First the bad news:

Matthew Damschroder, Franklin County elections director, estimated that as many as 5,000 of the 100,000 absentee ballots expected to be submitted have ID problems and would not be counted.

Now the good part:

Thousands of Ohioans got a reprieve from having their absentee votes thrown out when a federal judge last night halted state voter-identification requirements.

The Columbus Dispatch is reporting this morning that a Federal Judge suspended Ohio's new voter ID laws for early, absentee voters. It also appears that Blackwell, solidly behind Ted Strickland for governor of Ohio, doesn't want any more controversy swirling around him. Blackwell, for the time being, has declined to appeal the case.

Or as Judge Algenon L. Marbley, of U.S. District Court in Columbus put it:

"County boards are treating absentee voters differently," the judge said. "That’s a patent violation of the equal protection clause" of the U.S. Constitution.

At least someone still believes the Constitution is merely more than "quaint!"

Story developing....

Source:
http://www.dispatch.com/news/news.php?story=dispatch/2006/10/27/20061027...