Ohio Fears Chaos, Delays in Primary Vote

Dem hopefuls stump as experts dread a ballot controversy
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 2, 2008 8:04 PM CST
Ohio Fears Chaos, Delays in Primary Vote
Residents of Gambier, many of them students at Kenyon College, experienced a four to six-hour wait to vote Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2004 in Gambier, Ohio. Under-30 voters came through in big numbers this year, with more than 20 million casting a ballot for president. The turnout bested their 2000 showing by...   (Associated Press)

As Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama barnstormed across Ohio today, experts fretted that a delay in vote-counting on Tuesday may add to mistrust over the state's elections, the Columbus Dispatch reports. Predicted record turnout and the option to vote by ballot or touch-screen may confuse primary voters and remind the country of Ohio's 2004 election controversy, said an analyst.

"I'm afraid that when the dust settles, that people will look back on March 4 not with a vindication of Ohio but an ongoing and continuing distrust of Ohio," Edward Foley said. The state has ordered extra ballots and urged people to vote absentee to ease the strain of a predicted 52% turnout. The secretary of state called the primary "a good start for Ohio turning around its image around the country." (More Barack Obama stories.)

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