Context of 'October 2004: Voter Irregularities Detected in Ohio County'

According to Ohio’s voter registration database, the level of registered voters in Perry County is a remarkably high 91 percent. A substantial number of these voters, however, appear never to have voted and “have no signatures on file.” The database also indicates that 3,100 voters registered on the exact same day, November 8, 1977—despite there being no federal elections during that year. [Conyers et al., 12/2/2004 ]

County election boards in Ohio hold hearings to verify the voting addresses of roughly 30,000 recently registered voters whose eligibility to vote has been challenged by the Republican Party (see October 22, 2004). [WTOV 9 (Steubenville, OH), 10/27/2004; New York Times, 10/29/2004] According to Democratic officials, Republicans challenging voters at the hearings have little or no evidence to support their claims, other than that the voter’s registration card was returned “undeliverable” (see Between September 2004 and Mid-October 2004). In Summit County, elections officials reject all 976 challenges after the challengers fail to provide evidence. Similarly, in Warren County, officials throw out every one of the county’s 23 challenges. [Plain Dealer (Cleveland), 10/31/2004]

In some heavily democratic Columbus, Ohio precincts, people wait 2-7 hours in long lines to cast their votes because of a shortage of voting machines. Machines delivered the previous day were distributed unevenly throughout the county, with a greater concentration (machine to registered voter) being placed in the higher-income suburbs (See November 1, 2004). 51 machines remain in a warehouse (See Afternoon November 2, 2004). [Columbus Dispatch, 12/11/2004; Free Press, 12/16/2004] After the elections, statistics show that the voter-to-machine ratio was higher in Columbus than in its surrounding suburbs where income levels are higher. In the affluent Republican stronghold of Upper Arlington not one of its 34 precincts had a voting machine which cast more than 200 votes. Only one machine, in ward 6F, came close to the maximum. It was used by 194 voters. However, in the Democratic city of Columbus, there were 34 polling machines which logged on more than 200 votes per machine and 42 machines that were over 190 votes per machine. In another words, in Columbus, 17 percent of the city’s machines were operating at 90-100 percent over the optimum capacity while in Upper Arlington the figure was 3 percent. The high voter ratios in Columbus were due to a combination of increased voter participation and fewer voting machines. In Columbus, despite increased voter registration in the city, 139, or 29 percent, of the 472 precincts had fewer machines than in the 2000 presidential election. In some precincts, the number of machines was reduced by as many as five. This contrasted sharply with Upper Arlington, where only two precincts had fewer machines. In one of those precincts, voter registration had declined by 25 percent. [Columbus Dispatch, 12/11/2004; Free Press, 12/16/2004]