Supreme Court Rules Against Voters

Ohio Supreme Court Throws Out 1,000 Legitimate Voters

On Friday, the Ohio Supreme Court decided that the 1,000 provisional ballots in the U. S. House of Representatives Kilroy vs. Stivers race would not be counted. This was a Republican generated lawsuit that was a direct assault on the settlement that we made with the State of Ohio. The other 25,000 ballots will be counted today, but those individuals who did not sign the provisional ballot envelope will not be counted. They basically overturned our settlement with the State of Ohio on the counting of provisional ballots, and made a new rule that did away with a bunch of voters. The problem was that Franklin County had the voters fill out the envelopes themselves contrary to the Secretary of State's advice, while the other two counties in which Stivers and Kilroy were competing had the poll worker fill out the outside envelope. There was no dispute in the other two counties of Madison and Union counties, and they had long since certified their provisional ballots. Franklin County was still up in the air until Friday.

It is sad that the Supreme Court disenfranchised so many people. The Republicans who filed suit did not, in the end, get their candidate to win. With the counting of the other 25,000 provisional ballots, the Democratic candidate, Kilroy, prevailed by over 2,000 votes. In the end, the 1,000 disputed ballots did not matter, but it still is frustrating for these individuals to lose their legitimate vote.

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