


 * Fourth myth: Republicans ran a superior, volunteer-driven mobilization effort.


 * Reality: When we asked new voters in rural and exurban areas who contacted them during this campaign, we learned that they were just as likely to hear from the Kerry campaign and its allies as from the Bush side. (In contrast, regular voters reported more contact from the GOP.)

Provisional ballots in Ohio
With 80 of 88 counties reporting, there are 135,149 provisional ballots; according to Ruth Coulter at Moritz College, this should be presumed to be the accurate and complete list for those 80 counties. If the same proportion of votes went provisional statewide, the remaining counties will produce 19,252 provisional ballots. Even if all of those ballots are found to be valid votes (and Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell has repeatedly noted that in 2000, 90 percent of provisional ballots were eventually counted), they're not remotely skewed enough toward the heavily Democratic counties to provide the margin Kerry would need. By my math, if every one of my projected 154,401 provisional ballots is counted, Kerry would need to win over 88 percent. That's not going to happen. 

Provisional ballot counting in Ohio begins Saturday November 13 and by law must be finished in 4 days. The number of provisional ballots is greater than the vote difference between Kerry and Bush. Most of the challenges were made by Bush supporters, presumably the provisional ballots may NOT be 51%-49% but instead be lopsided. Secretary of State Ken Blackwell had issued a ruling disqualifying a provisional ballot if date of birth is not written on the envelope, but ultimately, that ruling was cancelled. 

One third of 24,472 provisional ballots cast in Cuyahoga County, Ohio (8,099) were thrown out. The norm in Ohio is 9%. On November 27th, People for the American Way filed a lawsuit seeking to have provisional ballots re-examined. The suit demands that provisional ballots be accepted regardless of the precinct they were filed in, in accordance with Ohio state law and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and that registration be checked against voter registration cards, rather than just electronic voting lists.

Ballot spoilage in Ohio

 * These are the same type of punch card machines used in Florida in the 2000 election. Anyone paying attention to the coverage of the Florida recount may be aware of the need to remove the chads underneath the grid ("punch guide") inside the punch card machines. If this is not done, voters would be unable to punch out the perforated chads, creating the infamous dimpled, hanging, and pregnant chads. Worse, if enough chads build up beneath the grid, the stylus - the metal pin that actually punches out the chad - can't even push the chads through the holes in the grid. When this happens, you have a "broken" machine. Since there was no coverage at all - neither local nor national - of the large number of machines "broken" on election day, there is no way of knowing if this was the problem - we can only speculate. But if chad build-up was not the problem, then why were there "broken" punch card machines in 34 polling places, consisting of 70 precincts, in the Cleveland area? And where were these broken machines located? In heavily Democratic, pro-John Kerry, predominantly black communities.



Auglaize County
In October, a former employee of Election Systems and Software (ES&S), the company that provides the voting system in Auglaize County, was allegedly on the main computer that is used to create the ballot and compile election results, which would go against election protocol. 

Youngstown

 * A precinct in Youngstown recorded negative 25 million votes. However, this error was quickly corrected and the problem was isolated to the one machine.

Franklin

 * Machine error gives Bush 3,893 extra votes in Franklin County, though error is detected and vote total is corrected.

Miami

 * 19,000+ new ballots were added after all precincts reported for Miami County, Ohio

Warren

 * Cincinnati Enquirer article about Warren County (OH) vote counting

Individuals and Organizations in Ohio
Read about Ohio election law in regards to recounts here.

Read House of Representatives Judicial Committee formal enquiry letter to Ohio Secretary of State Dec. 2 2004 here.

 *Cliff Arnebeck is the Chair of Common Cause Ohio and a Co-Chair and attorney for the Alliance for Democracy.

House Committee on the Judiciary- Unofficial Democratic Staff meetings
Some Democrats on the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary have requested an investigation by the GAO, asked Kenneth Blackwell for an explanation, and scheduled a Public Congressional Forum. The unofficial meetings are currently scheduled for Wednesday, December 8th @ 10:00am. Among the many potential attendees and invitees are Jesse Jackson, Cliff Arnebeck, Ken Blackwell and Warren Mitofsky.

Mitofsky, Blackwell declined to attend.

Forum proceedings:

Source and summary of the forum proceedings


 * Overflow room needed. GOP refused to attend, GOP majority on Judiciary committee refused to allow official video taping of proceedings.


 * "If you look at who was here," said Arnebeck, "you had leaders from the generally white political reform movement, and leaders from the black civil rights movement. This is a powerful coalition. We are not talking about one group having dominance over the other, but a real partnership of the traditional political reform community with the traditional civil rights community ... Jesse Jackson, as you could see today, is giving tremendous moral leadership to this. He has tremendous credibility. This is a man who walked with Dr. Martin Luther King in the long civil rights struggle that we honor so much in our history now. This is the man who was holding Dr. King when he died. I was sitting right next to him when he talked about the fact that there aren't members of Congress with children dying in Iraq, and tears were in his eyes. This is a man who feels this stuff deeply, and when he talks about what is at stake, he means it in the deepest part of his being."


 * "Rep. Conyers intimated ... that he might object to the seating of the Ohio Electors when the certification process begins."


 * Participation list and statements
 * Interviews
 * Video of forum hearing (from C-SPAN, Real Player):
 * rtsp://cspanrm.fplive.net/cspan/project/c04/c04120804_conyers.rm

Press releases:
 * Blackwell asked to explain irregularities in Ohio (pdf)
 * Open congressional forum to be held on Dec. 8 (pdf)

Letters:
 * To Mitofsky, requesting raw data for election exit polls (pdf)
 * From Mitofsky, denying request (pdf)
 * To Kenneth Blackwell, concerning Ohio election irregularities (pdf)
 * To Kenneth Blackwell, concerning Ohio election irregularities, follow-up (pdf)
 * Request for media coverage of Dec. 8 forum

Green Party

 * Green Party Candidate David Cobb, in conjunction with his Libertarian opponent, have completed their fundraiser for recount of the Ohio state presidential vote. A recount request is pending. ,
 * On Nov. 17, The National Voting Rights Institute, on Behalf of David Cobb and Michael Badnarik, wrote this formal letter to the Elections Directors demanding a recount.
 * On Nov. 19, Kennenth Blackwell responded with this letter.
 * On Nov. 23, the Court denied the request to expediate the recount.
 * Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order
 * Complaint requesting the recount
 * Brief supporting the request for a Preliminary Injunction
 * On Nov. 29, Cobb filed official requests for a recount in New Mexico and Nevada.
 * On Nov. 30, Cobb filed a motion to move the case to Federal court.
 * On Nov. 30, John Kerry joined the litigation.
 * On Dec. 1, the Federal court refused to uphold the temporary restraining order issued by the Ohio State court and set a hearing for Dec. 3rd.
 * On Dec. 2, the Cobb campaign filed a lawsuit against Republican Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, asserting that Blackwell is stalling the Ohio recount and abusing his authority.
 * Counterclaim
 * Counterclaim - Exhibit 1
 * Counterclaim - Exhibit 2
 * Counterclaim - Exhibit 3
 * Preliminary Injunction - Motion
 * Preliminary Injunction - Brief
 * Preliminary Injunction - Exhibits 1-6
 * On Dec. 2, the Cobb campaign decided not to pursue Nevada recounts.

Libertarian Party

 * Libertarian candidate Badnarik has joined the effort with Green party candidate David Cobb to recount the Ohio state presidential vote. ,

BlackBoxVoting.org
Led by Common Cause and The Alliance for Democracy, both David Cobb (Green Party) and Michael Badnarik (Libertarian Party) will be filing for official recounts in Ohio. Black Box Voting is also launching a fraud audit in Ohio. Accuses Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell of failing to properly account for provisional ballots, and refusing to allow citizens to see the pollbooks.

Ohio recount
In Ohio a recount is automatic for statewide election if difference in the vote is within 0.25% of the total votes cast.

For a recount in the presidential race, this is probably 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 recount is requested by the losing candidate. The request for a recount must be made within 5 days of the official announcement of the results by the Secretary of State.

The fee for a recount is set by each Board of Elections and may be between $5 and $10 per precinct. You can limit the recount to specific precincts. The cost is deposited by the person making the recount request at the time of the application based on the number of precincts requested to be recounted. The entire recount and contest procedures are outlined at ORC 3515. 

Presidential candidates
After statements by Dennis White of the Ohio Democratic Party indicating that John Kerry would "participate" in the Ohio recount effort, the Kerry/Edwards campaign has filed a brief to formally join in legal proceedings to seek a recount of all Ohio votes for President , , initiated by David Cobb (Green) and Michael Badnarik (Libertarian). This was necessary for the recount to have any practical effect since a federal judge had ruled the recount need not be expedited since the original plaintiffs (Cobb and Bardnarik) could not be positively affected by its outcome.

Ohio voters
A parallel recount effort is being headed by Cliff Arnebeck of the Alliance for Democracy, representing a group of voters. On Wednesday Dec. 8th, he is expected to ask the courts to set aside the results and declare John Kerry the winner of Ohio, on the basis of widespread systematic election fraud that altered the outcome of the election, which he claims to have sufficient evidence to prove. Ohio law permits the state Supreme Court to review elections in such cases. 

November 2004
Nov. 2:
 * Judge orders officials to provide paper ballots - Long lines of voters in Franklin, Knox counties; Bush makes Election Day visit

Nov. 5:
 * Ohio: CNN. Glitch gave Bush extra votes in Ohio
 * Ohio: Machine Error Gives Bush Extra Ohio Votes
 * Ohio: Solvig, Erica. "Warren's vote tally walled off." The Enquirer (OH).

Nov. 6:
 * Ohio: Gwin, Harold. "Democrats' leader decries voting glitches." The Vindicator (OH). November 6, 2004.
 * Ohio: Glitch Found in Ohio Counting

Nov. 7:
 * Ohio: Fitrakis, Bob. "None dare call it voter suppression and fraud." The Free Press (OH).
 * Ohio: Voting Problems in Ohio Set Off an Alarm

Nov. 10:
 * Ohio: Fitrakis, Bob. "And so the sorting and discarding of Kerry votes begins." The Free Press (OH).
 * Bronis, Jason. "Ballot counting turns into legal fiasco." News 14 Charlotte.
 * Ohio: Cincinnati Enquirer. Warren Co. defends lockdown decision, FBI denies warning officials of any special threat
 * Ohio: Cuyahoga board deflates vote suspicions Plain Dealer Reporter

Nov. 11:
 * Ohio: AP. Democratic lawyers on "fact finding" mission in Ohio.

Nov. 13:
 * Ohio: 33,000 ballots lost in shuffle - Salt Lake Tribune, OH

Nov. 14:
 * Ohio: Ohio voters tell of Election Day troubles at hearing

Nov. 15:
 * Ohio: Ohio recount all but certain

Nov. 16:
 * Ohio: Document reveals Columbus, Ohio voters waited hours as election officials held back machines
 * Ohio: Questioning Ohio: No controversy this time? Think again.
 * Ohio: Ohio To Go Through Statewide Vote Recount After All

Nov. 17:
 * Ohio: Blackwell, J. Kenneth How Ohio pulled it off
 * Ohio: Ohio Finds Possible Double Votes, Counts
 * N.C.: New NC statewide Attorney General election possible
 * Ohio: Common Cause Joins Coalition Supporting Recount in Ohio

Nov. 18:
 * Ohio: Kucinich Supports Green Party Demand for Ohio Recount
 * Ohio: Hearings on Ohio voting put 2004 election in doubt
 * Ohio: Ohio Democratic Party seeks uniform ballot count
 * Ohio: Lucas County, OH - Prosecutor to check out 35 voters (and related events)

Nov. 20
 * Ohio: Lawyers to challenge election in Ohio
 * Ohio: Franklin County, Ohio voting machine assignments

Nov. 24
 * Ohio and Florida: Allegations of vote fraud in Ohio, Florida: Was the 2004 presidential election stolen?
 * Ohio: Ohio judge denies recount request

Nov. 26
 * Ohio: Jesse Jackson plans Ohio election rally and probe

Nov. 27
 * Ohio: Suit seeks provisional ballots re-examined

Nov. 29
 * Ohio: Re-vote, Not Recount, in Ohio
 * Ohio: Jackson wants to set aside Bush's win in Ohio
 * Keith Olbermann Interviews Kenneth Blackwell (Video, 23 Mb)

Nov. 30
 * David Cobb: America needs a recount in Ohio
 * Ohio: "Fight for Democracy" rally scheduled for Dec. 4th
 * Ohio: Green Party Presidential Candidate Seeks Federal Court Jurisdiction in New Ohio Recount Case
 * Ohio: Statement From the Green Party Presidential Campaign Concerning John Kerry's Intervention in Ohio Recount Court Case
 * Ohio: Electors to be Chosen Before Recount
 * Ohio: Jesse Jackson article in Chicago Sun-times
 * Keith Olbermann interviews Jesse Jackson (Video, 18 Mb)

December 2004
Dec. 1
 * Ohio: Voters to challenge US election
 * Ohio: Green Party is seeking funds to place volunteers in 88 Ohio counties for recount.
 * Ohio: certified results from all counties are in, Kenneth Blackwell hasn't certified state results, recount case moved to federal court.
 * Voters to challenge U.S. election
 * Ohio: Federal judge refuses to extend a OH State Court temporary restraining order preventing the Libertarian Party from initiating a recount of Delaware OH, sets hearing date to decide the matter

Dec. 2
 * Ohio: Two groups vow to contest election results


 * David Cobb: Greens had good reason to ask for this recount
 * Ohio: 1,644 ballots invalid, Summit board rules
 * Ohio: AP. Kerry campaign keeping an eye on Ohio cases
 * Ohio: Cobb Sues Blackwell in Federal Court Over Ohio Recount
 * Ohio, House Committee on the Judiciary: House Judiciary Democrats ask Blackwell (Ohio Sec. of State) to explain apparent Ohio election irregularities (pdf)

Dec. 3
 * Ohio, House Committee on the Judiciary: Conyers and other congressmen to hold forum on Ohio voting irregularities (pdf)
 * Ohio, House Committee on the Judiciary: Conyers follow-up letter to Blackwell (Ohio Sec. of State) (pdf)
 * Ohio, House Committee on the Judiciary: Judiciary Committee holding forum Dec. 8 for interested parties to discuss this and related issues (same source)
 * Ohio: Federal judge rules that Ohio recount wil go forward in all counties

Dec. 5
 * Ohio: Hundreds gather at Ohio statehouse to demand recount of votes
 * Audio archive of public meeting at Africentric Middle School: (audio) (audio)
 * Ohio, FBI: The FBI refused to accept a complaint detailing allegations of compound felonies of voter fraud, conspiracy and other offenses in connection with the Ohio conduct of last month's presidential election. Letter includes summary of evidenced cases requesting investigation. (video)

Dec. 6
 * Ohio: Kenneth Blackwell certifies state vote count

Dec. 7
 * Ohio and Florida: Common Cause is looking for volunteers to gather documents
 * Ohio: Suspended Lucas County elections official resigns
 * Ohio: Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell certifies election results. Two parallel vote count efforts are pending, one claims evidence that John Kerry is the legitimate winner of Ohio. (Associated Press) (NYT)

Dec. 8
 * Ohio: Third party candidates call for Ohio recount
 * Ohio: Reluctant officials and few rules
 * Profile: Voting activist to observe Ohio recount

Dec. 9
 * Ohio, U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, Forum:
 * Jesse Jackson on Judiciary Forum
 * In the same article, Ralph Neas, President of People for the American Way, comments that Ohio Secretary of State Blackwell should face criminal charges for his part in the election: "I think that prosecution is something that should be considered."
 * Stephanie Tubbs Jones: our efforts to sift through and sort out voting irregularities will continue.
 * Feminist Majority Foundation: 2004 Ohio election analysis
 * Report and description of House Judiciary Forum
 * "Rep. Conyers intimated today that he might object to the seating of the Ohio Electors when the certification process begins"
 * Ohio: Lucas County recount to begin Tuesday

Dec. 10
 * Ohio, U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, Forum, exit polls: Zogby Defense: 'My polling was very, very, good'
 * Ohio: AP - Cleveland Paper Cites Voter Problems

Dec. 11
 * Ohio: Cleveland Plain Dealer: Election costs could hit $3 million in Cuyahoga
 * CNN: Electoral College set to certify election, Doubts persist about integrity of nation's voting system
 * Ohio, DNC: The DNC to look into Ohio voting
 * Vote Suppression Report Released by Watchdog Coalition  the report (pdf)
 * Ohio, electors: Green Presidential Candidate to Address Public Rally Monday at Ohio Statehouse as Presidential Electors Cast Votes "Under a Cloud of Suspicion"
 * Ohio, electors: Protests against seating of Ohio electors planned

Dec. 12
 * The Civil Rights Coalition schedules a protest for Dec. 18, demanding a re-vote in areas with substantive disenfranchisement and the prosecution of officials involved in election fraud.
 * Ohio, U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary: The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary will be holding a congressional forum in Columbus concerning new evidence of election irregularities and fraud in Ohio, the issue of Ohio electors meeting while recounts and litigation are pending, and to discuss legislative and other responses to the problems, on Dec. 13. (pdf)
 * Ohio: Ohio Recount Affidavit - Richard Hayes Phillips
 * Group rallies at the Capitol

Dec. 13
 * Ohio, Kenneth Blackwell, recount: Strange and suspicious behavior regarding the election and recounts from Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell
 * Ohio, U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, recount: Conyers Alarmed at Efforts to Obstruct Ohio Recount Effort, Calls Witness to Monday Hearing to Detail Such Efforts
 * Ohio, recount: Electoral college meets, while protestors protest casting of Ohio electoral ballots before recount is complete
 * Ohio, recount: Congressional Democrats sent a letter to Republican Gov. Bob Taft asking to delay the Electoral College vote or at least consider the results unofficial until the disputes are resolved. The same request was also made to the state Supreme Court.
 * Ohio, recount: The Ohio delegation of the Electoral College cast their ballots for George W. Bush while a legal recount is still ongoing.
 * Ohio, U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, recount: At a Public Congressional Forum in Ohio, The U.S. House Judiciary Committee has heard evidence that preparations to conduct a fraudulent recount are underway statewide.