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November 2008 |
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By MATT NICHOLS
Staff Writer
A former Wapakoneta law enforcement officer’s future is now in the hands of seven state Supreme Court justices.
Former Wapakoneta Police Chief Dave Harrison’s 6-year-old sex crime case reached the pinnacle in Ohio’s court system Wednesday, as justices heard arguments from Harrison’s attorney Dean Boland and state prosecutor Scott Longo.
Each party had 15 minutes to present their case to the justices. After both attorneys argued their cases, a single word in Harrison’s sentencing entry and a grilling delivered to Longo by justice Maureen O’Connor left Boland optimistic about his client’s future.
In June, 2003, Harrison plead guilty to a six-count bill of information after child pornography was found on his computer. After entering his plea, the man who served as police chief from 1988 to 2002 was sentenced to one year in jail.
Seven months after he completed his sentence, it was discovered by county prosecutors that Harrison should have been sentenced with an additional five years of mandatory post release control, or probation.
During a court hearing, Harrison was given the option to either be re-sentenced or withdraw his plea. Harrison chose the latter, taking things back to square one.
With the plea withdrawn, the state of Ohio slapped Harrison with a 23-count indictment which he was ultimately found guilty of and sentenced to six years in prison.
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Location change to secure votes |
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Thursday, 21 August 2008 |
County to find way to comply with voting directive
By KAREN CAMPBELL
Staff Writer
A new directive issued by the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office is changing where voting machines can be kept prior to election day.
In the past, election boards across Ohio sent equipment home with poll workers as early as the Saturday prior to an election so they could take the machines with them to polling sites the morning they are needed.
Auglaize County was one of those that sent equipment home with poll workers a couple days before the election for as long as officials can remember, the county Elections Board director said Wednesday, but the change won’t cost additional money or cause too many extra burdens on poll workers.
“We’ve never had the first problem with our machines and memory cards being home with the poll workers over the weekend and I would never anticipate it, but I understand the statewide perception of what if, and it only takes one,” Elections Board Director Carolyn Campbell said. “We haven’t ironed it all out yet, but we’ll get the logistics figured out before the election.”
Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner issued a directive Tuesday nixing the practice in which poll workers could store voting equipment in their homes, work places or automobiles before elections. The secure voting machine delivery instructions unveiled with the directive applies to all Ohio counties.
Counties are expected to receive financial assistance to implement the directive with funding distributed prior to the Nov. 4 presidential election, according to the Secretary of State’s Office.
The requirements draw on security practices developed with a bipartisan group of state and local elections officials, and extends those requirements to the critical days leading up to an election, Brunner said in a release.
She said her office is working to assist every county in its transition to securely delivering the voting equipment.
Brunner said her office plans to use federal funds to reimburse counties for use of tamper seals for machines, and transportation to secure locations as called for by the directive.
Election boards may develop regional locations within their counties for voting machines to be stored and dispensed on election morning to poll workers.
Documentation of bipartisan oversight of machine distribution also is required by the directive.
Campbell said she would be working with Elections Board members to determine the best alternate way to get the voting equipment where it needs to be on election morning.
“We could find other places to store it but then we have other issues,” Campbell said. “We’re not that big of a county, where it takes an hour and a half to get from one place to another. We’ll find a way to get the equipment to the 17 polling places.”
She said most likely poll workers or rovers would deliver the equipment to polling locations beginning at 5 a.m. to make sure it is all in place and able to be tested before voters begin casting ballots at 6:30 a.m.
While Brunner has faced some heat for issuing the directive three months prior to a presidential election, Campbell said it’s plenty of time to get the changes in place in Auglaize County.
“I’d rather have it now than two weeks ahead of the election,” Campbell said. “A lot of directives come down at this time.
“For us, we may be asking, (if this could happen) in Auglaize County, but we still need to have the measure in place,” she said of some directives geared more toward larger counties.
“We want Ohio’s voters and the rest of the nation to see that we have prepared a transparent process of transporting voting equipment, ballots and supplies,” Brunner said. “That begins with security practices at boards of elections and polling places, documented chain of custody, and now procedures to make secure voting machine delivery.”
The Secretary of State said because security best practices cannot be adequately documented or enforced when machines are transported and stored in poll workers’ homes, work places or vehicles, and because it places undue responsibility on poll workers, changes were needed.
Complex and sensitive voting equipment could be adversely affected by extreme temperatures and humidity, water damage, dust and unauthorized use.
According to voting machine manufacturers, equipment could fail to work correctly if exposed to those conditions.
Brunner has worked on other directives this year to make voting in Ohio more secure, particularly in time for the presidential election. More secure voting has been a goal since she took office in 2007. |
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Last Updated ( Friday, 22 August 2008 )
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