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Public records obtained are beginning to show questionable activity in regards to voting in the last Lakewood Mayoral election that took place last November. Public voting records are showing at least one 114 year-old individual voting, another person voting from a vacant lot, and another person voting from an address that is non-existent.
See excerpts from public voting records below. Most last names and most house addresses of individuals have been redacted (unless necessary to show evidence):
1214 Gladys Vacant lot.jpg (194.7 KiB) Viewed 2615 times
Column L on the far right shows who voted in the last mayoral election. The bottom voting record shows someone named James voting in that last mayoral election from 1214 Gladys Ave. I have verified that no house, residence, or building exists at 1214 Gladys. It is a vacant lot and has been for several years. Next:
Elbur 1902 Vote.jpg (107.49 KiB) Viewed 2615 times
This voting record shows a lady named Kathryn voting both in the last primary and the last 2015 mayoral election. According to the record, Kathryn was born in 1902. This would have made her 112 or 113 years old at the time of the 2015 mayoral election. I have a hard time believing Kathryn is still alive. Next:
14608 Detroit vote.jpg (192.15 KiB) Viewed 2615 times
This alleged person named Thomas voted both in the March 2016 primary election as well as the last mayoral election in 2015. This record shows Thomas as voting from 14608 Detroit Ave. According to several public records sources, no such address exists. This would be right where the Center North is. The addresses jump from 14600 to 14650. There is no 14608 Detroit Ave. Thomas is also listed with the Ohio Secretary of State as living at 14608 Detroit Ave. How well are they screening these addresses?
This is only a few instances of possibly questionable activity that I have discovered. It is very likely that more will be found.
I also just found this, someone voting from 15802 Detroit Ave. Through several searches I have found 15800, 15806, and 15808 Detroit, but not a 15802. Another non-existent address?
15802 Detroit vote.jpg (179.08 KiB) Viewed 2575 times
I am really tired of seeing the character assassinations going on in many of Ms. Allen's post. So much of what she shares on here are misguided, misinformed, sometime outright wrong, and fueled by paranoia.
I get that our elected representatives are public officials who should expect some level of public criticisms or attacks, but this is ridiculous. This isn't the first time- one, for recent example- exposing private citizen's personal info or Attacking business people who contribute to our community like the owner of Alladins?
Are there not rules and standards for stuff like this being posted on the site? This is wrong. Don't ask her to reconsider. Mods should delete it. And this continued behavior should not be encouraged or ignored, as I've seen thus far. Speak out on this bs. It is not ok.
Are there not rules and standards for stuff like this being posted on the site?
No, there are not rules or standards, well at least ones that are regulated. And do t even think that moderators are involved, they are not. Plus the bonus, if you press the button to report a thread Jim comes on here and calls you a complainer. So much for privacy. Maybe that is why they do not frown on the examples of privacy you mentioned.
Corey Rossen
"I have neither aligned myself with SLH, nor BL." ~ Jim O'Bryan
Wow! I've never seen such an angry reaction to PUBLIC information being posted.
This is what I have to say on the matter:
How do you think those political telephone surveyors get your phone number, political party, etc.? PUBLIC records.
How do you think canvassers know what houses have registered voters and what party they are? PUBLIC records.
Voting records - PUBLIC record.
Tax records - PUBLIC record.
Real estate records - PUBLIC record.
Mortgage documents - PUBLIC record.
House deeds - PUBLIC records.
Mortgage release documents - PUBLIC record.
Hence the term, PUBLIC. You don't have to be a super-sleuth, spy, or government operative to access this information. There are some people that choose not to own property or register to vote because they don't want their information to be found through PUBLIC records. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that people can look up property you own or how you vote. It is PUBLIC record.
I don't recall anything in the Deck's TOS regarding the posting of PUBLIC records. Perhaps I missed that clause. If someone would like to clear this up, that would be great. What happened to "don't let anyone tell you what to say or post?"
Keep sending the arrows. I will not stop the posting of PUBLIC information to expose questionable activity. I stand behind everything I post, and will continue to do so. If a few people don't like PUBLIC information being posted, so be it.
This thread has been derailed from the real issue. Why are people voting from apparently non-existent addresses? Why are 114 year-old people who are likely dead voting? Why is someone voting from a vacant lot? These are legitimate questions that I would like answered. I will continue to update this as time allows.
Again, the thread is being derailed. The real issue here is that, according to public records, there are individuals voting illegally or improperly. Who is to say these people voting at these non-existent addresses even exist?
No worries, I have already turned this seemingly questionable activity in to the proper channels.
Dan Alaimo wrote:Public records are one thing, but unnecessarily naming people is something else. There are other ways to handle this. I'm uncomfortable with it.
Be careful, Jim may call you a whiner for saying you are uncomfortable with something on the Deck. Freedom of speech is selective here.
Corey Rossen
"I have neither aligned myself with SLH, nor BL." ~ Jim O'Bryan
I’m going to take another stab at this question. I spent an hour last night preparing a lengthy response to Lori’s questions that got lost somewhere in the internet.
Lori, the most basic of American rights is the right to vote. Ohio election law is designed to protect this most basic right. Courts have repeatedly ruled that no obstacles should stand in the way of this freedom and cannot be impaired or infringed in any manner.
To protect the election security, yet allow access to vote, the state has established an election process. The most critical process is the registration of voters and assuring that each voter votes once and only once. And herein lies the confusion. Do not confuse CASTING a ballot with having your ballot COUNTED. How does this happen? Sometimes voters send in their voter registration cards with missing or inaccurate information. This is why the election system has “provisional” ballots. The voter is allowed to CAST a vote but their ballot is put aside until their information can be verified. If it can’t be verified, their vote is NOT COUNTED.
Hence, it is CAST, but not COUNTED.
Lori, during my career I formerly managed the Democratic Party Board offices downtown and among other duties, assisted virtually every local, state and federal candidate in answering election related questions. Having said that, I am not a spokesperson for the Board of Elections or Secretary of State, nor do I offer myself as such….election laws and procedures change.
In my experience in each election literally hundreds of CAST provisional ballots are thrown out and not COUNTED.
Now as far as the 110 year olds, the computer requires some data be entered in each field. If the registrant failed to enter DOB, the Board personnel enters 01-01-1901 so the registration can be entered into the voter logs. Once again, if the voter cannot verify their correct DOB, the voter is ruled ineligible and their vote is not counted.
Now I heard Rudy Guiliani rambling on about dead people voting. Are their dead people on the voting roles? Yes. Why, because dead people often fail to notify the local Board of Elections that they are dead. Talk about irresponsible!
Anyone familiar with the system will readily admit there are problems. Keep in mind, most of us live relatively stable lives. But voters include mentally challenged people, Alzheimer’s victims, stoke victims, nursing home residents, drug addicts, wheel chair bound veterans in the VA. etc. In short, everyone properly registered is entitled to vote….in America, we would have it no other way.
But some people get confused and vote twice, once absentee and once at the polling place because as one senior said, “it was such a nice day, I wanted to get outside”. Or they moved into an apartment and were unsure whether to vote at their previous residence or at their new residence.
My experience shows that about 40 instances of double voting occur in Cuyahoga County each election. This out of 750,000 registered voters. Most are confused seniors or sometimes a college student who may have voted away at school and mistakenly also at home.
The system has built in security. The Ohio election system is a kind of Noah’s Arc.....two of each species. By law there is one Republican and one Democrat for everything the local Board of Elections does. If there are ten employees counting absentee ballots, five must be Democrats and five must be Republicans. What better security and oversight? The Board itself has two Republicans and two Democrats. This in each Ohio county. If the Chair of the Board is a Republican, the Director of the Board must be a Democrat and the Deputy Director a Republican, alternating so on and so forth to assure there is equal oversight. Does an occasional improper vote get through the system? Yes, no doubt. But for there to be any widespread vote fraud or a conspiracy that could affect the outcome of an election, it would take literally hundreds of employees of the Board of Elections, both Democrats and Republicans, to pull it off. This would be highly unlikely if not totally impossible.
On the documents Lori posted, all I see are street names with almost all the addresses blacked out. Last names are also blacked out.
If I look at the lists, I see random first names and a street name, not enough to really identify a particular person unless one undertook some additional Googling. So, it doesn't seem like some egregious "outing" of anyone.
Fact is, as much as you might not like it, it is public information that anyone has access to. Just like if you have a mortgage, or not. Or filed for divorce. There's lots of information available that you might consider "private," but the state considers it public. FWIW, Those records ARE public and anyone can view them.
Thanks very much for your thoughtful and detailed response. It is appreciated, and thank you for your service on Lakewood City Council and as Lakewood Mayor.
While your response was helpful, I still have some concerns, especially in regards to the non-existent addresses. Specifically the fact that these individuals are registered at non-existent address both at the county and secretary of state's level. In my opinion, these voters need to be removed from the roll and be made to re-register with a legitimate address.
All,
No worries, an investigation is underway. Everything should come out in the wash.
Thanks for weighing in. Your response really was helpful in understanding how and why those records might appear as they do, yet assures that safeguards are in place to prevent errors.
