If you are one of the people who was sick to the teeth of all the diaries by the "fraudsters" in November and December of 2004, then hopefully you didn't click the link to read this diary. Why do that to yourself? There's enough stress in life already. But if you share my concern that Ken Blackwell, who is running for governor of my state in 2006, may not be the most impartial and trustworthy person to choose the voting machines that will be used to count the votes in that election, read on...
Approval of voting machine disputed
A state regulatory board on Tuesday approved a new Diebold touch-screen voting machine for Ohio voters, although the device lacks all the state's requirements.
The AccuVote-TSX slid in under a state-imposed certification deadline set for Friday -- even as Diebold competitor Election Systems & Software continued to fight the time constraint in a courtroom across town.
Secretary of State Ken Blackwell's top aide on the state's voting-machine conversion, Judy Grady, told ES&S lawyers during a deposition filed in the case that she set the divisive deadline to accommodate funding and deployment deadlines -- as well as her own vacation schedule.
She said that she called none of the state's three certified voting-machine vendors -- Diebold, ES&S and Hart Intercivic -- to see if they could meet the new edict.
Yet, she testified, she did consult with Norm Cummings, the out-of-town political consultant overseeing Blackwell's campaign for Ohio governor in 2006.
Grady -- whose six-page strategy memo on an earlier directive surfaced Monday -- said she consults Cummings "for image, for message, for clarity."
The first directive ordered that optical scanners be used statewide, except for disabled voters; the second, three months later, cleared touch screens made by Diebold to compete.
Grady recalled speaking to Cummings five to 10 times between the January and April directives -- including during the two to three days leading up to the latest decree.
Grady told lawyers she was unaware of what Cummings does for Blackwell, a Cincinnati Republican, or who pays him.
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