Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted has appealed a federal judge's order Tuesday that accused him of breaking Ohio law and sneaking in a new requirement for counting provisional ballots. The appeal comes just four days before county boards of elections are supposed to begin counting more than 200,000 of those ballots.
Provisional ballots are usually cast when voters haven't updated their addresses or go to the wrong polling place to vote.
On the Friday night before the election, Husted said voters - not poll workers -- are responsible for writing identifying information on the provisional ballot envelope, and if they made mistakes, the ballots must be thrown out.
U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley said Husted's rule shifted poll worker duties to voters, was "surreptitious" and "casts serious doubt on his protestations of good faith." He ordered Husted to come up with a new order by this Friday. Husted immediately filed his appeal with the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, which has split on other provisional ballot rulings.
