CincyMobile.com Article page Suit: Lincoln Heights votes 'suspect' Cincinnati Enquirer: "By Steve Kemme • skemme@enquirer.com
November 15, 2010
Mike Wilson, the Republican candidate for a still-contested state house seat, wants the provisional ballots in the three Lincoln Heights precincts to receive special scrutiny before they're counted because he believes them to be 'suspect.'"
Suit: Lincoln Heights votes 'suspect'
By Steve Kemme • skemme@enquirer.com
November 15, 2010
Mike Wilson, the Republican candidate for a still-contested state house seat, wants the provisional ballots in the three Lincoln Heights precincts to receive special scrutiny before they're counted because he believes them to be "suspect."
The lawsuit was filed Monday in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court by attorney Christopher R. McDowell on behalf of Wilson and Cook.
Provisional ballots are cast when election poll workers cannot determine whether a voter is entitled to cast a valid ballot. Often, provisional voters are people who changed their address or name after the voter registration deadline.
In the Nov. 2 election, incumbent Democrat Connie Pillich received five more votes than Wilson in the race for 28th House District, which covers northern and northeastern Hamilton County. The provisional ballots could determine the winner of the race.
The lawsuit says the number of provisional ballots is disproportionately high in the three Lincoln Heights districts and that the number of Lincoln Heights voters in the race seems higher than it should be for a village with a shrinking population.
Of the 1,456 provisional ballots cast in Ohio 28 House District race, 136 or 9 percent, were from Lincoln Heights Precincts A, B and C. The 984 Lincoln Heights votes cast in the race was only 2.3 percent of the race's total number of votes.
This issue will be presented before Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Robert Winkler at 9 a.m. Tuesday. The Hamilton County Board of Elections has scheduled a meeting 11:30 a.m., Tuesday to review the provisional ballots and the remaining absentee ballots. But Tim Burke, an elections board member and chairman of the Hamilton County Democratic Party, said the board will have to wait to see what Winkler rules.
"We'll comply with whatever he orders," he said.
Pillich said the lawsuit's arguments for taking special steps to screen Lincoln Heights provisional ballots seem weak. She said it's not valid to compare the number of provisional ballots in Lincoln Heights with those in the rest of the district.
"There is an unusually high number of poor people in Lincoln Heights," Pillich said. "There's been a lot of rebuilding there and a lot of address changes. Most of the other communities in my district are better off financially than Lincoln Heights. It's like comparing apples and oranges."
The board of elections will count the ballots on Nov. 22 and will approve them on Nov. 23. If the vote totals for Pillich and for Wilson are close enough, there will be a recount of all ballots cast in the race.
