Elections chief seeks end to ballot order

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

Ohio’s elections chief wants to see a judge’s order requiring the state to count certain flawed provisional ballots thrown out.

In a filing Friday, Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted said the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling last week made the consent decree unnecessary and it should be vacated.

The decree requires election officials to count votes cast provisionally using the last four digits of a voter’s Social Security number then made defective by poll worker error.

A spokesman for Husted said the ruling set broader rules requiring provisional ballots to be counted.