The Tuesday April 20, 2010 regularly scheduled DARKE T.E.A. PATRIOTS Meeting was very informative, fairly well attended and accomplished the goals identified by the group since February 1, 2010. Our goal simply stated is, and has been, to be able to endorse a selected list of primary candidates. Of the sixteen speakers invited to participate in this process, nine candidates, or their designated representatives, actually made a presentation.
The vote took place and the winners are: Darke County Commissioner─Bob Robinson; State Senator(5th Dist.)─Joe LeMaster; State Representative (79th Dist.)─Richard Adams; Second District Court of Appeals─George B. Reynolds; Governor & Lt. Governor─John Kasich and Mary Taylor; Secretary of State─Jon Husted; Attorney General─Mike DeWine; State Treasurer─Josh Mandel; State Auditor─Dave Yost; U.S. Senator─Rob Portman; U.S. Representative (8th Dist.)─John Boehner; Chief Justice Supreme Court─Maureen O’Conner; Supreme Court Justice─Judith Ann Lanzinger.
Relevant (just maybe interesting) information about the election is presented to let the reader and the Active Members of the DARKE T.E.A. PATRIOTS know some statistics and a few colorful details. First, in order to cast a vote, the voter was required to be a qualified voter. This meant someone who has attended previous Darke T.E.A. Patriots meetings or a rally and expressed an interest in becoming a member as well as agreeing with our Mission and Policy Statements. It was someone to whom a membership card had previously been issued. The result was forty-three qualified voters and thirty-two non-qualified individuals. Four of these non qualified folks later expressed an interest in becoming a member of our group.
This procedure was established based upon a bit of paranoia, which seems to be justified, because a non- qualified individual attempted to obtain a ballot but was not successful. In that the ballot would not have had a valid number on it, the ballot would not have been counted in any case. There was a single secure source for the validation number. The reason for this system was to prevent a rumored attempt to influence this election in favor of a specific candidate by introducing non-member voters.
Dori Howdieshell placed all the ballots available in a basket and started the vote tally. Thomas Subler participated in the final vote tally plus a rapid audit of the process. Dori was not eligible to vote and based on past experience was selected because of her ability to accomplish a task conscientiously. Thomas was asked to perform the audit task because he is a trusted member of the DARKE T.E.A. PATRIOTS. An issue was raised during the actual vote counting regarding the individual doing the counting.
After the winners were announced, the Darke County Campaign Chair for the Seth Morgan effort strongly questioned the procedure of one person counting the ballots. This person questioned the results of the vote because there should have been at least two individuals involved in vote counting. She also said that the agenda said that the recommendations of the committee that met April 8 were supposed to have been presented before the actual vote.
Al Bliss lost it and told the women that she had an opportunity to furnish comments about the draft agenda and did not do so. He also said that he would not tolerate any further attacks on the person selected to count the votes or the individual that conducted the audit. A question is called for at this point. Is it possible that some of this conduct was as a result of a plan being thwarted?
Every ballot was subsequently examined and the ballot date was entered into a computer database. The results rapidly obtained by Dori Howdieshell and audited by Thomas Subler were confirmed.
As a result of the above effort, the endorsements that are listed as those of the Darke TEA Patriots are indeed those of the groups’ members and not a general public endorsement.
[submitted press release]
