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Ohio's Odd Numbers
By Christopher Hitchens
Vanity Fair
March 2005
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No conspiracy theorist, and no fan of John Kerry's, the author nevertheless found the Ohio polling results impossible to
swallow: Given what happened in that key state on Election Day 2004, both democracy and common sense cry out for a
court-ordered inspection of its new voting machines/
If it were not for Kenyon College, I might have missed, or skipped, the whole controversy. Here's what happened in
Gambier, Ohio, on decision day 2004.
The polls opened at 6:30 AM. There were only two voting machines (push-button direct-recording electronic systems) for
the entire town of 2,200 (with students). The mayor, Kirk Emmert, had called the Board of Elections 10 days earlier,
saying that the number of registered voters would require more than that. (He knew, as did many others, that hundreds of
students had asked to register in Ohio because it was a critical "swing" state.) The mayor's request was denied. Indeed,
instead of there being extra capacity on Election Day, one of the only two machines chose to break down before
lunchtime.
By the time the polls officially closed, at 7:30 that evening, the line of those waiting to vote was still way outside
the Community Center and well into the parking lot. A federal judge thereupon ordered Knox County, in which Gambier is
located, to comply with Ohio law, which grants the right to vote to those who have shown up in time. "Authority to Vote"
cards were kindly distributed to those on line (voting is a right, not a privilege), but those on line needed more than
that. By the time the 1,175 voters in the precinct had all cast their ballots, it was almost four in the morning, and
many had had to wait for up to 11 hours. In the spirit of democratic carnival, pizzas and canned drinks and guitarists
were on hand to improve the shining moment. TV crews showed up, and the young Americans all acted as if they had been
cast by Frank Capra: cheerful and good-humored, letting older voters get to the front, catching up on laptop essays,
many voting for the first time and all convinced that a long and cold wait was a small price to pay. Typical was Pippa
White, who said that "even after eight hours and 15 minutes I still had energy. It lets you know how worth it this is."
Heartwarming, until you think about it.
…snip…
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