Slashdot Mirror
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."
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The Guardian
-jim
especially the suing part. last time in that florida fiasco some voters were told they had to have a driver's liscence to vote. an obvious lie that hopefully only some first time votors would believe.
at least in ohio the election officials will think twice before f*cking with someone's right to vote
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.
Wow you're ignorant. Voting is what those of us in the legal profession call a "fundamental right," that means that the state must prove they are fulfilling the most compelling interest and have considered every posible alternative before constructing any barriers whatsoever. That's not silly liberalism, it's a basic Constitutional right.
Its about time someone put Blackwell in his place. IIRC, Blackwell is also for throwing out ballots that were cast in improper precincts.
Usually, if a voter came to the wrong precinct, they could just vote a provisional ballot and then have any levies that they weren't eligible to vote for be not counted. Now Blackwell wants the entire ballot to be thrown out. Not to mention he didn't accept voter registration forms that were correctly filled out, but weren't on the proper paper stock.
I'm not going to say this is partisanship on Blackwell's part, but let it be known that Ohio is run by the Republicans at every level of government.
... So I guess I'm going to get to vote Republican TWICE!!!
Thanks, Liberal Federal Judges!!!! And remember, kiddies... Voter Fraud works both ways!
Ed R.Zahurak
You know, oblivion keeps looking better every day.
is that politicians run the entire voting process, from registration down to the actual polling on election day. How can an election ever be considered fair when partisian elements control the process from the very top?
We have an independent agency here in Canada called, appropriately enough, Elections Canada. Their sole purpose is to organize and execute the federal election process (each province maintains a similar independent agency to monitor provincial elections). The system has been refined over many years to eliminate any partisan influence to the point that even the returning officer in each polling station cannot vote in the election to ensure impartiality. The point being that our Attorney General, or whoever, would never have the ability to grab a stack of registration forms and toss them in the trash, it just doesn't work that way.
Ever since the microscope was focused on the election system in the U.S. since the Floridian Fiasco I am still shocked to see how blatantly political it is. The system we use in Canada is not perfect, no system is, (in fact it is quite antiquated as we still use paper and pen for all elections) but when the chief electorial officer has a stake in the outcome of an election it just beggars belief that anyone would accept that the election to follow would be as fair as possible.
What many in the world consider to be the heart of democracy deserves better than this.
Otherwise you are just asking for voter fraud.
Provisional ballots are probably one of the worst ideas ever. They seem tailor made to insure fraud does occur.
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
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.