The emulsion of politics and election administration...

emulsion n. - In pharmacy, an extract of seeds, or a mixture of oil and water united by a mucilaginous substance.

Politics and the task of election administration are, unfortunately, much like mayonnaise (an emulsion) without the consistency. Many election administrators are political appointees or elected into such an office and all of them likely have their own political beliefs.

Why am I making this analogy? Well, it turns out, that a month or so after OH SoS Ken Blackwell ordered counties to choose optical scan voting equipment over DREs, the OH Attorney General Jim Petro claims that SoS Blackwell did not have the authority to order counties to use only one type of voting machine.

Note that both of these guys are gunning for the republican nomination for OH governor. How do we take the politics out of election administration? We don't... we find ways to neutralize it.