Ohio's Secretary of State, Kenneth Blackwell, has finally spoken out about the election in Ohio.

As many of you are no doubt aware, Blackwell has come under tremendous scrutiny over the last few months due to issues concerning the election in Ohio. Below the fold, I review some of the things he's been criticized for, summarize some questions that were asked of him by the dems on the Judiciary Committee, then turn to some statements he came forward with in the last week about the election in Ohio.

The dems on the House Judiciary Committee have entered the fray in a major way. The first item of note is that they sent a letter to Blackwell, challenging him on a number of issues in Ohio. The second one is not official yet, but there are reports that the Committee will hold public hearings in Washington beginning next Wednesday. I give links and summarize both items below the fold.

I'm not a legal expert, so I'm seeking the opinion of the daily KOS community.

If you recall, several weeks ago there was a story about an authorized person getting access to a computer used for the election in Ohio. The full report is given below, but a few things to note: (a) the person was on the computer that was used to tabulate the votes, (b) the person was working on the computer over the weekend shortly before election day, (c) the person was not authorized to access the computer, (d) the person was not supervised while on the computer, and (e) the person was not even a current employee of ES&S (the software manufacturer), but a former employee.

My question is this. Couldn't one reasonably argue that this is prima facie evidence of machine tampering, which actually shifts the burden of proof over to election officials to prove that there was not fraud? Can't this be used as the basis to supeona the individual who was on the computer? Can't this be used as the basis to take the computer, software, etc. into evidence, and have computer experts look at them?

--Full article below the fold--

In an article published yesterday, reporters from the Miami Herald provided data from hand counts that they conducted in several northern "dixiecrat" counties in Florida. They concluded that nothing was awry, and in fact, went so far as to title the article "No flaw in Bush's state win."

Here's a link to a reprint of the story that doesn't require registration:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002102809_florida28.html

Below I take a closer look at the results of their recount and come to a very different conclusion.