Archived Story
Absentee voting still big concern
Published 10:19am Wednesday, August 8, 2012The investigation into irregularities with absentee ballots during the 2010 general election certainly took much longer than it should have, making both the timing and the outcome itself suspect.
But, in the end, the only thing that truly matters is that this helped shine a light on a part of Ohio’s voting process that clearly has potential flaws.
Hopefully this will help election officials prevent any widespread abuse in the future.
The special grand jury that convened Monday at the request of Attorney General Mike DeWine determined that no crimes occurred.
So not only can the timeline be questioned but you have to wonder exactly what the grand jury heard and what lead to this conclusion?
It may be that no crime occurred. The Attorney General clearly felt something was there and Secretary of State Jon Husted agreed.
“There was an attempt to violate the election law with the attempt to cast and count fraudulent votes,” Husted said in 2011. “If we didn’t believe there were irregularities that amounted to a violation of law we would not have referred it to the attorney general and the county prosecutor.”
Maybe this was simply a misunderstanding or clerical issue.
But, most importantly, we hope this helps Lawrence County — and the entire state — take a long look at the absentee system.




I certainly agree that absentee voting is a big concern. We would like details of why this was let go.
The Attorney Generals office needs to look at the numbers of absentee ballots submitted during past elections for Lawrence County – they far exceed any other southern Ohio county. WHY???????
Thanks mickakers for your interesting comments. I think readers know exacting who is ‘lacking’.
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Boy would I like to know what are the sources of absentee ballots?
What initiates an absentee ballot?
I voted absentee twice that I remember, once at college and once on a long planned vacation.
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Mick, I’m really appalled at your lack of reading comprehension.
What part of this didn’t you get?:
[A]n NAACP executive sits in prison, sentenced for carrying out a massive voter fraud scheme.
In … April a Tunica County, Miss., jury convicted NAACP official Lessadolla Sowers on 10 counts of fraudulently casting absentee ballots…
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Noesis; I was referring to your comment “With Voter I.D., democrats will now need to use this method to cheat.” There was no charges brought against the Democratic Party of Lawrence County Ohio. Using your system of measurement and selectivity the same accusations could be brought against the Republican Party on ethical issues. A former Republican Speaker Of The House, Newt Gringrich comes to mind and by the way, he would have been your best candidate for president. A gentlemen by the name of Richard Milhous Nixon also comes to mind and he also had constructive accomplishments. Neither Party holds priority on the Human Condition.
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Noesis; I find your comment immature and lacking in knowledge of the law. An individual or group of individuals are presumed innocent unless proven guilty by their peers. The Grand Jury determined, there was no cause for bringing charges. Case settled. Your extreme partnership negates the validity of many of your comments.
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With Voter I.D., democrats will now need to use this method to cheat. We need to make it law to see I.D. before issuing absentee ballots.
Now liberal like Indie will bleat that fraud hardly ever happens and yet…
[A]n NAACP executive sits in prison, sentenced for carrying out a massive voter fraud scheme.
In … April a Tunica County, Miss., jury convicted NAACP official Lessadolla Sowers on 10 counts of fraudulently casting absentee ballots. Sowers is identified on an NAACP website as a member of the Tunica County NAACP Executive Committee.
Sowers received a five-year prison term for each of the 10 counts, but Circuit Court Judge Charles Webster permitted Sowers to serve those terms concurrently, according to the Tunica Times, the only media outlet to cover the sentencing.
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Wow, I wonder if this had been done by a tea-party member, how many hundreds of news organizations would have covered it.
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