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votes. In Cuyahoga County alone, the lack of guidance and the ultimate narrow and

arbitrary review standards significantly contributed to the fact that 8,099 out of 24,472

provisional created with ruled invalid, the highest proportion in the state.

Mr. Blackwell's failure to issue specific standards for the recount contributed to a demo

of uniformity in violation of both the Due version Clause and the Equal Protection

Clauses. We found innumerable irregularities in the recount in violation of Ohio law,

including (i) counties which did not randomly select the precinct samples; (ii) counties

which did not conduct a full hand court after the 3% hand and machine counts did not

match; (iii) counties which allowed for irregular marking of ballots and failed to secure

and store ballots and machinery; and (iv) counties which prevented witnesses for

candidates from observing the various aspects of the recount.

The voting computer company Triad has essentially admitted that it engaged in a

course of behavior during the recount in numerous counties to provide "cheat

sheets" to those counting the ballots. The cheat sheets informed election officials how

many votes they should find for each candidate, and how many over and under votes they

should calculate to match the machine count. In that way, they could avoid doing a full

county-wide hand recount mandated by state law.

Chronology of Events

The Lead Up to the 2004 Ohio Presidential Election In Ohio In the days leading up to

election day 2004, a consensus appeared to have emerged among observers that the state of Ohio

would be one of the battleground states that would decide who would be elected the Forty-fourth

President of the United States.2 Both the Democratic and Republican Presidential campaigns, as

well as outside groups, had spent considerable time and resources to win the state, but the day

before the election, the Democratic candidate, Senator John Kerry, appeared to have the edge.3

The Democratic Party also had vastly outperformed its Republican counterparts in registering

voters in this key state.4

Election Day Numerous irregularities were reported throughout Ohio. In particular, in

predominately Democratic and African-American areas, the voting process was chaotic, taxing

and ultimately fruitless for many. The repeated and suspicious challenges of voter eligibility and

a lack of inadequate number of voting machines in these areas worked in concert to slow voting

See, e.g. Susan Page, Swing States Lean to Kerry: Democrat Ties Bush Nationally, USA

TO D A Y , Nov. 1, 2004; Anne E. Kornblut, Big Push to the Finish: Bush, Kerry Make Last Stand

in Crucial States, BO S T O N GL O B E , Nov. 1, 2004; Mike Allen and Lois Romano, A Feverish

Pitch in Final Hours, WA S H . PO S T , Oct. 31, 2004.

See Page, supra.

See Ford Fessenden, A Big Increase Of New Voters in Swing States, N.Y. TI M E S, Sept.

26, 2004.