WASHINGTON, Del., Dec. 6 (UPI) -- The chairman of the Democratic National Committee says Democrats will "spend whatever it takes" on a comprehensive study of election practices in Ohio.
"We owe it to the people who waited hours to vote, who voted for the first time or have voted in every election to understand what happened and what can be done in the future to ensure every voter's rights are protected," said DNC head Terry McAuliffe.
McAuliffe cited a litany of complaints, mostly in minority communities, of citizens waiting hours in line to vote on Election Day and of numerous reports of problems with machines and provisional voting.
Experts from the Voting Rights Institute and the state and national Democratic parties will assemble a team of recognized election, computer, polling and political science experts to investigate the Ohio vote, won by President George W. Bush by roughly 119,000 votes.
"We're come a long way since Florida in 2000, but we still have work to do," McAuliffe said.
A full report is expected in Spring 2005.
