Criticisms Mount Over Ohio Election Chief

  
By ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS, Associated Press 06 October 2004

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Voter advocates are closely watching Ohio's preparations for the presidential election, worried that the secretary of state's instructions could lead to the kind of confusion and legal challenges that Florida went through in 2000.

The controversy surrounds Republican Kenneth Blackwell's recent orders about the type of paper required for mail-in voter registration cards and how election officials should deal with voters who go to the wrong polling place on Nov. 2 in this battleground state.

Advocates worry that Blackwell's instructions will confuse voters and poll workers.

"I don't know of any other time historically when there was anything comparable to this," said Bob Adams, a Wright State University political analyst. "We're still reacting to Florida and looking for the possibilities it could happen again."

At least one county is threatening to disregard part of the instructions, and Democrats and others have filed lawsuits.

Blackwell said his instructions were just reminders about existing state laws.

"I've been encouraging constructive criticism since February of 2001 when we started to embark on election reform in our state," he said. "These policies were in place then and we had no criticism, wild-eyed or constructive."

Both presidential campaigns prize the state's 20 electoral votes. Voter registration in Ohio is expected to reach about 7.7 million, above the 7.5 million mark in 2000, when President Bush won the state by 3.6 percentage points.

Blackwell initially told election boards that registration cards had to be printed on heavy, 80-pound paper stock, saying lightweight cards could be shredded by postal equipment.

After being criticized, he said boards should accept all forms, then send voters the proper card to fill out for the permanent record. Some boards said they would skip that last step and just accept all forms.

Voters might not be sure if they are properly registered, said Kay Maxwell, president of the League of Women Voters.

"There's plenty of room for confusion and when there's confusion, there's an opportunity for people to be disenfranchised and that's not what any of us want to see happen," she said.

Blackwell also ordered election boards to send voters who show up at the wrong polling place to their correct polling place instead of letting them cast a provisional ballot. Provisional ballots ordinarily are provided to registered voters who have moved but not d their registration. The ballots are set aside and then inspected to make sure they are valid. More than 100,000 provisional votes were cast in the 2000 election.

Officials in Cuyahoga County the state's largest said they will ignore Blackwell's order. On Tuesday, he told the board that failure to comply "will result in official action, which may include removal of the board and its director."

The Ohio Democratic Party sued, saying federal law allows voters to cast provisional ballots at any polling place in their home county. The Democrats said Blackwell's ruling disproportionately affects poor and minority voters, who tend to move more often. A ruling could come by Oct. 15.

On Tuesday, a coalition of unions and voter rights groups filed a similar lawsuit.

Blackwell said federal law allows states to set the rules for provisional voting, and Ohio law requires that ballots be cast in the correct polling place.

If the vote on Election Day is close, he said, "I anticipate there are some who will try to create a situation where lawyers are fussing at each other with a 70-year-old poll worker in between them."