Ohio's Butterfly Ballot Appears To Give Advantage To Kerry-Edwards Ticket

By Jimmy Moore
Talon News
October 25, 2004

Following the multitude of voter complaints from disgruntled Democrats over the infamous "butterfly ballot" used in Florida during the 2000 presidential election, a new controversy has arisen in the key battleground state of Ohio that appears to give the Democratic ticket of John F. Kerry and John Edwards a clear advantage heading into the November 2 election.

The official ballot for Cuyahoga County, Ohio lists the Democratic ticket first since the word "Democratic" is first alphabetically. An arrow points to an adjacent blue box located directly across from the Kerry-Edwards ticket.

However, the Republican ticket consisting of President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney is listed at the bottom of the ballot since "Republican" is listed last alphabetically among the names of the political parties.

But the controversy arises over the location of the punch card box for the Republican ticket. The matching red box is not directly across from the Bush-Cheney ticket name, but rather it is located near the top and above the Democratic ticket.

Instead, there is a green box located directly across from the Republican ticket that may fool voters who do not notice that is not the correct place to cast a vote for the Bush-Cheney ticket.

This apparent flaw in the ballot of the most populous of the 88 counties in Ohio could literally swing the election to Kerry-Edwards in what is expected to be a tight race.

Secretary of State Ken Blackwell said he expects a heavy turnout and noted that there are 833,000 new voters set to vote this year.

Many recall the voter confusion over the butterfly ballot in Palm Beach County, Florida in 2000 when votes for Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore were invalidated because voters also selected Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan on the ballot, whose hole was located just above Gore's.

Additionally, Bush had votes taken away from him since Buchanan's name was listed below his on the ballot.

No comment has been made by Blackwell or election officials in Ohio regarding the apparent bias in their butterfly ballot.