Confusion Said to Create Invalid Ballots

[DoYouEverWonder]

February 22, 2005, 9:42 PM EST

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A large voter turnout and poll workers' confusion contributed to the invalidation of many provisional ballots cast in the Nov. 2 election, the president of the League of Women Voters said Tuesday.

In Ohio, 21 percent of provisional ballots were found to be invalid, compared with 13 percent statewide in the 2000 presidential election.

Nationally, 32 percent of provisional ballots cast in last year's election were thrown out. Most states were using them for the first time.

Last year, 5.7 million Ohioans voted, compared with 4.8 million in the 2000 election. Ohio was pivotal in the 2004 election. President Bush won the state by 118,000 votes, giving him the 270 electoral votes needed for re-election.

Provisional ballots are used when poll workers cannot immediately confirm if a voter is properly registered.

County boards of elections and poll workers had to wait until nine days before the election for a federal court to rule on a challenge to Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell's directive that provisional ballots would be valid only if voters cast them in the precinct where they lived.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-provisional-ballots,0,563907.story?coll=sns-ap-nation-headlines