As of election night there were 155,428 provisional ballots still to be counted in Ohio. The eagerly awaited Ohio recount cannot possibly begin until after the votes are counted for the first time.

It is now Friday, November 26, 2004. Twenty-four days have passed since the presidential election. There are 88 counties in Ohio. To my knowledge, only 13 have examined their provisional ballots, counted them, and posted the results on their websites. The 13 counties are: Ashland, Brown, Butler, Clinton, Geauga, Greene, Hancock, Montgomery, Pickaway, Preble, Tuscarawas, Union, and Warren.

Altogether, there were 23,873 provisional ballots issued in these 13 counties, or 15.36% of the statewide total. At this rate, it would take five months to count them all. This strikes me as a deliberate stalling tactic to delay the Ohio recount until after the electoral college meets in December.

Here are the unofficial results in the 13 counties, with the sum totals compared with those reported on election night, so as to compute the net gains:

ELECTION RESULTS AFTER COUNTING PROVISIONAL BALLOTS

County	Bush	Kerry	Others	Ballots	Not
				Cast	Counted
Ashland	16,171	8,555	234	25,739	779
Brown	12,647	7,140	105	20,281	389
Butler	109,866	56,234	696	168,976	2,180
Clinton	12,938	5,417	58	18,674	261
Geauga	29,974	19,588	205	51,286	1,519
Greene	48,377	30,530	361	80,602	1,334
Hancock	25,101	10,343	140	35,926	342
Montgomery	138,361	142,977	1,205	287,635	5,092
Pickaway	14,160	8,578	123	23,132	271
Preble	13,733	7,274	119	21,559	433
Tuscarawas	23,825	18,854	260	43,760	821
Union	15,869	6,665	96	22,911	281
Warren	68,035	26,043	337	95,512	1,097

	Bush	Kerry	Others
Total	529,057 60.04%	348,198 39.51%	3,939 0.45%
Earlier	516,376 60.18%	337,902 39.38%	3,753 0.44%
Net Gain	12,681 54.75%	10,296 44.45%	186 0.80%

John F. Kerry is actually gaining on George W. Bush as the counting of provisional ballots proceeds. In counties that Kerry lost by 20.8% on election night, he is losing by only 10.3% among the provisional ballots counted. In the 75 counties yet to be heard from, Kerry actually held a lead on election night:

ELECTION NIGHT RESULTS

	Bush	Kerry	Others
88 counties	2,796,147	2,659,664	25,993
13 counted	516,376	337,902	3,753
75 uncounted	2,279,771	2,321,762	22,240

There are 208,696 uncounted ballots in these 75 counties, including 131,555 provisional ballots, and 77,141 regular ballots, mostly punch cards, which will have to be examined by hand during the recount. For a county by county breakdown of the uncounted votes, read "JOHN KERRY CONCEDED TOO SOON" at

web.northnet.org/minstrel/uncounted.htm

Half of these uncounted votes, 104,748 (50.19%) are in 9 counties, 8 of which were won by John Kerry.

web.northnet.org/minstrel/summary.htm

There are also 14,799 ballots still uncounted in the other 13 counties, according to the table above. No wonder Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell is trying to slow down the counting of provisional ballots, and trying to delay the recount until after he certifies the winner. There needs to be a firestorm of protest to cause him to recuse himself, or a restraining order issued by the courts.

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http://www.northnet.org/minstrel