New Voter ID Laws In Ohio Delay Final Tally in Schmidt/Wulsin Race

[theHandpuppet]

Looks like those new voter ID laws in Ohio have succeeded in possibly disenfranchising many voters, especially in Dem strongholds. Apparently there were a lot of provisional ballots cast in places like Scioto County, where Wulsin support is strong. (In Scioto County, Wulsin received 8,667 votes to Schmidt's 5,122, and there were 841 provisional ballots cast which have yet to be tallied. Comparatively speaking, that would figure out to just over 6% of the votes actually cast, which is quite high. That doesn't factor in absentee ballots, either.) No doubt this is why Wulsin's not going to concede with so many provisional ballots still to be counted in the district.

I haven't heard much talk about the results of the new Ohio voter ID laws since we've too busy cheering the Dem takeover of Ohio (understandably), but I find this report very troubling.

http://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/articles/2006/11/11/news/local_news/1news_wulsin.txt

Wulsin not conceding defeat

By JEFF BARRON
Friday, November 10, 2006 11:15 PM EST
PDT Staff Writer

Not so fast.

U.S. 2nd District Democratic Congressional candidate Victoria Wulsin has yet to concede defeat to incumbent Jean Schmidt.

In fact, the Wulsin campaign said it will consider asking for a recount in the coming days.

A Wulsin spokesman said she will wait until absentee and provisional votes from the race are counted. Counting will begin next week....

(snipping)

There are 841 provisional ballots in Scioto County, according to the Scioto County Board of Elections. Once counted, they will be included in the final vote count.

The amount of provisionals in the 2nd District was not known.

(snipping)

Because of new voter registration laws, a high number is possible throughout the district.

That's because those who did not have identification could vote provisionally, but had to provide identification after voting.

[ray of light]

1. Read Tia's story here:

http://blog.johnkerry.com/2006/11/the_final_count.html#comment-4471

[theHandpuppet]

2. Thanks -- interesting story!

You can imagine what all of this means to poor voters who don't have driver's licenses, credit cards, or "Kerry Support Coupons" in their wallets. I've heard some folks even here on DU say that this ID law is no big deal -- hey, everyone has a driver's license or can get a state ID card for $25-30! How out of touch can people get? They can't imagine that there are some folks who are too poor to even own a car or pay $25 for an ID card. The median per capita income of people in Scioto County is under $20,000 and almost 20% of the county lives below the poverty line. A lot of folks can't afford their own dwelling so families share, which means individuals may not be able to present even utility bills to prove residency, and if you're out of work I guess you're also out of luck. Some folks don't really grasp how these new laws disenfranchise the poor.

[Nimrod2005]

3. k