Voting irregularities in Ohio are worse than previously thought

After analyzing 35,000 paper ballots from the 2004 presidential election in Ohio, a team of statisticians and lawyers says the irregularities are more widespread than previously thought.

Among the irregularities:

• A gap between the numbers provided in the local-level records and the official final tallies

• "Many signs" of tampering

• The number of actual voters differing significantly from the certified results

• "Extremely shoddy" handling of ballots

• Indications of "local-level ballot stuffing”

• Thousands of punch-card ballots missing codes that are supposed to identify the precinct where the ballot was cast

Under pressure from critics, Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell (a Republican who is running for governor) has agreed to delay destruction of the state's 5.6 million ballots for several months, but the ballots should be saved at least until the investigation is concluded. Ohioans and the rest of us have a right to know what happened in 2004 that caused such a huge rift in the sense-logic continuum.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/31/washington/31ohio.html