2004 Ballot Recount: Observer Report

• December 15, 2004:
  Report by Green Party Observer

December 15, 2004:
Report by Green Party Observer

The recount began promptly at 11:00 AM Wednesday, December 15, 2004. Present were:

• Paul Archer, Chair (D)
• Larry Rossiter, Member (R)
• Larry Woodford, Member (D)
• Melvin Bates, Member (R

• Donna Moore, Director (R)
• Dianne Wharton, Deputy Director (D)

• B, observer for George Bush
• S, observer for John Kerry
• J, observer for David Cobb

Donna Moore, Director of the Noble County Board of Elections, called the recount meeting to order and the participants introduced themselves. She then read a statement, outlining the procedure to be followed.

She announced that the Board had selected the 27th Precinct for the recount.

I objected on the basis that the board must randomly select the precinct(s) to be used for the recount. A spirited debate followed during which I suggested a drawing by lot to determine the targeted precinct. Several board members and both employees defended their action and argued that their method respected the rules in that there were several of the 27th precincts close to the three percent guideline and they chose the one that was "closest." We moved on.

Prior to going into the Noble Board of Elections office, I reviewed the posted reports of the November 2, 2005 election on display outside the office.

The next step was also disputed. The Director said that they had run a test deck manually, then a machine check on December 8, 2004. She said the hand count and machine count "matched." Observer S (for Kerry) carried the argument on this issue but the entire board stood pat. My belief, although I didn't state it, was that the sample precinct, in effect, would constitute a "test." We moved to the count.

The hand count began when the Chair removed the lock on the 27th precinct. The Director and Deputy Director each took approximately one-half of the stack and separated them by candidate. The Director (Rep) counted the Kerry stack, the Deputy (Dem) counted the Bush stack.

The full run of the precincts proceeded on the machine. The recount was the same as the November 2nd count.

We then inspected the punch card machines for each precinct and verified that the candidate-rotation requirement was followed.

We then moved to the Poll Book/Reconciliation step and with the exception of one vote discrepancy in two precincts and a two vote discrepancy in one precinct, every precinct matched the November 2, 2004 count.

We moved to the provisional ballots numbering 75, of which only 2 were not counted. We examined the provisional ballot envelopes and both were clearly received after the November 2, 2004 cut-off date.