Tim Kettler, Green Party Candidate for Ohio Secretary of State, Files Complaint Alleging Misconduct During 2004 Vote Recount

Green Party of Ohio
www.ohiogreens.org

Tim Kettler for Ohio Secretary of State 
www.sostim06.com

Contact: Roberta Kettler 
rlkettler@peoplepc.com (740) 824-3828; (740) 502-6456

August 18, 2006
released August 16, 2006

OHIO -- Tim Kettler, Green Party candidate for Secretary of State today submitted a complaint with both the Coshocton County Sheriff's  department and the Coshocton County Prosecutor alleging misconduct  during the 2004 Presidential Vote Recount. Those named in the complaint include the Directors and Members of the Coshocton County Board of Election, as well as Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell and at least three of his employees. The complaint also demands the appointment of a special prosecutor and a court order to preserve documents.

"With voter confidence and participation at an all-time low it is imperative that our election officials conduct our elections with transparency and integrity. The Republicans and Democrats presently in control of the process have failed to live up to that responsibility and voters demand accountability for this failure", Kettler said on Wednesday.

Kettler's platform calls for the inclusion of Independents and Third Parties at the local board level and the use of hand counted paper ballots to insure a verifiable record of votes cast.

"Due to the increase in absentee voting, there is increased use of optical scan tabulating equipment to count those votes. This type of equipment, the same type used in Coshocton County for the 2004 General Election, has a long track record of unreliability and resulted in over 6% of the 2004 Presidential Vote in Coshocton County going uncounted on Election Day", Kettler noted.

Kettler expects accusations of playing politics with the issue and acknowledges that politics are a factor.

"If we continue to allow the fox to guard the hen house voters have no reason to expect a fair and transparent outcome". If elected Kettler proposes to remove the Secretary of State and party bosses from the voting process by establishing a non-partisan board of Ohio citizens to administer elections and redraw legislative districts.