The Ohio Vote: I'll Report. You Decide

[The following message has just been distributed tonight to Democratic Party officials across the state of Ohio.]

Dear Regional Counsel,

Well, it seems the presidential election is not quite over yet.

John Kerry called National Counsel with his request that Ohio legal counsel not retire quite yet but rather take vigorous steps to assure that the vote in Ohio, including the provisional ballots, is accurately counted.

This is to live up to his pledge to do everything possible to assure that all votes in this election would be accurately counted. We do not expect the outcome of the election to change.

However, there are widely-circulating reports of election irregularities, some of which we knew about, and a lot of speculation about election fraud. This is in addition to the voter suppression activities performed by the GOP on election day. We want to identify and record as best we can precisely what happened.

We need to assure that, at least in the key counties, we have our duly-appointed witnesses or other
permitted volunteers actually present to witness the analysis of and the counting of the provisional and
regular ballots, to keep accurate notes of what they observe, and that they put together a report back to you and through you to me so that I can report to National Counsel and they to Senator Kerry.

Here is what I think we need to do. Please contact your County Counsel, at least in your most populous
counties, and in any other counties where realistically you believe you have witnesses or other volunteers who can do this. You may forward this email to them or edit it as you prefer.

The following list of questions to be investigated with the Board of Elections is very comprehensive. It ma well be that some of your County Counsel cannot obtain information in this much detail, or that it is not available, or that it is too cumbersome to obtain.

Hence, I will follow the comprehensive list with a shorter, alternative, fall-back list for those counties
where the comprehensive information is not reasonably available.

Preferably, we would like to obtain this information from each county Board of Elections, by precinct in each county:

1. Total number of HAVA provisional ballots (as defined by the Help America Vote Act (HAVA)) issued at each precinct in the county.
2. Total number of HAVA provisional ballots issued at the BoE office or site designated by the board.
3. Total number of regular, non-HAVA provisional ballots issued at each precinct in the county.
4. Total number of regular, non-HAVA provisional balllots issued at the BoE office or site designated by
the board.
5. Total overseas civilian and military ballots issued.
6. Total overseas civilian and military ballots counted on election night.
7. Total regular absentee ballots received by the close of the polls and not counted on election night.
8. Total regular absentee ballots received after the close of the polls through Tuesday, November 9, 2004, with a postmark on or before November 2, 2004.
9. Voting equipment malfunction or errors. Please describe each instance of a mechanical or
programming malfunction or error of voting equipment used at the polls or for absentee voting. Please
describe the nature of the malfunction or error and whether any votes were affected and if so in what way.
10. Tabulation equipment failures or errors. Please describe each instance of a mechanical or
programming malfunction or error of tabulation equipment. Please describe the nature of the malfunction or error and whether any votes were affected and if so in what way.
11. Presidential candidate rotation errors. Please describe any errors discovered with respect to the
rotation of Presidential candidates' names either in programming or on ballot pages.
12. Absentee overvotes. Please provide the number of absentee ballots that contain overvotes in the
Presidential election.
13. Were the names of Nader/Camejo removed from all absentee voting pages? If not, were stickers placed over the names? If not, what steps were taken to inform voters that Nader/Camejo had been removed from the ballot and that a vote for them would not be counted?
14. Regular ballot overvotes. Please provide the number of regular ballots that contain overvotes in the
Presidential election of each precinct in the county.
15. Were the names of Nader/Camejo removed from all regular voting page ballots? If not, were stickers placed over the names? If not, what steps were taken to inform voters that Nader/Camejo had been removed from the ballot and that a vote for them would not be counted?
16. Provisional ballot discrepancy (1). Is the number of provisional ballots cast different than the number of persons who signed the provisional poll book at the board of elections office or in the precincts? If so, please state the discrepancy for each.
17. Provisional ballot descrepancy (2). Is the number of cast provisional ballots in the board of elections' custody different than the number of provisional ballots cast at the board office and for each precinct? If so, please state the discrepancy for each.
18. Regular ballot discrepancy (1). Is the number of regular ballots issued different that the number of persons who signed the regular poll book at the board office or in the precinct? If so, state the discrepancy for each.
19. Regular ballot discrepacy (2). Is the number of cast regular ballots in the board's custody equal to the number of regular ballots cast for each precinct? If not,
state the discrepancy for each.
20. Provisional ballots refused. Please state the number of persons, if known, who were not permitted by election officials to cast a provisional ballot by precinct.
21. Insufficient provisional ballots. Were there any precincts that ran out of provisional ballots on Election Day?
22. Insufficient regular ballots. Were there any precincts that ran out of regular ballots on Election
Day?
23. Anomalous results (1). Please compare the precinct-by-precinct results for Kerry and Bush with the
results for Connelly and Moyer. Please identify the precincts in which Connelly received more votes than Kerry and the number of votes received by each in those precincts for Connelly and for Kerry.
24. Anomalous results (2). Please review all precincts and describe any other anomalous results.

The above list can serve as a questionnaire that County Counsel can submit in writing to each Board of
Elections. Or you may choose to do so yourself directly in the key counties in your charge. It can also serve as a roadmap for each witness or other volunteer inside the Board of Elections.

As an alternative, the following are the most essential items to pursue:

1. Does County Counsel have an appointed witness or other volunteer committed to attending inside the Board of Elections to observe the counting of the provisional and regular ballots?
2. How is the validity/invalidity of the provisional ballots being ascertained?
3. Is this pursuant to a written policy of the BoE, or are they following directions of the Secretary of State? Please provide copies of any written policies.
4. Who will be present for the vote count?
5. When did the count begin, or when is it scheduled to begin?
6. When will the count be completed?
7. When will the official vote count be certified by the BoE?
8. What statistics are being developed on the reasons for the validity/invalidity of the provisional ballots?
9. What are the reasons for validity/invalidity with numbers for each reason by precinct?

I understand that this is a terrible burden. If County Counsel in key counties are not able to do this, I need to know so that we can find a successor to pursue this with each, key BoE. The rumors now parsing through the internet are raising questions about the fairness of the election in Ohio. This also raises questions about the choice of our President. We need to obtain the truth on this, not only for the sake of this election but for the sake of the public's confidence in Ohio's electoral system and in our democracy.

Thanks very much.

Daniel J. Hoffheimer

State Legal Counsel, OHIO

Kerry-Edwards 2004, Inc.

Taft, Stettinius & Hollister LLP

425 Walnut Street, Suite 1800 | Cincinnati, Ohio 45202-3957

(513) 381-2838 | Fax (513) 381-0205

Comments

[Dean Landsman]

Apparently the Ohio goose is cooked, in any number of ways. Even if all the fraud, frivolity (am I kind, or what?) and fractious fucking over of the system were to be corrected, it seems that each and every falsified vote for the shrub would have to become a vote for the tall man from Massachusetts who ran a lame campaign in order to turn around the Electoral College. And what with the concession already made, all this would have to occur before the second swearing in of the candidate an dprior appointee, the one who scored higher on the BVDs Scale (Bible Values Determinations).

It wasn't just Ohio that suffered from that common malady known as votefluenza. There are reports of shenanigans all over the place. But not to worry. good and proper REAL RED STATE AS RED IS THE COLOR OF OUR BLOOD Americans no longer need to live in fear.

Yes, it is true: no gay married couple person's stem cell abortioneering self, those damned and heretic sinners, will move next door, corrupt their children, or taint their neighborhoods and try to take over (as is their plan).

Nosiree. This vote, this very victory for the good and the righteous, as foretold to the electorate by their God, the only God that decent and moral Americans accept and personally know (and who talks directly to The Man From Crawford), represents good winning over sin.

Now we can just sit back, and wait for Gawd or George Dubya to kill that Osama guy. Yep, rest easily Americans, prayers answered and all is right in the world. Pass the pork rinds, praise Carlyle, and thank you Saudi Arabia for all that oil.

[Aurora]

http://homepage.mac.com/duffyb/nobush/iMovieTheater270.html