Ohio Update 12/16 [Updated]

Big update.  In the midst of dueling letters, incriminating affidavits, hearings, and investigations, it helps to remember that there IS a recount going on.  Updates on the recount are below the fold and are from the Cobb site.

As I understand it, 3% of the ballots are choosen at random...they count those and then put them through the machine.  The law states that if they don't "match" there must be an entire reount.  However, as you'll read below, the concept of "match" is pretty ephemeral.  

Yes, a picture.  To wet your eyes as you dive into the mass of textual oblivion below... (thanks to Brad Blog for the pic)

1.  THE RECOUNT MACHINES

First, more and more information has surfaced that the recount itself is fixed and shady.  As you know from yesterday's update, Sherole Eaton, Deputy Director of the of the Hockign Board of Elction, filed an affidavit stating that representative from the biggest vote tabulating firm in Ohio, Triad, came in to "fix" the computer for the recount:

He said that the battery in the computer was dead and that the stored information was gone. He said that he could put a patch on it and fix it. My main concern was - what if this happened when we were ready to do the recount. He proceeded to take the computer apart and call his offices to get information to input into our computer.
<snip>
He worked on the computer until about 3:00 PM and then asked me which precinct and the number of the precinct we were going to count. I told him, Good Hope 1 # 17. He went back into the tabulation room.
<snip>
He advised Lisa and I on how to post a "cheat sheet" on the wall so that only the board members and staff would know about it and and what the codes meant so the count would come out perfect and we wouldn't have to do a full hand recount of the county. He left about 5:00 PM.

Professor Douglas W. Jones, professor of computer science and a voting consultant, has filed an affidavit stating that, based on the Eaton affidavit and Congressman Conyer's letter to the FBI about it.  In his affidavit, Professor Jones concludes that the "incident in Hocking County threatens the overall integrity of the recount of the presidential election in Ohio".

2.  THE ACTUAL RECOUNT (as if it matters in light of #1, above)

Surprise, surprise.  Despite the fact that some manual recounts are NOT matching the original totals, officials throughout the state are refusing to conduct the required-by-law automatic recount.

FAIRFIELD COUNTY
In Fairfield County, mtnester of DU reports:
 

I sat at Lancaster C, and the hand count went smoothly. Once both precincts were hand counted, we then were allowed to have only on representative from each candidate in the actual tabulating room, due to its size. All others were allowed to watch from outside the room. BOE Director explained the process of a new test deck, which they created, showed and explained to us how the test deck worked, demonstrated the test, and clearly demonstrated clearing the test results out.

Some troubles occurred with the tabulator. It seemed to stop frequently, giving invalid tally on a card messages (basically a jam). After many starts and stops, both precincts were finally tabulated. The explanation for the troubles was the handling of the cards for the hand count and humidity. There were several dehumidifiers clearly visible in the area.

Lancaster 2C tabulations matched up with the hand count. However, Pickerington C did not. Many of us felt that the hand count did not show the no-votes in the totals (4 cards) and could explain the four-card grand total discrepancy....the hand count showed 4 votes less than the tabulator count.

It was agreed to recount by hand Pickerington C to determine if this was the case. A hand count was then reconducted, and the non-votes were also included in this tally this time. It was then decided to run the cards again through the tabulator. However, it was decided by the BOE that a spare machine should be used after the original machine (the first machine was actually the machine that tallied the vote the evening of 11/2/04). The spare machine was removed from the box, hooked up, and promptly failed completely. The first machine was then hooked back up, and the tabulation commenced again.

After numerous stops and starts, errors and jams (all explained by handling of the cards and humidity."card-curling") the tabulation was complete. The 2nd tabulation counts of Pickerington C again did not match the 2nd hand count of that precinct...the tabulation machine failed to register two votes that that hand count had counted.

At this time, the BOE asked if we would waive their rights, and they were told no. The BOE then suggested contacting their machine vendor to get another machine in to retabulate. The BOE was then told by us that this would be unacceptable...the law was very clear, they would now have to perform a mandatory hand count of the entire county. The BOE then stated they would have to contact the Secretary of State's office. The Board members then asked us to wait, and they left the area.

At approximately 2 minutes before 4:00 PM, a member of the board came out and stated they were awaiting a call back from their vendor, that the vendor had said it would be 5 minutes and it had already been 10 minutes, and that is what is happening and they would get back with is as soon as they heard from the vendor. Two minutes later, at exactly 4:00 PM, the Board members returned to the area, convened a Board meeting, moved and seconded to suspend the recount until 9:30 AM Saturday, December 18, 2004. On that date, the recount would be conducted again, same exact precincts, with a new machine from their vendor. It was claimed that the tabulator had suffered "equipment malfunction" and a new tabulator would arrive and be in place. All voted AYE, motion carried. The Board then adjourned, announced it was after their normal operating hours, and we were to leave the building. The BOE also then stated that only one observer from each party would be allowed at each of the two hand count tables, and no other observers would be allowed in the counting area at all. The BOE was informed they were violating the law, and the Green Party legal team was contacted

The above information has been submitted to the Green Party/Kerry legal team.

MAHONING COUNTY

Gloriane Leek, witness for the Democrats, asked that all provisional ballots be re-looked at. She specifically asked to see provisional ballots that were not counted because the person was in the wrong precinct but at the right poll. They let her look at the ballots and she estimates that 50 percent of the provisionals filled out for Mahoning County were not counted because the person was in the wrong precinct but right poll place. Gloriane Leek asked that those 50 percent be recounted and put in the recount certification. The board decided no. They said it is Ohio state law under the 6th District Court and put forth by the Secretary of State that provisional ballots cast in the wrong precinct are not allowed to be counted and therefore would remain uncounted.

For Mahoning county, all absentee ballots were done on optical scan as well as provisional ballots filled out at the board on the day of the election. As a sample test for the recount, 600 absentee ballots were selected at random to make up 3 percent. Those 600 were counted by hand and then put through the optical scanner to see if it matched up.


For Kerry, there were 7 more votes during the hand count than during the machine count.

Those put in the over/under vote pile were ones that were clearly marked for two or more candidates and under votes were ones that clearly had no markings on them.


At the end of the optical scan machine count, the over/under votes were discarded and the ones in the hand count pile were taken and counted by a woman named Joyce. We all watched. For some of the votes, she could not decide because of stray marks or lightly colored in circles so she made a new pile specifically for the board to look at. She put these votes in an open basket. It was decided that the board would have to look at these votes and determine how they should be counted if at all.

[snip]

...the basket to be sent to the board was left untouched, meaning that no one counted or looked at them. We were then told we had to wait about 2 hours for the board to reconvene. When the board reconvened, they handed us spread sheets with the recount numbers on it. Kerry had 109 more votes and Bush had 47. These are vote increases. The board then certified the results and the observers left.

I asked what their plan was to deal with these ballots that were not counted even though the recount was certified. They said tomorrow the board would reconvene and look at the 23 ballots and redo the results of the recount and re-give us all spreadsheets.


My concern is that for about 2 hours this box was out of the observers site and I do not know for sure that 23 was the number of ballots originally in the box. My concern also is that I was not given a time that the board would look at these ballots and these are highly contested ballots and I think the board might look at them without observers there. Also it is of great concern that if I had not said something these ballots would have been lost.


It should be noted that during the recount and the board meeting one board member was missing the whole time. His name is Robert J. Wasko, a Democrat, who was away on a trip and therefore the board was uneven with 2 Republicans and only one Democrat for the whole of the recount.

WARREN COUNTY

Prior to arrival of the witnesses, the Board chose 3% of the vote by random drawing. Four precincts were selected, with 3602 total votes, more than the required 3%. (3.8%)

• #21 Mason City East B (826 total votes)
  
  
• #33 Clear Creek Twp East B (1,143 votes)
  
  
• #150 Deerfield Twp West A (789 votes)
  
  
• #151 Mason City NE B (844 votes)
  
  

Manual counts were problematic, but not in significant numbers. Eventually all precincts were reconciled with both the machine count taken today, and with the certified result reported to the State.

Director Johnson asked the witnesses if they were satisfied and would waive the machine count of all votes. The witnesses requested that the full machine count proceed according to the law.

The machine tally of all precincts was completed at 4:00 p.m. Two minor differences were identified. Two additional votes moved from the under/over vote column to the Bush total. Board member Spaeth suggested that during the handling of the ballots, two may have lost chads and this would account for that difference. The Kerry column gained one vote; this was as a result of a decision during the manual count to move one ballot from over-vote to Kerry, since the intent of the voter was discernable.

[they asked for examination of absentee ballots, reviewing of poll books, accounting sheets, and provisional ballots]
Our request to perform these tasks was not accepted by the Board. Member Spaeth moved that our request should be reviewed by the County Prosecutor. His motion was seconded and passed unanimously by polling the members. Mr. Lobb said that the Secretary of State's "Outline of Recount Procedures" was optional and that local Boards of Election could follow them or not.

TUSCARAWAS COUNTY

One precinct triple-counted and read, resulting in error. As a results, BOE meeting to determine start of full hand count.

WASHINGTON COUNTY

* The record book summary shows:


-ballots issued 1050

-voters 631///629 (the 631 was marked out)
-walk in 21
- soiled 1
-unused 397
Total 1050

- signatures 631
-walk in 21
Total 651

• The computer generated printout shows a "Ballot Count" of 624

• I was unable to reconcile the voter count and the BOE said they did not have it reconciled yet because they were not done with the poll books.

Update [2004-12-16 11:9:12 by georgia10]:: from Dee625:

Update - I went back yesterday along with the Green county co-ordinator and later joined by the Democratic Observer. We intended to finish the recount procedure as in finish poll books, look at absentee ballot envelopes that were not counted, look at provisionals that were not counted, etc. I told the BOE at least 3 times clearly on Tues. that these needed done as part of the recount process and was assured they could continue the next day, so I let them proceed with the actual counting that they had 6 poll workers there for. Mistake. Yesterday they inform me they voted that the recount was done. They seemed to be under the impression that the poll books did not need to be reconciled by them any time in the near future, just as they got to it. The BOE could not understand why we thought looking at them was part of the process so I whipped out the Recount Procedure for them to read. A BOE member says "is this part of the Green party training manual?". I said "no, this is from Secretary of State Blackwell's site, pointing to his header. They had no clue what the statutes said. After defining the word random, they admitted their selection of test precints was not random "by our definition" and that the selection process began before the recount. According to the BOE, they found over 100 votes on the recount, about half for each candidate. Well, at least over a hundred people had their vote counted that didn't before so my day was well spent. I have to say that I knew nothing about the Green party before I volunteered to observe, but these people are kicking butt here in Ohio and taking names - literally. I was proud to be representing them.

WASHINGTON COUNTY, CONT.

signatures 555
- walk in 7
Total 562

The computer generated printout shows a "Ballot Count" of 558 and they said #2 were counted "in the office" making the total of #562.

We were never told how that was random except that it "added up the closest to 3%." The BOE clerks went through the ballots in full view of Bill and myself. Marilyn declined view of the ballots. The first 3 ballots we saw in Aurelius precinct had the oval for write in candidate filled and without a candidate name written AND the oval for Bush filled in. The write in oval on each one had a white oval sticker covering the mark so that they were counted for Bush rather than as overvotes. The 4th ballot had an "x" on the Bush oval which had been marked over to make it show up. I objected to the altering of ballots andw we were told that this was the policy of the board to correct the ballots so that they would count correctly in the machine.
[snip]
...the "reason" machine #2 came up with one less for 3A was because I REFUSED to let them re-mark a ballot. They stressed that several times.

[snip]
The hand count did not match the machines but was off by #1 so they seemed to thing that was OK. I insisted on a hand re-count. They had the machines print totals by candidate to see if those were off too and indeed they were.

[snip]

They recounted Aurelius and found the #2 missing votes there which meant that 3A was still one vote off. Poll worker Holly said "you're not going to make us count that again for one vote are you?" I said you have done your second hand count on Aurelius, you can either do the second hand count on 3A and see if it matches or we can hand count the whole county. He told me I was just "looking for my 15 minutes of fame". They found the missing Bush vote in 3A on the second count. At this point the only discrepancy was the vote on machine #2 that I wouldn't let them "fix". I repeated my objection to fixing the ballots, but agreed to go forward with the machine count. Since they refused to stop fixing the ballots, the hand count and machine counts were going to match no matter what precinct was counted in the opinion of the two observers that were participating.

[snip]
Many ballots that kicked out were altered by the Board as we watched to make them work. I noted that the Green Party protested this practice. Mr. Kitchen pulled a black I marker from his right pocket near the beginning and told me he was the mark up man. He did indeed do all the marking of the ballots - with witness of at least one and usually 2 other board members plus myself. Mr Walker assisted with the "band-aids".

I want to note that all the re-marking and band-aiding of ballots that I observed DID reflect the will of the voter.

There was one I particularly objected to in Belpre 4A. The voter both marked the oval and put an X through it for Peroutka and marked the oval for Bush. They put a band-aid over the Peroutka vote and put their own X on the Bush vote. I said the ballot should definitely be an overvote. (Side note - the Republican observer actually leaned over from her social conversation, looked at the ballot and said "I agree" to me). All members of the BOE agreed the vote should count for Bush.

[snip]
Poll workers thought the ballots should be returned to the locked room. Mr Walker said they didn't need to be because "the recount was over." Bill and I waited as the ballots were locked back up.

COSHOCTON COUNTY

Coshocton count finished. Once again, ballot security is an issue. Boxes were open prior to our arrival. They are kept unsealed in a locked room at the Board of Elections. Results were a 47 vote swing to Kerry. Discrepencies were resolved. Board cooperative.

GALLIA COUNTY

John Roppel reports that he succeeded in getting a random selection of 3% precincts. The hand count and machine count had a one count difference. We are pushing for a hand count, proving that random selection is important.

HOCKING COUNTY

Hocking County, Ohio, December 14, 2004

The Board of Elections considers the recount over, and will not recognize our objections to a lack of random selection of precincts. I have only been able to talk to one board member, Jerry Robinette regarding my protest of the selection for the hand count. He indicated it didn't matter. He said he was calling the Secretary of State's office and asking if they can declare the recount over at 3:30 today. I indicated there was no way we could be completed by then, he said well, they are!

Board of Elections met and Rod Hedges stated he felt they should pick a precinct that was not heavily Bush or not heavily Kerry. They decided to only consider the precincts that the vote totals for Bush and Kerry were similar in. They said Marion I or II was similar and they wanted to do that one. I objected by stating that selecting a precinct without a large difference in totals may not be fair and that it wasn't a random choice by eliminating them from consideration.

[snip]

Rod was calling off the number and the board member, Rodney Carr was sitting to the right of Jerry recording the count by making slashes for each candidate. Susie Hughes was sitting beside Rod Hedges and was making slashes on a notepad like Rodney Carr was. Jerry did not keep the stacks separate. He was putting the Bush and Kerry votes together. They were going through the ballots very quickly. A TV camera was brought in the room from the side door and recorded part of the hand count. Someone asked a BOE worker if they wanted to be interviewed by WOUB. Sherole Eaton went out the door.

[snip]
While I was busy doing this, they proceeded to the tabulation room and a female voice called out from that room and asked for the totals on the hand count. Rod Hedges loudly and quickly shouted the numbers out.

I yelled, HOLD IT - and stated it was not necessary for them to know the hand count numbers prior to doing the tabulation. Rod explained he was just giving the numbers to the Logan Daily News reporter that was in the room. Our observer, Mike Ruchti tried to get into the room but the door was blocked by Rod Hedges and other people. Someone near me, I am not sure who, stated it didn't matter whether the numbers were called out to the tabulation room or not because the one running the tabulator already had the numbers (because they were present when the hand count was completed).

The board came out the room shouting the recount was over that they only had to run the remainder of the ballots through the tabulator. I informed them it was not over as we still had poll books to look over and provisional ballots and absentees to count.

I ran across a ballot that they rejected because the voter had printed their first name instead of writing it in cursive The last name was in cursive and matched what their computer record said. I heard Rod Hedges call the board together on the other side of the room and I heard him say something about the "SOS" and "we didn't have to."

One of the provisional ballots had a note on it that it was rejected because it was not received in time. Jerry Robinette stated they had been instructed by the Secretary of the State they did not have to reverse any of their decisions made earlier on the election. .. Jerry then stated they would count that ballot. Rod said no we will make that decision as a board. I then went back to the desk where I had been with Shirley and asked her to set that ballot aside.

The board stated they were calling the recount over and were going to call the SOS office and inform them we were complete. I objected and said we were not through with the provisional ballots and the absentees. And, we also had that one ballot to count. I suggested they place that ballot in a separate envelope until we went through the absentee ballots.

The board discussed the provisional and the person's right of privacy as if they opened the envelope and added that to the total they would know how she voted. I stated EXACTLY and that was why I objected to the tabulation of the ballots prior to when they did it. I told them they could not declare the recount over until we had a chance to review all the absentees and the rest of the provisional ballots. After some statements regarding "They were the board and could make their own decisions" they agreed to give us until the end of the day Wednesday to look over what we wanted to.

Throughout the day Rod Hedges kept coming around stating I want to make sure that none of these people are told their ballots had been rejected and that their ballots are private and the process is private. Everything went way too fast. I have print outs of the totals and I realize that is important for you to have, but I haven't had time to even look at them.

LUCAS COUNTY

The Board of Elections (BoE) had a memo, which stated: "As a witness, the designated person may only OBSERVE the recount. Consequently, while a witness may take written notes, a witness may not object, obstruct or interfere with the process; they may not touch anything in the recount area, including, but not limited to, ballots; and they may not talk to the recount teams. Witnesses shall be permitted to see the ballots. All cell phones must be turned off while the recount is being conducted. All questions must be directed to the Director, Deputy Director, or a supervisor. Failure to comply with these rules will result in expulsion of the witnesses from the recount area." The above highlights and underlining is consistent with the original document.
[snip]

In addition to these rules the observers have also reported that they are not close enough for any reasonable person to expect that they could actually be able to see the ballots. One observer who spoke during the recount was told that she would be removed from the area if she spoke again.

It has also been reported that the observers were not allowed close enough to be able to see the numbers used for the test run or the results from the counting machine of that test run. They were able to see the test being run but not close enough to see the numbers on the sheet that provided the preliminary test numbers, and then the board of elections officials actually left the room with the results from the machine count, which again the observers couldn't see, and the preliminary numbers then returned and reported that it had come out OK. The group then was given a break for lunch and upon their return were kept waiting for a while. It was explained to them that they were waiting for the technician from Diebold to reprogram the machine.

MONROE COUNTY

Summary - The 3% hand-count failed to match machine count, a repairman from Triad was summoned to bring new machine, and recount was suspended & reconvened for Wednesday at 9:30 AM

* No two runs were alike and no run equaled the hand count, however the machine did operate and produce a count each time according to Mr. Rodefer

* Did not proceed to full hand count, suspended recount, contacted their "supplier" near Xenia (Triad?) for a repairman to bring a new reader and/or "fix" this machine

* They knew the problem was in the machine at this point; Triad called, to send repair person immediately (4 or more hours to arrive) to fix or bring new machine

BOE did not proceed to full hand count, but voted to suspend the recount and "continue meeting" tomorrow (Wednesday 12/15) at 9:30 AM with fixed machine or new machine from Triad. Decision that because this is "continued" meeting, ONLY those observers present today may be present tomorrow. (Basically if anyone can not come back that candidate will have no representation.)

I also called the Monroe BOE and spoke with Deputy Director Ann Block. She basically confirmed the above, except that she stated that the recount was suspended due to "broken reader", and said that a repairman is on the way from the Cincinnati area to "swap out" the broken reader for a good one. As of approximately 4:10 PM the repair person is still coming and is still enroute.

Ms. Block also stated that K. Blackwell's office was called after the machine "broke" and that the decision to not allow any change of observers was the SOS office's decision (as per conversation with Blackwell's legal counsel.) To her knowledge all observers present today can and will come back tomorrow.

3.  OBJECTION!  OBJECTION!
Whither the lone voice that will stand up for voting integrity?  Conyers has already said he will be challenging the results.  Which Senator will join him?  Kerry?  Boxer?  Or perhaps Jeffords?  The Vermont Enquirer is reporting that some democracy-minded Vermonters are urging Jeffords to be That Senator.

4.  LINKS!  LINKS!

Conyers was on Countdown yesterday.  Between drooling at Olberman's devishly good looks and picturing what our childen will look like, I did catch some great gems from Mr. Conyers.  The line that seems to be making the rounds:  If the Republican's don't want to show up to our hearings, that's THEIR problem.  

Here is the link to the Conyers/Olbermann video.

Catch up on Olbermann's Blog here.

And how about a replay of Mr. Arnebeck fighting of the Spawn of Satan (aka Hannity).  

Thanks to Crooks and Liars for the links!

And, via Bradblog, a great link to a story of an Ohio couple who voted TWICE in November, and the "drama" over the one vote difference in a school levy issue there.  To throw out or not to throw out?

5.  SPEAK OUT!  SPEAK OUT!
Public Hearing - Franklin County Board of Elections - Thurs., Dec. 16th St. - Columbus, Ohio  held @ Franklin County Memorial Hall, 280 E. Broad St., Columbus.  

Saturday, December 18th. Protest, New York, NY.
2:00 p.m. Washington Square Park, Manhattan. (Contact [e-mail] or 212-627-9895). Plans for the occasion include speakers, singers, and poets. What to bring: signs. Volunteers are needed to serve as marshalls, distribute flyers, post posters, and phone bank, and organizers to contact unions and other organizations. Sponsoring organization: NOW-NYC. Flyer can be obtained from NOW-NYC office, or downloaded from http://nownyc.org. The office is open Mon, Wed, Fri--1:00-6:30 PM or later. Our organizing meetings are Tuesday evenings, 6:30-8:30 PM.

Link to other national events

6.  RECOUNTS RING... ARE YOU LISTENING?...

Too much Christmas music while I shop lately...anyway.

SCLM is picking up the story of the recount.

AP, Return of the Hanging Chad
Chicago Sun-Times, Ohio Recounts One Month After Bush Win
Detroit Free Press, Congressman Wants Probe of Ohio Recount Preparation

And about picking up the story, my fav so far (besides yesterdays "zealots" with "sour grapes") has to be this article/op ed, calling the Ohio recount a "Dumboacracy Issue."

7.  THINGS TO DO
I don't know about you guys, but with finals and all, the one thing I would recommend everyone do right now is take a deep beath and relax a bit.  Can you tell I'm all anxious and excited from my "REPETITIVE HEADINGS!" :D  

I'm eagerly awaiting the decision of the Ohio Supreme Court, but no word yet.  Only place I can look for it now is at the Ohio Reporter Of Decisions.  Decisions are updated daily at 9 A.M.

Oh, and one last thing.  It sounds like the subject of a spam message, but "DO YOU WANT TO EARN $200,000???"  If so, Justice Through Music is offering just that much for proof of fraud:

$200,000 REWARD

to any person or persons who provide conclusive and verifiable evidence that the results of the 2004 presidential election were not correctly tabulated because of one or more of the following reasons: 1) hacking into the voting machines; 2) software or coding problems with voting or tabulating machines; 3) multiple counting by machines or humans, 4) improperly implanted codes in voting machines; 5) tampering with voting machines, voting cards or final tabulation numbers; 6) officials or machines not counting all the votes or adding votes; 7) official influence which changed vote totals, or 8) other problems with vote tabulation not noted here. All information and evidence should be submitted to [e-mail] . Questions should be submitted to [e-mail] .

In order to receive the reward, the evidence provided must be sufficient to affect the outcome of the presidential race, and evidence from more than one state can be used for that purpose. If a person who provides the information desires confidentiality for any reason including a fear of retribution, he or she should indicate that in their submission. A board of five persons will determine the disbursement of the reward on or before February 1, 2005.

Update [2004-12-16 11:1:16 by georgia10]:: I forgot to do the round up for Ohio diaries:

Ohio and the Future, by dahsbro
Olbermann Interacts With Congressman Conyers, by understandinglife
Fairfield County, Discrepancy Coverup, by MrDC
Cobb, K/E add evidence of tampering on recount to lawsuit, by lawnorder
Voting Machines Inherently Flawed Approach, by dataguy
CNN reaction to Kerry Filing? False Bomb Alert and Serial Killer, by larisa
Beyond the bubble: Voting problems outside Ohio and Florida, by Eternal Hope
Cobb and Kerry-Edwards lawyers add election tampering to a civil suit against OH, by chinkoPelinke
Ohio--F*cked Enough, Thanks, by Sonsoflabor
"American democracy hangs by a thread in Ohio", by Renee in Ohio

Update [2004-12-16 14:0:26 by georgia10]: Arnebeck has filed an "emergency motion for an expedited emergency hearing and to prevent voting companies an Ohio officials from further tampering with voting machines in the state during the recount," Via RawStory

Catherine Buchanan says she was told Diebold reprogrammed voting machines while present at her local Board of Elections. Also included is a letter from an Ohio county election official who stated that test tabulator decks were "discarded" in violation of Ohio law.

Arnebeck asks that the court issue an emergency order:

Not to reprogram, erase, modify or otherwise tamper with any data on or in or contained in any storage device which is or was attached to any electronic voting machines owned at present or on November 2, 2004 by the Ohio Board of Elections.

Until the next update...