in at least one precinct, election judges demo voters that they may version cast their ballot in any

precinct, leading to any number of disqualified provisional ballots.142 Similarly, in Stark County,

the Election Board rejected provisional ballots cast at the wrong precinct in the right polling

place. In earlier elections, a vote cast in Stark County in the wrong precinct at the proper polling

location was counted.143

Secretary of State Blackwell has refused to answer any of the questions concerning these

matters posed to him by Ranking Member Conyers and 11 other Members of the Judiciary

Committee on December 2, 2004.144

Michael Powell & Peter Slevin, Several Factors Contributed to `Lost' Voters in Ohio,

WA S H . PO S T , Dec. 15, 2004.

E-mail from Cleveland-area election volunteer, on file with the House Judiciary

Committee Democratic Staff.

Jon Craig, Election Day Aftermath, CO L U M B U S DI SPA TC H , Nov. 25, 2004.

Moss v. Bush. No. 04-2088 ¶ 122 (Ohio Sup. Ct. filed Dec. 17, 2004).

See Letter from John Conyers, Jr., Jerrold Nadler, Tammy Baldwin, Melvin L. Watt,

Linda Sanchez, Robert Wexler, Maxine Waters, Sheila Jackson Lee, Martin Meehan, Zoe

Lofgren and Anthony Weiner to the Honorable J. Kenneth Blackwell, Ohio Secretary of State,

(Dec.2, 2004) (on file with the House Judiciary Committee Democratic Staff and at

http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/ohblackwellltr12204.pdf). Secretary Blackwell was

asked, and has yet to respond to, the following:

·

Have you directed Hamilton County and all other counties not to disqualify provisional

ballots cast at the correct polling place simply because they were cast at the wrong

precinct table?

·

While many elections workers received your directive that voters may cast ballots only in

their own precincts, some did not. How did you inform your workers, and the public, that

their vote would not be counted if cast in the wrong precinct? How many votes were lost

due to election workers telling voters they may vote at any precinct, in direct violation of

your ruling?

·

Your directive was exploited by those who intentionally misled voters about their correct

polling place, and multiplied the number of provisional ballots found invalid. What steps

have you or other officials in Ohio taken to investigate these criminal acts? Has anyone

been referred for prosecutions? If so, what is the status of their cases?

·

How many provisional ballots were filed in the presidential election in Ohio? How many

were ultimately found to be valid and counted? What were the various reasons that these

ballots were not counted, and how many ballots fall into each of these categories? Please

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