Blunders by Blackwell (a kick to the nads by the Akron Beacon Journal)

[Kolesar]

This is worth registering to read all eight paragraphs

The Ohio secretary of state got lucky. The president received a victory beyond the margin of errors


After being bombarded with criticisms and lawsuits, Ohio's top elections official had a good day on Election Day. Ohio did not become the next Florida. J. Kenneth Blackwell, the secretary of state and Republican candidate for governor in 2006, said he had few regrets over the way he handled things. Beware the spin. In truth, Blackwell dodged disaster, presiding over a voting system still in need of fundamental reform.

Blackwell was gracious enough to credit 50,000 poll workers across the state for the relatively problem-free balloting. Patient and determined voters, some waiting for as long as 10 hours in rainy weather, also deserve much credit. On balance, Blackwell deserves little. His confusing and sometimes contradictory directives were more hindrance than help.

By Wednesday morning, the size of the Bush win erased potential trouble spots, provisional ballots (given to voters who don't show up on registration lists) and punch-card ballots.

The president's margin of victory, about 136,000 votes, was less than the number of provisional ballots, still to be checked and counted, but not by enough to affect the outcome. About 97,000 punch-card ballots contained no vote for president, likely due to voter error, including incomplete punches.
.......snip........
The B-J does not quite have all the facts straight, but I like the sentiment.

Blunders by Blackwell