An Open Letter to J. Kenneth Blackwell

By Stephen Gheen
Political Junkies

The situation is well known. Ohio will determine the next President of the United States. Bush leads in the State by slightly more than 100,000 votes, yet 250,000 "provisional ballots" remain to be counted. Ohio law requires the count of these provisional ballots on the 11th day following the election.

America has again witnessed a close election in terms of the Electoral College.

J. Kenneth Blackwell, Secretary of State of Ohio, is responsible for overseeing the election process in Ohio. He is a Republican. The decisions he makes over the next eleven days accords an opportunity to heal the nation or condemn it to another four years of suspicion that the election process in America is fundamentally untrustworthy.

Secretary Blackwell, your concise response election night to the natural questions surrounding the counting of the provisional ballots was precisely correct. You assured a waiting nation that the law of Ohio commands a procedure for the correct counting of provisional ballots and you assured a divided citizenry that the law will be followed. As a stalwart Democrat and former Chairman of the Board of Elections in a major North Carolina County, I believe that your response elevated the public's right to integrity in the election process above the partisan political battle that remains engaged.

My service on a Board of Elections leads to a conclusion that the probability of Sen. Kerry achieving a victory in Ohio is problematical but not entirely impossible. The issue that now rests with terrible weight upon your shoulders transcends the actual vote count; the issue is whether the general populace accords the final result in Ohio credibility.

You must understand that Democrats are appropriately suspicious of the Ohio result. Following the divisive Florida 2000 result, the president of Diebold, the manufacturer of Ohio's voting machines and a partisan Republican, cast doubt on the Ohio election process. It is a matter of public record that he promised partisan Republicans that he would do everything in his power to ensure Ohio's electoral vote would be delivered to President Bush. His promise naturally fueled Democrats' suspicions that the integrity of the vote count in Ohio would be corrupted. Now, Ohio becomes the state that will determine the election.

Secretary Blackwell, the ludicrous statements made by the president of Diebold are certainly not attributable to you. The public perception of your actions in completing the election count in Ohio will occur indisputably within the context of the corrupt intent implied by his statements.

Today, public opinion polls suggest that the nation is almost evenly divided as to the legitimacy of President Bush's 2000 election. Consider that these same public opinion polls document that the body of citizens who believe in the legitimacy of President Bush's first election has declined every year since 2000.

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