Posted: November 6, 2008

OH-15 depends on provisional & other uncounted ballots

According to this Dispatch report, the Republican candidate's lead in ballots counted so far has narrowed to 146.  In addition to an unknown number of provisional and absentee ballots that remain to be counted, there are also an estimated 5000 absentee ballots with problems that voters are entitled to fix by Nov. 14.  Meanwhile, a separate Dispatch article discusses the possibility that as many as 35,000 Franklin County voters may have been erroneously required to cast provisional rather than regular ballots.  A large part of Franklin County lies within the 15th congressional district, so that these ballots potentially could affect its outcome.  Also, a legal dispute over the procedures for counting provisional and other questionable ballots is pending in federal district court, as a result of a consolidation Tuesday of two separate lawsuits:  NEOCH v. Blackwell and ORP v. Brunner.  It took weeks to resolve the 2006 election over this congressional district, and the fight this year may be similarly protracted--although the initial margin of victory is ten times smaller this year than last time.