Ohio Finds Double Votes, Counts

Election officials in one Ohio county found that about 2,600 ballots cast in the presidential election were double-counted, and two other counties had discovered possible cases of people voting twice.

Prosecutors sought to determine Wednesday whether charges should be filed against a Madison County couple accused of voting twice. In addition, Summit County election workers investigated possible double votes found under 18 names.

In the other case, Sandusky County election officials discovered that about 2,600 ballots from nine precincts were counted twice, probably because of worker error, elections director Barb Tuckerman said.

Tuckerman believes the votes were counted twice when they were mistakenly placed alongside a pile of uncounted ballots.

The problem was discovered when Tuckerman found that one precinct showed 131% of registered voters had cast ballots.

President Bush won the election by taking Ohio with 136,000 votes more than Democrat Sen. John F. Kerry, according to the unofficial tally.

The couple who voted twice in Madison County cast absentee ballots in October, then voted in person on election day, county elections director Gloria Herrel said. The couple said election workers told them their absentee votes were lost, prosecutor Steve Pronai said.

In Summit County, typically the votes were made by absentee ballot or in person, and then a second vote was cast with a provisional ballot in another precinct, elections director Bryan Williams said.

Under Ohio law, people who vote twice could be charged with election fraud, falsification or illegal voting, according the secretary of state’s office. The maximum penalty is 18 months in prison.