By JOHN McCARTHY
The Associated Press
10/6/01 12:24 PM

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell wants to put the word "chad" back into the dictionary of obscure references.

Blackwell, who is Ohio's chief elections officer, said the state should abandon punch-card election ballots because they can cause more headaches for election officials than other forms of polling.

The Election System Study Committee, which Blackwell heads, will consider its final report when it meets on Tuesday. It was delayed by one week after a dispute arose between Blackwell and others on the 11-member panel over punch cards.

That method is used in 70 of Ohio's 88 counties, and Blackwell wanted the report to recommend phasing out punch cards. Some members objected, citing local control of elections and other factors. Blackwell removed that language from a final draft of the report, but he left no doubt in an interview Friday where he stands.

"At the beginning of the process, I made it very clear that I had reached the conclusion as an elections professional that punch cards should be eliminated," Blackwell said.

The study committee was created by legislation passed this year that put into law some previous secretary of state's opinions. The one that drew the most attention was how to define a hanging chad, the tiny rectangle that is supposed to be punched out of punch-card ballots. In Ohio, it must hang by one or two corners or it isn't counted.

Punch-card ballots were at the root of the monthlong dispute over the 2000 presidential election in Florida, which also held up the final result nationwide.

Blackwell said his goal is to get as many valid ballots as possible cast on Election Day. Chief among the problems with punch cards is the danger of "over-voting," where a voter may cast more than one vote for a race, thus eliminating that vote from the official count.

They also make it difficult for voters to change their minds without asking for a new ballot. Electronic touch-voting systems, used in five Ohio counties, and mechanical systems, used in two, permit voters to change their minds before a final action tabulates their votes.

Punch cards are being developed that could give voters a second chance, "but what you still have is a punch card," Blackwell said. It is difficult for voters to identify their votes once the card is removed for tabulation, he said.

Blackwell calls the electronic touch method the most reliable and accurate of the systems. However, he would not advocate their use over mechanical systems or optically scanned ballots where a voter makes a mark that is read by a computer.

"I don't want this on the false turn that I'm mandating a particular device," he said. "Essentially, I'm saying here is a standard that has to be met."

Committee member Sen. Jeff Jacobson, a Phillipsburg Republican who was critical of Blackwell's original recommendations, did not return a phone message seeking comment. He told The Columbus Dispatch after the Oct. 1 meeting that Ohio hasn't experienced Florida's problems and a ban on punch cards was unnecessary.

"The conclusions that are about to be drawn here on the voting system in Ohio is a solution in search of a problem," Jacobson told the newspaper.

Jacobson also is chairman of the Republican Party in Montgomery County, where punch cards are used.

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On the Net:

Election System Study Committee: http://www.state.oh.us/sos/ESSCDraft.htm