Big Ohio News
Brian October 14th, 2004
The Democrats were successful in forcing the Secretary of State, Ken Blackwell, to follow the "Help America Vote Act" provisions. Here is the Order released today from U.S. District Judge James Carr in Toledo (while I was there).
The purpose of the case was to have the Secretary of State Directive 2004-33 held to violate the Help America Vote Act of 2002, 42 U.S.C. §§ 15301, et seq. The Directive improperly required: (1) required voter eligibility to be determined on election day instead of at a later date; (2) limited provisional ballots to only people who had moved to new precincts; (3) failed to require un-listed voters be notified of the provisional ballot option; and (4) limited provisional ballots to voters who had not tried to vote at another precinct.
The effect of this Order will be, if a voter ends up at the wrong voting precinct, he or she can still cast a ballot for the federal races, and his or her eligibility to vote in Ohio can be determined at a later date. If the voter was an ineligible voter, his or her ballot will be discarded.
The plaintiffs (Democrats) only ask that the existing laws be interpreted properly by Secretary Blackwell.
