The voting problems continue in Ohio. Some sort of computer glitch is being blamed for causing thousands of absentee ballots to be rejected because the information in the state’s Qualified Voter File didn’t match information in county databases.
Thousands of absentee-ballot requests may have been erroneously rejected statewide because of voter-registration issues, voter advocates say.
Secretary of State Jon Husted has acknowledged that a data-sharing glitch between his office and the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles likely caused some absentee-ballot applications to be wrongfully rejected because county boards did not have up-to-date information on registrants’ addresses…
Norman Robbins, research director at Northeast Ohio Voter Advocates, said group members thought that the number of absentee-ballot requests being rejected was abnormally high in Cuyahoga County. So, last week group members began their own audit of the requests and discovered some had come from registered voters whose applications were rejected when election officials could not find their registration.
The group alerted the county’s Board of Elections, which performed its own audit of the rejected requests over the weekend and determined that 865 had been erroneously tossed.
Robbins’ group performed a similar study of Franklin County’s records and determined that 38 p ercent of the rejected requests they checked also could have come from registered voters.
This could affect more than 10,000 votes. In a very close election, that’s enough to make a difference.
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Randomfactor
November 5, 2012 at 12:12 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
The one thing we shoulda kept from old-style religion is that whole “burning at the stake” thing.
Husted. A pile of absentee ballots. A campfire singalong.
stace
November 5, 2012 at 12:14 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
My state is going to the be the Florida of 2012, I can see it now. The provisional ballot thing is looming as a huge debacle.
Reginald Selkirk
November 5, 2012 at 12:15 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
That article completely fails to mention that Husted is a Republican. Just an oversight, I’m sure.
Reginald Selkirk
November 5, 2012 at 12:16 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Four Ways Ohio’s GOP Secretary Of State Is Trying To Swing The Election For Mitt Romney
baal
November 5, 2012 at 12:23 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Husted is not just any (R) either. He’s been playing tag with the courts and not all that compliant about following rulings unless he’s under immediate threat of contempt. Color me not surprised that the excessive toss out is from predominately (D) voting areas.
D. C. Sessions
November 5, 2012 at 12:31 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I’m more impressed by Husted every day. He’s hardworking, diligent, and resourceful in overcoming obstacles. Mere Federal District Judges are nothing to him; he even bypasses Federal Circuit Courts. He manages to have early voting that recognizes the different needs of Ohio’s citizenry, and (as here) manages to limit absentee voting to those who will make the best use of it.
savagemutt
November 5, 2012 at 12:38 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
savagemutt
November 5, 2012 at 12:39 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Unfortunately, it looks like Florida will also be the Florida of 2012.
(Sorry for the double-post.)
Gregory in Seattle
November 5, 2012 at 12:43 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Cuyahoga County (county seat: Cleveland) is the state’s principle Democratic stronghold. So, naturally, that is where the GOP apparatchiks are rejecting the most ballots. Really, is this any kind of surprise?
And voter ID would help prevent election fraud how?
democommie
November 5, 2012 at 12:59 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Attributed to Joseph Stalin:
“It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything.”
Attributed to Jon Husted*:
“Why worry about preventing voter registration fraud when you can prevent voting?”
* As GOD is my witness I got this from Ellis Washington.
comfychair
November 5, 2012 at 1:00 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
One of our two political parties truly want a one-party state. Because Freedom, or something.
From a speech by you-know-who, July 1932:
democommie
November 5, 2012 at 2:26 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
In an alternate reality, Mr. Hitler would be totally chewing up the scenery in some, aus-aus-aus Koenigstrasse theater’s production of Hamlet.
martinc
November 6, 2012 at 3:51 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
In Australia, voter registration is simple. You turn 21, you’re in. Whether you like it or not. No party rego, no ineligibility and no failure to turn up on the day – everyone, including prisoners, votes.
Uncle Glenny
November 6, 2012 at 1:29 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Didn’t Philip K. Dick write about this?
I seem to remember something about pharma cartels bombing each other, although that could have been a different dystopia.