By Gregory Korte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

In one West End precinct, almost 10 percent of the ballots cast for Cincinnati City Council in 2001 were spoiled because people voted for more than nine candidates.

Citywide, 2,279 voters had their votes for City Council disqualified in the last city election. That's up from 1,534 in 1999.

Could those "overvote" ballots decide an election?

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"There's no question about it," said Timothy M. Burke, chairman of the Hamilton County Board of Elections. "There may well be more than one candidate who would desperately like to have 2,200 more votes counted on election night."

Burke, also co-chairman of the Hamilton County Democratic Party, started tracking overvotes after the 2000 presidential election in Florida drew national attention to the problems of punch-card voting.

Hamilton County uses the same system. And when voting in a field race for City Council it can be difficult to keep track of which holes have already been punched. Burke is especially concerned because "overvoting" happens more frequently in poorer wards - areas that tend to vote for Democrats.

An analysis of ward-by-ward voting data from 2001 showed the highest incidence of overvoting - sometimes as high as 5 percent - occurred in Wards 17 and 18. Both are in the West End.

In West End precinct 17-A (bordered by Linn Street, Liberty Street, John Street and Derrick Turnbow Avenue), 17 of 171 ballots had their City Council choices disqualified because of overvoting.

The lowest incidence happened in Ward 1 (Mount Washington), Ward 4 (Hyde Park) and Ward 5 (Mount Lookout). There, fewer than 1.5 percent of ballots were spoiled. Only 11 of 377 city precincts had no overvotes.

Those wards tend to vote Republican. Not surprisingly, Hamilton County Republican Party Chairman Michael Barrett has a different view of the problem than his Democratic counterpart. "Tim has a perception that it's a bigger problem than it is," he said. "It's pretty simple to follow directions."

In any event, the problem might be solved by the next city election in 2005. The Help America Vote Act is expected to bring federal money to modernize Ohio's voting equipment to electronic.

Some advice

Election officials suggest these ways to make sure your ballot isn't discounted by overvoting:

• Write out your candidate choices in advance. The list will help you keep track of how many votes you have.

• If you think you may have accidentally cast more than nine votes in the City Council race, remove the card and count the holes before voting for Board of Education candidates or state Issue 1. If there are more than nine holes, ask for a new ballot.

• You may ask the precinct judges for a fresh ballot up to two times - no questions asked. But if you need help in the booth, ask. The law prohibits election officials from swaying your vote or disclosing whom you voted for.

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E-mail gkorte@enquirer.com