Ensuring your vote will count
Voters should understand procedure for challenges

By LISA ROBERSON, Chillicothe Gazette Staff Writer

31 October 2004

 Voters worried about being challenged at the polls this Election Day should put their fears to rest, county election officials say.

Nancy Bell, director of the Ross County Board of Elections, said poll workers will not turn anyone away. In the event a voter is challenged and poll workers are not satisfied he or she is registered at a particular polling precinct, a provisional paper ballot will be used to cast their vote.

"We do not want to turn anyone away," she said. "We just want to make sure they are getting the right ballot for where they live. If they vote in the wrong precinct, they can vote on the wrong issues, and we want to prevent that from happening."

Bell said voters could only be challenged on three points age, citizenship and residency. If the board of elections has some indication a voter does not live at the address on file, poll workers have been instructed to double-check the address through verbal verification at the time of voting. Voters are only flagged for verification if they are newly registered voters and their registration cards were returned to the board in the mail.

Bell and deputy director Nora Madru have been working feverishly over the last few weeks knocking on doors trying to verify addresses. However, what cannot be resolved before Tuesday will be resolved at the polls.

"We were able to resolve some of the problems, and others we know positively they do not live there," Bell said.

In addition to poll workers, residents who show up at the polls may be greeted with certified vote challengers who are not working with the Board of Elections but filed papers with the local precinct judge to challenged the merits of anyone's vote.

However, at least one state group will not be happy with their presence.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio is deeply disturbed by the Ohio Republican Party's attempt to place challengers at the polls on Election Day. Executive Director Christine Link issued a press release calling for the withdrawal of all challengers.

But as long as the practice is covered under Ohio law, Attorney General Jim Petro said the right of the challenger will be upheld.

"I express no view of whether it is right or wrong for any political party, candidate, or issue proponent or opponent to have challengers at the polls on Election Day," he said. "Certainly, no challenger should engage in conduct that is obviously intended to harass or discourage any lawfully registered voter from exercising his or her right to vote. However, until the law is finally declared to be unconstitutional, it is a valid law granting Ohio's citizens the right to be challengers if they have followed the proper procedure to do so."

Until that happens, Bell said, some voters in Ross County will likely be challenged at the polls as 21 voters have already received notice from the Board of Elections a vote challenger from the Republican party wants to challenge their vote.

"As of Friday at around 2:30 p.m., the hearing to challenge each of these voters was canceled by a judge, but as this thing continues to go back and forth in the court system, that could change on Monday," Bell said.

There will be about one vote challenger per political party per precinct, as well as some at the Board of Election's office. They are also instructed to challenge voters if they think there is a discrepancy in a voter's age, citizenship or residency.

If a certified challenger challenges a voter, poll workers are instructed to have the voter sign an affidavit swearing they have answered the questions truthfully and are legally eligible to vote. At that time, if all four poll workers determine a voter is eligible to vote in the precinct, he will be directed to vote on one of the electronic voting machines. If there is a doubt, the voter will be given a paper provisional ballot.

Giving photo identification will not be necessary in most cases because, "They are answering the questions under the penalty of the perjury law," Bell said. "Answer the questions truthfully, sign the affidavit, and you can vote."

However, voters who failed to give the last four digits of their social security numbers or their driver's license number at the time they registered to vote will need to provide at least one form of identification to poll workers. The identification can include verbally stating the last four digits of the social security number or the driver's license number or physically showing either a utility bill, bank statement, state-issued photo ID card, payroll check or government-issued check which has the voter's full name and address.

This should not come as a shock to voters, Bell said.

"They all have been notified by mail several times," she said.