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Judge Says Ohio Must Allow Provisional Ballots
expriest writes "A Federal Judge has held that the state of Ohio must provide a provisional ballot to persons who claim to be registered, but whose names do not appear on the voter rolls. This decision reverses a policy by Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, who was only allowing the provisional ballots in limited circumstances. Furthermore, the Judge put some teeth behind his ruling, allowing persons denied provisional ballot to sue the election official so doing for money damages."
Blackwell, the Ohio Secretary of State who got shot down here is working hard to be the new Kathrine Harris. He previously attempted to tear up voter registrations because they were printed on the wrong thickness of paper. And of course who could forget this absentee ballot, which for some reason omitted the Democratic candidates.
How freaking insane do people have to be to pull stunts like this? I mean come on this is basically a two party/person race and you send out ballots with only one name on it.
On a side note I called it here Karzai is going to win his election, Allawi is going to win his AND Bush is definately not loosing we live in a mad mad corrupt as world.
Is it a conincidence that DIEbold is based in Ohio?
This has nothing to do with voter registration. This decision says that if you ARE REGISTERED TO VOTE IN OHIO but accidently show up at the wrong precinct, you can still vote at that precinct. It also says that if you ARE REGISTERED TO VOTE IN OHIO, but the precinct mistakingly says you are not, you still we be allowed to vote. Your provisional ballot will then be checked against a central voter registrar to make sure you ARE REGISTERED TO VOTE IN OHIO. If your name is not on the master list, you're SOL. In other words, you need to stop getting your talking points from Rush Limbaugh.
I do not know how it is down there, but in Virginia, you do need a Driver's Liscence to vote if you did not have your voter's card. That is how they checked off that you had actaully voted and made sure that it was you who was voting.
The good news is that here in Kansas, first time voters need a drivers liscence to vote! So now they're not lying when they come up with innane procedure to deny new voters sufferage.
I Browse at +4 Flamebait
Open Source Sysadmin
Honestly, this is not 'Insightful' nor 'Extra Insightful' ... I wouldn't have replied but for the excessive modding ...
The judge's ruling still requires you to be properly registered in order for your vote to be counted -- this does nothing to prevent, discourage or otherwise thwart the deliberate removal of your name from the list of registered voters.
The story referenced is about a disgruntled ex-employee of a company called 'Voters Outreach of America'. They were in Nevada to accept voter registration forms. We don't know the whole story, but the key witness, Eric Russell, has discredited himself; He admits that if he had been paid, he probably wouldn't have talked. Not only that, but he took the documents to the FBI, and then left before actually filing a complaint. He's also been described as a disgruntled employee who was fired and displayed a violent temper.
Let's just say, for the sake of argument, that Mr. Russell was pissed that he got fired, so he stashed a few Dem registration forms in his jacket, and walked out. Now, he tears them up, and concocts a brilliant story about how the forms were in the trash, systematically torn up by someone who works for 'Voters Outreach of America.' Then, at the FBI office, he's cooled off enough to realized that he could get in serious trouble, and beats it out of there. Like I said, we really don't know what happened here.
Furthermore, intellegence is a factor here too. Why would anyone trust their voter registration to an organization that's moving through the state, and hiring legions of temporary workers? Why not just register with the local government, as most people do? At least then you'll know who you're dealing with.
My affinity for hyperbole knows no bounds
According to ABC (Oct, 13.-17.) , Kerry 50%, Bush 47%, Margin of error 3.5%
"Between strong and weak, between rich and poor [...], it is freedom which oppresses and the law which sets free"
Read your consitution...there is NO right to vote. The method for selecting state electors is left completely in the hands of the state legislators. I don't know how the Ohio state legislature has set up the rules, but if they say the paper has to be polka-dotted, then guess what...it does. There are amendments that prevent disenfranchisement based on race and sex, but there is NO right to vote for president (Hell, US Senators weren't popularly elected until the 17th amendment).
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/R/REGISTRATIO N_SCAM?SITE=1010WINS&SECTION=POLITICS&TEMPLATE=DEF AULT
DEFIANCE, Ohio (AP) -- Elections officials knew something was wrong when they got voter registration cards for Mary Poppins, Dick Tracy, Michael Jordan and George Foreman.
They notified the Defiance County sheriff, who arrested Chad Staton on Monday on a felony charge of submitting phony voter registration forms. Investigators also were looking into allegations that he was paid with cocaine in exchange for his efforts.
Staton, 22, had fraudulently filled out more than 100 voter registration forms, Sheriff David Westrick said.
"Staton was to be paid for each registration form that he could get citizens to fill out," the sheriff said. "However, Staton himself filled out the registrations and returned them to the woman who hired him from Toledo."
Staton was charged with false registration and was released without bond pending arraignment.
No other charges had been filed in the case Monday, authorities said.
According to Westrick, the NAACP's National Voter Fund had submitted the false registrations to the elections board in Cleveland. George Forbes, Cleveland chapter president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said Monday that the voter fund operates independently from his chapter.
Officers said they interviewed a Toledo woman who claimed that she had paid Staton with cocaine for the registrations. Officers said they obtained a search warrant and took voter registrations and drug paraphernalia from her home.
The woman claimed she had been recruited by a Cleveland man to obtain voter registrations, Westrick said.