Ignition issue

I'm fairly certain that the ECU output to the coil is not grounded with power applied to the ECU regardless of where the reflector is positioned. Its looking for a signal to trigger the transistor it go to ground for the prescribed amount of time to get the dwell it is programmed for. without the signal the coil has no ground and is not charging drawing current through the ballast. One of the benefits of the electronic ignition over points which can stop with the points closed constantly charging the coil.

Well I was wrong about my understanding... the ECU grounds the coil with power supplied to the ECU and only breaks that ground when the reflector passes the pick up and it sends a signal to the ECU.

So seeing an initial 12V at the coil pos and 1V at the coil neg is normal. ( I just tested that, NOTE: as the ballast heats up the coil pos voltage should go down to 6-5 V) If the ballast is bypassed or perhaps the coil is over heating????