ok, next time slap me! there's only one hot to the ballast, and am I correct to assume the ballast resistor doesn't drop the voltage until there is a load?
That's right it's called "Ohm's Law." On a breaker points system, if the points happen to be open, the ballast will have "battery" on both ends. If you have breakerless, and something is wrong with it, or the box (ECU) is not grounded, it will not draw current and will show same as on both ends
