Person
Ken Blackwell
- Work
- Taught at Xavier University, 1974-1991.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
- Public service
- U.S. Undersecretary of Housing and Urban Development, 1989-1990.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
- Public service
- U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, 1992-1993, appointed by President George H.W. Bush.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
- Education
- B.S. in psychology, 1970, and M.Ed., 1971, Xavier University.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
- Civic
- Trustee of Wilberforce University and Wilmington College; senior fellow at the Family Research Council since 2007.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
- $10.0MRaised, as filed · September 9, 2006
- Not yet researchedCash on hand
- 32%Latest poll · Rasmussen Reports, August 22, 2006
- 5Positions in their words · 5 issues
- none on fileClaims checked
- 3Offices held · Former Secretary of State of Ohio, 1999–2007
9 of 11 sections researched
Not yet researched: What they have said, checked, Endorsements given.
What has been checked
- Profile 8 entries
- On the ballot 0 entries
- Where they stand 5 entries
- What they have said, checked Not yet researched
- Record in office 8 entries
- Money 2 entries
- Financial interests 3 entries
- Polling and approval 1 entry
- Elections 3 entries
- Endorsements given Not yet researched
- Sources 16 entries
The numbers behind this figure, as a table
| Section | State |
|---|---|
| profile | researched |
| ballot | researched |
| positions | researched |
| claims | not researched |
| record | researched |
| money | researched |
| interests | researched |
| polling | researched |
| elections | researched |
| endorsements | not researched |
| sources | researched |
The numbers behind this figure, as a table
| Chamber | District | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Statewide | All of Ohio | Governor of Ohio |
On the ballot
None found in the records checked
The numbers behind this figure, as a table
| Status |
|---|
| None found in the records checked |
Where they stand
Election administration
Paraphrase of a linked source, not their words:
Re-election message centered on administrative efficiency: faster campaign-finance report processing, an electronic network linking county boards of elections, and a reduction in routine business-filing turnaround from about 18 weeks to about 2 days.
Source: citybeat.com
Religion in public life
The public square should not be stripped of religion or faith
Source: pbs.org
Same-sex marriage
Paraphrase of a linked source, not their words:
As Secretary of State, publicly supported Ohio's Issue 1 (2004), the constitutional amendment defining marriage as only between one man and one woman, arguing the marriage issue would help determine where Ohio's electoral votes would go.
Source: ballotpedia.org
Tax policy (outside the office's authority)
Paraphrase of a linked source, not their words:
Carried into the 1998 race a public record, built as sitting Treasurer, of advocacy for a flat tax to replace Ohio's graduated income tax, a constitutional limit on state spending growth, and school vouchers -- none within the Secretary of State's actual statutory authority over business filings, elections administration and campaign-finance disclosure.
Source: scholarship.shu.edu
Taxes
Paraphrase of a linked source, not their words:
Championed a statewide Tax and Expenditure Limitation (nicknamed 'TABOR') capping annual government-spending growth at the greater of inflation-plus-population-growth or 3.5%, applied to state and local governments and special taxing districts alike.
Source: wosu.org
What they have said, checked
Not yet researched
Record in office
The numbers behind this figure, as a table
| Person | Date | Kind | Entry |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blackwell (R) | 1979 | office | Mayor of Cincinnati |
| Blackwell (R) | 1994-03 | office | Treasurer of Ohio |
| Blackwell (R) | 1999-01 | office | Secretary of State of Ohio |
| Blackwell (R) | 1994 | action | 1994 (action): As Ohio Treasurer, the state's use of Black-owned businesses in its financial and investment dealings rose from 2.8% in 1994 to 30.4% by 199 |
| Blackwell (R) | 2001 | action | 2001 (action): His 2002 re-election committee, 'Ohioans for Ken Blackwell,' raised roughly $1.36 million across the 2001-2002 cycle per Ohio Secretary of S |
| Blackwell (R) | 2002-10 | action | 2002-10 (action): As Secretary of State, continued to certify and administer punch-card and central-count optical-scan voting equipment used by roughly 69 of |
| Blackwell (R) | 2004-09 | order | 2004-09 (order): As Secretary of State, issued a directive instructing county boards to reject voter-registration forms not printed on at least 80-pound-weig |
| Blackwell (R) | 2004-09 | order | 2004-09 (order): Issued Directive 2004-33 instructing poll workers to withhold provisional ballots from voters whose precinct residency could not be confirme |
| Blackwell (R) | 2006-03 | statement | 2006-03 (statement): Full Social Security numbers of roughly 1.2 million Ohioans were inadvertently posted alongside business filings on the Secretary of State's |
| Blackwell (R) | 2006-04 | statement | 2006-04 (statement): The Columbus Dispatch reported Blackwell had come to own 83 shares of Diebold Inc. stock -- the company that manufactured voting equipment h |
| Blackwell (R) | 2006-04 | statement | 2006-04 (statement): Computer disks containing the Social Security numbers of roughly 5.7 million registered Ohio voters were mistakenly mailed out by his office |
-
statement April 2006
The Columbus Dispatch reported Blackwell had come to own 83 shares of Diebold Inc. stock -- the company that manufactured voting equipment his own office purchased for the state; Blackwell said the purchase was a financial manager's error and that he sold the shares once he learned of them. His gubernatorial campaign separately accepted a $10,000 contribution from a registered Diebold lobbyist.
Source: brennancenter.org
-
statement April 2006
Computer disks containing the Social Security numbers of roughly 5.7 million registered Ohio voters were mistakenly mailed out by his office.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
-
statement March 2006
Full Social Security numbers of roughly 1.2 million Ohioans were inadvertently posted alongside business filings on the Secretary of State's website; the data remained reachable for months even after a related lawsuit settled.
Source: en.wikipedia.org
-
order September 2004
Issued Directive 2004-33 instructing poll workers to withhold provisional ballots from voters whose precinct residency could not be confirmed on the spot; a federal district court and then the Sixth Circuit ruled the directive violated the Help America Vote Act.
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, October 26, 2004:
Poll workers could not deny provisional ballots based on an on-the-spot precinct-residency determination.
· the sourceSources: courtlistener.com · brennancenter.org
-
order September 2004
As Secretary of State, issued a directive instructing county boards to reject voter-registration forms not printed on at least 80-pound-weight paper stock; rescinded nearly three weeks later, five days before the registration deadline, after backlash from voting-rights advocates.
Source: brennancenter.org
-
action October 2002
As Secretary of State, continued to certify and administer punch-card and central-count optical-scan voting equipment used by roughly 69 of Ohio's 88 counties; the ACLU of Ohio filed Stewart v. Blackwell in October 2002, during this re-election campaign's general-election stretch, alleging the equipment's higher ballot-rejection rates violated the Equal Protection and Due Process clauses. The Sixth Circuit ruled for the plaintiffs in April 2006, after Blackwell had left office.
ACLU of Ohio, October 2002 federal lawsuit (Stewart v. Blackwell):
the technology had a racially disparate impact under the Voting Rights Act
· the sourceSources: aclu.org · law.justia.com
-
action 2001
His 2002 re-election committee, 'Ohioans for Ken Blackwell,' raised roughly $1.36 million across the 2001-2002 cycle per Ohio Secretary of State filings, against Democratic opponent Bryan Flannery's roughly $310,000 over the same span -- a better than 4-to-1 advantage built up well before an uncontested primary.
Source: www6.ohiosos.gov
-
action 1994
As Ohio Treasurer, the state's use of Black-owned businesses in its financial and investment dealings rose from 2.8% in 1994 to 30.4% by 1999 under his push to broaden the pool of firms the office did business with.
Source: encyclopedia.com
Money
The numbers behind this figure, as a table
| From | To | Dollars | Share of total | Note |
|---|
The numbers behind this figure, as a table
| Status |
|---|
| None found in the records checked |
Totals as filed
| Race | Filer | Raised | Spent | Cash on hand | As of |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Governor of Ohio | OhioSOS | $10,000,000 | September 9, 2006 | ||
| Secretary of State of Ohio | OhioSOS | $1,360,000 | $1,260,000 | $227,386 | December 11, 2002 |
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Source: www6.ohiosos.gov
Outside spending
Financial interests
Disclosed holdings
-
Owned 83 shares of Diebold Inc. stock, the manufacturer of voting machines his own office procured for Ohio counties; said the purchase was a financial manager's error and that he sold the shares upon learning of them.
April 2006 · Reported by Columbus Dispatch, per Brennan Center for Justice
Source: brennancenter.org
Disclosed income
None found in the records checked.
Reported conflicts
-
His office distributed anti-vote-fraud posters bearing his own printed signature to county boards of elections ahead of the May primary and again the November general election, while he was himself a candidate on the ballot those boards administered. Flannery called the posters a 'criminal' misuse of the office; Blackwell's campaign filed a countercomplaint alleging 15 false statements by Flannery. The Ohio Elections Commission dismissed all but one of Blackwell's complaints, and a later Ohio Court of Appeals ruling found county officials had themselves stripped Blackwell's name from the general-election poster specifically because he was a candidate that year.
October 2002 · Reported by Bryan Flannery's 2002 campaign, per Cincinnati CityBeat and a subsequent Ohio Court of Appeals ruling
Sources: citybeat.com · caselaw.findlaw.com
-
Served simultaneously as Ohio's chief elections officer (Secretary of State) and as an honorary co-chair of President Bush's 2004 Ohio re-election campaign, drawing sustained criticism -- including from Greg Hartmann, the Republican who ran to succeed him in 2006 -- for the appearance of partisanship in his office's election-administration decisions that year.
2004 · Reported by Brennan Center for Justice
Source: brennancenter.org
Net worth, as estimated
None found in the records checked.
Polling and approval
The numbers behind this figure, as a table
| Field date | Candidate | Share | Poll |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 22, 2006 | Ken Blackwell | 32 | Rasmussen Reports, likely voters |
-
Rasmussen Reports · August 22, 2006 · Governor of Ohio
Blackwell 32 · Strickland 57
likely voters
Source: pbs.org
Elections
| Race | Party | Result | Votes | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Governor of Ohio (2006) | Republican | Lost | 1,474,331 | 36.6% |
| Secretary of State of Ohio (2002) | Republican | Won | 1,827,995 | 59.3% |
| Secretary of State of Ohio (1998) | Republican | Won | 1,789,105 | 56.0% |
Offices held
Mayor of Cincinnati · 1979 to 1980 · elected
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Treasurer of Ohio · 1994-03 to 1999-01 · appointed
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Secretary of State of Ohio · 1999-01 to 2007-01 · elected
Source: en.wikipedia.org
Endorsements
Not yet researched
Sources
Data from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0: Ken Blackwell · 2006 Ohio gubernatorial election · 2002 Ohio Secretary of State election · 1998 Ohio Secretary of State election
Every URL on this page, once each.
- Ken Blackwell · Wikipedia · accessed 2026-09-21
- 2006 Ohio gubernatorial election · Wikipedia · accessed 2026-09-21
- Former Ohio Elections Chief Blackwell Brings a Troubled Record · Brennan Center for Justice · accessed 2026-09-21
- Sandusky County Democratic Party v. Blackwell, 387 F.3d 565 (6th Cir. 2004) · CourtListener · accessed 2026-09-21
- Ohio Issue 1, Definition of Marriage Initiative (2004) · Ballotpedia · accessed 2026-09-21
- Blackwell, J. Kenneth, Sr. · Encyclopedia.com · accessed 2026-09-21
- Pastors Back Blackwell; Strickland Widens Lead in Polls · PBS NewsHour · 2006-08-29 · accessed 2026-09-21
- Blackwell, Strickland trade barbs over taxes, scandal · WOSU Public Media · 2006-09-05 · accessed 2026-09-21
- 2002 Ohio Secretary of State election · Wikipedia · accessed 2026-09-21
- What's the Big Deal About the Ohio Secretary of State? · Cincinnati CityBeat · accessed 2026-09-21
- Flannery v. Ohio Elections Commission (2004), 2004-Ohio-582 · FindLaw · accessed 2026-09-21
- ACLU Victorious in Challenge to Ohio's Punch-Card Ballots · ACLU · accessed 2026-09-21
- Stewart v. Blackwell, 356 F. Supp. 2d 791 (N.D. Ohio 2004) · Justia · accessed 2026-09-21
- Campaign Finance File Transfer Page -- Candidate Cover Pages (Ohioans for Ken Blackwell) · Ohio Secretary of State · accessed 2026-09-21
- 1998 Ohio Secretary of State election · Wikipedia · accessed 2026-09-21
- A Keynote Address by J. Kenneth Blackwell, Treasurer of the State of Ohio -- Seton Hall Legislative Bureau Flat Tax Symposium, April 26, 1996 · Seton Hall Law School · accessed 2026-09-21
Cite and data
Cite this page as:
Cracked Buckeye, "Ken Blackwell", https://crackedbuckeye.com/people/ken-blackwell/, built 2026-10-31, accessed [date].
How to cite · Report a correction · Built 2026-10-31
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