COLUMBUS - State Representative Alicia Reece (D-Cincinnati) released the following statement after a federal court in Cincinnati ordered many uncounted votes to be counted in the 2010 Hamilton County juvenile court judge's race. The dispute over the decision to count or throw out provisional ballots miscast due to poll worker error has been ongoing for 14 months.
Election Night in 2010 ended in a cloud of confusion on who really won the Hamilton County Juvenile Court judge's race. The unofficial result had John Williams ahead of Tracie Hunter by 23 votes. But over 800 ballots were left uncounted. Election officials had counted some provisional ballots where a voter was given the wrong precinct's ballot in error but not others. Standards were inconsistently applied and the rules were made up in the middle of the game. The cloud of confusion has persisted these last 14 months as Tracie Hunter has had to wait with no certainty about when she could start her job serving the people.
"Today is a victory for the voters of Hamilton County and for voters' rights across this state. After 14 months, a court is ordering the last of the votes in the 2010 Hamilton County juvenile court judge race to finally be counted," said Rep. Reece. "I now call on Secretary of State Husted to implement the provisional ballot process laid out in House Bill 76 immediately, or at the speed of business, so that Ohio will have a statewide uniform standard for counting provisional ballots that will comply with the federal court order. This shameful ordeal should never happen again in Ohio. We must restore the integrity of the voting process in my district and in the state."
Today's decision will have statewide implications as Hamilton County is hardly the only place in Ohio with this problem of throwing out ballots just because an election official has made a simple mistake. Finally, Ohio can join the majority of other states in this country and start counting votes instead of throwing them away like trash.
Rep. Reece has worked to ensure voters in Hamilton County and across this state have their votes counted and that standards are applied evenly. She introduced House Bill 76, which would require poll workers to complete a verification checklist for each individual voting provisionally, ensuring that poll workers direct voters to their correct voting precinct. House Bill 76 currently awaits a second hearing in the House State Government and Elections Committee. Rep. Reece also recently wrote to United States Attorney General Eric Holder, requesting that the Department of Justice send federal election monitors to Hamilton County for the 2012 election. The letter raised concerns over the procedure for counting provisional ballots miscast due to poll worker error and requested federal elections monitors in the upcoming election due to the unresolved 2010 election results in Hamilton County.
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