MAHONING VALLEY State senators want Blackwell to resign

The secretary has no intention of resigning.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Two Mahoning Valley state senators are calling on Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell to resign, saying he is making partisan decisions to help President Bush win the key battleground state.
The allegations are nothing but partisan nonsense, and the secretary has no intention of stepping down, said Carlo LoParo, Blackwell's spokesman.
State Sens. Robert F. Hagan of Youngstown, D-33rd, and Marc Dann of Liberty, D-32nd, said it is Blackwell who is playing partisan politics, and should resign.
Their reasons
The two senators say a number of incidents led to the call for Blackwell, a Republican planning to run in 2006 for governor, to quit his post.
The two main incidents are:
UBlackwell's Sept. 16 directive to order county boards of elections to not permit people to cast provisional ballots if they show up at the wrong polling location. Instead, the directive states poll workers have to call the election board to find the correct polling location for the voter and inform that person of the location. The Ohio Democratic Party is suing Blackwell to permit provisional voters to cast ballots at any polling place. Provisional voters are those who moved within 30 days of an election.
UBlackwell's Sept. 7 directive to county election boards to not accept voter registration forms on nothing lighter than heavy stock paper. Blackwell revised that directive Wednesday, allowing registration forms to be on any kind of paper.
'Attempts to confuse'
"These are calculated attempts to confuse voters," Hagan said. "If he can confuse enough voters as possible in a close race, he's going to turn it into a Republican victory. People who registered are so confused, and don't know if they're properly registered and can vote."
Dann said the state needs an impartial person as its chief election official, and Blackwell isn't that person.
LoParo said the two senators don't know what they're talking about. Blackwell is simply following long-standing election rules, and even loosened up the provisional voting policy. If someone receives the wrong ballot in a split precinct -- for example, one that includes portions of two school districts -- it will still be counted, something that hasn't been done in the past, LoParo said.
"These are partisan exaggerations to gain publicity," he said.
As for the heavy stock paper, LoParo said, Blackwell's office consulted with U.S. Postal officials to make sure flimsier paper won't be damaged in the mail. Blackwell doesn't want to deny voter participation so he waived that provision.
skolnick@vindy.com