Judge refuses to order review of Cuyahoga voter registrations
Friday, October 29, 2004
John Caniglia
Cleveland Plain Dealer Reporter

A federal judge has denied a request to have a special master review thousands of registration cards from Cuyahoga County voters who fear they won't be able to vote Tuesday.

Voters' groups sued in federal court Monday, claiming the county Board of Elections failed to enter new registrations on county rolls, changes sent in by voters, and enter addresses correctly.
U.S. District Judge Paul Matia on Wednesday ruled the board has done everything possible to ensure that voters get to the ballot box.

"I'm not convinced that the drastic remedy sought is necessary to assure the [plaintiffs'] right to vote," Matia said in his ruling. He said the board appears able to correct any defects in the registration process.

Matia also cited the fact that provisional ballots will allow voters whose names do not appear on the final list of registered voters to cast ballots. Those votes will be counted if it is later determined that their names should have been on the list.

The board received more than 344,000 voter-registration forms this year. The volume is more than three times the amount the board handled in 2000. The board brought in additional temporary workers to type in voter data on night shifts.

There are more than 1 million registered voters in the county, including 823,000 active voters those who have voted or filed paperwork recently with the board.

Attorneys Avery Friedman, Stephen Thomas and Sarah Moore said the board failed to process voter-registration applications correctly and did not notify applicants of potential problems.

The board placed a three-page advertisement in Thursday's Plain Dealer, listing thousands of residents who may have had problems with their registrations.

"I'm delighted the judge realized all the work that the board has done," said Michael Vu, Board of Elections director.

Moore said: "We're disappointed. We're hopeful that the board will affirm the judge's faith in it to correct the errors."