News Intelligence Analysis
Blackwell's tenure may be
last of kind
Issue 5 would give election duties
to independent board
By William Hershey
Dayton Daily News
COLUMBUS | — Last year was a busy one for J. Kenneth Blackwell, Ohio's Republican secretary of state.
He was an honorary co-chairman of President Bush's Ohio re-election campaign and also actively supported passage of a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriages and civil unions.
As secretary of state, Blackwell also was Ohio's chief elections officer, overseeing the Nov. 2 voting in which Bush won Ohio en route to his second term and voters approved the anti-gay marriage amendment.
Next Tuesday, Ohioans will vote on State Issue 5, a constitutional amendment to strip future secretaries of state of the job of overseeing elections and turn it over to an appointed, bipartisan nine-member board, whose members would serve staggered, nine-year terms.
The goal is to create "an election system in which people have confidence (that) the people running the system are truly nonpartisan, neutral and fair," said Herb Asher, a member of Reform Ohio Now, the group that put Issue 5 and three other election-related proposals on the ballot.
The amendment would not affect Blackwell.
Term limits prohibit him from seeking a third consecutive term as secretary of state next year.
He is seeking the 2006 Republican nomination for governor, as are Attorney General Jim Petro and Auditor Betty Montgomery.
In playing the dual role of election overseer and campaigning participant last year, Blackwell acted no differently than had previous secretaries of state, Democrats and Republicans.
His profile was higher than some, however, because Blackwell is an aggressive campaigner and because Ohio was a battleground state in the presidential election, attracting national and international news coverage.
Carlo LoParo, Blackwell's spokesman, said the evidence shows the election was well run.
The courts upheld Blackwell in all the challenges that were filed against his conduct of the election, LoParo said.
Also, Ohio ranked fourth nationally in the percentage of provisional ballots that were counted, LoParo said.
Provisional ballots allow voters whose eligibility is in question to cast ballots that are kept separate from regular ballots and not counted until election officials can verify eligibility.
In addition, about 1 million more voters turned out last year than in 2000 and the state set turnout records for black voters and voters between 18 and 24 years old, LoParo said.
Issue 5 is not about Blackwell "per se," but about the "integrity of the election system," said Asher of Reform Ohio Now, which is dominated by Democrats, unions and self-described good government groups.
If last year's presidential election in Ohio had not been so close, Blackwell's high-profile campaigning might have gone unnoticed, Asher said.
Instead, many people were "left with the belief that somehow the election system itself wasn't as fair as it should be," said Asher, professor emeritus of political science at Ohio State University,
State Rep. Kevin DeWine, R-Fairborn, a member of the Ohio First Voter Education Fund, the Republican-dominated group opposing all four election-related amendments, said Issue 5 is a "solution in search of a problem."
The 2000 and 2004 elections in Ohio both were strongly contested and both "went as well as they possibly could.
There was no evidence of favoritism, one way or another," he said.
If the concern is that "the guy who's counting the votes is wearing the jersey of one of the teams on the field (and) it's tough for you to view him as a neutral arbiter," that could be fixed by passing a law, DeWine said.
DeWine said an appointed state elections board would lack accountability — compared with the secretary of state, an elected office accountable to the voters — and would be unable to move quickly.
"I've never been a fan of decision by committee," DeWine said.
Keary McCarthy, spokesman for Reform Ohio Now, said amendment supporters have no confidence that the legislature would act to restrict a secretary of state's political activity.
"They haven't done anything yet. What makes me think they would do anything in the future?" he asked.
"Independence" and operating openly are keys to the new board, he said.
"We believe that members should not be a part of the political process. That's going to create an objective viewpoint,"
McCarthy said.
Contact William Hershey at (614) 224-1608.
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