Potential problem in Ohio regarding absentee ballots + provisional ballots?

[flamingdem]

- Last Sunday's 60 minutes had an election official admitting that they do not / did not count provisional ballots
- Did this get covered before? It seems like an effective way to control the vote in OH
- Is this a non-story and if so why is it appearing in the MSM all over the place today?

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2012/10/25/absentee-ballots-could-hang-up-ohios-results/1656275/

7:23AM EDT October 25. 2012 - A new Ohio program intended to make voting easier has the potential to 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 that if Ohio's electoral votes would be decisive in the race between President Obama and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, the state could keep the nation in suspense for weeks after the election.

"That would be called my nightmare scenario," said Amy Searcy, director of the Hamilton County Board of Elections. MORE AT LINK

[northoftheborder]

1. what a mess

[Connie_Corleone]

2. The provisional ballot warning is printed in bold, red letters on

absentee ballot application requests. You can't miss it. So I don't find this a problem. My aunt just mailed off her ballot this week. I did mine last week.

This is just an article to scare people and keep up the narrative of a close race coming down to Ohio.

[flamingdem]

3. Thanks, I was suspicous that this appeared suddenly at this late date

[PsychProfessor]

4. Why must it all come down to Ohio??

[AtomicKitten]

5. True the Vote is challenging Dem voters forcing them to vote on provisional ballots.

And we know what happens then - they aren't counted.

[flamingdem]

6. Is this happening in Ohio?

Someone reported 2,000 incidents where Obama's legal team had to step in in OH already, wonder if it's over that.

In that case the provisional ballot story is a story, but in the case of absentee ballots people have been warned as Connie wrote here in big bold red letters that they cannot show up at the polls and get any better than a provisional ballot.

[AtomicKitten]

9. Yes.

I read it somewhere; I'll look for it (I'm sick right now, but I'll get back to you on it I promise). It was a piece about one woman with True the Vote who had challenged 94 people in Ohio. One woman she challenged got a notice that her address didn't check out. They said it was a vacant lot. Apparently TTV has some software that allegedly pinpoints stuff like this. The problem is the woman has lived there for 30 years and owns the house. Anyway, there is no immediate remedy and so she is being forced to vote by provisional ballot. Keep in mind this is 1 woman io who challenged 94 voters in Ohio. Good gawd almighty. Anyway, I'll try to locate the piece I read yesterday and get back to you.

[flamingdem]

10. wow, this isn't getting much coverage yet

I guess it's part of the idea that if the polls look stressful people won't show up -- Truethevote sounds horrendous -- I hope that there is a run-in with the UN observers in TX!

[INdemo]

8. By coming up with these excuses for reasons not to count votes

knowing the corporate media will be talking about this,it gives them the legitimacy to steal the votes or switch votes have have all sorts of back up reasons..THE FIX IS IN ...Nothing has been said by MSM about Tag Rmoney having an interest in the voting machine company/s ..so we are screwed.

[nobunnyclue]

7. It's pretty normal

I think - others please correct if I'm wrong - for them not to even bother waiting to tally the provisional ballots unless the grand total would be enough to swing the election. Counting the number of provisional ballots accurately (easy) and determining the margin of victory (hard - how do you determine the standard error) is where the ground game is at.

Remember, absentee ballots can be requested by mail as late as November 3 in Ohio, and you have until the 5th to fill it in and get it postmarked back to the board of elections, which accepts mailed ballots that arrive before the 10th. So how could they count those voters in person votes on the 6th if an absentee ballot could come in for the same voter any time in the next four days.

It says in big red letters on the request for an absentee ballot "If you apply to vote absentee by mail and you change your mind and appear at your polling place ... you will be required to vote a provisional ballot that cannot be counted until at least 10 days after the election." No surprises.