Tuesday, November 9, 2004
Every Vote Will Be Counted!
The Ohio Democratic Party shares Sen. John Kerry’s insistence that every vote be counted. Here is where we stand in Ohio:
► After the Unofficial Results reported Nov. 2 – George Bush leads John Kerry by 136,483 votes.
► Provisional ballots will be counted. 155,000 provisional ballots have been cast and not yet been counted. County Boards of Elections have until Friday to verify the eligibility of those who cast a provisional vote. Counting will begin, Saturday, November 13. County Boards have until. Dec. 1, 2004 to certify their vote totals and report them to the Secretary of State.
► Two Democrats and Two Republicans sit on each County Board of Elections. Tabulations of the votes will be done in a bi-partisan manner. Only if there is a tie vote on the board does the decision go to the Secretary of State.
► Overseas absentee ballots have not been counted. Overseas Absentee ballots by civilians may have been received by County Boards of Elections by Nov. 2 that have not yet been counted. The Boards of Elections will count those votes. Overseas absentee ballots by military have until, Friday, Nov. 12 to arrive and be counted by the Boards of Elections in the final total.
► 93,000 punch cards were cast, but a vote for president was not counted. The votes were not counted either because the voter voted for more than one candidate or did not vote for a presidential candidate. These ballots will be reexamined if there is a recount. Ohio has a uniform, statewide system for recounting punch card ballots. Hanging chads and dimpled chads are treated uniformly throughout the state.
► Examination for errors going on in all 88 Ohio counties. A Vote Error on Election night gave George Bush 3,893 more votes in a Franklin County precinct than actually cast for him. That error was found by comparing the unofficial abstract of votes casts by precinct to votes for each candidate. Officials in all 88 counties have been contacted and requested to review for a similar error.
► No Ohio County used Diebold Electronic Voting Machines Ohio did not use modern electronic voting machines in this election. Six counties use an older form of electronic voting, which has a means of verifying the accuracy of the vote. In 69 Ohio Counties, punch card ballots were used.
► 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 is 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.
► Vote Fraud or Mistakes – Information about fraud or mistake can be reported the Ohio Democratic Party. You can leave a message at (614) 221-6563 ext. 134 or email dan@ohiodems.org This information will be share with our legal counsel as the official election tabulations are being made.
You may also share any concerns about voter fraud or mistakes the Secretary of State by emailing: election@sos.state.oh.us
http://www.ohiodems.org/index.php?display=ReleaseDetails&id=191152
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