Vote counting still not done
BY KIMBALL PERRY, ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER
The Enquirer, May 3, 2006

If you were frustrated about Hamilton County?s failure to complete its vote count until 2 a.m. today, be thankful you aren?t in Cuyahoga County ? where the counting isn?t done yet.

?Because of printing issues, they are hand-counting between 16,000 and 20,000 absentee ballots and that counting continues as we speak,? Ohio Secretary of State spokesman James Lee said at 12:30 p.m. today

Hamilton County Board of Elections officials note their 100 percent count concluded at 1:45 a.m. today, but those results weren?t actually posted for another 15 or 20 minutes after that.

The problems, in Ohio and Hamilton County, weren?t really related to the new voting machines being used.

?From the reports that we have heard, the voting machines worked very well and we?re getting positive responses,? Lee said.

The problem in Hamilton County was poll workers not including the computer memory card ? which contained the results of the vote from each precinct ? in the package that was delivered to the board of elections.

The result was a scramble by election officials to locate the missing cards and get them to the board.

One even telephoned a priest very late Tuesday night to regain access to the church where the voting machine ? and the memory card in it ? sat.

Hamilton County Board of Elections director John Williams didn?t immediately return calls today for comment.

The slow tallies so upset one state lawmaker that she filed a public records request today to find out how federal money that was supposed to help Americans vote was spent.

State Senator Teresa Fedor (D-Toledo) filed the public records request with Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, asking for documents that show how Ohio?s Help America Vote Act federal funds were spent. She also asked for documents that show how the two companies that provided the largest number of new voting machines in Ohio ? Diebold and ES&S ? spent their federal funds pertaining to training for technical staff, poll workers and elections officials.

The Secretary of State?s office also reported a 23 percent voter turnout Tuesday, with about 1.8 million of the state?s 7.68 million registered voters voting.