ACLU Files Lawsuit To Block County's Voting System Switch (OH)

Source: AP

POSTED: 1:14 pm EST January 17, 2008
UPDATED: 2:48 pm EST January 17, 2008

CLEVELAND -- A federal lawsuit filed Thursday seeks to block Ohio's biggest county from moving ahead with plans to switch to a paper voting system for the March 4 presidential primary.

The American Civil Liberties Union's lawsuit argues that the system to be put in place in Cuyahoga County violates voters' constitutional rights because it doesn't allow them to correct ballot errors.

With more than 1 million registered voters, Cuyahoga County plans to send paper ballots filled out by voters to a central location -- the Board of Election's warehouse near downtown Cleveland -- to be scanned and counted.

But such an optical-scan system with centralized vote tabulation does not give voters notice of ballot errors and an opportunity to correct mistakes that could invalidate votes, the ACLU alleges. It is therefore unconstitutional and violates the Voting Rights Act, the suit says.

The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court names Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections and the county's three commissioners.

The county is hurriedly switching from electronic touch-screen machines to the new system after prodding from Brunner, a Democrat who considers optical-scan voting to be more secure.

Read more: http://www.newsnet5.com/news/15075404/detail.html

So where are the accusations about this one? I guess it doesn't threaten Obama.

Even if they are run through scanners they can be hand counted in case a recount is asked for.

Basically the problem is the ballots do not get scanned until they are all sent in to a central location. This means a good number will be rejected for scanning errors. A large number. Many first time voter ballots are rejected. A ballot will be rejected if the line isn't drawn exactly right or if there is a stray mark on the ballot.

Scanning machines need to be in every polling place and ballots scanned while the voter is there (which is how we do it). I've worked our polling place and corrections to ballots are not unusual, it is almost a routine thing.

Scanning in a central location can mean dropping a large percentage of voter ballots.

Once I send it in, that's that. The whole of Oregon runs on absentee ballots too, and the ACLU hasn't complained about that. Maybe they smell a rat in Ohio.

The ballot is right under your nose. You filled it out. You can verify it on the spot. Voters don't need no stinkin Bushite-controlled computer to signal "errors." What the hell is the ACLU doing here? Shilling for Bushite electronic voting corporations? I don't get it.

In the county I live in we use the optical scanner. When the ballot is put into the scanner by the voter the ballot is first checked for errors (too many votes or not enough votes on the ballot). There can be fewer votes on the ballot because the person did not want to vote for the maximum number of candidates such as in a school board race or the voter voted for too many candidates. The voter has the option of letting the scanner accept the ballot or removing the ballot for review and correction if not enough votes were made in a race or if too many marks were made (voted for too many people in a race) they can reject the ballot and ask for another ballot. The first ballot is then considered "spoiled" and placed in a separate envelope to be sent back to the County Board of Elections (BOE). By Ohio law you are allowed to "spoil" two ballots. If you spoil the third ballot you can submit the ballot for counting or not but you will not be given another ballot. I only see one or two spoiled ballots per election in the precincts that I have worked. It does not happen very much.

When the polls are closed we get a printout of the voting from the scanner and by law we place it in an area where people can review it (inside a glass door, etc so people can review it if they want and people do review the outcomes at the different precincts). The used ballots are taken out of the scanner and returned to the BOE along with the ballots that are not used. The ballot count has to equal used, not used and spoiled ballots. The nice thing about the scanned ballots is in a recount you can actually review the ballots and not depend on a electronic chip that can be altered. It would be nearly impossible to alter the ballots since there are two Dems and two Repubs at every precinct in Ohio. I don't really trust the repubs and I am sure they don't trust us. When the ballots and computer chip are returned to the BOE they are placed in a bag that is secured with a tamper proof lock. If the lock has been opened the polling judges can face criminal prosecution. It behooves all of the polling judges to work and play fair. Also at the BOE there are Dems and Repugs who open the bags with the ballots and chips. Every step in the counting process there are both Dems and Repugs present.

Source: Cleveland Plain Dealer (Cleveland.com)

The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio filed a federal lawsuit today in an attempt to block Cuyahoga County from switching to a paper ballot voting system before the March 4 primary.

If the ACLU is successful, Cuyahoga County might not be able to hold a primary, Board of Elections Chairman Jeff Hastings said. The county already is deep into its transition to a new voting system and returning to the touch-screen system before the primary would be nearly impossible, he said.

The lawsuit, which names Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner as the defendant, argues that Cuyahoga County's new voting system is illegal because it doesn't give voters a chance to fix mistakes on their ballots. '

(snip)

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2008/01/aclu_files_suit_to_block_switc.html

Read more: http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2008/01/aclu_files_suit_to_block_switc.html

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WTF?!!!!

Now I've heard everything.

I don't always agree with the ACLU. But I've always supported them. Not anymore.

My membership will not be renewed this year.

Now backing touch screen voting, you gotta wonder what's up with the ACLU. Was there some sort of turn over at the top?

I truly hope that this isn't the start of a decline for the ACLU.