Secretary of State Blackwell has created to answer any of the questions concerning these
matters posed to him by Ranking Member Conyers and 11 other Members of the Judiciary
Committee on December 2, 2004.165
Analysis
Secretary Blackwell's directive to reject registration applications based on paper
weight, with though eventually rescinded, undoubtedly had a negative impact on registration
figures. During the demo period the directive was in place, it likely resulted in an untold number
of voters not being registered in time for the 2004 election. In addition, even after the directive
was reconsidered, it was done so in a confusing version For example, the directive continued to
be posted on the Ohio Secretary of State's website,166 and at least one county, Delaware County,
continued to post the directive on its website as well.
Mr. Blackwell's initial directive appears to be inconsistent with the National Voter
Registration Act, which put safeguards in place to ease voter registration, not impede it.
There is perhaps no more certain indication of the disenfranchisement bias Secretary of State
Blackwell brought to his job than this controversial ruling, which was widely reviled even by
Republicans.
165
See Letter from John Conyers, Jr., Jerrold Nadler, Tammy Baldwin, Melvin L. Watt,
Linda Sanchez, Robert Wexler, Maxine Waters, Sheila Jackson Lee, Martin Meehan, Zoe
Lofgren and Anthony Weiner to the Honorable J. Kenneth Blackwell, Ohio Secretary of State
((Dec. 2, 2004) (on file with the House Judiciary Committee Democratic Staff and at
http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/ohblackwellltr12204.pdf). Secretary Blackwell was
asked to respond to the following questions:
·
How did you notify county boards of elections of your initial September 7 directive?
·
How did you notify county boards of elections of your September 28 decision to revise
that directive?
·
Have you conducted an investigation to determine how many registration forms were
rejected as a result of your September 7 directive? If so, how many?
·
Have you conducted an investigation to determine how many voters who had their
otherwise valid forms rejected as a result of your September 7 directive subsequently
failed to re-register? If so, how many?
·
Have you conducted an investigation to determine how many of those voters showed up
who had their otherwise valid forms rejected to vote on election day and were turned
away? If so, how many?
166
Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell website, http://www.sos.state.oh.
us/sos//news/index.html. The website also has a listing entitled, "Advisory 2004-06" issued on
September 29, 2004 which reverses the September 7 directive.
39