City Club Panel: Does Your Vote Count? Casting Ballots in Cuyahoga County

With all the election and voting changes and problems in Ohio and Cuyahoga County, including a slew of negative issues related to Ohio-based Diebold and their executive support of the Republican Party and poor performance of their electronic voting machines, and recent court rulings on major Bush supporter Sec. of State Blackwell's efforts to change voting laws in Ohio, as he runs for governor, and the fiasco of the May 02, 2006 Cuyahoga County elections, this forum is certain to raise controversy and be quite worthwhile.

Panelists will present diverse views on the causes of Cuyahoga County’s Election Day problems in May 2006 and the best solutions for ensuring accessible voting and accurate, timely vote-counting at noon on Wednesday, September 27, 2006, at The City Club of Cleveland. Roslyn Talerico, vice president of the League of Women Voters-Cuyahoga Area and representative of the Greater Cleveland Voter Coalition, will serve as moderator.

On May 2, 2006, Cuyahoga County held its first elections using new electronic voting machines. The transition from punch cards to electronic machines was far from smooth. Some of the new machines couldn’t be operated by poll workers, several vote-counting memory cards disappeared, many poll workers did not report for duty, the printed format of absentee ballots was incompatible with the optical scan equipment, and the subsequent hand-counting of 18,000 ballots delayed results for six days. Cuyahoga County’s Board of Elections and its director, Michael Vu, have been embroiled in controversy and conflict ever since.

Who was at fault? Was it Director Vu or incompetent employees entrenched in their patronage jobs long before he took the helm at the Board of Elections? Was it the voting machine company or the absentee ballot printing company? Was it inadequate training of poll workers or poll workers incapable of being trained to work with electronic touch screens?

Panelists are as follows:

·         Cleveland Municipal Judge Ronald Adrine, chair of the Cuyahoga Election Review Panel that investigated the causes and scope of problems that occurred in the county’s May primary elections

·         Dr. Victoria Lovegren, director of Ohio Vigilance, a watchdog organization that investigates election abnormalities

·         Michael Vu, director of the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections

Tickets for this City Club Special Program are $15 for members and $25 for non-members. Lunch is included. Reservations are required at least 24 hours in advance of the event. They can be purchased by calling The City Club at 216.621.0082 or visiting the website at www.cityclub.org.

Established in 1912 to encourage new ideas and a free exchange of thought, The City Club of Cleveland is the oldest continuous free speech forum in the country, renowned for its tradition of debate and discussion. The City Club’s mission is to inform, educate and inspire citizens by presenting significant ideas and providing opportunities for dialogue in a collegial setting.

  Missy S. Toms Director of Membership & Marketing The City Club of Cleveland 850 Euclid Ave., 2nd Fl. Cleveland, OH 44114 216.621.0082 888.223.6786 F: 216.621.0129 mtoms [at] cityclub [dot] org To become a member or make a reservation, visit us at www.cityclub.org [1].

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