CLEVELAND -- ABC’s Peter Jennings was in Cleveland Wednesday, broadcasting World News Tonight from one of the key regions in a key state for the upcoming election.

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Peter Jennings Reports On Cleveland Voters

Jennings reported on many issues important to Clevelanders and other Ohioans, whose swing state votes will have a major affect on the outcome of the election.

An estimated 7.9 million people have registered in Ohio, up from 7.1 million at the beginning of the year. In Cuyahoga County, election officials had to hire extra staff just to deal with the backlog.

One topic hit on by Jennings was the importance of the black vote in Ohio. There are 100,000 registered black voters who did not turn out in big numbers in the 2000 election.

These votes could be vital to John Kerry; while most of Cleveland’s black voters tend to vote Democrat, getting them to show up at the polls is a major concern of Democratic leaders.

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Ted Henry Talks To Peter Jennings

Another major issue in Ohio is the controversy surrounding provisional ballots -- the ballots given to voters who show up at the wrong polling place.

Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell ordered those ballots be thrown out, but last week, a federal judge in Toledo overruled that order.

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Blackwell says the judge's ruling will cause a big mess on Election Day.

“If in fact folks can vote in Ohio in any precinct in direct contradiction of Ohio law, I think then what the judge would create is Election Day chaos,” said Blackwell.

Blackwell contends Ohio law prohibits people from voting outside their precinct.

However, the federal judge last week ruled provisional ballots should be given to people as long as they're in the county where they live.

Blackwell is appealing the ruling and expects a decision before Nov. 2.

Jennings also brought up another decision from Blackwell -- to only accept registration cards printed on cardstock. However, voters objected to this ruling, and Blackwell backed down on it.

Some Democratic leaders say the actions of Blackwell, a black Republican, are politically motivated.

There are also 53,000 Amish voters in Ohio, who are conservative. And although they don't always vote, they say that they "pray" Republican. This year, the Republican Party is encouraging the Amish to vote.