Judge Dlott's ruling throws new twist in undecided judicial race
January 12, 2011
Ohio: A judicial race between Tracie Hunter and John M. Williams for a seat on the Hamilton County Juvenile Court is still undecided, even though the election was held in November. The dispute centers around 849 provisional ballots that were not counted on the day of election because they were cast in the wrong precincts.
U.S. District Judge Susan Dlott recently ruled that 149 of these ballots had been cast wrongly due to poll worker error. She ruled that the voters in those cases were not at fault and that their votes must be counted. In her decision, she explained, "What is certain is that allowing the Board to ignore evidence of poll worker error and not count provisional ballots that were improperly cast through no fault of the voter will seriously undermine citizens’ confidence in the outcome of this election.” This recount, however, is likely to change the outcome of the election, in which, after the original vote count, Republican John M. Williams was declared the winner. The disputed ballots were cast in predominantly Democratic precincts, which favors Hunter.
Judge Dlott's ruling is contrary to orders previously given to the Board of Elections by the Supreme Court and Secretary of State. Board member Tim Burke explained, "We are confronted with conflicting orders...none of us want to be in contempt of the Ohio Supreme Court or the U.S. District Court." Members of the Board of Elections are still trying to determine the best course of action.[1]
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