Where's the outrage?

Where's the handcuffs?

Allegations of ballot tampering in Ohio – which decided the outcome of the presidential election by some 100,000 votes – find particular resonance in Clermont, one of three Ohio counties which saw the biggest increases in votes for Bush from 2000 to 2004. The other counties were Butler and Warren; Warren County had a lockdown after an alleged terror threat that the FBI later denied.

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Serious new election tampering allegations have emerged from an Ohio county, where witnesses allege that stickers were placed on presidential election ballots, RAW STORY has learned.

Several volunteer workers in the Ohio recount in Clermont County, Ohio have prepared affidavits alleging serious tampering, violations of state and federal law and possible fraud. They name the Republican chief of Clermont’s Board of Elections Daniel Bare and the head of the Clermont Democratic Party Priscilla O’Donnell as complicit in these acts.

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Some witnesses state that beneath the stickers, the Kerry/Edwards oval was selected. The opti-scan ballots were then fed into the machines after the hand recount.

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The same stickers were also placed on the machines, the witnesses said. “I saw more of these stickers on both the front and back of the ballots,” Gifford asserted. He says he asked Republican election chief Bare “if he knew where they came from and he paused and said, ‘I am not aware of them.’”

The volunteers asked if they could take pictures of the stickers, but Bare would not allow them. One witness, however, used a small camera to quickly take footage of the tabulation machines in an attempt to document the stickers. The footage, which is blurry, is now being examined by experts.

During the meeting, according to Gifford, Drake, Spraley and other witnesses, the stickered ballots were counted for Bush/Cheney, even though the Kerry/Edwards oval was clearly marked underneath.

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Several Clermont Board of Election employees, who wished to remain anonymous, confirmed that there were stickers placed on both the tabulators and the ballots. The same employees said that the stickers did cover the oval next to Kerry/Edwards.

Bare was unwilling to discuss the sticker allegations. “We will end this conversation,” he said. “All of that information has been fully discussed in a public meeting with witnesses present.”

Bare refers to a Dec. 16, 2004 Clermont Board of Elections public certification, where the volunteers, represented by attorney Carolyn Betts (who prepared her own affidavit), presented the Board with a formal list of issues they wanted addressed.

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According to Betts and confirmed by other volunteers present. The stickers were there to allegedly mark “spoiled” ballots.

Bare, when asked by this reporter about about the disparities between his alleged Dec. 14 statement and his public Dec. 16 statement, promptly hung up.

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All of the witnesses also allege that the hand recount was not random as required by law. The decision, they said, was made by Bare, who explained it in the presence of Democrat O’Donnell. Tater stated the “smallest thirteen precincts were chosen, and one of the larger precincts was added to reach the three percent for the hand count.”

The volunteers objected to the apparent non-randomness of the recount, but Bare reportedly insisted on the procedure.

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During the Dec.16 public meeting, they say, Bare stated that he would provide all of the necessary documentation requested, including poll books, uncounted provisional ballots, uncounted absentee ballots, and service records for the machines–all of which have yet to be provided. According to the volunteers, repeated attempts to get these documents were rebuffed and have to this day not been submitted.
  Raw Story article