October 5, 2004

Ohio Officials To Defy Law Meant to Reduce Voter Fraud

From today's Cleveland Plain Dealer comes yet another report of a Democratic voting official planning to defy the law in regards to identifying prospective voters and verifying their eligibility:

Cuyahoga County election officials said Monday they will give provisional ballots to every voter who asks for one on Election Day, defying a controversial order from Secretary of State Ken Blackwell.

This puts the county at odds with Blackwell, the state's chief election official, who said last month that provisional ballots must not be given to voters who appear at the wrong precincts or polling locations.

Provisional ballots are special ballots for voters who believe they are registered, though their names do not appear on the voter rolls. The ballots are set aside on Election Day so local officials can determine later whether the voters are truly registered.

Blackwell, a Republican, said he's merely repeating a state law that says all ballots must be cast in the correct precincts - a law shared by 27 other states. Until now, he said, no one had complained that the provisional rule conflicted with federal law.

"We depend on election officials to adhere to the law," Blackwell said. "My job is to make sure there are no unreasonable barriers, and that we don't open up our system to widespread fraud."

Blackwell said poll workers must do their best on Election Day to steer voters to the proper voting location, rather than hand out provisional ballots. HAVA says state law decides when a provisional vote counts, so even if more provisional ballots are cast, they still won't count if they're cast in the wrong precinct.

If you spot a news story about suspected voter fraud in your part of the country, please send me the link and a brief summary to voterfraud-at-gmail.com.