'Butterfly' Ballots Return -- In Cincinnati

CINCINNATI -- With 26 candidates running for nine seats on the Cincinnati City Council, election officials said that they will have to use a "butterfly" ballot to squeeze them all in.

But they don't expect the ballot to confuse voters the way a similar one apparently confused some Florida voters in Palm Beach County in last November's presidential election.

On Tuesday, the Hamilton County Board of Elections certified four candidates for mayor and 26 candidates for council -- nine Democrats, five Republicans, three Charterites and nine independents.

Elections Director Julie Stautberg said that any time there are more than 18 candidates for council, which turns out to be nearly every election, they have to be listed on two open pages that face each other.

The ballot in the Nov. 6 election will list 13 candidates on one page and 13 on the opposite page, Stautberg said. Each page will have its own column of punch holes.

Last fall, part of the dispute in Florida involved punch cards that had only one column of punch holes. Supporters of Al Gore claimed that many voters were confused and punched holes intended for candidates on the other page.

But such confusion shouldn't happen in Cincinnati, Stautberg said.

"Each page will have its own column of punch holes, so it's not likely you are going to vote for somebody on the other page that you didn't want," she said.

Previous Story:

• August 24, 2001: Council: Candidate Field Swells To 27