Critics Worry About 2000 Election Flashback in Ohio

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Provisional ballots could be the hanging chads of the 2004 presidential election, say critics of Ohio's guidelines for handling those votes.

Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell recently issued a directive to county election officials saying they are allowed to count provisional ballots only from voters who go to the correct polling location for their home address. Blackwell has ordered that if residents go to the wrong precinct, poll workers must find their correct precinct and tell them where to go, Blackwell's spokesman Carlo LoParo said.

They also may cast provisional ballots at their county election board. Provisional voting allows properly registered voters to cast ballots even when their names don't appear on registration rolls because they moved or they were left off. "It has a potential of being a very big issue, and how we train and how we prepare for it will dictate how we handle the situation,'' said Michael Sciortino, president of the Ohio Association of Election Officials and director of the Mahoning County elections board.

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