Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

This is standard we're holding the county to?

Elections board refuses to release public records
Officials seek approval from Diebold Company
By ALAINA FAHY
The Eagle-Gazette Staff
afahy@nncogannett.com

FAIRFIELD COUNTY - The Fairfield County Board of Elections hasn't made any attempt to complete a request for public records it received three months ago.

The Eagle-Gazette requested from the Board of Elections public information following the Nov. 7, 2006 general election. A letter requested audit logs from the election and electronic copies of poll books used in the election.


The request came after the Elections Board certified an incorrect vote count Nov. 28 because board members didn't look at the final count.

The requested records are open and available to the public, according to the Ohio Revised Code and the Ohio Attorney General's opinion.
Board of Elections Director Debbie Henderly said she knows several of the documents requested are public records. But she is waiting for approval from Diebold, manufacturer of the electronic voting machines, to see if any of the information requested is proprietary.

''We want to make sure of what we are and are not permitted to do,'' Henderly said.

The mishandling of the vote count angered Fairfield County residents and created a deep level of distrust for the elections board and election process. Residents e-mailed and called the Eagle-Gazette expressing their frustration with how officials handled the mistake.

One resident e-mailed the Center of Election Integrity at Cleveland State University to find out what residents could do to verify the final numbers.

Board member Allan Reid said he is not aware of any request for public information made by the Eagle-Gazette. He referred all other questions to the Board President Dale Graham - who could not be reached for comment.

Board member Fred Strawser did not return telephone calls.

Board member John Dolske said he heard about the request and the board is waiting to see what the new Ohio Secretary of State's Office says about the right to the public records.

Dolske refused to say when he learned of the Eagle-Gazette's request for public records.

''I could ask you why you want these records,'' Dolske said. ''But we won't get into that. It's a very unusual request.''

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part 2

Ohio's public records law says a person requesting public records does not have to give a reason for why they want the documents.

The public records request was made to find out what happened Nov. 7 that could help explain the error leading to the incorrect vote count.

The Eagle-Gazette initially noticed the error when reviewing the official results released at 2 p.m. Nov. 28.

The records showed Lancaster City Schools' earned income tax had 55 fewer votes in the first official count than on election night - which is when results are unofficial.

The records also showed the vote in Fairfield County for the statewide Issue 2 - increasing minimum wage - appeared to lose 1,930 votes when it was first official count.

Board members agree no tallies should have decreased from the unofficial count on election night to the certified vote.

Votes should have increased by the number of provisional ballots. Provisional ballots are cast by people who can't be at the polls on election day. Someone who is traveling on election day, for example, would complete a provisional ballot.

Board members blamed Diebold because the company didn't instruct the board employees of the correct procedure for counting votes after Issue 1 was removed from the ballot. Diebold officials admitted they notified the board too late to correct the official count.

Candice Hoke, director for the Center of Election Integrity at Cleveland State University, said the logs are within public domain, and the elections board does not have to get permission from Diebold to release public documents.

''Logs should not be treated as proprietary information because the information is generated in the process of an election,'' Hoke said.

Hoke requested the same public records from the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections. She received the records within a week.

''These are all within the public domain,'' Hoke said.

Ohio Sunshine Laws states public records must be provided within a reasonable period of time.

Henderly said she considers a reasonable amount of time to be however long it takes Diebold to tell the board what they can and cannot release.

Diebold has made no attempt to return telephone calls to the Board of Elections within the past month, Henderly said.

Henderly told the Eagle-Gazette on Friday she would write a letter to Diebold stressing the importance of responding to the Elections Board. She said she would fax a copy of the letter to the newspaper.

Henderly called the Eagle-Gazette 30 minutes later. She left a message saying she talked with board members and she would not fax a copy of the letter to the newspaper.

She also said she contacted the Secretary of State's Office, which referred ''it'' to the agency's legal department.

Public records are Public

It appears that Fix, Weltlich and now Dolske make up the rules as they go along or it fits their argument. John; the law is very simple public records are just that public records. They are not your records they are the ''PUBLIC'S.'' When a request is made for those recrods you must hand them over. NO QUESTIONS ASKED. I think the tax payers of Lancaster desire to know if their school levy actually passed. Maybe some of the members of the board of elections need some intense training on the Ohio open records laws.

C'mon Dolsky

John,

No, you CAN'T ask why.

Just another one of those self rightous North-westers. What a joke that club turned out to be.

Gawd, I miss Nixon

By Fed Up