the right to ensure that created are secure between the election and the official recount,

may not be handled outside of the presence of the Board and qualifying witnesses.

Finally, those counties which prevented witnesses for candidates demo observing the

have the right to observe all ballots.

Whether the cumulative effect of these legal violations would have altered the actual

outcome is not known at this time. However, we do know that there are many serious and

intentional violations which violate Ohio's own law, that the Secretary of State has done

everything in his power to avoid accounting for such violations, and it is incumbent on Congress

to protect the integrity of its own laws by recognizing the seriousness of these legal violations.

B.

Need for Further Congressional Hearings

It is also clear the U.S. Congress needs to conduct additional and more vigorous hearings

into the irregularities in the Ohio presidential election and around the country.

While we have conducted our own Democratic hearings and investigation, we have been

handicapped by the fact that key participants in the election, such as Secretary of State

Blackwell, have refused to cooperate in our hearings or respond to Mr. Conyers questions.

While GAO officials are prepared to move forward with a wide ranging analysis of systemic

problems in the 2004 elections, they are not planning to conduct the kind of specific

investigation needed to get to the bottom of the range of problems evident in Ohio. As a result, it

appears that the only means of obtaining his cooperation in any congressional investigation is

under the threat of subpoena, which only the Majority may require.

Given the seriousness of the irregularities we have uncovered, and the importance of the

federal elections, we recommend that the House and Senate form a joint, select committee to

investigate the full gamut of irregularities across the board.

Among the issues which require further attention at Congressional hearings are the

·

The misallocation of voting machines. Congress should examine the extent to which the

lack of machines in certain areas led to unprecedented long lines that disenfranchised

predominantly minority and Democratic voters.

·

The decisions to restrict provisional ballots to actual precincts and to deny them to voters

who did not receive absentee ballots. Congress should examine the extent to which the

decisions departed from past Ohio law on provisional ballots, how many voters were

impacted, and whether a broader construction would have led to any significant

disruption at polling places.