[Urban vote suppressing techniques -- reminiscent of the Florida
�butterfly ballot� -- continue in the �urban� counties of
Ohio. Diane]
Layout Confuses Some Ohio Absentee Voters
CONNIE MABIN
Posted on Wed, Oct. 20, 2004
Associated Press
CLEVELAND - Absentee voters in the most populous county of a critical
state in the presidential election are complaining about a ballot layout
that they say might prompt some people to choose the wrong candidate, or
none at all.
Another voting issue was left in limbo for Ohioans Wednesday when a
federal judge rejected Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell's latest
order on how to handle people who try to vote in the wrong precinct. The
dispute means election boards may receive two sets of orders as they wait
for an appeals court to rule.
The absentee voting problem in Cuyahoga County occurs when voters align
the ballot portion, which shows a candidate's name, a number and an
arrow, with the punch card, which also bears numbers. The pieces are
designed to align in the voting machines used on Election Day, but the
numbers don't always line up for people voting absentee.
The elections board in the traditionally Democratic county has fielded
numerous calls from voters confused about the layout of absentee
ballots.
The county, which includes Cleveland, is receiving more than 2,000
requests for absentee ballots every day. Both presidential campaigns have
focused on the county in a state both candidates consider crucial to
what's expected to be a close election Nov. 2.
If absentee voters cast their vote by trying to line up the arrow with
the punch card, they could punch the wrong number.
"It's incredibly confusing," said Aaron Greenspan, a
21-year-old absentee voter from Shaker Heights. "Every day that goes
by, more people are going to send in these ballots and more of them are
guaranteed to be wrong."
Absentee voters are supposed to ignore the arrows and punch out the chad
that matches the candidate's number, Jacqueline Maiden, a coordinator
with the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, said Wednesday.
Maiden said the same ballot system has been used for previous elections,
and that officials may be getting more calls from confused voters because
many people who have requested absentee ballots have never voted
before.
The instructions tell absentee voters to punch the corresponding number
but don't specifically say to disregard the arrows.
In the statewide voting issue, U.S. District Judge James Carr of Toledo
rejected an order from the secretary of state in which voters would be
informed their entire ballot could be thrown out if they vote in the
wrong precinct.
Carr gave Blackwell a revised order in which voters would be told that
only their ballots for federal races - including the president - will be
counted if they vote in the wrong place. Election boards may soon receive
both versions of the order as Ohio waits for a ruling from the 6th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals.
Democrats sued after Blackwell, a Republican, issued his first order last
month saying voters would not be allowed to cast a vote unless they were
in their correct precinct.
Blackwell says allowing voters to cast a ballot wherever they show up,
even if they're not registered to vote there, is a recipe for Election
Day chaos.
Democrats say the order could restrict the number of poor and minority
voters, who move more often.
