1

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF OHIO
EASTERN DIVISION

SERVICE EMPLOYEES :
INTERNATIONAL :
UNION, LOCAL 1, et al., : Case No. 2:12-CV-562
:
Plaintiffs, :
:
v. : JUDGE ALGENON L. MARBLEY
:
JON HUSTED, et al., :
: Magistrate Terence P. Kemp
:
Defendants. :
:

THE NORTHEAST OHIO COALITION :
FOR THE HOMELESS, et al., : Case No. 2:06-CV-896
:
Plaintiffs, :
:
v. : JUDGE ALGENON L. MARBLEY
:
JON HUSTED, in his official capacity as :
Secretary of the State of Ohio, : Magistrate Judge Terence Kemp
:
Defendant. :
:
and :
:
STATE OF OHIO :
:
Intervenor-Defendant :
OPINION AND ORDER
I. INTRODUCTION
These are two related actions in this Court: Service Employees International Union,
Local 1, et. al. v. Husted, et. al., Case No. 2:12-cv-562 (the SEIU case) and The Northeast
Ohio Coalition for the Homeless, et. al. v. Husted & State of Ohio, Case No. 2:06-cv-896 (the
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NEOCH case). Plaintiffs in the NEOCH case have filed an Emergency Motion for Clarification
and for Modification of October 26, 2012 Order Regarding Scope of Section III(5)(b)(vii) of the
Consent Decree. (NEOCH Dkt. # 349) Plaintiffs in the SEIU case filed a Motion for
Preliminary Injunction which sought the same relief as the NEOCH Plaintiffs Motion, but on
different legal grounds. (SEIU Dkt. # 97) Plaintiffs jointly submitted a Memorandum in
Support of their motions. At oral argument, on November 7, 2012, the SEIU Plaintiffs withdrew
their Motion for Preliminary Injunction. (SEIU Dkt. # 102) Thus, this Opinion and Order
considers only NEOCH Plaintiffs motions. These motions have been fully briefed and are ripe
for consideration.
II. BACKGROUND
The interwoven factual and procedural histories of these motions have become
complicated owing to the many stages of this litigation both in this Court and the Sixth Circuit.
The accelerated timeline of the motions resulting from the date of the November 6, 2012
Election and the November 17, 2012 start of provisional ballot counting has increased the
complexity. It is appropriate, therefore, to review briefly the origins and purposes of the Consent
Decree which is the subject of these motions.
NEOCH Plaintiffs brought the suit which resulted in the Consent Decree in 2006.
(NEOCH Dkt. #2) They sought to prevent Ohios then-new voter identification laws from
disenfranchising impoverished Ohioans who could not afford to purchase any of the required
forms of identification. Plaintiffs alleged that the requirement essentially levied an unlawful poll
tax. In order to prevent disenfranchisement of the impoverished and to avoid further costly
litigation, parties voluntarily entered into a negotiated settlement, memorialized as the Consent
Decree. The Consent Decree went into effect on April 19, 2010 as an Order of this Court.
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(NEOCH Dkt. #210) The Decree only applies to provisional voters who identify themselves
using the last four digits of their social security numbers, SSN-4 voters. It is scheduled to
remain in effect until June 30, 2013, though parties may move to extend that date.
Since the Consent Decree was entered, the litigation has gone through numerous stages,
in this Court and in the Sixth Circuit. On October 26, 2012, the Court denied NEOCH Plaintiffs
previous Motion to Modify the Consent Decree. (NEOCH Dkt. #334) Chiefly, Plaintiffs sought
to expand the scope of the Consent Decree to all provisional ballot voters to prevent a potential
violation of Equal Protection under Bush v. Gore, 531 U.S. 98 (2000). Plaintiffs requested the
Court order the counting of provisional ballots with deficient affirmations resulting from poll-
worker error. One issue in contention was the definition of poll-worker error. This Court
found the Sixth Circuits Decision of October 11, 2012 held that the voters failure to print her
name or sign the provisional ballot affirmation was not the result of poll-worker error.
1
NEOCH
v. Husted, ___ F.3d ___, 2012 WL 4829033 (6th Cir. October 11, 2012).
Ohio law, however, requires other information on the provisional ballot affirmation as
well, including the form of identification used by the provisional voter, which is required to be
recorded by a poll-worker. Ohio Revised Code 3505.181(B)(6). The Sixth Circuit has held that
when a ballot deficiency is solely the result of poll-worker error, the ballot may not be
rejected; otherwise there would be a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. SEIU v. Husted,
___ F.3d ___, 2012 WL 5352484 (6th Cir. October 31, 2012) at *2. In denying the NEOCH
Plaintiffs Motion to Modify the Consent Decree, this Court relied on the Sixth Circuits holding,
Section III(5)(b)(vii) of the Consent Decree, O.R.C. 3505.181(B)(6), and the Secretarys
representations to this Court, all of which confirmed the Courts understanding that the Secretary

1
The Sixth Circuit held that the evidentiary record at that stage of the proceeding did not substantiate poll-worker
error is the cause of a voters failure to print her name or write her signature. If parties adduce further evidence on
that matter in the future, it may be appropriate to reconsider.
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would not reject a provisional ballot because a poll worker had failed in her duty to record
information.
2

Following the issuance of this Courts Order on October 26, 2012, NEOCH Plaintiffs
filed an Emergency Motion for Clarification, on November 1, 2012. (NEOCH Dkt. #346) They
sought clarification from this Court that a provisional ballot could not be rejected because
certain form-of-identification information that poll workers are statutorily required to provide is
missing or incorrect. (emphasis in original). The Court notes that Plaintiffs attempted to
contact the Secretary multiple times to hear his interpretation of this issue before filing the
motion. The Secretary never responded to Plaintiffs inquiries until filing a response with the
Court. (NEOCH Dkt. #346, Exh. 1, 2)
The first notice that Plaintiffs or this Court received that the Secretary intended to reject
provisional ballots with missing or incorrect identification information arrived around 7:00
p.m. on Friday, November 2, 2012, just four days prior to the November 6, 2012 Election. At
that time, the Secretary issued Directive 2012-54, which stated, in relevant part, [i]f the voter
did not provide identification on the provisional ballot affirmation . . . the Board must reject the
provisional ballot. (emphasis in the original). The Secretary, by admission of counsel,
engaged in no fact-finding which suggested such a change would improve the integrity of the
voting system. At oral argument, the Secretary was unable to provide any explanation for the
change, nor provide any specific account of the process by which it occurred. It is significant

2
The Secretary represented to the Court, through counsel that, [t]he question is what is left of the
concept of poll worker error in the context of defective ballot affirmations. [Plaintiffs counsel]
suggested to [the Court], for example, that there might still be poll worker error because there is an
obligation to record on the form the mode of identification used. And if thats missing, thats a
defect in the ballot. But that defect is not covered by the provision were talking about, because as
they say, the obligation to write down the identifying information is imposed upon the poll worker,
not the voter. And in Section 7 [of the Consent Decree], it says that we wont invalidate ballots
based upon the poll workers failure to write something down. (Draft Transcript, October 24,
2012 Hearing, p. 47 at ll. 5-14).
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that the Secretary has recently argued both in this Court and the Sixth Circuit that changing
election rules in the October prior to an election is not practically feasible and is likely to result
in confusion.
Early on the following Monday, November 5, 2012, NEOCH Plaintiffs timely filed the
instant Emergency Motion for Clarification and Modification of Consent Decree. (NEOCH Dkt.
#349) In the same Emergency Motion, SEIU Plaintiffs moved for a preliminary injunction.
Both NEOCH and SEIU Plaintiffs sought the same relief: an extension of Section III(5)(b)(vii) of
the Consent Decree to all provisional voters and an order that the Secretary not reject ballots
because the poll-worker had failed in her duty to complete the voters identification information
on the provisional ballot affirmation. At that time, Plaintiffs had the understanding that
provisional ballots with such errors would be counted if they came under the Consent Decree
(SSN-4 ballots), but not if they were other provisional ballots. Such a result, Plaintiffs correctly
contended, would constitute a Bush v. Gore violation of Equal Protection, per the Sixth Circuits
Decision of October 11, 2012. At the hearing on November 7, 2012, however, the Secretary
clarified that he planned to reject all ballots with missing or improperly completed identification
information, including SSN-4 ballots covered by the Consent Decree. The Secretary, thus, saw
no violation of Equal Protection. This Court must now consider not only the Plaintiffs briefed
motions, but also whether Directive 2012-54 and its application to SSN-4 provisional ballots
violates the Consent Decree and, if so, determine the proper remedy.
III. LAW AND ANALYSIS
As this Motion requires the Court to construe the Consent Decree, it is appropriately
before this Court because [i]t is only sensible to give the court that wrote the consent judgment
greater deference when it is parsing its own work. Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians
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v. Engler, 146 F.3d 367, 371 (6th Cir. 1998). The Sixth Circuit has also held that [f]ew persons
are in a better position to understand the meaning of a consent decree than the district judge who
oversaw and approved it. Brown v. Neeb, 644 F.3d 551, 558 n. 12 (6th Cir. 1981).
A. Provisional Ballot Affirmations under the Consent Decree
Upon entering the Consent Decree, the parties agreed, and the Court approved and
ordered that [SSN-4] voters will not be deprived of their fundamental right to vote because of
failures by poll workers to follow Ohio law. To that end, the Court ordered, inter alia, the
following general injunctive relief:
Boards of Elections must count the provisional ballot cast by a voter using only
the last four digits of his or her social security number as identification if . . . [t]he
individuals name and signature appear in the correct place on the provisional
ballot affirmation form, unless the voter declined to execute the affirmation and
the poll workers complied with their statutory duties under R.C. 3505.182 and
R.C. 3505.181(B)(6) when a voter declines to execute the affirmation . . .
Boards of Elections may not reject a provisional ballot [because] . . . vii. The poll
worker did not complete or properly complete and/or sign the provisional ballot
application witness line and/or the provisional ballot affirmation form, except for
reasons permitted by the governing statutes.
(NEOCH Dkt. #210) The significance of this excerpt with regard to Directive 2012-54 is two-
fold. First, it orders that votes not be rejected because a poll worker failed to complete properly
her sections of the provisional ballot affirmation as defined under Ohio law. Second, the excerpt
explicitly incorporates 3505.181(B)(6) and 3505.182 of the Ohio Revised Code, which define
the poll workers duties, into the Consent Decree. Under O.R.C. 3505.181(B)(6), those duties
include:
[A]t the time that an individual casts a provisional ballot . . . the appropriate local
election official shall record the type of identification provided, the social security
number information, the fact that the affirmation was executed, or the fact that the
individual declined to execute such an affirmation and . . . [i]f the individual
declines to execute the affirmation, the appropriate local election official shall
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record the individuals name and include that information with the transmission
of the ballot . . .

(emphasis added). This passage unambiguously tasks poll workers with the duty of recording
the type of identification provisional voters provide. Although the Secretary accurately indicates
that 3505.182 also contemplates an affirmation which could provide a space for the provisional
voter to fill-in her identification information, the draft of the provisional ballot affirmation in that
statute is just that, a draft. Nowhere does 3505.182 relieve the poll worker of her duty,
explicitly imposed by 3505.181(B)(6), to record the provisional voters form of identification.
Nor does 3505.182 indicate whether the poll worker or voter should complete the identification
section of the draft affirmation. At oral argument, the Secretary could point to no statute or other
authority which relieved, or purported to relieve, poll workers of their duty to record the type of
identification presented by a provisional voter. That duty, though imposed by Ohio law, was
incorporated into the Consent Decree by Section III(5)(a)(4). (NEOCH Dkt. #210)
While this Court usually does not enjoin the acts of state officials to comply with state law, the
Courts power to enforce the Consent Decree is undisputed. Thus, to the extent that the
Secretarys violations of state law also violate or conflict with the Consent Decree, this Court
may enjoin such actions. See NEOCH, 2012 WL 4829033 at *19; cf. Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of
Chippewa Indians, 146 F.3d at 371 (6th Cir. 1998), Brown, 644 F.3d at 558 n. 12 (6th Cir. 1981).
B. Directive 2012-54 Violates the Consent Decree
When Plaintiffs initially filed this Motion, they reasonably believed the Secretary
intended the Directive to affect only provisional ballots not covered by the Consent Decree.
(NEOCH Dkt. #346) At oral argument, however, the Secretary made clear that he intended to
reject provisional ballots with the defects at issue regardless of whether they fell under the
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Consent Decree.
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Now, having established this Courts jurisdiction to enjoin violations of the
Consent Decree, the question is whether Directive 2012-54 violates the Decree, as Plaintiffs
allege.
Plaintiffs claim, specifically, that the Secretarys Directive 2012-54 contravenes O.R.C.
3505.181(B)(6), incorporated into the Consent Decree, by ordering election officials to reject
provisional ballots with some deficiency in recording the type of identification used by the voter.
The violation is rooted in the Secretarys drafting of the Provisional Ballot Affirmation, also
known as Form 12-B. Step 2 of Form 12-B instructs the provisional voter to either (a) write
the last four digits of her Social Security number; or (b) her full eight-digit Ohio drivers license
number; or (c) show another form of identification from the included list and check the box
indicating the form of identification produced. The Secretary contends Step 2 is a minimal
burden on the voter and actually reduces the risk of error by eliminating the chain of transmitting
the identification information from voter to poll worker, and then poll worker to Form 12-B.
Although the Secretary adduces no evidence to support this contention, the absence of facts is
irrelevant, as the Court need not engage in a factual inquiry, nor perform a Constitutional
analysis. O.R.C. 3505.181(B)(6) relieves the voter of the responsibility to record her
identification information as a matter of law. In NEOCH, the Sixth Circuit validated this legal
interpretation, stating that Ohio law require[s] election officials to record the type of
identification provided, the social security number information, the fact that the affirmation was
executed, or the fact that the individual declined to execute such an affirmation and include that
information with the transmission of the ballot. NEOCH, 2012 WL 4829033 at *10-13,
quoting O.R.C. 3505.181(B)(6).

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It is important to reiterate that even if the Secretary did not intend to reject the provisional ballots covered by the
Consent Decree, that would not resolve the issue. In that case, the Secretary would simply have created the same
violation of Equal Protection that occurs here in a different way.
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Accordingly, in shifting that duty to the voter, Step 2 of Form 12-B imposes an
impermissible burden in violation of O.R.C. 3505.181(B)(6) and, therefore, the Consent
Decree. By admission of counsel, the Secretary engaged in no fact-finding to determine that
such a change would increase the integrity of the voting system. The General Assembly made
the policy judgment to place the duty to record the identification of a provisional voter with a
trained election official. The Secretary may not second guess that decision. If the Secretary
could arbitrarily shift any duties of an election official to an individual voter, the Secretary could
ensure no error would ever be the fault of a poll worker simply by reassigning all of the poll
workers duties to the voter. This result is not contemplated by Ohio law or permitted by the
Constitution.
Additionally, the Secretarys argument that Plaintiffs Motion is not timely is incorrect.
The poor drafting of Form 12-B which, by design or accident, purports to shift the poll workers
statutory duty to record the form of identification to the provisional voter, did not provide
occasion for the Plaintiffs to seek injunctive relief until the Secretary issued Directive 2012-54,
at 7:00 p.m. on November 2. Until that time, Plaintiffs did not have reason to believe a
provisional ballot would be rejected if the poll worker did not record information required by
3505.181(B)(6). Plaintiffs correctly understood the law to place the duty to record that
information on the poll worker (per O.R.C. 3505.181(B)(6) and its incorporation in the
Consent Decree) and to forbid the rejection of a provisional ballot due to poll-worker error. The
Sixth Circuits NEOCH decision of October 11, 2012 held unconstitutional the
disenfranchisement of voters who arrive at the correct polling place (and are otherwise eligible to
vote) solely as a consequence of poll-worker error. SEIU v. Husted, ___ F.3d ___, 2012 WL
5352484 at *2, citing NEOCH, 2012 WL 4829033 at *10-13. Since the Ohio law places the
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duty to record the provisional voters form of identification with the poll-worker, if such
information is absent, that indicates that the poll worker failed to perform her duty. To reject the
ballot for that reason would violate the Fourteenth Amendments guarantee of Due Process.
Until November 2 at 7:00 p.m., Plaintiffs did not have reason to believe such a result was within
the realm of possibility. Thus, this Motion is timely made.
In summary, Directive 2012-54 violates the Consent Decree and the law of Ohio.
Plaintiffs timely moved for clarification to declare Directive 2012-54 a violation of the Consent
Decree. Plaintiffs Motion is, hereby, GRANTED. The Court ORDERS that provisional
ballots of SSN-4 voters be counted if the voter has properly completed Step 1 and Step 3 of
the Provisional Ballot Affirmation (Form 12-B).
C. Appropriate Remedy for Violation of Consent Decree
Since Directive 2012-54 violates the Consent Decree and the Court must enjoin Directive
2012-54, as it applies to SSN-4 voters, the Secretarys application of the Directive to non-SSN-4
voters creates a Bush v. Gore violation of Equal Protection. Under the Sixth Circuits NEOCH
Decision of October 11, 2012, that result cannot stand.
4
The Court must either vacate Section
III(5)(b)(vii) of the Consent Decree to allow Directive 2012-54 to operate, or extend the
protections of the Consent Decree to all provisional voters for the purposes of the November 6,
2012 Election. Therefore, the Court also ORDERS that an incomplete or improperly completed
Step 2 shall not cause any provisional ballot to be rejected, unless: (1) a poll-worker has
recorded on the provisional ballot affirmation that the voter is required to return to the county
board of elections with proper identification; (2) a poll worker has recorded what identification

4
This is not a situation where the Courts Order has created a violation of Equal Protection. The Secretary
attempted to do something forbidden by the Consent Decree voluntarily entered into by the Secretary. By the terms
of the Consent Decree, this Court must enjoin the violation. Thus, it is the Secretarys eleventh hour attempt to
reject provisional ballots with Step 2 deficiencies that violates Equal Protection, not the Order of this Court.
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information the voter must bring; and (3) the voter did not return with the necessary
identification within ten days of the election.
The Secretary contends that if the information sought by Step 2 is not completed, there
is no way to determine whether the provisional voter was an SSN-4 voter or a voter who
provided another type of identification, or even a voter who did not provide proper identification
when casting the provisional ballot. That is not accurate. Under O.R.C. 3505.181 (B)(7), if a
provisional voter does not arrive at the polling place with an acceptable form of identification an
election official shall indicate, on the provisional ballot verification statement required under
section 3505.182 of the Revised Code that the voter is required to provide additional
information to the countys board of elections to determine the eligibility of the voter. If a
poll-worker has properly recorded that information on the provisional ballot and the voter does
not return with the proper identification within ten days of the election, that provisional ballot
will be rejected.
The Secretarys proposed relief, vacating Section III(5)(b)(vii), is unacceptable for
numerous reasons. First, having created the equal protection issue by issuing a directive that
violates both state law and a voluntarily entered Consent Decree, the Secretary cannot benefit
from his illegal act by using it to escape his obligations under the Consent Decree. Second, if the
Secretary has drafted Form 12-B in such a way that it both illegally shifts the burden of
recording identification information from election officials to voters and does not allow election
officials to distinguish poll-worker error from voter failure to provide identification, that is the
Secretarys mistake. There were myriad options available to the Secretary to create a form
which would have made such distinctions clear, but he chose not to pursue those options. It is an
established rule of contract law that ambiguities are construed against the drafter of the
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document. Since the Secretary drafted Form 12-B, if the form is inadequate, the Secretary must
bear the consequences of that inadequacy. The voter acting in good faith cannot suffer
disenfranchisement as a result of the Secretarys drafting errors.
D. Judicial Estoppel Bars the Secretary from Advocating His Proposed Remedy
While the Plaintiffs requested remedy is proper on substantive grounds, the Secretary is
also judicially estopped from seeking his proposed remedy because he relies on a position
contrary to that which he previously took before this Court and upon which this Court has relied.
Judicial estoppel is an equitable doctrine which generally prevents a party from prevailing in
one phase of a case on an argument and then relying on a contradictory argument to prevail in
another phase. New Hampshire v. Maine, 532 U.S. 742, 749, quoting Pegram v. Herdrich, 530
U.S. 211, 227, n. 8 (2000). The doctrine dictates that, where a party assumes a certain position
in a legal proceeding, and succeeds in maintaining that position, he may not thereafter, simply
because his interest have changed, assume a contrary position, especially if it be to the prejudice
of the party who has acquiesced in the position formerly taken by him. Id. at 749. In this
Courts previous decision, the Court denied Plaintiffs request to expand the protections of
Section III(5)(b)(vi) and (vii) to all provisional voters. In denying that request, the Court relied
primarily on the Secretarys assurances that provisional ballots would not be rejected if a poll
worker failed to comply with her statutory duties:
[T]he question is what is left of the concept of poll worker error in the context of
defective ballot affirmations. [Plaintiffs counsel] suggested to [the Court], for
example, that there might still be poll worker error because there is an obligation
to record on the form the mode of identification used. And if thats missing,
thats a defect in the ballot. But that defect is not covered by the provision were
talking about, because as they say, the obligation to write down the identifying
information is imposed upon the poll worker, not the voter. And in Section 7 [of
the Consent Decree], it says that we wont invalidate ballots based upon the poll
workers failure to write something down.

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(Draft Transcript, October 24, 2012 Hearing, p. 47 at ll. 5-14). At that time, the Court also
understood O.R.C. 3505.181(B)(6) to protect other provisional voters not covered by the
Consent Decree from having their ballots rejected when poll workers fail to record the
identifying information. In reliance on the Secretarys verbal assurances to this Court and Ohio
law, this Court denied Plaintiffs previous request to modify and expand the Consent Decree,
stating that, Critically, Section III(5)(b)(vii) remains in the Consent Decree to ensure no
provisional ballot is disqualified when a poll worker fails to complete her designated portion of
the envelope and the State does not dispute that. SEIU Local 1 v. Husted, 2012 WL 5334080 at
*12 (S.D. Ohio October 26, 2012). While the Secretary argues that judicial estoppel does not
apply where a litigants assertions are open to interpretation, the relevant statements are not
open to interpretation. Counsel for the Secretary unambiguously assured this Court that the
Secretary understood the recording of identifying information to be a duty imposed upon the
poll worker and that the failure to do so would not invalidate ballots. The Court relied on this
statement to the Plaintiffs detriment. Nine days after making that representation to the Court,
the Secretary ordered that no provisional ballots be counted if the identification information was
improperly recorded, without ingaging in fact-finding to support the change. This is an
archetypal situation in which judicial estoppel applies.
The Court also notes, with grave misgivings, that the Secretary changed an election rule
on a Friday evening for an election scheduled for the following Tuesday, after repeatedly
asserting, to both this Court and the Sixth Circuit, that he could not comply with injunctive relief
ordered by this Court because he lacked sufficient time prior to the election. The surreptitious
manner in which the Secretary went about implementing this last minute change to the election
rules casts serious doubt on his protestations of good faith. Thus, in addition to the Plaintiffs
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successful legal arguments, the equitable doctrine of judicial estoppel is grounds for denying the
relief sought by the Secretary and granting that sought by Plaintiffs.
E. Directive 2012-54 Violates Fourteenth Amendment Substantive Due Process
Although this Courts decision to grant Plaintiffs the injunctive relief they seek rests on
the Secretarys violation of the Consent Decree and Equal Protection violation thereby created,
the Court reaches the same conclusion under the Fourteenth Amendments guarantee of due
process. The right to vote is a federal right guaranteed to all citizens by the Fourteenth
Amendment. It may not be withheld without due process.
While, generally, a federal court may not enjoin a state official from violating state law,
there are exceptions. Ex parte Young, 209 U.S. 123 (1908). The Fifth Circuit has held that, [i]t
is fundamentally unfair and constitutionally impermissible [under the substantive prong of the
due process clause] for public officials to disenfranchise voters in violation of state law.
Duncan v. Poythress, 657 F.2d 691, 704 (5th Cir. 1981), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 1012 (1982). In
Duncan, the Fifth Circuit found the states failure to hold a special election as required by state
law presented one of those rare, but serious, violations of state election laws [which] undermine
the basic fairness and integrity of the democratic system. Duncan, 657 F.2d at 699. Here the
Secretarys eleventh hour Directive, which disenfranchises an unknown but potentially large
number of Ohio voters and violates state law, is one of the rare, but serious violations of state
election law identified by the Duncan court. Directive 2012-54 ordered elections officials to
reject[] any provisional ballot without the voters properly completed identification
information. Under O.R.C. 3505.181(B)(6), however, the poll worker has the duty to record
the identification information. The poll worker administers the election on behalf of the state, so
the poll workers failure to fulfill her statutory duty is state action that, under Directive 2012-54,
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would lead to an individual losing her right to vote without due process. Just as in Duncan, the
Secretarys action here is a flagrant violation of a state election law, O.R.C. 3505.181(B)(6),
and it has the result of disenfranchising voters, by rejecting provisional ballots cast in good faith.
This violation of state law rises to an abuse of federal due process and necessitates the granting
of injunctive relief by a federal court.
While the Sixth Circuit has conjectured that asking a provisional voter to record her
identification information may not constitute an undue burden under the Burdick/Anderson test,
it also held that the duty to record that information, under Ohio law, is the poll workers.
NEOCH, 2012 WL 4829033 at *16 (Ohio law does not task poll-workers with quality control of
ballot affirmations. Rather, the Ohio provisions cited by the district court . . . require elections
officials to record the type of identification provided . . .). Ohio voters reasonably expect that
the Secretary of Ohio will abide by the General Assemblys laws in administering a federal
election. For an executive official of the state to flaunt state law in arbitrarily reassigning a poll
workers statutory duty to a voter, with the result being disenfranchisement of the voter, is
fundamentally unfair and constitutionally impermissible. Duncan, 657 F.2d at 704. Thus, this
Court finds Directive 2012-54 violates substantive due process as guaranteed by the Fourteenth
Amendment. The due process violation provides an alternative ground for providing the
injunctive relief sought by Plaintiffs.
IV. CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, NEOCH Plaintiffs Motion for Clarification of the Consent
Decree is, hereby, GRANTED. The Court declares that Directive 2012-54 violates the Consent
Decree and ORDERS that the Secretary not reject any provisional ballots cast by SSN-4 voters
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with an improperly completed Step 2 (requesting voters identification information) on the

Provisional Ballot Affirmation.
SEIU Local 1 Plaintiffs have WITHDRAWN their Motion for Preliminary Injunction.
The Court, therefore, has no occasion to consider that Motion.
Since the Sixth Circuits NEOCH Decision of October 11, 2012 held that treating SSN-4
provisional ballots differently from other provisional ballots violates Equal Protection, this
Courts relief must be implemented in a uniform fashion for all provisional ballots. Thus, for the
foregoing reasons, NEOCH Plaintiffs Motion for Modification of the Consent Decree is also
GRANTED.
The Court ORDERS that the Secretary not reject any provisional ballots cast by non-
SSN-4 voters with an improperly completed Step 2 on the Provisional Ballot Affirmation.
This latter relief, pertaining to the non-SSN-4 voters applies only to provisional ballots cast in
the November 6, 2012 Election. The only circumstances in which the Secretary may reject a
provisional ballot for a deficiency in Step 2 of Form 12-B is if: (1) a poll-worker has recorded
on the provisional ballot affirmation that the voter is required to return to the county board of
elections with proper identification; (2) a poll worker has recorded what identification
information the voter must bring; and (3) the voter did not return with the necessary
identification within ten days of the election.
The Court ORDERS the Secretary to issue a Directive consistent with this Order by no
later than November 16, 2012 at 12:00 p.m. Prior to issuing the Directive, the Secretary shall
provide the relevant proposed language for the Directive to Plaintiffs counsel by no later than
12:00 p.m. on November 14, 2012. If the parties cannot agree to the proposed language after
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conferral, they shall submit separate proposals to the Court by no later than 12:00 p.m. on
November 15, 2012.
IT IS SO ORDERED.

s/Algenon L. Marbley
Algenon L. Marbley
United States District Judge

Dated: November 13, 2012

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