Ohio -- 2 suits over provisional ballots
AP reports: The GOP sued Ohio over the ballots even before polls closed Tuesday.
The lawsuit demanded better ground rules for evaluating the ballots, and a guarantee that they could watch, alongside Democrats, as state officials prepare the provisional ballots to be counted.
Loparo said no changes in the rules are necessary. "We feel that we have clear, statewide standards for counting provisional ballots," he said.
Mark Weaver, an attorney representing Ohio Republicans, said the GOP told a federal judge that it thinks it can work with Blackwell's office on how to handle the ballots and that no court order is necessary for now.
A message seeking comment was left with Democratic party spokesman Myron Marlin.
The liberal-leaning Election Protection Coalition said its Internet and telephone hot lines logged 126 provisional-ballot complaints in Ohio involving voters not allowed to cast provisional ballots after not receiving absentee ballots, said Maria Blanco, executive director for the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, a coalition member. After a woman sued on behalf of voters who didn't receive absentee ballots on time, all were allowed to cast provisional ballots.
Whether the provisional ballots still to be counted affect the results matters less than whether the ballots were handled properly to begin with, Jon Greenbaum, director of the Voting Rights Project for the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights, a coalition member.
"We're thinking of voters being disenfranchised," Greenbaum said. "It's something we're going to look at." -- MLive.com: NewsFlash - Kerry's concession removes urgency to count provisional ballots