warning Hi, we've moved to USCANNENBERGMEDIA.COM. Visit us there!

Neon Tommy - Annenberg digital news

Ohio's Provisional Ballot Order Criticized By Voter Advocates

Tricia Tongco |
November 4, 2012 | 9:49 a.m. PST

Executive Producer

Ohio's last-minute ballot order could prevent votes from being counted in the critical swing state. (Flickr/Creative Commons)
Ohio's last-minute ballot order could prevent votes from being counted in the critical swing state. (Flickr/Creative Commons)
Voter advocates are criticizing a last-minute order limiting which provisional ballots are counted in Ohio just days before the election.

Ohio Secretary of State John Husted issued the directive on Friday, which includes a form that puts the burden on the voter to correctly record the form of ID provided to election officials. Husted also instructed election officials that if a voter does not fill out the form correctly, the ballot should not be counted.

Voting rights advocates have filed a lawsuit based on the belief that the order is contrary to a recent court decision and to Ohio law, which requires election officials to record the ID provided by the voter.

According to the Associated Press, union lawyers said the order "wrongly puts the burden of recording the form of ID used on a provisional ballot on voters, not poll workers," and increases the changes that votes would be rejected for inaccuracy on the form.

Judge Algenon Marbley gave Husted until Monday to respond, and the matter is not expected to be resolved before the election day. But Marbley hinted that he would rule before Nov. 17, when provisional ballots would begin to be counted in Ohio.

The Atlantic is calling Ohio’s provisional ballot order “the biggest legal story of the weekend.” It is probably the most direct evidence yet that Ohio will be counting its provisional ballots for days or even weeks past Tuesday, resulting in a great deal of anxious vote counting after Election Day. The directive is also a reminder if the election comes down to Ohio, it may be weeks – and one judicial hearing after another – before the country has an answer.

This is not the first time Husted has made news for trying to limit voting in the crucial swing state. He has sought to limit voting hours and expunge likely Democrats from the voting rolls.

In September, the Los Angeles Times reported on a speech Husted gave to a Tea Party group:

“I get a little frustrated when I hear some folks use terms like ‘Jim Crow’ and ‘voter suppression’ and ‘disenfranchisement’ when it comes to Ohio elections,” Husted told the tea party members. “No responsible person can hear about how easy it is to vote in Ohio and think that it’s hard to vote in Ohio, wouldn’t you say?” The crowd applauded.

Reach Executive Producer Tricia Tongco here and follow her on Twitter.



 

Buzz

Craig Gillespie directed this true story about "the most daring rescue mission in the history of the U.S. Coast Guard.”

Watch USC Annenberg Media's live State of the Union recap and analysis here.

 
ntrandomness