On July 11, the Summit County, Ohio District Attorney ruled that ballots are a public record. Therefore, declared write-in candidates who were told they got zero write-ins, are free to examine the ballots in their district, to see if elections officials corruptly refused to tally write-ins.

Elections officials had earlier refused to let the candidates see the ballots. They claimed that unless the candidates filed for recounts (which costs a lot of money) the ballots are not public records.

In Summit County, at the May 2, 2006 primary, 28 different declared write-ins candidates for party office were told they got zero write-ins. The candidates all voted for themselves and had friends who also say they cast write-ins, so the credibility of the elections officials is low at this point.