D.C. forum examines claims of Ohio voting irregularities

BLADE WASHINGTON BUREAU   09 December 2004

WASHINGTON - At a boisterous forum on Capitol Hill to address "what went wrong in Ohio" on Election Day, speaker after speaker yesterday said there were so many voting irregularities that a federal law is needed to standardize voting regulations nationwide.

In a session convened by Rep. John Conyers (D., Mich.), senior Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, many speakers listed problems reportedly encountered in Ohio.

They talked about lines to vote in parts of Ohio that were as long as 10 hours, voters being tricked into leaving and told to return another day, denial of absentee ballots, inaccurate registration lists, and insufficient or broken voting machines.

In Warren County, Mr. Conyers said, reporters were locked out of the vote count when officials falsely said the FBI had warned of a terrorist threat.

Many Democrats at the forum poured out their wrath against Ken Blackwell, Ohio's secretary of state and chief elections officer.

Mr. Blackwell issued a directive on the use of provisional ballots that was criticized as confusing and then partly rescinded it. He ultimately certified the election results in the state, although he was chairman of the Bush-Cheney campaign in Ohio.

Mr. Blackwell said President Bush beat Sen. John Kerry (D., Mass.) on Nov. 2 by 118,755 Ohio votes.

A total of 92,672 votes in the state were not counted because they had more than one or no vote for president.

John Bonifaz, founder of the National Voting Rights Institute in Boston, said Mr. Blackwell "has been actively engaged in thwarting the recount law. He must be stopped."

Mr. Blackwell was invited to attend the forum but did not accept.

He has denied any impropriety but said on Tuesday, "Elections are human endeavors and as such they are never perfect."

Electors to the Electoral College will meet Dec. 13 to certify the election results and officially proclaim Mr. Bush the winner.