Posted by Michael Earl Patton

Mr. John Williams
Director of Elections
Hamilton County Board of Elections

Dear Mr. Williams:

I notice that the “Certified Amended Official Results—Cumulative Report,” as listed on the BOE website http://www.hamilton-co.org/BOE, has some unexpected differences with the “Official Final Results—Cumulative Report” that had been posted until recently.  Some totals went up, while others went down.  There is no explanation that I can find on the website to explain the change or why they were amended in the first place.

Media accounts do report that over a hundred absentee ballots were found after the “Official Final Results” were posted, and in some instances the amended vote totals are consistent with that.  But not all instances.  For example, in my own case while running for Cincinnati City Council I picked up 5 additional absentee votes.  However, I also lost an in-precinct vote, so my net gain was only 4 votes.  How can I lose an in-precinct vote if absentee votes are added?

Even so, that is better than what happened to Joan Kaup, who lost 5 absentee votes and 2 in-precinct votes when the additional votes were counted, for a net loss of 7 votes.

And Joan Kaup, in turn, did much better than Cecil Thomas, who lost 13 absentee votes after the additional votes were counted.  His in-precinct total remained unchanged, but still how did he lose 13 votes after the additional votes were added?

The changes in vote totals range from +14 for Minette Cooper to -13 for Cecil Thomas.  Most of the changes occurred in the absentee count, ranging from +14 to -13 for the same two candidates (neither of them had any change in the in-precinct counts).  The in-precinct ones did not vary much, changing from +2 (Cole) to -3 (Qualls, Monzel, and Garry).

Surely you see my concern.  If I deposit additional money in my savings account I would not expect the net balance to go down.  Further, if John Doe were to deposit additional money into his savings account, that, too, should not make my balance go down.  But that seems to be analogous to what happened here.

Again, my questions are:

1. What is the difference between the “Official Final Results,” formerly on the website, and the “Certified Amended Results,” now on the BOE website?

2. Assuming the answer to question number 1 somehow involves counting additional ballots, how can that make the vote totals go DOWN?

Sincerely,

Michael Earl Patton

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