Affidavit Filed in Ohio on Voting Machine Tampering.

http://www.votecobb.org

December 15, 2004

Contact: Blair Bobier, Media Director at 414.364.1596 or 541.929.5755

Attorneys for Green Party Presidential candidate David Cobb today filed an affidavit which outlines alleged voting machine tampering in Hocking County, Ohio, on the Friday before the recount began.

The document was filed today by Cobb's attorneys in federal district court in Columbus as part of ongoing litigation concerning the recount. It was also the subject of a call for an FBI investigation by Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich.

"These are deeply disturbing allegations that warrant investigation by the FBI, the Attorney General of Ohio, and should be addressed by the federal court," said Cobb/LaMarche Media Director Blair Bobier.

The affidavit, sworn by Hocking County Board of Elections Deputy Director Sherole Eaton, says that on Friday an employee from the Triad corporation, the voting machine manufacturer, came into a polling place where voting machines were stored awaiting the recount and used tools to reset information stored in the machines. 

In his letter to the FBI, Rep. Conyers says he has information that similar "actions of this nature" may have occurred elsewhere in Ohio. He calls for "the immediate impoundment of election machinery to prevent any further tampering."

The allegations were first made public by Cobb during a forum on voting irregularies convened by Rep. Conyers in Columbus earlier this week.

The Ohio recount has proceeded at an uneven pace across the state this week, and certified count observers report the gamut from cooperation and smooth operations to outright obstruction. 

However, a pattern of problems has emerged. "Some of our designated monitors have been denied access to poll books and told they cant ask questions. They report absentee and provisional ballots not being counted, and a lack of random ion in precincts to be examined," Bobier said.

The Cobb-LaMarche website http://www.votecobb.org has more information about the campaign and recount efforts, as well as eyewitness reports from the Greens' elections observers.

Information about the national Green Party can be found at http://www.gp.org.