"Scandal" in Defiance! - 13abc.com Toledo (OH) News, Weather and Sports

"Scandal" in Defiance!

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The scandal begins in Defiance, Ohio. In the new hit TV show Scandal, Grant Fitzgerald is lagging in the presidential polls, so his supporters do the unthinkable. They switch out the memory card at the Defiance Board of Elections, and the votes go in Fitz' favor. The dirty secret begins to leak, but Olivia Pope and her team work to solve the problem.

However, the mayor says the real Defiance, Ohio is a great place to live, nothing scandalous about it at all. He tells 13abc about the moment he heard his county was on the prime time show.

"I thought 'Scandal?' Defiance, Ohio? We were mentioned? What is this?"

Mayor Bob Armstrong is now a big fan of the show. "It's just exciting to watch to hear our name mentioned," he says.

The Defiance Board of Elections doesn't resemble the Hollywood version, and county election officials point out other differences.

Pam Shroeder from the Board of Elections tells 13abc, "To hear your name every week, you just want to remind people it's fiction. It's not how we do it in Defiance County. We strive to be fair, honest and organized," she says. "To leave a memory card and not know where it is, we couldn't leave the office until we found that memory card." 

The Mayor of Defiance and election officials were not notified by the show and were taken by surprise when they're county was mentioned in the Thursday night thriller.

"I wish we could of filmed an episode here and used some of our sceneries that we have here," says Mayor Armstrong. "I'm pretty proud of our city. The picture they paint isn't the same as it is, but it's still great when they say Defiance, Ohio!"

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