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Although the Franklin County recount went relatively smoothly on the surface, it
was hardly the meaningful audit it was meant to be. The statewide recount didn't
change the results of the election in any drastic way, because the process
ensured that it wouldn't. A look at the Franklin County recount shows some
reasons why, although the recount procedure varied from county to county.
Direct Recording Equipment Issues
In Ohio counties that used DRE (Electronic) voting machines lacking a
voter-verifiable paper trail, local Boards of Elections were allowed to decide
what it meant to them to conduct a recount. There is no up-to-date Ohio state
law to regulate the DRE recount process. In Franklin County, the Cobb campaign
submitted a list of requests, asking that representatives of candidates have
the opportunity to examine:
-Internal audit trails, printouts, and vote logs from each voting machine used
11/2, and from the central tabulator.
-All logs of the date, time, purpose and identity of persons who applied and
removed security seals on each voting machine used in the election; similar
logs of persons who were given physical or remote access to the central
tabulator
-A test, under election conditions, of all DREs used on Election Day in any
precinct where voters reported to nonpartisan election observers that they
experienced machine malfunctions or technical irregularities
Ohio law does not require that observers have access to these logs, printouts,
and tests. In Franklin County, witnesses were denied all of the above requests.
Instead, witnesses got a show and tell demonstration with a sample machine that
was not used in the election at all. Then the memory cartridges from all
machines used Nov 2 were re-read by the central tabulator in the presence of
witnesses.
Rejected Provisional and Absentee Votes Cast were Not Re-examined or Counted
David Cobb and Michael Badnarick asked for a recount of all votes cast. The
Kerry/Edwards camp (who hadn’t signed on to the recount, hadn’t paid a dime for
it, and never intervened in federal court to expedite the recount so it could be
completed before the Ohio electors were certified) also asked that envelopes and
related paperwork for uncounted provisional and absentee votes be inspected,
including those stating and documenting the reason why the ballots were not
counted. But the Franklin County BOE staff recounted all votes counted
originally while uncounted provisional and absentee ballots were not considered
at all as part of the recount.
A Missed Opportunity
The County BOE had a chance to restore voters’ confidence in their office and
administration (not to mention the Secreatry of State). They had the
opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to accountability, transparency,
and responsiveness. This voter feels her suspicions were confirmed by the BOE's
refusal to comply with requests from candidates Cobb, Badnarick, and Kerry.
Amy Kaplan, of the Columbus League of Pissed Off Voters, organized and trained
observers for the Franklin County recount on behalf of David Cobb, Green Party
Presidential candidate.
