Ohio Secretary of State trying to limit ballot access


Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell is trying to refuse thousands of new voters the right to cast a ballot in the upcoming election -- partially based on the weight of the paper their voter application is printed on. He is also in violation of federal law and the 14th Amendment by refusing to accept provisional ballots in most instances.

If this upsets you as much as it does me, go sign the Paper Stock Petition hosted by America Coming Together



The Dayton Daily News has the story:

Ohio Democrats took Republican Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell to court Monday, charging that he is trying to limit where some voters may cast their ballots in violation of the federal Help America Vote Act.

The lawsuit focuses primarily on a Sept. 16 directive from Blackwell to county boards of election and what it said about voters who move from one precinct to another within the same county, but don't update their registration with the address change.

The directive said that under Ohio law, these voters may update the address change at their new precinct on Election Day and cast a provisional ballot at that precinct. The vote would be counted when election officials verify the registration. According to the directive, if the poll worker determines the voter's address is not in the precinct where he or she shows up to vote, the poll worker must call the elections board and get the location of the polling place for the correct precinct for the voter.

The directive also said that before a poll worker provides a provisional ballot, the worker must confirm that the voter's address is within the precinct.

The lawsuit alleges the federal Help America Vote Act requires that states permit voters to cast a provisional ballot upon "affirmation" the voter is registered in the proper jurisdiction – county – and is eligible to vote in the federal election, even if the voter resides in another precinct.

more from The Dayton Daily News:

Democratic Franklin County Commissioner Mary Jo Kilroy said the provisional ballot restrictions hurt Democrats more because low-income voters, who tend to be Democrats, move more frequently than other voters.

In Montgomery County, Steve Harsman, deputy director of the county board of elections, said that in the past, the board counted so-called "wrong precinct" provisional ballots if they were cast at the wrong precinct through no fault of the voters. This would not be permitted under Blackwell's directive, he said. Harsman said that in 2000, about 840 so-called "wrong precinct" ballots were counted in Montgomery County, more than the 537-vote margin by which President Bush won Florida over Al Gore in the presidential election.

In a related development, (Blackwell spokesman) Carl LoParo appeared to defuse a second voting controversy, this one involving Montgomery County and a requirement in state law that voter registration cards be printed on thick, 80-pound stock paper.

Secretary of state employees are not the "paper weight police," LoParo said. He said employees would not go to county boards of election to check the paper weight of voter registration forms arriving in the mail. At a news conference here to announce the lawsuit, state Democratic Party Chairman Denny White said Ohio has a "secretary of state now that's purposely trying to take your right away from your vote and my vote of being counted.

The lawsuit requests that a judge declare Blackwell's directive to county boards of election in violation of federal law and that the secretary issue a new directive that complies with federal law.

Read the whole story here.

Posted: Wed - September 29, 2004 at 10:36 AM          

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