Department of Justice finds no racial disparities in Ohio voting

Associated Press    30 June 2005

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The U.S. Department of Justice found no evidence of discrimination in the distribution of Franklin County's voting machines in the 2004 presidential election, according to a report.

The four-page report released Wednesday followed last week's Democratic National Committee investigation into Ohio's contested election. The department's data refute DNC claims that black voters were placed at a disadvantage because voting machines were distributed disproportionately among precincts.

The DNC report found racial disparities between the number of registered voters allocated per machine in predominantly black and white precincts, but, using turnout rather than registration numbers, the Justice Department said the distribution narrowly favored black voters. Because turnout in predominantly black precincts was significantly lower than in predominantly white ones, machines in those districts averaged fewer votes.

Walter Mebane, a Cornell University professor who worked on the DNC report, said voters in predominantly black precincts who showed up early in the morning to vote found fewer machines than those who voted later, which could explain some of the differences between the two reports.

The department said Franklin County anticipated that black voters would visit the polls after work, in keeping with trends identified by both political parties and polling places across the nation.

"I think the data that the Department of Justice report accessed was far more comprehensive than the info the DNC made public requests for," said Michael Damschroder, Franklin County Board of Elections director. "But both reports reflect that, as a society, we need to invest more money and resources into the institution of democracy to respond to high turnout and registration."

Franklin County had 2,904 voting machines on hand during the November election for 535,575 voters who showed up to cast ballots. The county intends to have at least 5,000 machines operating in 2008, Damschroder said.

More than a quarter of Franklin County voters reported problems in their precincts, ranging from long lines to intimidation from poll workers. Twice as many black voters reported problems as white voters, according to the DNC report, but the Justice Department pointed to high numbers of first-time black voters and unanticipated spikes in overall turnout as factors in those election problems.