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By Yvonne Abraham, Globe Staff | November 4, 2004
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- In the early hours of yesterday morning, Mary Beth Cahill, campaign manager for John F. Kerry, warned the media that the crucial state of Ohio should not be called for President Bush.
''The vote count in Ohio has not been completed," read her statement, issued about 1:30 a.m. ''There are more than 250,000 remaining votes to be counted. We believe when they are, John Kerry will win Ohio."
The Democrats were pinning their hopes on provisional ballots, the votes made by Ohioans who arrived at their crowded polling places, only to find their names were not on the electoral rolls. Tens of thousands of the ballots were cast all over the state, slipped into long blue envelopes, and set aside by county elections boards to be counted -- after the eligibility of the voters was verified -- 11 days later, as Ohio law requires.
As the margin between Bush and Kerry tightened to within about 150,000 votes, and with voters still at the polls, few had the patience to wait that long. Rival legal teams braced for battle, and for a few hours, the provisional ballot controversy threatened to become the hanging chad debacle of 2004.
But just how many provisional ballots were there? Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, a Republican whom critics accused of using his office to assist Bush during the campaign, estimated it was far fewer than the 250,000 Cahill suggested, perhaps as few as 130,000. He urged calm and patience as those ballots were being tallied, and made it clear he was determined to run the election by the book, and not by anybody else's clock.
Votes were still being counted in Knox County and elsewhere. Democrats were still hopeful that Blackwell's estimate was low, and that many more provisional ballots would come in. Back in Boston, vice presidential candidate John Edwards issued a defiant refusal to concede at Copley Plaza.
Two hours after Cahill's caution, the Bush campaign issued a statement from Ohio's Republican senators, Mike DeWine and George Voinovich, calling on Kerry to give up.
''Based on our experience in Ohio politics, we believe that the president's lead in Ohio is clear and that it cannot be surmounted," they said in a statement. ''Senator Kerry should concede defeat and spare the country the turmoil of another drawn-out election. The president has won Ohio."
By morning, it was clear the Republican senators were right.
The president's margin in Ohio was about 136,000 votes. The provisional ballot tally had fallen far short of Cahill's mark -- just 155,337 had been cast. Not all of those votes would be counted, and of those that were counted, not all would be cast for Kerry.
There was no catching the president in the Buckeye State.
''As a practical matter, I think we already know that the president's current lead is going to stick," Steven Huefner, associate professor of law at Ohio State University, said yesterday morning. If 500,000 provisional ballots had been cast, Kerry would have a good chance, he said. But with overseas absentee ballots coming in, and most of those likely to go to Bush, the Democratic campaign had clung to math that was unworkable.
By then it was clear to Kerry, too. He called Bush to concede. A couple of hours later, he stood before an adoring crowd at Faneuil Hall to give his final speech of a grueling, two-year campaign.
© Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company.
155,337 provisional ballots aren't enough. Bush won by 136,000 margin in Ohio. There are absentee ballots to be counted and most are likely to go to Bush.
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- In the early hours of yesterday morning, Mary Beth Cahill, campaign manager for John F. Kerry, warned the media that the crucial state of Ohio should not be called for President Bush.
''The vote count in Ohio has not been completed," read her statement, issued about 1:30 a.m. ''There are more than 250,000 remaining votes to be counted. We believe when they are, John Kerry will win Ohio."
The Democrats were pinning their hopes on provisional ballots, the votes made by Ohioans who arrived at their crowded polling places, only to find their names were not on the electoral rolls. Tens of thousands of the ballots were cast all over the state, slipped into long blue envelopes, and set aside by county elections boards to be counted -- after the eligibility of the voters was verified -- 11 days later, as Ohio law requires.
As the margin between Bush and Kerry tightened to within about 150,000 votes, and with voters still at the polls, few had the patience to wait that long. Rival legal teams braced for battle, and for a few hours, the provisional ballot controversy threatened to become the hanging chad debacle of 2004.
But just how many provisional ballots were there? Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, a Republican whom critics accused of using his office to assist Bush during the campaign, estimated it was far fewer than the 250,000 Cahill suggested, perhaps as few as 130,000. He urged calm and patience as those ballots were being tallied, and made it clear he was determined to run the election by the book, and not by anybody else's clock.
Votes were still being counted in Knox County and elsewhere. Democrats were still hopeful that Blackwell's estimate was low, and that many more provisional ballots would come in. Back in Boston, vice presidential candidate John Edwards issued a defiant refusal to concede at Copley Plaza.
Two hours after Cahill's caution, the Bush campaign issued a statement from Ohio's Republican senators, Mike DeWine and George Voinovich, calling on Kerry to give up.
''Based on our experience in Ohio politics, we believe that the president's lead in Ohio is clear and that it cannot be surmounted," they said in a statement. ''Senator Kerry should concede defeat and spare the country the turmoil of another drawn-out election. The president has won Ohio."
By morning, it was clear the Republican senators were right.
The president's margin in Ohio was about 136,000 votes. The provisional ballot tally had fallen far short of Cahill's mark -- just 155,337 had been cast. Not all of those votes would be counted, and of those that were counted, not all would be cast for Kerry.
There was no catching the president in the Buckeye State.
''As a practical matter, I think we already know that the president's current lead is going to stick," Steven Huefner, associate professor of law at Ohio State University, said yesterday morning. If 500,000 provisional ballots had been cast, Kerry would have a good chance, he said. But with overseas absentee ballots coming in, and most of those likely to go to Bush, the Democratic campaign had clung to math that was unworkable.
By then it was clear to Kerry, too. He called Bush to concede. A couple of hours later, he stood before an adoring crowd at Faneuil Hall to give his final speech of a grueling, two-year campaign.
© Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company.
155,337 provisional ballots aren't enough. Bush won by 136,000 margin in Ohio. There are absentee ballots to be counted and most are likely to go to Bush.
That is really impossible! I don't think Kerry lost Ohio.
