'Challengers' - Blackwell - II.C

"Just moments ago, I spoke with George W. Bush and congratulated him on becoming the 43rd president of the United States. And I promised him that I wouldn't call him back this time,"

said Vice President Al Gore on 12-December-2000. A grateful nation sighed in relief for the ending of the 36-day election debacle of Florida, 2000.

Thus began the desire in each state to avoid the debacle incurred in Florida. In reality only a perfect storm of lawers, lawsuits, corruption, greed, hatred, massive chaos, a close, intense election about far-reaching issues could possibly impact the national election the way that Florida did. That possibility could be avoided if punch-card balloting machines were eliminated.

Blackwell and Ohio vowed to avoid such a path, especially since 70 out of 88 Ohio counties used punchcards, similar to Florida, as their preferred voting system. Blackwell acted almost immediately after Bush's victory at the Ohio Association of Elections Officials (OAEO) summit on January 9, 2001 in Columbus Ohio, wherein he explained to 300 various election officials that changes needed to be made with regards to Ohio's Election's process. He stated

"We can view the 2000 presidential election not as a debacle or a disaster, but as a wonderful learning experience. It has created a great opportunity for us. An opportunity to generate proactive ideas and actions that will make our election system more secure, more modern, and more trustworthy than ever.... The elections system in Ohio has run very smoothly, yet we must take precautions to ensure that we maintain Ohioans’ trust in that system... In turn, we now have an opportunity to learn and to make changes and improvements where necessary."

This election summit provided fertile soil to sow seeds of election-reform, whereby the elected officials could then improve Ohio's election system as well as gain the trust of Ohio's voters. Bush wouldn't be innaugarated until Saturday 20-January-2001.

On January 30, 2001 State Rep Tom Lendrum (R-Huron) in concurrence with SoS Blackwell and House Speaker Larry Householder (R-Glenford) introduced H.B.5, which clarified various ruling about chads, mandated an Election System Study Committee, chaired by the SoS, to prduce reform goals unto the House of Representative by Oct. 1, 2001. All three issued statements looking forward to reforming the state's voting system, so that every Ohioan's vote would be counted.

On February 13, 2001 Blackwell issued a press-release detailing a panel-discussion about making election-reforms, so as to avoid the Florida 2000 fiasco. Blackwell stated

“This past election was full of trying and exhausting moments that caused many to doubt the elections process in our country. Any doubt of this nature must be cut off at the head. Once citizens’ trust in our democratic system begins to erode, that very system loses its legitimacy and ability to function properly.”

Including Blackwell, the panel included elections officials (6), academics (4), community activists (3), and members of the media (2), for a total of 16 panelists. The panel would set about to fix Ohio's election's process so rebuild the citizen's trust in democracy, as well as fortify the legitamacy of elections.

After beginning at 4 p.m. on February 13 at Deer Creek Resort and Conference Center, 22300 State Park Rd., #20, Mt. Sterling, Ohio, the panel would reconvene on February 14 at 8:30 a.m. At 10:15 a.m., panel would discuss currently pending legislation on the federal and state levels. The bills intended to codify election standards and improve voting devices. At 1:30 p.m., Jan Clair, director of the Lake County Board of Elections, will discuss Lake County’s deliberations about changing from lever-voting machines unto either punch cards or electronic touch screen voting devices. A roundtable discussion among panel participants followed Clair's presentations.

The arrived at the following five conclusions:

1) Elections are state business and should remain so. Federal elections administration and mandates are likely to be burdensome and unsuccessful;
2) All counties should use clear, uniform standards and the same type of voting machines;
3) Ohio should move now to update our voting technology. Yet, any change in voting methods should involve all levels of government: local, state, and federal, working as funding partners;
4) The punch card method of voting has an inherent propensity for higher over- and under-voting than other systems currently in use: it allows for too much error and confusion; and,
5) No election system is 100 percent perfect.

Six days later on February 20 Blackwell testified before the House's State Government committee, whereat he summarized the purpose of the legislation, reviewed the recent summit findings, and urged the committee to act immediately upon this starting point so to better the quality of Ohio's elections.

At this point the potential for improvement seemed limitless and future looked rosy for another session of a smooth-running, general elections in 2004.

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