Reply #23: Wikipedia on both topics

[Carolab]

In September 2004, Blackwell came under fire when his office directed Ohio's county election boards to strictly enforce a rule that requires voter registration cards to be printed on a certain weight of paper. Cards printed on lighter paper, such as newsprint or typing paper, are to be considered applications for a registration and a card is to be sent to that voter to be filled out again and resubmitted.

Democrats alleged that this rule was outdated in the era of computerization and served only to disenfranchise new voters. Blackwell also announced that persons who appeared at a polling place to vote but whose registrations could not be confirmed would be given provisional ballots (as required by the federal Help America Vote Act) if they applied for a provisional ballot in the correct precinct.

On Oct. 21, 2004, a U.S. District Court judge, who was adjudicating a complaint regarding Blackwell's decisions on provisional ballots, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provisional_ballot) stated in an order rejecting Blackwell's policy that "Blackwell apparently seeks to accomplish the same result in Ohio in 2004 that occurred in Florida in 2000."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Blackwell

Kenneth Blackwell has been accused of state-wide voter suppression in Ohio, including:

Failure to process voter registrations
Uneven voting machine allocation
Arbitrary and unreasonable exclusionary procedures in provisional ballot counting
(See 2004 U.S. presidential election controversy, vote suppression)
The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary has asked Kenneth Blackwell to explain irregularities in the Ohio election in two letters (pdf) (http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/ohblackwellltr12204.pdf) (pdf) (http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/ohblackwellfollowupltr12304.pdf), and requested his presence at a Public Congressional Hearing (pdf) (http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/ohvotinghrgadvisory12304.pdf). He did not attend the hearing, and he responded to the first letter, refusing to cooperate. (pdf) (http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/ohblackwellresp121404.pdf)

Kenneth Blackwell has been asked to recuse himself from the recount process in Ohio by:

Black Box Voting (http://www.blackboxvoting.org)
Common Cause
Alliance for Democracy (http://www.thealliancefordemocracy.org)
Move On (http://www.moveon.org)
Jesse Jackson
Thousands of U.S. citizens (http://www.commoncause.org/site/apps/ka/ct/contactus.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=251779&en=muKRK1PNLiJQI3PQIcLNK4MKJlI4JhOUIkLUJbO2IyG)
The People for the American Way (http://www.pfaw.org) foundation has filed a lawsuit against Kenneth Blackwell accusing him of implementing arbitrary and unreasonable procedures for the counting of provisional ballots. <1> (http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=17471) 2004 presidential candidate John Kerry has started a petition in support of this cause (http://www.johnkerry.com/petition/ballot.php).

2004 presidential candidates David Cobb and Michael Badnarik, represented by the National Voter Rights Institute (http://www.nvri.org), have filed a lawsuit against Kenneth Blackwell accusing him of stalling the Ohio recount and abusing his authority. <2> (http://www.votecobb.org/press/2004/dec/pr2004-12-02.php)

Keith Olbermann has interviewed Kenneth Blackwell regarding the 2004 U.S. presidential election controversy. (video) (http://video.lisarein.com/election2004/msnbc/11-29-04/)

He has also been asked a number of questions by reporters. (video, rm) (http://easylink.d2productions.net/votecobb/votecobb03.rm)

On December 11, 2004, Kenneth Blackwell was accused by volunteer election researchers/observers Joan Quinn and Eve Robertson of interfering with the transparent election process by illegally ordering the Greene County Board of Elections to "lock-down" all election records and remove them from the public domain, in direct violation of Ohio Revised Code Title XXXV Elections, Sec. 3503.26, which provides for all election records to be made available for public inspection. ORC Sec. 3599.161 makes it a crime for any Board of Elections employee to interfere with the public inspection of such records, and ORC Sec 3599.42 states that a violation of these provisions of the ORC shall constitute a prima facie case of election fraud. <3> (http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/121404Z.shtml) <4> (http://www.yuricareport.com/2004%20Election%20Fraud/OhioVoteFraudBattleHeatsUp.html)

On December 17, 2004, Senator John Kerry's and Senator John Edwards' state counsel for Ohio issued a letter to Kenneth Blackwell demanding an official investigation into voting machine tampering in Hocking County. (story) (http://rawstory.com/exclusives/kerry_1216.php) (letter, pdf) (http://www.miamedia.com/news/2004-12-15.mctigue.balckwell.letter.pdf)

On December 27, 2004, Kenneth Blackwell requested a protective order to prevent him from being interviewed as part of a court challenge of the presidential vote; fought a subpoena. (AP) (http://www.nbc4i.com/politics/4027481/detail.html) (AP) (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002132450_ohiovote28.html)(freepress) (http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2004/1046)


List of legal suits
Moss v. Bush <5> (http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/key-recounts.html#moss)
Beacon Journal Publishing Company, Inc. and Charlene Nevada v. J. Kenneth Blackwell and the Board of Elections <6> (http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/st-ohio-litigation-abc.html#beacon)
Lucas County Democratic Party et al v. Blackwell <7> (http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/eligibility_rules_lucas.html)
The Sandusky County Democratic Party v. J. Kenneth Blackwell <8> (http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/provisional-sandusky.html)
The Sandusky County Democratic Party v. J. Kenneth Blackwell <9> (http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/provisional-sandusky-app.html)
The League of Women Voters of Ohio et al v. Blackwell <10> (http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/provisional-lowv.html)
State ex rel. Essig et al. v. Blackwell (pdf) (http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/rod/newpdf/0/2004/2004-ohio-5586.pdf)
Miller et al v. Blackwell et al <11> (http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/eligibility_rules_lucas.html)
Spencer v. Blackwell <12> (http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/st-ohio-litigation-spencer.html)
Summit County Democratic Central and Executive Committee et al v. Blackwell et al <13> (http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/st-ohio-litigation-summit.html)
American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. et al v. Blackwell <14> (http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/st-ohio-litigation-abc.html)
State of Ohio Ex Rel. Matthew Wolf, et al. v. Blackwell <15> (http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/st-ohio-litigation-wolf.htm)
Sarah White v. J. Kenneth Blackwell and the Board of Elections of Lucas County, Ohio <16> (http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/st-ohio-litigation-white.htm)
Nader et al v. Blackwell <17> (http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/st-ohio-litigation.html#nader)
Schering v. Blackwell <18> (http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/key-litigation.html#schering)
Ohio Democratic Party v. Blackwell <19> (http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/key-litigation.html#schering)
Anita Rios et al v. Blackwell <20> (http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/key-recounts.html)
State ex. rel David Yost et al v. National Voting Rights Institute et al <21> (http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/key-recounts.html)

See Also
Election Results, U.S. Representative from Ohio, 1st District.
2004 U.S. presidential election controversy
2004 U.S. presidential election controversy, vote suppression

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Blackwell#Involvement_in_the_2004_U.S._presidential_election_controversy