Posted on 11/17/2006 12:24:45 PM PST by Akron Al
41 percent of Cuyahoga voters took part in election
A little more than half the active voters in Cuyahoga County voted in last week's election, a bit more than voted in the last governor's race four years ago.
The official voter turnout is nearly 41 percent of all voters on the rolls, including inactive ones.
Cuyahoga County has 1.05 million registered voters, which tops the number of adults in the county by 200,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The county board of elections says the number of active voters -- people who have voted in the last four years -- is nearly 900,000, but that includes people who have moved out of the county in those years.
Election officials said 427,252 people voted in last week's election.
Cuyahoga County's official rate of 41 percent is lower than the state average of 53 percent. Coshocton County, south of Holmes County, had the best turnout, with 77 percent of its registered voters casting a ballot Nov. 7, according to the Ohio secretary of state's Web site.
Cuyahoga election workers are busy determining how many of the 14,000 provisional ballots cast Election Day are valid. Provisional ballots are used when questions arise about voter eligibility or identification.
Nearly 27,000 absentee ballots that came in after Friday have yet to be counted.
The board expects nearly 3,100 ballots from overseas and military voters, which must arrive by this Friday to be counted. That's also the deadline for people who voted on provisional ballots to provide proper identification to the board.
Meanwhile, lawyers for a homeless group and a labor union Tuesday told a federal judge that several county election boards, including Cuyahoga's, are not properly handling provisional ballots.
In a filing in U.S. District Court in Columbus, the lawyers said provisional ballots that didn't include birth dates or addresses were placed in a "rejected" pile in Cuyahoga County even though a court order Nov. 1 requires voters only to provide the last four digits of their Social Security numbers.
They also said some boards wrongly forced voters whose driver's licenses listed old addresses to vote provisionally when they should have been allowed to vote by regular ballot.
The lawyers want U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley to order the secretary of state's office to tell boards to stop rejecting provisional ballots that don't include birth dates or addresses and to count all provisional ballots that should have been regular ballots.
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:
Take that, Chicago!
Republicans-cutting-own-throats ping.
They're not supposed to be able to vote out of their county. That gives them the opportunity to vote twice, which I'm sure many of them did. This just begs for an investigation by the AG!
Cuyahoga county, home of Cleveland, is typical of a big-city - packed with democRATS and voter fraud.
I've been preaching that since 2000 when algore almost stole the election. My words (and others) have fallen on deaf ears, and as a result, we now have democRAT majorities in both houses.
If a black R secretary of state can't correct this, noone can until some people can withstand all the accusations of racism from the extortionists euphemistically called black leaders.
Actually, it was the Cuyahoga River that burned, but I agree on the other points - Kucinich single-handidly chaced several large employers out of Cleveland during his reign of incompetence. Forbes is best known for his chair-tossing antics at city council meetings.
Yeah, who woulda guessed that the Ohio 'rats were corrupt. This is definitely hugh and series.
Election irregularities in Ohio … nah, never happen.
I have yet to see an article posted here that identifies a single individual who has been arrested for voting twice.
Identity theft is a major concern, unless it it our voting rights. The politicians think it is OK to stuff the ballots and then ask US Servicemen to die for "our right to vote"... yeah!
What about that guy in Wisconsin who said he had forgotten he had voted in Illinois already was it? He was an elected official even -- dang, I don't remember if he was arrested or not.
Anybody moving IN is probably an illegal alien
Anybody moving OUT has (finally) passed the intelligence test
Cleveland has always been just a few years behind Detroit in attaining the nation's highest levels of societal breakdown and governmental corruption.
In his report, NewsChannel5 chief investigator Duane Pohlman uncovered dozens of votes being cast from the grave, and Mason said the trouble is just beginning for whomever is responsible for casting votes in the name of the dead.
"This really is an attack on the entire system, and it's of paramount importance that we find out how this is happening and we stop it so it can't happen again, one, and, two, find out who's doing it, so we can prosecute them if possible," said Mason.
So-called "ghost voting" is a felony, and Cuyahoga County Board of Elections Director Michael Vu has already launched an investigation into the problem.
"We will investigate that, send it to the county prosecutor's office and determine what had occurred," Vu said.
Mason said prosecution is possible only if the investigation can prove intent.
NewsChannel5 compared the county's voter registration rolls with death records from the Social Security Administration, finding 12,688 people who have died but are still registered to vote.
Many of the dead voters passed away years ago, and a good number of them more than a decade ago.
Vu said slow reporting combined with federal rules require him to keep dead people in the registry.
"It's something that needs to be corrected," he said.
Rep. Dennis Kucinich, stunned by what was uncovered, said he will help do the correcting.
Kucinich said the investigation has convinced him to introduce a bill to clean up all voter registration rolls and close the gap on corruption.
"One thing is for sure: There is an opening here for the commission of fraud that needs to be close," he said.
Copyright 2006 by NewsNet5. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
How about a dead guy voting once?
Among thousands of graves at Holy Cross Cemetery, Pohlman found the final resting place of Edward Wisniewski.
John Wisniewski lived next door to his brother for decades.
John Wisniewski said Edward Wisniewski has been buried at the cemetery since 2002. According to an election sign-in sheet, he cast a vote in the May primary.
NewsChannel5, in partnership with the National Institute for Computer Assisted Reporting, conducted one of the most extensive reviews ever of Cuyahoga County voting records, Pohlman reported. The process involved comparing more than 200,000 voters against death records reported by the Social Security Administration.
U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich was stunned by what NewsChannel5 uncovered.
Pohlman reported the examination of the records revealed Wisniewski is not the only dead voter. In fact, 5 On Your Side uncovered 27 people who are dead, but votes were cast in their name anyway.
This is referred to as ghost voting -- people who vote for someone else.
Pohlman uncovered another example of ghost voting with Helen Kran. According to the Social Security Administration, she died in March 2005.
More than a year later, Kran voted in the May 2 primary.
"Yeah, it appears the individual that filled out their registration card and what they filled out on election day are not the same person," said Michael Vu, director of the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections.
Pohlman reported other signatures, like Charles R. Morris, look identical to a signature on May 2 election documents.
Morris died 11 months before the primary.
Pohlman reported the most concerning case is Wisniewski.
It is considered a felony, and Kucinich considered it a very serious matter.
Kucinich is deeply disturbed by the results of the investigation.
"This documentation that you offer is very troubling because it clearly indicates that someone was using the identity of a dead person to cast a vote," Kucinich said.
Pohlman said ghost voting is large enough of a problem to sway the results of a close race and certainly undercuts the principal that every vote counts.
"That's an assault on the integrity on the electoral process," Kucinich said.
The 5 On Your Side investigation has prompted Vu to launch an investigation at the BOE.
"We will conduct an investigation and gather all the information that we need and then give it to the county prosecutors office for further investigation," he said.
Meanwhile, Wisniewski and many other citizens continue to wonder how this could happen.
Copyright 2006 by NewsNet5. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
I didn't hear about that but I'm glad to hear that there is actually a real case. I've seen John Fund on TV a number of times. He even wrote a book about voter fraud and I don't recall him mentioning any real incidents of multiple votes by individuals.
If people use their real names (ID would help with this), then the same procedures that would automatically delete former registrations would also identify voting in multiple jurisdictions.
Either get a handle on the joke, or figure out the punch line.
I agree there is a need to prosecute the fraudulent voters AND the politicians who conspire to have non eligibles vote. I voted Republican except for the Attorney Gen. - Florida. I voted for a Democrat, I want the person with the first dime in their pocket in jail. If the Dems win (another year) I'll vote for a Rep in that job. It is time for the thieves and voter frauds to go to jail. Other than Ohio the fraud was on the part of the Dems in the past. Bush failed to do anything about that in the last 5 years, he deserved his November surprise.
Um...not everyone who doesn't own property "can't manage their own life." I agree with your concept, but I'd leave it at a literacy and civics test. Pass that, and you can vote.
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