The Ohio Supreme Court, comprised entirely of Republicans, ruled to throw out 1,000 provisional ballots in the hotly-contested race between Steve Stivers and Mary Jo Kilroy in the last U.S. Congressional election to be decided in 2008. The ruling is a boon to Stivers’ campaign, whose slight lead over Kilroy grows increasingly tenuous with every vote counted, as the remaining 26,000 provisional ballots to be counted are predominantly from Franklin County, where voters favored Kilroy.
The Dispatch reports further:
Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer and Justices Terrence O’Donnell, Evelyn Lundberg Stratton and Robert R. Cupp sided with the Stivers camp in ordering the ballots not to be counted. Justices Paul E. Pfeifer and Judith Ann Lanzinger partially concurred, while Justice Maureen O’Connor did not participate in the ruling.
Today’s Ohio Supreme Court ruling kicks off the final phase of an election that began more than 13 months ago when Stivers entered the race against Kilroy, who had run for the seat and narrowly lost to Rep. Deborah Pryce in 2006.
The Franklin County Board of Elections expects to be able to count the provisional ballots in two to three days, then set a meeting of the board to certify the results.
If neither candidate is ahead by more than 0.5 percent — roughly 1,600 votes — there would be a mandatory recount of ballots.
That process could take another two weeks: six to 10 days to start the process, and five to seven days to complete it.
That means the winner may not be known until almost Christmas.
