Electoral fraud in the US

Everyone knows about the controversy over the 2000 US Presidential Election in Florida. But there were also concerns about the 2004 election, particularly in Ohio where Secretary of State Ken Blackwell filled multiple roles as the ultimate arbitrer of electoral processes, co-chair of the "Committee to re-elect George W. Bush", and Republican Gubnetorial candidate. These concerns have received little media coverage. And then you read something like this:

Two election workers were convicted Wednesday of rigging a recount of the 2004 presidential election to avoid a more thorough review in Ohio’s most populous county.

Jacqueline Maiden, elections coordinator of the Cuyahoga County Elections Board, and ballot manager Kathleen Dreamer each were convicted of a felony count of negligent misconduct of an elections employee. They also were convicted of one misdemeanor count each of failure of elections employees to perform their duty.

Prosecutors accused Maiden and Dreamer of secretly reviewing preselected ballots before a public recount on Dec. 16, 2004. They worked behind closed doors for three days to pick ballots they knew would not cause discrepancies when checked by hand, prosecutors said.

[...]

Ohio gave President Bush the electoral votes he needed to defeat Democratic Sen. John Kerry in the close election and hold on to the White House in 2004.

The prosecution stuck to what could be proved, and did not claim that this affected the outcome of the election. But thanks to these people, we'll never know. It's a clear example of how the US can't run an election properly, and why their practice of having partisans in charge of electoral arrangements at every level has to end.