Scripps Howard: "In Ohio 1 in 50 votes for president don't count"

[EMunster]

In Ohio, almost 1 in 50 votes for president don't count

By MICHAEL COLLINS
Scripps Howard News Service
December 22, 2004

- Here's something that has been largely overlooked amid all of the complaints about voting irregularities in Ohio during the Nov. 2 election:

Nearly 97,000 ballots, or 1.7 percent of those cast across the state, either did not record a preference for president or could not be counted because the voter selected more than one presidential candidate.

An analysis by Scripps Howard News Service found that Ohio recorded the second-highest number of missing votes in the country, behind California. Elections experts say a large number of missing votes in a high-profile race like president should raise a red flag that something may be amiss.

Secretary of State Ken Blackwell said it's difficult to know what happened because the numbers don't include a breakdown of how many voters simply chose not to vote for president or how many picked more than one presidential candidate.

But he said the data reinforces his belief that the state must move away from punch-card ballots and toward electronic machines that prevent voters from picking more than one candidate in the same race.

Voters in 68 of Ohio's 88 counties used punch-card ballots in November. Electronic voting machinery must be in place in every county in Ohio by May 2006.

On the other hand, Blackwell said, some voters probably chose not to vote for president because they didn't like either of the major candidates on the ballot.

"Given human nature, when you're talking about 5.8 million people casting a vote, it wouldn't be too far-fetched to think that you have a small percentage of people who would say, 'A pox on both of your houses,' " Blackwell said.

more:
http://www.knoxstudio.com/shns/story.cfm?pk=MISCOUNT-OHIO-12-22-04&cat=AN

[Carolab]

1. Oh SURE Ken

On the other hand, Blackwell said, some voters probably chose not to vote for president because they didn't like either of the major candidates on the ballot.

"Given human nature, when you're talking about 5.8 million people casting a vote, it wouldn't be too far-fetched to think that you have a small percentage of people who would say, 'A pox on both of your houses,' " Blackwell said.

ONLY IN OHIO???????

[Igel]

2. The percentage is pretty standard.

For whatever reason, that's about the percentage. Hasn't changed markedly over time. Some don't vote because they don't want to; some screwed up when they voted; some voted for two candidates (most probable problem--look at how electronic voting tends to have lower spoilage rates when it's set up to check for overvotes). And in some cases they may have voted for "disqualified". Even with lever-machines in western New York we had undervotes: friends of local candidates would come out and vote for him/her, but otherwise bail.

I almost didn't successfully punch through the chad for most of the races the first time I voted in Calif. Got to the last couple of measures/candidates, and realized the stylus went in much farther than it had been going. Looked at the punch card: only two holes. So I put the card back in and proceeded to actually vote.

[righteous1]

4. True, actually the figure in 2004 is 93,000, it

was 97,000 in 2000 on significantly less voters. The best estimates I have heard are that ~ 8% of the votes might have a discernable presidential vote

[Carolab]

6. As IF 2000 was a clean comparison

Come on, that election was a mess too.

WE NEED TO COUNT ALL OF THESE BALLOTS BY HAND. Everything else is just conjecture.

[righteous1]

7. Ohio was dirty in 2000? Had not heard that

[roseBudd]

5. Both types of punch card machines have bad chad spots

There are braces that obstruct certain ballot positions resulting in chad buildup that blocks the stylus from completing a punch.

See:
http://www.cs.uiowa.edu/~jones/cards/chad.html#chadjam




Looking into this, I disassembled a Votomatic voting machine made by Computer Election Systems Incorporated, and found that it has a horizontal steel brace across the back of the mechanism. This brace is behind punch positions 4 and 5 (assigned, respectively, to Pat Buchanan and Al Gore on the now infamous Palm Beach County butterfly ballot). As a result, while there was room for a huge volume of chad behind the other punch positions, probably more than the 50,000 pieces quoted, it seemed that it might be possible to block these positions after only a few hundred votes! This could explain the complaints from voters about their need to repeatedly force the voting stylus before it would punch through the card.


snip

Positions of obstructions inside the Votomatic (top) and Data Punch (bottom) mechanisms, relative to a 228 position ballot

[me b zola]

3. A POX ON BLACKWELL

n/t

[Peace Patriot]

8. On the other hand, he's turning into a kind of Dick...

...Cheney comedian, sort of...I mean, consider...


"(Blackwell) said the data reinforces his belief that the state must move away from punch-card ballots and toward electronic machines that prevent voters from picking more than one candidate in the same race."

--ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, electronic... ha, ha, ha, ha, I'm on the floor dying here, stop! stop!.... ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.... machines...

--what he really meant to say was, "electronic machines that prevent voters from picking the WRONG candidate."

And this...

"'Given human nature, when you're talking about 5.8 million people casting a vote, it wouldn't be too far-fetched to think that you have a small percentage of people who would say, 'A pox on both of your houses,' ' Blackwell said."

--ha, ha, ha some more...

--but nope, what they said was "a pox on YOUR house, Mr. Blackwell" --and it was quite the slambang percentage that said it.

[mtnester]

9. God I hate my state of Ohio some days

If my family weren't here...I swear that is the only thing holding us back.

Oh well then Kathie Blackwell, maybe one of the selections on the new eLIEtronic machines should be "a pox on both your houses". I am sure you can get someone to swing those to the Republican candidate.

GET ME OUT OF HERE!