10/10/01

Columbus

- A panel studying Ohio elections put off issuing a final report yesterday after a split widened between members who want do away with punch-card ballots and those who want to keep them.

The Elections System Study Committee has been meeting since summer to find ways to make voting more accurate and reliable.

The panel was created by legislation passed shortly after the November 2000 presidential election, which dragged on for weeks as votes in Florida were challenged.

Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, the state's chief elections officer, who is chairman of the committee, said his draft of a final report requires county elections boards to ensure that voters who want to change their votes on a ballot be allowed to do so before tabulation.

Although the report doesn't recommend a ban on punch cards, Blackwell said he personally would like to get rid of them.

State Sen. Jeff Jacobson, of Brookville, one of two Republican senators on the 11-member committee, said he prefers to keep punch-card ballots, which are used in 70 of Ohio's 88 counties.

"I do not believe we have been given convincing evidence that the punch-card system is flawed," said Jacobson, who also is the Montgomery County Republican chairman.

Keith Cunningham, chairman of the Allen County Board of Elections, said the committee was passing up an opportunity to endorse more modern voting methods.

"I will not support attempts to water this [Blackwell's draft] to the point where it just sits on the shelf," Cunningham said.

Some committee members said changes in balloting would be expensive and aren't needed. Blackwell said he would call the committee back when members could find the time to meet. He did not specify a date.