"Democratic Party officials charged yesterday that the election system in Ohio broke down in last year's presidential race, citing numerous problems that frustrated or disenfranchised voters while concluding there was no evidence of fraud in the outcome. The findings reignited a partisan debate that has colored efforts to improve voting procedures around the country.
"The results show that our election system failed the citizens of Ohio in 2004 and in particular failed African Americans, new registrants, younger voters and voters in places using touch-screen machines," Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean told reporters. During a question-and-answer period, he declined to rule out that partisan actions by the Republicans may have contributed to the problems.
Even before Dean and members of the Democratic task force finished their presentations, Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman issued a statement denouncing the findings. "The report is pure political fiction," he said, charging that some Democratic-aligned groups had engaged in fraudulent or illegal voter registration activities in Ohio. Members of the DNC task force, led by Donna Brazile, the chairman of the DNC's Voting Rights Institute, enumerated a series of problems on Election Day in Ohio, including too few voting machines in certain precincts and long lines that appear to have caused some voters to give up and go home. The study, which included statistical analysis of the voting patterns and polling to gauge voters' assessment of their experiences, found a clear lack of confidence in the system among African Americans."-from the story in today's Washington Post.
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