CLEVELAND — Three county elections workers conspired to avoid a more thorough recount of ballots in the 2004 presidential election, a prosecutor told jurors during opening statements of their trial Thursday. Witnesses testified that, two days before a planned recount, selected ballots were counted so the result would be determined. ‘The evidence will show that this recount was rigged, maybe not for political reasons, but rigged nonetheless,’ Prosecutor Kevin Baxter said. ‘They did this so they could spend a day rather than weeks or months’ on the recount, he said. Elections have fallen under greater scrutiny since the 2000 presidential election when recounts of paper ballots in Florida dragged on for weeks and the U.S. Supreme Court became involved. Defense attorneys said in their opening statements that the workers in Cuyahoga County didn’t do anything out of the ordinary. ‘They just were doing it the way they were always doing it,’ said defense attorney Roger Synenberg, representing Kathleen Dreamer, a ballot manager. Charged with various counts each of election misconduct or interference are Jacqueline Maiden, the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections’ coordinator, who was the board’s third-highest ranking employee when she was indicted last […]