A Maiden, a Dreamer, and a Crime

From the Associated Press:

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.

Given that there were-- shall we say?-- certain irregularities in the 2000 presidential election, and-- shall we say?-- a number of questions regarding the administration of the electoral process in Ohio in 2004, you might think that this story would be taking up as many minutes on news shows and inches in newspapers as the behavior of the judges on American Idol.

You might think that, but you'd be wrong.