Ohio high court tosses 1,000 ballots in tight race
(AP) COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Ohio Supreme Court on Friday threw out about 1,000 provisional ballots that had been improperly filled out by voters in a tight congressional race.
In a 4-2 decision, the court struck down Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner’s directive that said the votes should be counted.
Voters had improperly filled out the outer envelope on the disputed ballots, which had been among about 27,000 left to be counted in the undecided 15th district congressional race between Republican Steve Stivers and Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy.
The decision allows Franklin County voting officials to count the other remaining provisional ballots, a process that had been on hold.
Justices said Brunner improperly instructed county elections officials to apply conflicting standards to election law by ruling that the votes should be counted, even though the envelopes failed to comply with legal guidelines set out before Nov. 4.
The disputed ballots contained various errors on the outer envelope, such as lacking either a signature or a name. Others had the signature or name written in the incorrect space.
Brunner spokesman Kevin Kidder said the elections chief issued clear directives on provisional ballots before the election, but that she agrees with the court that Ohio’s provisional ballot laws are inconsistent and must be updated.
Franklin County elections board spokesman Ben Piscitelli said the outstanding ballots would be tabulated Saturday afternoon and likely certified by early Monday.
Kilroy spokesman Brad Bauman and Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern criticized the court’s decision.
"The all-Republican Ohio Supreme Court has successfully disenfranchised more than 1,000 eligible, qualified Ohio voters by applying hyper-technical standards to deny their right to vote," Redfern said.
Stivers’ campaign manager, Mike Hartley, defended the signature requirement as important to prevent fraud.
"The signature requirement is the voter’s affirmation that they will not commit vote fraud, and has proven to be an essential tool for law enforcement to identify illegally cast votes," Hartley said.
With the provisional ballots uncounted, Stivers was leading Kilroy by 594 votes. The disputed ballots have dragged through the courts for a month since Election Day.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati ruled Nov. 25 that the state high court should decide the issue, vacating a ruling by U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley a week earlier in favor of counting the ballots.
Brunner’s directive laying out rules for disqualifying envelopes without a signature or printed name was adopted Oct. 24 as part of a federal court case. She later issued a separate order that prohibited provisional ballots from being thrown out if poll worker error might have occurred.
Brunner’s attorneys argued Friday that poll workers had an obligation to help voters properly fill out the envelopes _ an argument accepted by Marbley but rejected by the high court.
Two Ohio state legislative races are also in limbo awaiting the provisional ballot count.
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