Jeanne Norris Weinberg: 'How the last presidential election awoke me from an
unsound sleep'

Or ... One average citizen's account of her unsettling experience
video-taping on Election Day 2004, attending the public hearings afterward
and then serving as an Official Witness for the Ohio Vote Recount.

Jeanne Norris Weinberg, The Columbus Free Press

In 2004, like most of my friends, I was asleep at the wheel, even with
questions still lingering following the 2000 election. As an active mother,
advocate and writer, I felt entitled to this lethargy. It's all too much was
my hidden mantra. If I hadn't been asked to take my outdated family video
camera to the polls on Election Day, I might still be able relieve myself of
the burden of being awake and aware. But from that day forward, things
changed. In late 2004, I added Voter's Rights activism to my list of duties.
Nobody in my life saw it coming, least of all me.

Linda Byrket, a filmmaker and the organizer for video-documenting voter
issues on the day of our last presidential election, had nabbed me three
days before the election, while I was waiting in line for a showing of the
film, Unprecedented, at the Drexel Theatre. She assured me that my ineptness
with a video camera wouldn't get in the way of making a video record of
voters and their stories.

I took film footage at precincts in Franklin County, Ohio, and it changed
me, forever. Following that, I also attended two public hearings about
election abnormalities and following that, I volunteered to become an
official Witness for the Ohio Vote Recount.

On Election Day, 2004, I pulled out the camera, dusted it off, and showed up
to precincts where voters were having problems. My job, and that of others
who volunteered at the last minute for this project, was simply to document
voter issues, complaints, and testimony of injustices. It was assumed there
might be problems with Republican challengers. I would have taped happy
voters, as well, but in my precincts, they were few and far between.

In the afternoon and evening, I went to precincts near the Ohio State
Universtiy campus and to three predominantly African-American neighborhoods.
In each of these polling places, there were not enough voting booths for the
number of voters. What is going on?....was a constant question.

At 6pm, filming at a precinct in a small library, I followed a line of more
than 200 people out of the doors, down a path and into the woods, in the
dark, in the pouring rain. One woman yelled to me: "Get a picture of me. I'm
voting! My vote counts!" My footage includes drenched people without
umbrellas, smiling and giving me the thumbs-up sign.

Taking a break from the rain, I had a quick dinner at the simple, little
church that was the headquarters for Election Protection, a coalition for
the protection of our vote. There, I met people from Washington, New York
and Michigan. Busloads of bright-spirited students from Howard University in
Washington, DC got up at 4am to "protect the right to vote."

A young man came back to the church after his shift with what he called a
victory story. He stood in front of the crowd to tell us that a man returned
to vote after having been in line for 2 hours in the morning and leaving
before voting in order to get to work. After coming back and waiting 3 more
hours in the late afternoon he was about to leave in irritation again
without having voted when these students found him. They talked him into
going back and taking his place in line again. They brought him food. This
time he got his vote cast. "One more vote!" this kid shouted to the group as
he told his story. There was camaraderie here, real spirit! We were all in
this together to try to make a difference, make a change.

Taping people's stories was the fun part of my job, but the truth about
their devastating experiences, sometimes serving as roadblocks that kept
them from casting their vote, started to unhinge me. To this day, visions of
chaos at the polls and the glistening, hope-filled faces of people standing
in long lines, in the rain, swim through my mind, haunting me.

Coming home that soggy night, thinking of my two sons, aged 17 and 19,
twisted my insides. They are the next generation of voter and this had been
the second election they would witness where fairness or even civility
didn't seem to matter anymore. Common decency was exchanged for political
advantage by our Secretary of State, Kenneth Blackwell. My own confidence in
our system was slipping, so how would I be able to insure that my sons
cherish their own vote someday? It made me think.

Once home, and after disturbing realities that my husband and I had
witnessed that day, we were not ready for the final vote tally that gave
George W. Bush the presidency. At midnight, heading up to bed, we felt sure
that, by morning, John Kerry would be investigating the serious questions
still lingering in Ohio--- long lines, machine errors, the lack of enough
machines in Democratic districts and provisional ballot inequities--- since
this was, after all, the swing state. I could not fathom conceding with even
a hint of disenfranchisement after the Florida debacle in 2000. We had yet
to find out whether our growing concern about local voter disenfranchisement
was an anomaly or part of something bigger? Who knew?

In my mind and the minds of many, Kerry's concession speech was premature,
at the very least. We were stunned by his seeming lack of curiosity. Were we
just sore losers, wanting our man to win, or was there more to this story?
Why did this feel different than a mere defeat? How could we get the answers
we needed?

Multitudes of people in Ohio were outraged that the press had invaded our
state for months, prior to Election day, following the candidates and yet
ignored the voters, themselves, once Mr. Kerry conceded. In the end, we were
left to stand up for the very institution of fair voting itself, our basic
rights, rather than just for our candidate.

Irate political leaders stood up and demanded investigation and truth. They
demanded a recount, which was complicated because Kerry, himself, with money
in his budget for a recount, had not requested it. Citizens persisted
anyhow. Meetings and public hearings were held to give a voice to
disenfranchised voters. Bob Fitrakis, Harvey Wasserman, Cliff Arnebeck, CASE
Ohio, Black Box voters and many, many other people stepped up the pressure
on anybody who would listen. They were spirited and tough. The Green Party
painstakingly put all the pieces in place to eventually get that recount
done. They conducted themselves like true statesmen, wanting what was best
for all of us.

* * *

Linda Byrket's documentary, Video The Vote, provided actual footage of many
of the problems. It is a now powerful record of the rain, the lines, the
attorneys, people in tears and other general chaos. My own shots were
included. Was I at the right place at the right time to see the long lines,
etc. or was it the wrong place at the wrong time? Either way, this voter is
unhappy about what she witnessed. I do not concede my vote. My life as a US
citizen will never be the same.

Because of that film and after attending the hearings, I volunteered to be
an official witness of the Election 2004 Recount. I have no special skills
in either politics or vote recounts but in an effort to get to the truth
behind serious doubts regarding our free and fair election, extra hands were
needed and I resolved to make a small difference by merely participating in
the election vote recount. I had a very different Christmas season that year
and it had a lot to do with the odd coincidence of my living in Columbus,
the capital city of Ohio where the swing vote happened.

My assignment was in Ashland County, Ohio, about halfway between Columbus
and Cleveland. Because of obstructionist delays by Ohio's Secretary of
State, Ken Blackwell, who is also the Co-chair of the Bush/Cheney campaign
in Ohio, we weren't able to get a recount done before the electoral vote was
cast, but the recount proceeded anyway.

Many people were needed on a moment's notice in the midst of already crowded
holiday time. To be frank, I wasn't at all ready for such a job, and I knew
it. Yet, the goal was to have each county's recount witnessed. I was told to
watch the process and that anything I observed would be valuable
information.

I resolved to do my best, overcoming basic hesitations. I didn't have enough
time to study the Ohio Recount Law so that I would know all the right
questions to ask and I didn't really want to confront officious
personalities should I spot an error in the count. Yet, I couldn't seem to
get over seeing those long lines and then hearing hours of sworn
testimony .as in, under oath to God and country. at public meetings about
peoples electronic vote inexplicably switching from Gore to Bush and other
frighteningly unacceptable irregularities on election day.

What I did want to do was bake a few cookies before my son got home from
college on Christmas break. I wanted to rest from three trips out of town,
for work, in the last two weeks. I wanted, at least, to put the Christmas
tree upright in its stand. In Franklin County, though, we'd just seen too
much to be able to sip our eggnog in peace without this last effort. After
the recount was done, it might be possible to put our feet up with a small
amount of honor.

Ours is the county, located in the capital of the swing-state, yet it is
also the place where the real story about problems in our election never got
told. News teams were conspicuously absent from all those public hearings.
Secretary of State, Ken Blackwell, is on record as saying: " There were no
problems in Ohio, whatsoever, beyond the usual election gaffes that happen
in any election." This quote was circulated among the media, yet voters who
lost their right to vote were not quoted. Disenfranchisement is a
soft-sounding word, yet it is a horrific reality. What it means is that, by
underhanded means, people were denied the right to vote.

I don't blame people in the other 49 states for not getting what we, in
Ohio, mean when we say Voter Fraud or Disenfranchisement. How could they
know any better without some serious research? Yet, as I heard a Nebraska
Democrat speak on a national news show to Ohio citizens: "Get over it. Our
candidate lost. Don't be sore losers." I wanted to respond...... "May God
help you if this group chooses your state to be the next swing state because
they've researched your subtle, sometimes outdated state election laws,
found all the right gray areas, studied densities of population,
gerrymandered your districts, and put one of their own in charge of the
"free and fair" elections in your state."

After a small confidence speech to myself, I pulled myself together, put on
some warm boots and found my way to the Board of Elections in Ashland
County. This recount would now be used to collect the data necessary to take
the next step in understanding what went wrong. Exit poll confusion,
something that all election specialists look at in every other election
around the world, were said by this administration to actually, in this
case, not really mean that much.

* * *

Jimmy Carter, our former president, who has become an election specialist,
working through the Carter Center, did not oversee our election because his
suggestions after 2000, asked for by the administration in a "show" of good
faith, were not taken seriously. Prior to the 2004 election, he said that it
"is unconscionable to perpetuate fraudulent or biased electoral practices in
any nation. It is especially objectionable among us Americans, who have
prided ourselves on setting global examples for pure democracy. With reforms
unlikely at this stage of the election, perhaps the only recourse will be to
focus maximum public scrutiny on the suspicious practices in Florida."

We now have placed this intense scrutiny on the suspicious activity in Ohio.
Though we couldn't do it before the electoral vote to actually make a
difference to the outcome, we can now, at the very least, gain deeper
insight into discrepancies.

In a recount, each candidate is entitled to send its own representative to
oversee the process. I represented Cobb for the Green Party, another woman
represented Badnarik, an Independent, and there were representatives from
the Democrats and Republicans who showed up promptly for the 9am start. Also
present were equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats from their Board of
Elections and the staff from Ashland County who actually handled the ballots
and fed them through the tabulation machine. Ms. Madhu Sing, a field
representative for Secretary of State, Kenneth Blackwell was sent as an
extra observer to this particular county.

A presidential election recount is a dread moment for any Board of
Elections, a real bother and something that makes them vulnerable to outside
eyes and possible criticism. As we all gathered for the day to begin, people
were polite, yet tension hovered in the air, shown by tight smiles, crossed
arms and serious attitudes.

The first question asked was about how they would take a random sampling of
their precincts and the answer was that they had already figured out which
precincts represented a typical random sampling. Since typical and random
are opposing terms, this was not a random sample.

My report is posted on-line with the Green Party at www.votecobb.org, so
here I'll just tell you of a few of my experiences and observations. I
witnessed the Opti-Scan system of voting in Ashland County, which is similar
to taking a multiple choice test where you fill in the correct circle with a
number 2 pencil. Counting these ballots is done on a tabulation machine,
scanning for areas marked by pencil. Erasures are a problem, since some
pencil lead always remains embedded in the paper.

I learned what is meant by an overvote. It means that the intention of the
voter isn't clear from whatever marks they put on their ballot. In a
recount, the task is to try to make sure that ballots have not been thrown
out without extra attention given to trying to ascertain the true intention
of said voter. Marking an opti-scan ballot in pen rather than pencil, even
if everything is filled in correctly, throws your vote out. All overvotes
are re-examined in a recount.

The witness, me, spends a lot of time pointing at, but not touching certain
ballots that appear to be clear as to the intention of the voter. Our chairs
were on wheels, which meant we were like racecars that gun their engines at
the appropriate moment and take off. But in our case we would lurch forward
a few feet, to notice if, indeed, the offending ballot was credibly wrong,
only to back up again a few minutes later and watch some more. Touching the
cast ballots is absolutely forbidden.

The method of storing the cast ballots after the election, until they are
destroyed, has strict rules. They must be under lock and key at all times. I
observed the cubicles along the side of the room from which the staff was
getting each precinct's cast ballots. Stacked on top of the cubicles were
snacks, mugs and cleaning products. I also scanned the rest of the room,
about the size of a two-person office, or maybe three or four work cubicles,
not huge.

There was a table with a vinyl tablecloth, used for the recount. I also
noticed a coat rack, fridge and microwave in the room. Since this looked a
whole lot like a lunchroom, I asked if storing them in here was following
the rule of being kept under lock and key. I was told that the door to the
room had a lock on it, was kept locked when not in use and that the outer
door to all the offices had a lock on it, as well.

"How many people are in and out of here each day," I asked? "Just us, and we
are all trustworthy," I was told. This is not a satisfying answer. What
about cleaning crew, electricians, visiting family?

* * *

Recounts are about collecting objective data, but people come with
personalities. I believe my quiet demeanor was a little bit of a problem for
Ms. Singh. Not being very chatty, I sat in my office chair-on-wheels, paying
attention, taking notes and puzzling over the presence of this field
representative of the Secretary of State. She intermittently asked me where
I would be witnessing the next day. I always said that I didn't know yet.
She interested me and I began to understand her role better towards the end
of the day.

Our assigned schedule changed at lunch, which broke a half an hour early,
after some whispering in the hall, between Ms. Singh and members of the
board. These meetings in the hall went on, from time to time, all day, out
of the range of the official witnesses to the recount. When we returned from
our lunch recess, the recount continued with no clue as to why we had
adjourned early and not come back early as well. Why the extra time? Secrets
intrigue me.

We began to notice that the overvotes written in ink were now being put
aside in a separate box from everything else. By the end of the day, about
4pm, we were told that during lunch, Ms. Sing had spoken to the Secretary of
State and received permission to put the votes written in ink back into the
count. This recovered a few votes for each party. She told us that our
Democrat fellow observer had quietly asked her if these votes might be
considered as being clear as to intent of the voter, so she spoke about this
at lunchtime, by phone, with Mr. Blackwell. She repeated, over and over:
"Now you can see that he is a truly fair overseer of the election."

I asked another question. "Did you also ask for a judgement about the
overvotes where both a circle was filled in and the same name was written at
the bottom?" These far outnumbered the ink overvotes. This was ignored. I
was reminded that the role of the witness is to oversee the recount, not to
impede it in any way. So I said clearly, in front of everyone: "I'd like to
state, for the record, that I'd like the Secretary of State to consider
those as well." Nothing more was said. In a future recount, I would have
someone make a note of the number of overvotes in this category since they
were vastly more significant in number. I still wonder why it was all so
secret, the question, the phone call and the pulling aside of the ink votes.
I wonder why my clear question did not even receive a response.

After Ms. Singh's announcement, it was assumed that we had come to the end
and we were given the results of the recount. The recount added a total of
64 votes back into the vote count for this county, about 40 for Bush, 20 for
Kerry and some others. I asked, for the third time to see the polling books,
which is the right of the witness, under the law. I had asked by phone if I
could come in the day before or early that morning to view the polling books
and was told no, so this was the only time left. It stretched people's good
graces, though, and I was yelled at by a member of their Board of Elections.
I was told that I wouldn't know what to do with the information. "That's
OK," I said. "This is what I'm supposed to do," which required another
meeting in the hall.

With suppressed anger, workers brought out the books, precinct by precinct.
My fellow witness for Badnarik and I, in an effort to speed things up, began
recording our notes, each taking different precincts, of the numbers of
ballots sent, votes cast, spoiled votes and provisional ballots. At this
point, the same unsettled woman expressed great rage toward me. "This is
ridiculous! You don't know what you're doing and were not even prepared for
this! You are wasting everyone's time and just scribbling in your notebook!"

Realizing that it was imperative now that I speak with equilibrium in order
to get on with things, I stood up slowly, spoke the name of the precinct
just recorded and rattled off each number accurately. Then I said: "I know
this is a pain in the ass and I have no desire to make it any more difficult
than is necessary, but this is my job and I intend to do it. I can either
come back tomorrow or go on as quickly as I can this afternoon until I've
recorded what I need." This was met with silence, but it eased a bit of the
tension. It was clear that no one wanted to come back the next day, so my
partner and I proceeded.

About an hour later, we were finally done. With my coat on and clutching my
notebook, I was first in line as we filed out, past the board of election,
etc., to go home, yet I made it my business to shake each person's hand and
to thank them. People rose as I approached them. One Democrat on the board
told me he knew I was only doing the job I had come to do. Ms Singh remained
seated.

On the whole, I liked the people in this county. They reminded me of my own
neighbors and family, with broad mid-western faces and a desire for the
system to work. We rely on the wheels of justice to turn in the direction of
truth.

What strikes me now as still important is that three of Jimmy Carter's main
points about election reform continue to remain big problems in Ohio.

1. We allow our Secretary of State, with strong party responsibilities to
oversee the election.

2. We do not have a single voting procedure with a paper trail, which, in
the case of electronic voting, would be a ballot printout.

3. We have not outlawed the practices that led to long lines at the polls.

The best proof available for voter disenfranchisement in Ohio, in the eyes
of the law, has to do with those long lines that are in practically every
clip of Linda Byrket's film, VIDEO THE VOTE. Its footage covers precincts
all over the city of Columbus, Ohio, where there was incredible confusion
within the polls. It shows people standing under umbrellas or dripping wet,
wearing garbage bags for protection from the rain. I participated in that
film and it stuns me to this day how that one fateful action has spawned my
re-engagement with the political future of our country. It was difficult, at
first, to be on the front lines of a new battle that seemed to just fall
into my lap, but I now feel blessed to know that average citizens really can
make a difference. At the end of the film are three words: Let's fix this.
I'm now on that path.

John Conyers, Democratic congressman from Michigan, led a committee to
ascertain What Went Wrong in Ohio. His report to Congress, now part of the
Congressional Record, has also been published as a book with the same name.
The film is part of that record as well.

Mid-terms are now upon us. The drumbeat has begun. Even for a middle-aged
person, like me, with another life beyond politics, staying awake now, is
necessary. My actions do count. I cannot just sit back for any election
anymore. This is my country, my president, and my vote.