Cincinnati Enquirer
Ohio's nightmare voting scenario
ENQUIRER EXCLUSIVE: Provisional ballots might put a kink in Election Day
by Barry M. Horstman

Oct 25, 2012 

A new Ohio program intended to make voting easier could keep the presidential election in doubt until late November if the national outcome hinges on the state’s 18 electoral votes. 

Under Secretary of State Jon Husted’s initiative to send absentee ballot applications to nearly 7 million registered voters across Ohio, more than 800,000 people so far have asked for but not yet completed an absentee ballot for the Nov. 6 election. 

Anyone who does not return an absentee ballot, deciding instead to vote at the polls, will be required to cast a provisional ballot. 

That’s so officials may verify that they did not vote absentee and also show up at the polls. 

By state law, provisional ballots may not be counted until at least Nov. 17. 

That means if Ohio’s electoral votes would be decisive in the race between President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the state could keep the nation in suspense for several weeks after the election. 

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