Vote challengers accuse Blackwell of trying to let 'clock run out'

By JAMES DREW
Toledo BLADE  01 January 2005
COLUMBUS - Partisan activists contesting the presidential election results in Ohio said the state's highest court appears willing to "allow the clock to run out" so that the Electoral College results become official on Jan. 6.

Cliff Arnebeck, an attorney who filed the election contest on behalf of a coalition of activists led by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, said Secretary of State Ken Blackwell has chosen to not appear at a deposition to answer questions under oath about the Nov. 2 election.

"If George Bush indeed won this election, there would be no one with a greater interest in proving that to be the case," Mr. Arnebeck said at a news conference yesterday. "They want the clock to run out. They want to win by default."

The lawsuit alleges that votes were taken away from Democrat John Kerry's column and added to Mr. Bush's.

It refers to a "pattern of vote fraud and discrimination," and problems with voting machines around the state.

Mr. Blackwell, a Republican who was associate chairman of Mr. Bush's campaign in Ohio, has said there were "some glitches in the election, but none of these glitches were of a conspiratorial nature and none of them would have overturned or changed the election results."

On Dec. 29, Chief Justice Thomas Moyer refused to grant a motion for an expedited hearing in the election challenge.

A recount requested by the presidential candidates for the Green and Libertarian parties showed that Mr. Bush defeated Mr. Kerry by 118,457 votes, according to a spokesman for Mr. Blackwell who cited a survey by the Associated Press.

Mr. Blackwell certified the official results on Dec. 6, showing Mr. Bush with a victory margin of 118,775 votes.

On Dec. 13, Ohio's 51st Electoral College unanimously cast its 20 votes for President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

The vote came about two hours after Mr. Arnebeck filed a lawsuit contesting the re-election of Mr. Bush and Chief Justice Moyer.

On Dec. 16, Chief Justice Moyer dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that no statute or case law allows the filing of multiple election contests in a single case.

Mr. Arnebeck refiled the lawsuit a day later to contest the presidential race outcome and refiled the lawsuit contesting Chief Justice Moyer's re-election on Dec. 21.

The votes of the nation's presidential electors are sent to Congress.

On Jan. 6, the president of the U.S. Senate is to set and have the certificates counted in front of both chambers.