We hope Blackwell was simply indulging in rhetorical hyperbole, because defying a legitimate judicial directive is never a smart move. Better that Blackwell devote his energy to his justifiable legal appeal of a decision by U.S. District Judge James G. Carr that even rejects Ohio's reasonable efforts to direct a voter to the proper precinct.

And we hope that cooler heads will prevail - along with accurate and unbiased appraisals of the applicable federal and state laws - in the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Carr's ruling is just one of many around the country this fall regarding provisional ballots. The problem is, some agree with Carr but others contradict him. Behind the confusion lies the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) Congress passed to prevent a repeat of the Florida 2000 mess.

HAVA required each state to adopt some form of provisional ballot, but did not prescribe how or when it was to be used. Ohio has had such ballots for years.

The Florida Supreme Court last week ruled unanimously that provisional ballots cast in the wrong precinct should be rejected, and a federal judge agreed Thursday. Judges did likewise in Missouri and Colorado.

The bipartisan U.S. Election Assistance Commission, the agency formed by HAVA to interpet its provisions, backs up Blackwell's view that the federal law requires provisional ballots only in a voter's jurisdiction, which is to be determined by each state. Blackwell says jurisdiction means "precinct." Carr says it means "county" - which means a voter in Colerain Township has the legal right to cast a ballot in Anderson Township. That's nuts. It invites chaos.

It also means, as the League of Women Voters and other groups advocate, that votes for local offices and issues on a non-precinct voter's provisional ballot would not be counted. Evidently it's no big deal if voters are partially "disenfranchised" when it comes to down-ballot races, as long as everybody gets to vote for president.

The provisional-vote flap is part of a disturbing larger trend in which seemingly any attempt to reduce fraud by simply verifying voters' eligibility is met with the accusation that Republican officials are trying to suppress the minority vote. The League also challenged Blackwell's directive that first-time voters who registered by mail show some ID at the polls, which you'd think would be the bare minimum to prevent massive vote fraud. Even Carr had to side with Blackwell on that one.

Let's be clear: Every single eligible voter, whatever their ethnic background, party affiliation or socioeconomic status, should get to cast a ballot freely - and have it count fully and fairly. But only every single eligible voter.

"If even a single vote is lost due to the failure to implement (the law), that loss alone is irreparable," Carr ruled. But so too is the damage done by a single fraudulent vote that is counted. Surely we can develop, implement and honorably support reasonable ways to prevent both.