AP: Ohio absentee ballots scanned early

[Gold Metal Flake]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061106/ap_on_el_ge/counting_absentees

CLEVELAND - Cuyahoga County elections officials began scanning absentee ballots Monday with a judge's permission, despite a request by state officials that counties hold off until Election Day.

About 70,000 ballots needed to be scanned in the county, the state's most populous, Cuyahoga elections director Michael Vu said. His office was determined to get through all of them Monday, even if it took until midnight.

Franklin County, which includes Columbus, also started scanning absentee ballots Monday, officials said.

snip

On Saturday, the secretary of state's office said counties must secure access to scanning locations, ensure that two bipartisan overseers control absentee ballots and that totals not be disclosed until the polls close on Tuesday. Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, the state's chief elections official, is the Republican candidate for governor.

[Atman]

1. They're trying to beat out Florida in "The most blatantly corrupt" catetory

Why fight it anymore? Wear the badge with honor, Ohio! Florida has basked in the limelight for too long!

.

[NOLADEM]

2. Can't steal it if you don't know how many you need to do it

On the other hand, if my deep seeded cynicism is incorrect, it seems it is great news that they had to seek an early start to count all of the ballots, as I imagine that the VAST majority of absentee ballots are Dems afraid of touchscreens and/or blackwell and wanted a paper ballot.

[Tiggeroshii]

3. Does this seem like a good thing to anybody?

Wouldn't it be good to get through the ballots asap to help prevent any wrongdoing by blackwell?

[OKIsItJustMe]

8. It does to me

Election night reporting is generally based on exit polls and then vote counts from the precincts. Absentee ballots are frequently treated as irrelevant.

(Since he was a truck driver) my Father voted absentee for years, and his vote was seldom counted.

[JanusAscending]

12. And you know this HOW??

"his absentee ballot was never counted"???:shrug:

[Tiggeroshii]

14. Nowadays there are ways to see if your vote was counted using the

tracking number on the ballot stub. In California, I haven't figured out where I can do this yet, but have found the site to do this in Virginia and one other state.

[Greeby]

4. If Blackwell is objecting to it, must mean it's a good thing

Right? :shrug:

[Tiggeroshii]

5. That's what I'm thinking

Because it keeps them out of his hands...

[superconnected]

6. absolutely not

he can publically object to anything while wanting it to happen. For allw we know he gave them a private go ahead.

[wakeme2008]

7. I would like to know if they do it like Florida with Reps from all parties

present. They pre-scan in Florida but they send out invites to all parties to be present at the scanning...

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

9. There are no names on absentee ballots. Count them on TV.

[hedgehog]

10. The ballots are being scanned early but not counted yet, if that makes

sense. Apparently it's a two step process, convert the information into a scanned form , then count the votes. By scanning early, the Election Boards are ensuring that there is no hold-up getting the results out on Tuesday night.

[OKIsItJustMe]

11. Yeah, it makes sense

They'll wind up with a bunch of records sitting in their database, waiting for more records to be added tomorrow. Then, tomorrow night, they can sum it all up.

You don't really want them counting them yet, for the same reason you don't want Eastern states reporting their final totals in a presidential election before the polls have closed in the West.

[hedgehog]

13. I could understand it, but I couldn't explain it.

Thanks for the clarification.

[DoYouEverWonder]

15. My county uses optical scanners (FL)

and at Early Voting you feed your ballot directly into the scanner. Anyone voting early on optical scanners has already had their votes scanned. I think the judge made the correct ruling in this case.