Dan Tokaji, Moritz College of Law, Ohio State University:

"Taking Yogi Berra's words to heart, Ohio voting rights advocates have announced their plan to proceed with a contest of the election. This is in addition to the recount planned by the Green and Libertarian candidates, now reportedly to be joined by the Democratic Party as well. And to top things off, a new federal lawsuit was filed today that reportedly seeks to make sure that the recount is completed before the electoral college meets on December 13. Thus, although the result in Ohio is clear (news flash: Bush won), it's not quite as clear when the election will officially be over. Nor is it entirely clear — at least to me — how the process will actually work. But I'll try to sort out what's most likely.

The Contest

The Ohio News Network has this report and the Cleveland Plain-Dealer this one on the plan to file a contest of the election results. Activists reportedly plan to cite exit polls, provisional voting glitches, and "hundreds of voter horror stories" in support of their petition. Under Ohio law, election contests are to be heard by the Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court. Ohio R.C. 3515.08. (See here for the Election Law @ Moritz description by my colleague Chris Fairman.)

A contest requires a petition, signed by at least 25 voters and filed within 15 days of the date the election results are "ascertained and announced by the proper authority" — or in the event of a recount, within 10 days after the recount results have been ascertained and announced. R.C. 3515.09. A hearing must then be scheduled between 15 and 30 days of the petition.

As of last report, the lawyers planning the contest couldn't say when they'd file their petition.

The Recount

But wait … it gets even more complicated when we get to the recount provisions of Ohio law. As noted here, the Green and Libertarian candidates have announced their intention to seek a recount. Earlier this evening, Keith Olbermann reported here that the Democrats plan to join the recount, and the A.P. later issued this report confirming it. (Update: K.O. is now reporting here that the Dems now say they plan to "participate in" the recount, rather than "join" it … whatever that means.)

The recount request must be filed within five days of when the election results are officially declared. Ohio R.C. 3515.02 ("the[recount] application shall be filed within five days after the day upon which the secretary of state declares the results of such election") . That hasn't happened yet, and may not for several days, as described below.

Apparently concerned that the electoral college would meet before the recount is complete, the Greens and Libertarians (which K.O. glibly labels the "Glibs") filed a federal lawsuit today in Toledo. That lawsuit reportedly seeks to compel the recount in sufficient time for it to be completed by December 13, the day the electoral college meets in each state's capital. See here for a press release announcing the lawsuit…." [November 22, 2004; Equal Vote has more]