Glitch in Ohio election law may mean some provisional votes get thrown out
2004-09-30
By Meghan Crosby
Athens NEWS Campus Reporter

Voters who are registered to vote in any Ohio county are eligible to cast a ballot in the precinct where they live using a provisional ballot, but a strict interpretation of state law may deny some a chance to weigh in on this year's elections.

In other words, provisional voters who vote at the right time but the wrong place will receive a ballot but may not have their votes counted.

Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell recently issued a ruling to all county election offices detailing exactly how provisional ballots should be handled. Ohio's approach will be one of the country's strictest ballots cast in the wrong precinct will not count.

According to the Help America Vote Act, a federal voting reform law passed in 2002, election officials must give a provisional ballot to any voter who claims to be eligible to vote in that area. But HAVA leaves the states in control of deciding exactly how to count provisional votes.

Other states that have precinct rules like Ohio's, namely Florida, currently have legislation in the courts challenging the rules as undermining HAVA.

Ohio's take on provisional ballots could have an impact on the voting rolls in Athens. The city of Athens is divided into four wards with 23 total precincts. If students or residents have changed their address and vote at a polling place outside of the precinct in which they live, they may not be counted.

Votes cast in the wrong precinct won't count for local elections, and in Ohio a misplaced ballot won't count in the state or federal elections either. This is the most contested part of the law.

Pennsylvania is another battleground state with strict voting regulations but even there a vote cast in the wrong precinct will still count in federal and statewide races, though not local contests.

Kathy Kyle, director of the Athens County Board of Elections, advises residents to find out exactly where they are supposed to vote in order to avoid error.

"If you don't go to your designated polling precinct, your vote might not count," said Kyle. "Don't be confused. If you're registered to vote at the Convocation Center, don't go to Baker Center."

To make things easier for students, who tend to use provisional ballots often in Athens, the city has established two provisional voting sites, and students don't have to wait until November to cast a ballot.

"Starting Oct. 5, if you haven't changed your address, you can come down to the Board of Elections to vote," said Kyle.

Baker Center has been designated as the provisional voting location on Nov. 2, and the Board of Elections will also be at Baker on Monday, Nov.1.

Students planning to vote with provisional ballots are encouraged to take advantage of the early voting period.

"We expect to have a lot of early voting in the county because it's really being promoted by the parties," said Kyle, who noted that the Athens County Democratic Party is especially pushing the provisional turnout.

In the 2000 election, early voting in the form of absentee ballots accounted for nearly 10 percent of all votes cast in Ohio. And the nationwide average for early voting in 2000 was even higher, at 14 percent. That percentage is expected to increase this year.

THE VOTING LANDSCAPE ACROSS the nation is quickly changing. Thirty-two states offer "no-excuse" early voting, where voters can vote early or by mail without providing a reason.

Voters in nearby West Virginia, also a battleground state in this year's presidential contest, can vote during an early "no-excuse" period to run from Oct. 13-30. During that time, West Virginians can cast ballots at their local courthouses.

Ohio does not yet allow general early voting periods.

Absentee ballots are, however, available in Ohio, although unlike no-excuse voting, absentee ballots are only granted for specific reasons such as old age or being out of the county on election day.

This week absentee voters became the first eligible to cast ballots in Ohio for the 2004 elections. But Ohio residents still have a few days left to register.

The cut-off date this year is this coming Monday, and last-minute voter registration efforts are well underway.

Kyle confirmed that this election is keeping the Athens County Board of Elections office on South Court Street busy.

"Compared to other presidential election years, we've had a rush earlier," she said. "There are also noticeably more registrations. We've ordered 40,000 forms and have about 5,000 left."

Kyle also reminded voters that the elections office recently underwent conversion to a new computer system that subsequently slowed down the processing of voter registration forms. So residents who have recently registered or changed their address should receive acknowledgment notices in the mail in the days to come.

Listed on the front of the post-card-sized notice is the registrant's ward, precinct, and most importantly his or her polling location.