Conspiracy theories on Ohio vote refuse to die
It's over, but election still centers on Ohio
Sunday, December 05, 2004
Bill Lubinger
Cleveland Plain Dealer Reporter

Voters up to here with election overload thought Nov. 2 would finally end the trashing, bashing and bluster.

They thought wrong.

It's been just over a month since George W. Bush eked out a second presidential term, but accusations of election fraud and conspiracy cram e-mail in- baskets and fill Internet "blog ger" pages, air time on radio talk shows and cable TV and newspaper columns daily. 
 
  "I would say it's unprecedented," said Ned Foley, director of the election law program at Ohio State University. "It's taken on a life of its own. And the fight is going on even when Kerry said, 'No, it's not there.' People were just not ready to give up."

And if Ohio was the epicenter of a close, contentious campaign, then these are the aftershocks.

Lawsuits have been filed, one demanding a statewide recount, another questioning the rejection of thousands of provisional ballots. More recently, the Rev. Jesse Jackson's Rainbow/Push Coalition is considering filing a lawsuit over Ohio's voting irregularities.

Several Web sites offer voters a place to submit suspicious Election Day incidents and criticize so-called "mainstream media" for ignoring the story.

Public meetings have been held, with still more planned to gather testimonials of Election Day problems and to protest the result.

Even the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, is reviewing election 2004 - not to affect the result, but to try to separate fact from fiction.

Among the most pervasive conspiracy theories? Electronic voting machines were rigged for Bush. Early exit polls showed challenger John Kerry ahead in key states that he eventually lost, proving the fix was in. Voter totals in Cuyahoga County and elsewhere exceeded registrations. Those theories are either explainable or unproven.

"We don't have any evidence of orchestration," Foley said.

So why such fervor?

The Bush-Gore mess in 2000 set the stage. Lawyers from both sides were primed for battle. Democrats, many of whom swear that the election was stolen four years ago, vowed not to let it happen again.

Fear, mistrust, a polarized electorate, a nasty campaign and aggressive work to persuade people to vote are ingredients that feed suspicion and anger if your candidate loses.

"In that environment," said University of Akron political expert John Green, "conspiracy theories flourish."

The following facts don't help: Some Republican Party officials reject the need for electronic voting machines to have paper results as backup. The chief executive of a voting machine maker promised to "deliver" Ohio for Bush. Laws allow a state elections chief to double as a presidential candidate's campaign chairman.

And there were Election Day problems widely reported by the news media - voting machine malfunctions, long lines at the polls, the rejection of provisional ballots - most of which Green and other political observers consider "run-of-the-mill" stuff.

"The election irregularities were modest by comparison" with 2000, Green said.