Ohio Absentee-Ballot Requests at 1.46 Million and Counting

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Absentee-ballot requests at 1.46 million and counting

Tuesday, October 28, 2008 1:11 AM

By MARK NIQUETTE

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

A record 1.46 million Ohioans have requested absentee ballots so far for next Tuesday's election, Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner announced yesterday.

That includes 221,368 Ohioans who have requested in-person absentee ballots and 1.2 million who asked for mail-in absentee ballots as of last Friday.

This is the first presidential election in Ohio since the law changed to allow "no-fault" absentee voting without having to provide a valid reason. Officials hope the push for early absentee voting will help ease lines at the polls.

Brunner is predicting an 80 percent turnout of the 8.3million Ohioans registered statewide, or 6.6 million voters, and officials hope a third of that total will come from absentee votes.

Applications for absentee ballots by mail must be received by county boards of elections by noon Saturday, and absentee ballots may be voted in person at the boards until the close of business hours Monday (7 p.m. at Veterans Memorial in Franklin County).

Judge rules Ohio homeless voters may list park benches as addresses

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Judge rules Ohio homeless voters may list park benches as addresses
Tuesday, October 28, 2008 1:32 PM

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - A federal judge in Ohio has ruled that counties must allow homeless voters to list park benches and other locations that aren't buildings as their addresses.

U.S. District Judge Edmund Sargus also ruled that provisional ballots can't be invalidated because of poll worker errors.

Monday's ruling resolved the final two pieces of a settlement between the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless and Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner.

The coalition agreed to drop a constitutional challenge to Ohio's voter identification law until after the Nov. 4 election. In return, Brunner and the coalition agreed on procedures to verify provisional ballots across all Ohio counties.

The coalition was concerned that unequal treatment of provisional ballots would disenfranchise some voters.