Ohio voting: Papering over the problems

Voters turned away from their polling places. Officials scrambling to print more paper ballots for voters to fill out. Candidates suing to keep the polls open. Accusations of voters being "disenfranchised."

Just another election in Ohio, right?

While it's too early at this writing to evaluate just how widespread and serious the problems in Tuesday's Ohio primary will have been, not having enough paper ballots on hand for party "crossover" voters is clearly at the center of it, particularly in Cleveland/Cuyahoga County.

You can argue about how many "extra" ballots should be prepared, the logistics of how you get enough of the precinct-specific ballots to each polling place, and what should be done with the reams and reams of leftover ballots. But here's one indisputable fact: If you didn't have to use paper in the first place, it wouldn't be an issue.

Less than two months ago, Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner ordered Cuyahoga County to switch from the direct recording electronic (DRE) or touch-screen voting system it was using, along with another 56 of the state's 88 counties. Her action was based on a study she commissioned that, predictably, warned that DREs -- or Diebold Republican Evils to the election-conspiracy theory set -- were vulnerable to security breaches and could theoretically be tampered with, although it didn't document any instances of such tampering or even evaluate the possibility of it happening.

The Ohio ACLU, warning of potential problems, sued to stop the switchover, but lost early last month. And an Enquirer editorial wondered whether "Brunner's frenzied solution is worse than the actual -- not perceived -- problem."

Wonder no more. Cuyahoga's forced scramble to change its voting system has taken its toll. Add to that a rush-hour ice storm in the area, near-record turnout and shortages of poll workers, and you have a mess.

In January, Brunner said she was ordering the changes to "avoid any loss of confidence by voters," but Tuesday's primary snafus may help create a loss of confidence.