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Citing late directives from Blackwell's office and other problems last fall, Michael Vu, director of the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, said more must be done to clarify the process and update state law.
"Ohio's provisional voting experience was not the model ... for the nation to follow," Vu, a Democrat, said Wednesday at a national public hearing of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission at Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law.
Blackwell, a Republican, agreed that the state's elections system can be improved. But he noted his actions were upheld in court and said Ohio's process produced one of the highest rate of valid provisional ballots in the nation this past fall - 77 percent of 159,539 cast.
"I don't think that we should be overly critical of a system that worked," Blackwell said after the hearing.
The commission, formed in 2002 to help enact election reforms, is gathering information with plans to issue voluntary guidance this year to states for provisional voting.
Among those who testified, in addition to Blackwell and Vu, were Florida Secretary of State Glenda Hood, legal experts and voter-advocacy groups.
Hood and Blackwell were criticized this month when they declined to testify before the House Administration Committee, the first official congressional hearing reviewing the 2004 election.
Provisional ballots are cast by voters who think they are registered but do not find their name on the rolls when they go to vote. The ballots are held until workers verify eligibility after the election.
Ohio has had provisional voting since the mid-1990s for voters who move but don't update their registration. Congress passed the Help America Vote Act in 2002, requiring all states to offer provisional voting, after it was shown in 2000 that millions of voters mistakenly were left off registration rolls.
Vu said Ohio had plenty of time to update its laws and voting procedures to conform with the new federal law, but didn't.
Election Assistance Commission member Ray Martinez III also asked Blackwell why Ohio hadn't acted, but Blackwell said his directives carry the weight of law. He also noted a state panel concluded last year that Ohio laws conformed with the new federal law.
Still, many elections officials and legal experts say Ohio needs to spell out more specifically in its laws what the rules are for issuing and counting provisional ballots. That will avoid confusion and ensure that all counties handle the ballots the same way.
The Ohio legislature has started hearings on bills that would update state election laws, including provisional voting.
One major topic of discussion at Wednesday's hearing was whether provisional ballots cast in a voter's home county but outside his or her home precinct should be counted.
Ohio and 28 other states require voters to be in their home precinct, but some observers say that can keep some people from voting when the process should be as easy as possible.
Kay J. Maxwell, president of the U.S. League of Women Voters, testified that voters could find themselves in the wrong precinct for a number of reasons, including having their polling location changed without getting notified.
Cherie Poucher, director of the Wake County Board of Elections in North Carolina, said the intent in that state is to have voters cast ballots in the correct precinct - but if they go to the wrong one, the intent is for them to vote for president or other races and issues on every county ballot.
Critics argue that by going to the wrong precinct, voters lose the right to cast votes on school levies and races in their home precincts. It also creates possible problems such as running out of ballots if voters are able to vote anywhere they want in a county, officials said.
Blackwell said he has no intention of reconsidering Ohio's rule, and the Election Assistance Commission has made it clear it's a matter for states to decide.
Edward B. "Ned" Foley, director of an election-law center at OSU, said the goal in each state should be resolving questions about voter eligibility before an election to reduce the number of provisional ballots cast.
That would help prevent provisional ballots from deciding the outcome of close elections, but there also must be clear and consistent standards for counting the provisional ballots that are cast, he said.
