Congressman calls for FBI investigation into Ohio election

MALIA RULON

Associated Press   15 December 2004

WASHINGTON - The top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee asked the FBI on Wednesday to investigate an Ohio election worker's concern that a software company employee could have tampered with election results when working on machines before a ballot recount.

The company provides vote-counting software used in 41 of Ohio's 88 counties.

Rep. John Conyers of Michigan sent a letter to the FBI office in Cincinnati and Hocking County Prosecutor Larry E. Beal asking them to immediately confiscate election machinery in the southwest Ohio county.

According to a sworn statement from Sherole Eaton, the county's deputy director of elections, a representative of TRIAD Governmental Systems Inc. told her on Friday he wanted to inspect the county's tabulating machine. A company representative told Eaton he wanted to check the computer and go over "tricky questions" that attorneys might ask them about the recount started this week by county election boards at the request to two minor party candidates, she said.

The representative told her that "the battery in the computer was dead and that the stored information was gone," she said.

"He proceeded to take the computer apart and call his office to get information to input into our computer," Eaton wrote in the affidavit.

Conyers wants an FBI investigation of the workers' actions because election tampering is a federal crime.

Separately, the Government Accountability Office, Congress' investigative arm, said it would study the 2004 election, and Conyers said Democrats on the Judiciary Committee plan to review each reported problem in Ohio.

Conyers said similar TRIAD visits have been reported in other Ohio counties.

Mike Brooks, a spokesman for the FBI office in Cincinnati, said Conyers' request had not been received and there are no agency investigations of Ohio's election. Beal also had not received the letter but said he had spoken to Eaton and no investigation was planned.

"She just kind of thought it was unusual," Beal said. "We have no other reason to believe that there was anything improper that did take place."

Under Ohio law for recounting punch card ballots, which Hocking County used, elections officials must test tabulating machines with a batch of dummy ballots.

Three percent of ballots are counted by hand to ensure the totals match certified results. If the figures are the same, the remaining ballots can be counted using the machines. If not, they must all be counted by hand.

Brett Rapp, president of Xenia, Ohio-based TRIAD, said it's standard procedure to prepare the machines for a recount so they only tally the presidential race. He said company representatives have worked on computers in every county that uses TRIAD software.

The only difference with Hocking was that when the TRIAD employee arrived, the computer's hard drive had to be repaired, he said. No vote tabulations were lost, he said.

"He had to fix the computer in order to continue the recount process," Rapp said, adding that he welcomes an investigation because his employees did nothing wrong.

Carlo LoParo, a spokesman for Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, said the office will review the concerns about the software company worker.

"At this point, we believe the bipartisan county board of election did what it should have and has conducted a recount in accordance with Ohio laws, with transparency and fairness," LoParo said. Phone messages seeking comment were left for Hocking County elections officials.