Kick the Can Down the Road

Settlement in the Voting ID Case: No Hanging Chads

The Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless and the other groups suing to assure that those without identification would be able to vote entered into another temporary agreement for this election. We did not have enough time to set up a system in which a homeless person could go to a state agency and get free identification in the last week before the election. So, we did the next best thing: we were able to get an agreement on a uniform standard in counting the provisional ballots in Ohio. We will not have Hamilton County dismissing most of the provisional ballots while Madison County decides on their own strategy for counting ballots. After interviews of 20 Boards of Elections, our lawyers found wide disparity in the procedures for counting provisional ballots. There are still two outstanding issues which will be settled early next week, but otherwise the case will be kicked down the road until after the election. We did not drop the case, we compromised by receiving uniform standards.

The Secretary of State issued a directive to the local Boards of Elections under order from the federal court in Columbus. A person who became homeless in the last month will vote with a provisional ballot or those without identification will vote with a provisional ballot. This is not the best outcome, but at least we can be assured that those ballots will be counted. Unless the person votes in the wrong precinct on election day, they will have their ballot counted 10 days after the election. Every county will use the same standard for counting, and if there is a violation of the court order we can go back to federal court for relief.

I took two brothers down to court in Columbus on Thursday. Both recent veterans who found themselves homeless. Our plaintiff was a guy sleeping at Lakeside shelter who was waiting for his birth certificate and the money to get his identification. He had PTSD from some rough times in Baghdad in 2005-6, and wanted to vote on Election Day like every other citizen. He did not want to vote early or by mail. He wanted to go to a polling site as he had done in 2004 and cast his ballot for President. We could not assure that this veteran's ballot would be counted with all the disparity in counting provisional ballots. Because of the broad definition of "other government document" issued earlier this year by Secretary of State Brunner, and this settlement we know that his ballot will count.

If the legisltature does not take up some massive overhaul of the voting ID law, we may be back at the courthouse door. Right now, we got all that we could get. We are happy with the settlement, and our Iraq War veteran was happy with the results. We hope to have a smooth election, and we will not see the problems we saw in the 2004 election. It is Colorado or North Carolina's turn to mess up the voting process anyway.

Brian
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.