OHIO ACLU's punch-card suit to begin

It's unlikely a victory would remove the voting system before November.
CLEVELAND (AP) -- The hanging chad -- that much maligned product of punch-card voting -- is on its way to a court room in Ohio.
The American Civil Liberties Union has sued the state for sticking with the same elderly technology that bewildered many Americans during the 2000 presidential election. The trial, set to begin today, is the first in the nation, voting experts say.
The ACLU wants all punch-card ballots in the state removed before November, saying the system causes errors that lead to undercounting of minority group votes. But even a victory would be unlikely to bring change before this year's presidential election because there would be too little time to make a conversion.
Ohio is one of a handful of states that still use mostly punch-cards. The ballots are used in 69 of Ohio's 88 counties, representing nearly 73 percent of registered voters. In the 2000 presidential election, nearly 94,000 Ohioans had their ballots rejected.
Allegation
The ACLU argues that punch-card ballots are more likely to go uncounted -- because of problems such as partly punched, or "hanging," chads -- than votes cast with other systems, and that use of the ballots violates the voting rights of blacks, who mostly live in punch-card counties. The lawsuit claims the system violates the 14th Amendment, which guarantees due process and equal protection.
"They're claiming that the state has been denying the right to vote to African-Americans," said Rich Coglianese, an attorney defending the state. "It's our position that the state has not denied the right to vote to anybody, and the evidence will never be able to show that."
Lawsuits against several other states have been settled with agreements that punch-card ballots will be replaced. Ohio officials say they are working as fast as it can to replace punch-cards -- but problems with electronic voting technology have stalled the effort.
Florida fiasco
Punch-card balloting gained notoriety during the 2000 presidential election in Florida, where problems with the ballots led to 36 days of legal wrangling and recounts, until George W. Bush was declared the winner of the state, and thus the White House, by just 537 votes.
The Florida fiasco inspired Congress to appropriate $3.9 billion for an overhaul of the nation's voting systems, one that was to be fueled by technology promised by companies such as Ohio's Diebold Inc.
Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell led Ohio's efforts to get $133 million from that program, but he said earlier this month that three counties that were considering Diebold equipment cannot switch by November because tests revealed security problems.
Blackwell spokesman Carlo LoParo said Friday the agency hopes to have electronic voting that meets security requirements in place by 2005.