Changes already being made in the way elections are run

While it would have been instructive to hear all the details surrounding former Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell’s mishandling of the 2004 presidential election that made the state the butt of national jokes, the settlement of a federal lawsuit filed by the League of Women Voters of Ohio is the proper course of action.

A full-blown trial would have cost Ohio millions of dollars — at a time of a deepening state budget crisis. The lawsuit was filed by the league in 2005 alleging that Blackwell, along with then Gov. Bob Taft, and their predecessors had failed to protect the fundamental rights of eligible Ohio voters to cast a “meaningful” ballot.

The results of the 2004 presidential election were called into question because thousands of voters were disenfranchised due to poor planning and failure to anticipate problems at the polls. The shortage of voting equipment in many key polling places in urban centers led to the charge that Republican President George W. Bush had an unfair advantage. There were suggestions from Democrats that the president was helped by having a Republican as secretary of state. Blackwell had served as Bush’s campaign co-chairman. He has consistently denied that his office did anything wrong and has shrugged off charges of incompetence or worse.

But the league of women voters made it clear from the time it filed the lawsuit that the intent was to fix a “broken election system that was preventing people from having their votes counted.”

The current secretary of state, Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat, said she was in favor of settling the suit because as of May of this year, attorneys fees had hit the $5 million mark. Had the case moved forward, the bill would have grown. The state is required to pay $450,000 of that amount, in addition to the money it has spent responding to the lawsuit.

Back-up paper ballots

As part of the settlement of this case, the state will now be required to have back-up paper ballots to help alleviate long lines on Election Day; conduct training sessions for poll workers; make available reference guides for poll workers to promote uniformity in the administration of elections throughout the state; and develop post-election audits to help verify the vote count on Election Day.

Brunner has already launched major initiatives to ensure that the problems of 2004 are not repeated and she won high praise nationally for the way the presidential election was conducted in Ohio last year.

“The agreement reached represents the best interests of Ohio voters and guarantees careful planning, evaluation and oversight of the process that will provide greater access to the election process,” said Peg Rosenfeld, elections specialist for the League of Women Voters of Ohio. “It is our hope that it restores public confidence in our elections process.”

To her credit, Secretary of State Brunner has been brutally honest about the mess she inherited from her predecessor. She has not pulled any punches and has worked closely with the governor and the Ohio General Assembly to implement changes that have been long overdue.

Election reform is on the legislature’s agenda, but as we noted last month, the Republican controlled Senate would be doing the people of Ohio a disservice by developing a reform package without the participation of the secretary of state. The House is controlled by the Democrats, who have worked closely with Brunner.

The settlement of the lawsuit does not mean the League of Women Voters will go away. State government will be closely monitored to ensure that the changes sought will be adopted.