In August 2006, the King-Lincoln Bronzeville Neighborhood Association (and others) filed suit against Ohio’s former Secretary of State Ken Blackwell (and others) over “irregularities” during the 2004 election. (See BN-Politics and a pdf of the complaint.)
In April 2007, a federal court ordered Ohio’s 88 county election boards to preserve all ballots from the 2004 election, because they were key evidence in the lawsuit (see court order). State law required the counties to preserve the ballots for 22 months, and the court merely extended the period.
According to AlterNet, despite that court order, two thirds of Ohio's counties either lost or destroyed ballots from the 2004 election (Truthout).
Unless the judge opts to presume guilt on the part of the party who lost or destroyed the evidence, the King-Lincoln plaintiffs may have just lost their case -- and the public may have lost its opportunity to find out what happened in Ohio.
Frankly, I have no clue why those Ohio election officials failed to preserve the ballots. It's better to look incompetent than mal-intentioned, and I suspect that tampering with an election brings heavier criminal penalties than a contempt citation for blowing off a court order.
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