Still whining about Ohio
Posted by: McQ
The QandO Blog
Thursday, June 23, 2005
All I can say is thank goodness the Democrats seem to have finally let 2000 go (well, except the guy in AZ who died from it ... and I guess he has let it go when you think about it), not that the latest bit of whining is much beter:
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Democratic Party officials charged yesterday that the election system in Ohio broke down in last year's presidential race, citing numerous problems that frustrated or disenfranchised voters while concluding there was no evidence of fraud in the outcome. The findings reignited a partisan debate that has colored efforts to improve voting procedures around the country.
"The results show that our election system failed the citizens of Ohio in 2004 and in particular failed African Americans, new registrants, younger voters and voters in places using touch-screen machines," Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean told reporters. During a question-and-answer period, he declined to rule out that partisan actions by the Republicans may have contributed to the problems.
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Now, up front, it's worth noting this study was not a "bi-partisan" effort.
This was a Democrat party gig.
And even then, they, in the form of Howard Dean, could only infer Republican dirty tricks by refusing to rule them out although they were clearly ruled out by a member of the partisan task-force:
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Walter R. Mebane Jr., a professor of government at Cornell University and member of the task force, said Ohio suffered from a "gross administrative failure" on Election Day. But he later said there was no "support whatsoever for the claim that there was a large-scale misallocation of vote from [Democratic nominee John F.] Kerry to [President] Bush in Ohio" and said it is highly unlikely Kerry would have won the state in any case.
That conclusion runs counter to charges that circulated widely after the election maintaining that Bush had defeated Kerry in Ohio because of manipulation of the voting. Those assertions, fueled in part by exit polls that had showed Kerry winning Ohio, became a major issue among many Democratic activists and resulted in a challenge to the certification of Bush's victory when Congress convened in January.
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Wonder when the task-force is going to look into PA, WA and WI or MI for that matter?
Of course, as mentioned yesterday, this is another in a long line of conspiracy theories which will continue to survive among the religious left despite a dearth of evidence to support it. It's called faith (and hate).
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The report said that 28 percent of all Ohio voters and 52 percent of African American voters said they had problems in voting, whether it was long lines, ballot problems, intimidation or difficulty in finding their polling place. Although 71 percent of white voters said they were confident their votes were properly counted, just 19 percent of African American voters expressed similar confidence.
The long lines were caused by the scarcity of voting machines in a number of precincts, particularly in minority areas, the report said. Touch-screen machines contributed to delays.
The use of provisional ballots, issued when voters' credentials were challenged, was far more frequent in Ohio than in some other competitive states, according to the report, equaling 2.8 percent of all votes cast for president. That compares with 0.9 percent in Pennsylvania and 0.3 percent in Florida.
Blackwell's office in Ohio disputed the claim of voter suppression and said the report contained a number of errors. "The facts do not support their conclusions," said Carlo LoParo, a spokesman for the secretary of state's office.
LoParo said census data showed that African American turnout reached record levels last year, increasing by 84,000 from 2000.
He said that the number of provisional ballots issued in 2004 was proportionally about the same as in 2000 and cited an Electionline.org analysis that found Ohio had counted a higher percentage of provisional ballots (78 percent) than either Pennsylvania (49 percent) or Florida (36 percent).
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I'll be interested to read the report when I finally have the time to find it. Interestingly though, with this cursory glance, it seems to me that many of the grievances are based more on perception than fact. What is a "long line" in terms of time? What causes African Americans to "believe" their votes were not properly counted? What was the "intimidation" experienced? Why, if the provisonal ballot percentage cited in the Electionline.org analysis shows a high level of acceptance in Ohio, is that a problem?
Those and various and sundry other questions which have me doubting whether this "study" has anymore validity than that done by the Civil Rights Commission on the 2000 election in Florida.
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