By Gregory Korte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Changing rules for so-called "provisional" ballots - those cast somewhere other than a voter's official polling place - could affect the counting of thousands of ballots in November's presidential election.

Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell is expected to issue a new directive to the state's 88 boards of elections Wednesday, promulgating new rules that he said will be in line with federal election reforms that followed the 2000 election.

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The new law guarantees the right to vote, even if there's a question about the voter's eligibility. But whether those votes are counted depends on state rules.

Though Blackwell says the new rules will result in more votes being counted, voting rights activists say Blackwell's new rules seem to be some of the strictest in the country.

In Hamilton County, more than 300 voters would have been disenfranchised in 2000 if the new rules were in effect, estimated Hamilton County Board of Elections Chairman Timothy M. Burke.

"Everybody's going to be looking at whether this secretary of state is trying to restrict access to the ballot box. Ken has been very good up until now," said Burke, who is also chairman of the Hamilton County Democratic Party. Blackwell is a Republican.

"I hope we're not going to see a whole series of directives from the secretary to choke off access to the ballot box," Burke said.

The changes to the regulations are mostly technical, but could have a big impact in a close election - especially if thousands of newly registered and inexperienced voters show up at the polls.

There are three scenarios under which a voter may cast a provisional ballot. How it's cast determines how it's counted under the new rules:

• A voter registered in Ohio changes his address since the last election. In that case, he can vote at the Board of Elections, which seals the ballot in an envelope until officials can confirm the new address and verify the voter didn't try to vote in more than one place. Those votes are counted 10 days after Election Day.

• Because of an error by an election official, the voter casts a ballot at the wrong precinct. In that case, only part of the ballot is counted. Votes for local offices that the voter was ineligible to vote in are thrown out. These are called "partial provisionals."

• A voter isn't registered in a precinct - and informed as such by a precinct judge - but demands to cast a ballot there anyway. Elections officials hold these provisional ballots to make sure there wasn't an error by a poll worker. If not, the ballot is thrown out.

Rejected provisional ballots are rare. Only 7 percent of the 54,137 provisional ballots cast in Ohio in 2002 were ruled invalid, according to the Secretary of State's office.

But Hamilton County's rate was lower - at 5.2 percent. That's partly because the county used to give lost voters the benefit of the doubt by counting part of their vote even if they willingly cast it in the wrong precinct. It's those votes that Burke is worried won't be counted.

(The 2002 rejection rates for other local counties: Butler, 11.7 percent; Clermont, 15.4 percent; Warren, 7.3 percent.)

The problem, said Blackwell spokesman Carlo LoParo, is that 88 counties have developed 88 different systems for determining which provisionals should be counted. Many counties, for example, aren't counting partial provisionals even in the case of election worker error.

Determining who was at fault for voting at the wrong precinct can be tricky after the fact, local officials said.

"Are we going to be able to determine what the story is?" said John M. Williams, Hamilton County's elections director, who said he's looking forward to the new regulation.

"All any election official asks is that we have a very clear explanation of what the ground rules are in a reasonable amount of time before the election."

Will your vote count?

• Ohio residents must register to vote in their county of residence by Oct. 4.

• Ohio registered voters who change their address before Election Day may cast a provisional ballot at the Board of Elections.

• Some polling places may have changed since the last presidential election, especially because of the redistricting after the 2000 census. If in doubt, ask.

• Remember, many polling places have more than one precinct. Make sure you're at the right table.

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E-mail gkorte@enquirer.com