Ohio: Clusterfuck of 2006?

Okay. So Ohio is going to be a repeat state where November 7 will come and go without knowing the results of this year's election. There is a statewide law indicating that votes must be cast at, and within, the election commissioner's building. Seeing that there are more voters this time around and not enough voting machines, the commission asked for permission to open more off-site voting locations in some counties. That was struck down.

The next issue the state of Ohio encountered was with so many counties not having enough machines to do the tabulation and counting of the votes, it asked for permission if they could start tabulating, but not counting, the ballots. That was struck down as well because under current laws, ballots cannot be counted before a certain time. But tabulating involves putting the ballots into an electronic form but results not tallied; some counties hoped they could get the legwork out of the way in preparation of the count so all the votes will be in on time. Current law does not distinguish the difference.

Now, the saga continues. What kind of identification do you need when you go vote? And should you provide identification when you mail in your absentee ballot? With just seven days to go till Election Day, the law keeps on changing. Some Ohioans are even mailing in their driver's licenses along with their ballots! What will happen next?

I don't know, but this is certainly shaping Ohio up to be another clusterfuck.