Medina County, Ohio, recount irregularities

From: Patricia Blochowiak [mailto:patrbl@attglobal.net]



I observed the Medina recount this morning and found the following
problems:

1.) The precincts to recount were not chosen randomly. According to
Mr. Thomas E. Wolfe, Chairman of the Medina County Board of Elections,
"I took two Medina precincts because I knew they had a high vote."
"I could have taken five precincts, but then we'd be counting for
another hour."
"Brunswick Hills A was the first with enough votes to get to 3%" after
the two Medina precincts were chosen."

2.) Witnesses were not allowed to review the selection and preparation
of the ballots to test the voting machines, nor did we have an
opportunity to examine them, either before or after they were used to
test the machines. We did not see the testing of the machines.

3.) Two ballots in Medina City 4F each had one vote on position 9,
which was between position 8, a vote for George Bush, and position 10, a

vote for John Kerry. These were separated from the votes for other
candidates, but we were not allowed to examine them at the end of the
process, or at any other time, to see whether other votes on that ballot

might also be offset by one position, thus allowing us to ascertain the
intent of the voter, and these ballots were not saved for Mr. Wolfe to
examine.

4.) Two ballots in Medina City 4F had votes in both position 8 and
position 9. Those ballots were not rejected as overvotes, but were
counted as votes for George Bush (position 8). I was refused time to
examine these ballots in order to ascertain positions of other votes,
and these ballots were not saved for Mr. Wolfe to examine.

5.) According to Mr. Wolfe, in Medina City 3F, "Two girls with
styrofoam
and punchers were sent out to the line because the lines were so long."
Some votes were offset from the correct voting positions.

6.) In Medina City 3F, a ballot with a vote on 11 that did not
correspond to any candidate's position also showed every other vote to
be offset by one, thus making the intent of the voter clear, but this
ballot was rejected according to Al Junke.

BOE Director Susan Strasser, BOE Chair Thomas E. Wolfe, and NE Ohio
Field Representative for the Secretary of State, Madhu Singh all refused

to allow further inspection of the ballots from Medina City that I
requested to view in more detail. They stated that our purpose was to
decide how the computer would count the vote, and not to determine the
intent of the voter.

Other problems with the voting process in Medina:

7.) In Medina City 1B, where there were long lines, the police were
standing outsie all day, walking up and down the line, looking at
people, and looking at cars according to Al Junke.



Patricia Blochowiak, M.D.
1894 Farmington Road
East Cleveland, Ohio 44112-4744
(216) 229-9125
(216) 288-7512 (cell)


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