OHIO Lawyers for Kerry campaign carry out vote-counting vow

One official said identifying any voting problems is part of the goal.
CLEVELAND (AP) -- Lawyers with John Kerry's presidential campaign are in Ohio on what they describe as a "fact-finding mission" after the Democrat's election loss to President Bush last week.
Dan Hoffheimer, the statewide counsel for the Kerry campaign, said they are not trying to challenge the election but are only carrying out Kerry's vow to make sure that all the votes in Ohio are counted.
"We want to help him live up to that promise in Ohio," Hoffheimer said Thursday.
Every voter concern will be checked out "for the purpose of reassuring the public that the election was accurate," he said.
In unofficial returns, Bush beat Kerry by 136,000 votes in Ohio.
Hoffheimer said the goal is to identify any voting problems and quell doubts about the legitimacy of the Ohio election being raised on the Internet. So far, no widespread mistakes or fraud has been uncovered, or was it expected, he said.
The Kerry campaign is asking local election officials about the number of absentee and provisional ballots, any reports of equipment malfunctions on election night and any ballots that still listed third-party challenger Ralph Nader as a candidate, Hoffheimer said.
Nader was removed from the ballot by Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell because of evidence of fraud in the circulation of petitions.
Dan Trevas, spokesman for the Ohio Democratic Party, which is working with the Kerry campaign, said the party also has not discovered major election problems.
"We're still keeping an eye open for anything at this point," Trevas said.
Understands the focus
Bob Bennett, chairman of the Ohio Republican Party, said he understands why some are still focused on Ohio, which ultimately gave President Bush the electoral votes needed to win re-election.
"The intensity in this campaign was so high on both sides," he said.
Bennett is less sympathetic for those who believe upcoming provisional ballot counts or other scattered problems with voting machines will reverse Bush's victory.
"Somebody's hoping for a miracle," he said.
One of the most popular online discussions about Ohio's election centers on a list on the Cuyahoga County elections board's Web page that makes its appear like 24 cities or villages had more votes cast than registered voters.
But the numbers also include absentee votes in congressional and legislative districts that overlap those cities. That overlapping makes the votes cast number wrongly look inflated, board director Michael Vu said.
"All the numbers are correct," Vu said. "You have to first understand what an absentee precinct is."
For example, for the tiny Highland Hills Village, the Web page shows the community southeast of Cleveland has 760 registered voters and had 8,822 votes cast.
When the absentee votes are subtracted, Highland Hills actually had 269 ballots cast.
Vu acknowledged the method is confusing, but said that's why the board posted a disclaimer on its Web site warning viewers not to count up votes in a city based on the ballots cast column.