Democrats to study Ohio voting irregularities

By The Washington Post and The Associated Press

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The leader of the Democratic National Committee announced yesterday that he will launch an investigation into voting irregularities in Ohio, where lines snaked outside some inner-city polling places on Election Day and provisional ballots were sometimes in short supply.

Terry McAuliffe, Democratic National Committee chairman, said the aim of "this comprehensive study is not to contest the results of the 2004 election, but to help ensure that every eligible vote cast is truly counted."

McAuliffe made his announcement on the same day that Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell certified the state's final presidential election results, declaring President Bush the winner over Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., by 118,775 votes, or about 51 percent to 49 percent.

The certified result narrowed the 130,000-vote margin credited to Bush shortly after Election Day but was not close enough to trigger an automatic recount.

"This was an election where you have some glitches but none of these glitches were of a conspiratorial nature and none of them would overturn or change the election results," said Blackwell, a Republican, who oversaw the election process while serving as state co-chairman for Bush's re-election campaign.

The presidential candidate for the Green and Libertarian parties planned to file their request for a recount today.

Republicans said conducting a recount is pointless.

"If there's a recount, there's going to be two losers — John Kerry and the Ohio taxpayer," said Mark Weaver, a lawyer representing the Ohio Republican Party. "It's going to cost more than $1.5 million to find out what we already know."

Still, largely Democratic activists and lawyers have raised numerous questions about the Ohio vote, particularly in Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland, where black voters reportedly faced long lines and voting machines that failed to work.

McAuliffe said the study should be completed next spring, he said.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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