Blackwell's Advisory on Voter ID
The Cleveland Plain Dealer recently published this story on an advisory issued by the office of Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, that has some voting rights advocates very upset. The advisory (Advisory No. 2006-05) was issued on June 5, 2006, to implement the provisions of Ohio's new comprehensive election administration bill, Sub HB 3.

What's got advocates in an uproar is Blackwell's written instruction to county boards of elections, on how to implement Ohio's new voter identification requirement. As of this year, Ohio requires all voters to provide some proof of their identity in order to cast a regular ballot. Though photo ID is not required, an Ohio driver's license should be accepted as proof of identity whether or not it has the voter's current address. On the other hand, non-photo ID -- such as a utility bill, bank statement, or government document -- must have the voter's name and current address in order to be considered valid. The Ohio ID requirements are set forth in greater detail in this new eBook entry.

The trouble with the advisory, according to voting rights advocates, is that it says that voters' identification must provide a current address, even if it's photo ID. I think they've got a legitimate beef. Here's the language from Blackwell's advisory (which appears at p. 8):

The form of identification that may be used includes the voter's current and valid photo identification card, military identification, copy of utility bill, bank statement, paycheck, government check, or government document showing the voter's name and current address. (Emphasis added)

As written, the highlighted language seems to apply to all the listed forms of identification. But in fact, a voter whose driver's license has her former address should be able to cast a regular ballot under Ohio law. The advice that the Secretary of State has given is therefore incorrect. At best, it is misleading.

This could turn into a real problem, if the Secretary of State doesn't take adequate steps to correct this advisory. According to the Plain Dealer, of 27 boards of election surveyed, "11 said voters who show up with ID that doesn't match their address in the poll book will have to vote by provisional ballot."

The Plain Dealer reports that the Secretary of State's office has sent a clarifying email to the boards of election. Even if that email provided correct information, that's not sufficient. The advisory with the misleading information is still out there, and may mistakenly be relied upon by voters, advocates, the media or, worst of all, poll workers seeking to understand the new (and very complicated) requirements of Ohio election law.

Though voting rights advocates claim this incident proves that Blackwell is out to suppress the vote, I'm willing to accept the explanation that this was an honest mistake ... at least provisionally. The problem is that an email to county boards of election isn't sufficient to correct this mistake. If it was indeed an honest error, then Blackwell's office should be willing to publish a new advisory -- available for everyone to see -- correcting the mistake in his first one. - posted by Dan Tokaji @ 2:58 PM