A panel assigned to improve Ohio's elections system is paralyzed by lawsuit terrorism and is two weeks late in issuing a final report.

The General Assembly finds itself in the awkward position of trying to tell its own advisory panel what to recommend to the legislature.

It might as well send this note:

Memo to self: Give Ohio a uniform voting system, but for heaven's sake, don't do anything that would provoke a lawsuit. And by the way, don't do anything to make the county governments mad, either.

That, in essence, is what the legislature is trying to do with the special panel assigned to perfect Ohio's system of voting and vote counting, in view of Florida's debacle in the 2000 presidential election.

The legislature assigned an 11-member commission headed by Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell to make recommendations in the areas of voter registration, voter education, accessibility for the disabled and voting.

The panel has agreed on a final report in most areas but is hung up on the question of whether to force counties to phase in a uniform system or let them choose their own types of voting machines. There's no sign of a break in the deadlock at the Election Systems Reform Committee.

Blackwell wants to require counties to purchase voting machines that permit tabulating at the precinct level and provide an audit trail to preserve an accurate count. The machines also would give voters a "second chance'' to check their ballots and make sure they are accurate.

But another faction of the panel regards this as an indictment of the punch-card system used in 70 of Ohio's 88 counties, even though Blackwell says punch-card machines can fulfill his three requirements.

Last week, the Republican-controlled legislature clearly was trying to alter the committee's report. In essence, the lawmakers asked the committee to make recommendations and is trying to influence those recommendations through Sen. Jeff Jacobson, a suburban Dayton Republican who serves on the panel.

Blackwell proposed that all purchases of voting equipment meet his three criteria and that by January 2006, all counties be converted to such equipment. In an alternative report, Jacobson removed all deadlines and incentives. The panel must choose between the two. Blackwell said he, in his role as secretary of state, is going to recommend equipment with the three capabilities, no matter what the committee says.

Big deal.

The legislature can do what it wants anyway. It can throw the recommendations from both Blackwell and the panel into the wastebasket.

So why would the legislature try to influence the very group that it assigned to make recommendations? Apparently because there are some things it doesn't want to hear.

Blackwell, as chairman, distilled the committee's discussions into the draft of a final report. Most of it was OK, but Jacobson balked concerning the recommendations on voting machines. He is the chairman of the Montgomery County Republican Party, and his county uses punch cards.

The Senate Republican caucus staff became involved in writing alternative recommendations for Jacobson.

"They (senators) were concerned it (Blackwell's report) didn't properly reflect their views,'' said Liz Connolly, a Senate Republican staffer.

Tracy Intihar, who works for House Speaker Larry Householder, R-Glenford, said she was involved in discussions to keep the House Republican caucus up to speed.

"It's primarily a sharing of information,'' she said.

What it gets down to, believe it or not, is fear of lawsuits. If the legislature ignored recommendations of the very panel it assigned to study Ohio's voting system, someone could make an issue of it in court.

"I can see the vultures circling now,'' said Rep. J. Tom Lendrum, a Huron Republican who serves on the panel.

"It's a new day,'' said Senate President Richard H. Finan. The suburban Cincinnati Republican said the legislature has every right to influence the report it commissioned, because legislators are on the panel.

"I think you have to reflect what you expect to do,'' he said.

Said Lendrum: "We no longer have a republican form of government, where we elect legislators to represent us. We have legislation by lawsuit.''

Lee Leonard covers the Statehouse for The Dispatch.

lleonard@dispatch.com