The 2004 Vote: What Really Happened?

Experts to Provide a Report to the Nation

Getting past rumor and innuendo


For Immediate Release Dec. 1, 2004

Common Cause Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington Press Release


Contact:

Mary Boyle, Common Cause, (202) 736-5770

Ed Rothschild, LCCR, (202) 879-9317

Christy Hicks, The Century Foundation, (212) 452-7723



Rumors of nefarious election activities and tales of disenfranchised voters still swirl around the Internet, nearly a month after the presidential election. Election Day revealed problems in our voting systems, including registration issues, timely provision of absentee ballots, the reliability of voting machines, inadequate numbers of poll workers and efforts to intimidate voters and suppress turnout.


On Tuesday, Dec. 7, Common Cause, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and The Century Foundation will conduct a non-partisan in-depth look at voting in America that will reveal exactly what happened on Election Day. The organizations will sponsor: “Voting in 2004: Report to the Nation on America’s Election Process,” featuring voting experts, state and federal officials and organizations that had workers on the ground on Election Day, observing and collecting information.



WHAT: Voting in 2004: A Report to the Nation on America’s Election Process



WHERE: G-50 Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington DC



WHEN: Tuesday, Dec. 7, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.



KEY SPEAKERS AND HONORARY CO-CHAIRS: Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) (represented by a written statement), Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ)



OTHER FEATURED SPEAKERS: Barbara Arnwine, executive director, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, Jehmu Greene, president, Rock the Vote, Wade Henderson, executive director, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, Ralph Neas, president, People for the American Way, Leslie Reynolds, executive director of the National Association of Secretaries of State.



PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS: American Civil Liberties Union, American Families United, the Brennan Center for Justice, Demos, Electionline.org,

George Washington School of Law, Johns Hopkins University, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, National Association of Secretaries of State, Rock the Vote, The Advancement Project and Verified Voting,

can anyone attend?

I would think so. It's in a public building. Would be great if one of our members could attend in person.

I've notified CSPAN so perhaps it will be broadcast live or delayed on tape.

Can a moderator post this to the calendar? I keep getting error messages.

Thanks!

Bump for Mr. Norsk.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...el_pr/ohio_vote

New Round of Challenges in Ohio Vote

1 hour, 1 minute ago

By ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS, Associated Press Writer

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Two major challenges are expected to unfold Monday when Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell certifies the state's final presidential election results, declaring President Bush (news - web sites) the winner by about 119,000 votes

Lawyers representing voters upset about problems at the polls plan to contest the results with the Ohio Supreme Court, citing documented cases of long lines, a shortage of machines and a pattern of problems in predominantly black neighborhoods.

In addition, third party candidates, bolstered by a favorable federal court ruling, plan to file requests for a recount in each of Ohio's 88 counties. About 400 people rallied at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus on Saturday to demand a recount begin immediately.

The efforts represent "an incredible long shot," said Steven Huefner, an Ohio State University law professor. "Courts are just incredibly reluctant to overturn the results of an election absent a really strong showing that something happened that affected the outcome."

Bush came out with a 2 percentage point victory over John Kerry (news - web sites) in the state when the provisional and absentee ballots were counted.

That was much closer than the totals election night showed but not close enough to trigger an automatic recount.

However, the Green and Libertarian party candidates have raised the $113,600 required to pay for a recount themselves. A ruling by U.S. District Judge Edmund Sargus on Friday, rejecting Delaware County's attempt to stop a recount, paved the way for it to begin after Ohio's electors meet Dec. 13.

Republicans say it won't change the final result.

"There's simply nothing in the election process that could possibly meet that standard, so the contest will fail like all the other legal maneuverings that failed," said Mark Weaver, an attorney representing the Ohio Republican Party.

Cliff Arnebeck, a Columbus lawyer working for the Massachusetts-based Alliance for Democracy, said overturning the result is not the objective.

"We should verify the accuracy of the vote and the process by which the vote was achieved," he said.

Arnebeck wants Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas Moyer to review evidence of election irregularities, an option allowed under state law.

The last time the law was used statewide was during Paul Pfeifer's 1990 challenge of Lee Fisher's 1,234-vote victory in the attorney general's race.

Pfeifer, a Republican now on the Supreme Court, argued that irregularities such as discrepancies between the number of ballots and the number of signatures in poll books could have cost him the election. The court disagreed and Fisher won.

___

On the Net:

Ohio Secretary of State: http://www.sos.state.oh.us/sos/

Great find, we need to keep an eye on the Ohio courts.

This event is open to public, but you are supposed to RSVP at:

CommonCause.org

You can find the link in the middle of the right column.

Interesting date.....

Washington DC area members note this event is TOMORROW.