Ken Blackwell Defeated in Ohio Governor Race

NPR projects that Democrat Ted Strickland has won the Ohio governor's office over Republican Kenneth Blackwell.


Blackwell had ordered Diebold touch screen voting machines, reversing an earlier decision by the state to purchase only optical scan voting machines which, unlike the touch screen devices, would leave a "paper trail" for recount purposes. The controversy was inflamed the next month when Walden O'Dell, chief executive of Diebold, sent a fund-raising letter to Ohio Republicans, stating that he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year."