Life In the Battleground

Howard Fineman has an excellent article this week about "The Next Florida"and it highlights, of course- Ohio! As mirrors the national strategies, in Republicans are focused mostly on turning out their base, particular the religious right who did not come out in large numbers last time. They are hoping Bush's focus on faith and the presence of an anti-gay amendment will boost turnout among relgious voters. (Notice, I did not say "anti-gay marriage" because this goes much further, denying all forms of civil unions and domestic partnership arrangements. If this amendment passed and the omnipresent Mary Cheney lived here, and her 10-year partner was in a car accident- she could not visit her in the hospital. She would have no financial rights, no legal standing at all.) The Democrats are still focusing on swing voters, as evidenced my John Kerry's much-ballyhooed hunting trip here. At the Kerry booth at the Pumpkin Festival, the first thing they handed you was a picture of Kerry with gun in hand which said "John Kerry Will Protect Ohio." It has long been my opinion that most undecided voters have decided to fire Bush, but are not sure that Kerry will defend the country. Apparently the Kerry people agree, and are taking dead aim at this by showing Kerry taking aim down the length of a rifle.

Legally, it is a mess here. The issue over what to do with "provisional" ballots has divided even the courts. Let's recap quickly for our non-Ohio audience...so I, Scott Stuart, a registered voter decide to vote on Election Day. But I have lost/misplaced/did not get/ignored/whatever my voter registration. So, instead of going to the church on Sawmill Rd. I am supposed to go to, I go to the library. Once there, they check the rolls of voters and find out I am in the wrong place. Now, I am in a hurry to get to work so I fill out a provisional ballot anyway. What is supposed to happen is, as long as I am otherwise properly registered in Franklin County, they check out my information and then my ballot is counted. It is a mechanism designed for a) honest mistakes, and b) to avoid someone having to drive across town to vote if they moved or whatever. The problem is, number one this creates a lot more work for the already understaffed election officials, who have been swamped by new applicants this year. Number two this creates greater possibility of voter fraud, as I could be attempting to vote 20 times all around Columbus in an attempt to have my vote count more than once. (As they say in Chicago, vote early and vote often!)

As a response to this, the Secretary of State, Republican Kenneth Blackwell, sent out instructions to disregard these type of ballots. The Democrats filed suit in court and initailly won, only to have this decision reversed by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. So it looks like right now, these ballots will not count. But here is the best part- provisional ballots will not be counted until 11 days past Election Day! As Blackwell says in the article "That could be the ballgame here- provisional ballots from new registrants." New voters are the most likely to have this problem, and most new registrants are Democrats this year. The upshot of this is, if Kerry wins on Election Day- and it appears to be trending very slightly that way, this issue will more likely fade away. If Bush wins close, and the Democrats believe these ballots would turn this around, look out, this will be in court for quite a while. Would we really want an election decided because I went to the school and not the church, so my vote did not get counted?

What a mess. I cannot wait for all the lawyers to descend and for the media frenzy to start...