On February 13, the Hamilton County, Ohio, Board of Elections, voted on whether to appeal the Hunter lawsuit to the U.S. Court of Appeals, 4th circuit. This is the somewhat famous lawsuit on whether or not certain provisional ballots should be counted, in a November 2010 Juvenile Court partisan race. The Republican members of the Hamilton County Board of Elections voted to appeal, and the Democrats voted not to appeal. In Ohio, when a County Election Board has a tie vote, the Secretary of State breaks the tie.

The U.S. District Court had ruled on February 8 that the provisional ballots should be counted, even though they were cast in the wrong precinct, but in the correct building. The basis for the decision was that, even though Ohio provisional ballots are void if they are cast in the wrong precinct, the county had counted certain other provisional ballots that hadn’t been cast in the correct precinct.

The lawsuit has lasted so long already, the judicial office in question has been vacant for fifteen months. See this story.