ELECTION 2004

• Election 2004 section NATIONAL RACES • Cheney: No artificial date for ending terror war • Candidates can't control surprises OHIO RACES • Battle for District 3 seat focuses on job creation • Issue 4 would phase out city's property tax over 10-year span • Media blitz begins for Ohio's Issue 1 • Growth funding sought • Foreign observers banned by Blackwell • Union boss, legislator seek Senate seat • Ballot finally reaches soldier • Life experiences separate Supreme Court candidates • Terrace Park seeks rare tax increases • Sheriff's race has 'names' • Golf Manor asks renewal of 7-mill operating levy KENTUCKY RACES • Davis/Clooney in the stretch • Poll: Fletcher's approval rating has dropped 10 percent since May • Bunning launches bus tour • Newport's key issue: taking land EDITORIAL PAGE ELECTION VIEWS • Endorsement: Return Voinovich to Senate • Your Voice: Catholic stance against Kerry valid

Army Capt. Gregory P. Henz had complained to county commissioners by e-mail that he had not received the ballot he applied for April 21.

"I have become very concerned and disgruntled ... because this is a time critical for our country, as elections are upon us," Henz wrote in his e-mail.

As it turned out, the military postal system failed to deliver Henz the absentee ballot sent Oct. 2 to his military address by the Butler County Board of Elections, said Betty McGary, the deputy director of the election board.

McGary spent most of Monday trying to figure out where Henz was stationed. She eventually located him in Weisbaden, Germany, and transmitted a new ballot to him through the Pentagon's voting assistance program.

"We had sent him absentee ballot No. 2,662 on Oct. 2. We took care of all the military (absentee) applications and people overseas on the first day we could," McGary said.

Under the federal program, the Defense Department faxes the ballot to a soldier at a special number and helps the officer return it to the proper elections official in the United States, McGary said. Henz must vote and sign the ballot Nov. 2 and get it back to the elections board by Nov. 12, she said.

Before involving the elections board, Commissioner Michael A. Fox had proposed buying an airline ticket - for $4,000 to $8,000 - for a county employee to deliver the ballot personally to Army commanders in Kuwait City. The plan - which would have required another commissioner's support - was abandoned after McGary contacted the Defense Department.

In a follow-up e-mail, Henz said he was in Germany "after previously returning from down range." He did not say where he had been stationed before that.

"I apologize for the confusion in terms of my location, as our forces are spread across overseas," Henz said.

E-mail jkiesewetter@enquirer.com