Tuesday, September 28. 2004
Dirty Tricks in Ohio
Talk about your dirty tricks.
Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell has announced that thousands of Voter registration cards are invalid because they aren't on 80lb card stock.
Now, since Democratic activists have registered 250,000 new voters in Ohio, and Republicans have registered 25,000, who do you think this is going to favor?
And of course, this is 7 days before the deadline.
Oh, just in case you missed it...Blackwell is a Republican.
Call Blackwells office at 614-466-2585. He said to do so if you have any questions.
(Cuyahoga County, the most heavily democratic county in Ohio, is ignoring the order. Cleveland is in Cuyahoga.)
Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell has announced that thousands of Voter registration cards are invalid because they aren't on 80lb card stock.
Now, since Democratic activists have registered 250,000 new voters in Ohio, and Republicans have registered 25,000, who do you think this is going to favor?
And of course, this is 7 days before the deadline.
Oh, just in case you missed it...Blackwell is a Republican.
Call Blackwells office at 614-466-2585. He said to do so if you have any questions.
(Cuyahoga County, the most heavily democratic county in Ohio, is ignoring the order. Cleveland is in Cuyahoga.)
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I wrote a farly vicious letter (with some help from a post I saw on Live Journal) to the Elections Board lambasting Blackwell's decision:
To: ; ; ;
; ;
Cc: ; ;
Sent: Tuesday, September 28, 2004 2:26 AM
To: DIRECTORS, Matthew Damschroder, Christopher Heizer, Bryan C. Williams, Paula Hicks-Hudson, Michael V. Sciortino, Marilyn A. Jacobcik.
DEPUTY DIRECTORS, Michael R. Hackett, Steven P. Harsman, John N. Schmidt, Jill B. Kelly, Thomas P. McCabe, Kenneth D. Kelleher.
cc: Kenneth Blackwell
As reported in yesterday's Dayton Daily News (and other publications), it would seem that Ohio's Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell has ordered local election boards to send out new applications to applicants who have submitted registrations on the wrong type of paper. The ostensible reason for this order is to insure that the applications can make it through the postal system without being damaged. The Secretary didn't point to any examples of voters who mailed regular weight paper as a postcard, nor did he cite examples of complaints from the Postal Service that this has been a problem. Never mind also that the applications he wants thrown out have already been delivered to the election boards safely.
I am writing to request that you follow the lead of Cuyahoga County's Michael Vu, and resist the unlawful and un-American effort by Secretary of State Blackwell to suppress voter turnout by strictly enforcing a requirement that Ohio voter registration cards be printed on thick, 80-pound stock paper. This is a clear violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1971 (42 U.S.C. 1971), which states, "No person acting under color of law shall . . . deny the right of any individual to vote in any election because of an error or omission on any record or paper relating to any application, registration, or other act requisite to voting, if such error or omission is not material in determining whether such individual is qualified under State law to vote in such election." It is strongly reminiscent of the Jim Crow laws Southern segregationist Democrats used to deter blacks from voting, such as poll taxes and literacy tests -- the very laws that the Voting Rights Act was specifically designed to strike down. Ohio, and especially the Ohio Republican Party, are better than this; Senator Robert Taft Jr. was one of the strongest backers of the Voting Rights Act. I hope that you will not allow the stain of such antidemocratic practices to tarnish your state's proud legacy.
Sincerely,
Timothy D. Smith
2171 Edgewood Road
Cleveland Heights Ohio, 44118
Interestingly enough, Michael Vu, the Cuyahoga Co. BofE Chairman, is a republican, and he was the one who told the county board to ignore Blackwell's orders. Could this mean a rift in the party?
To: ; ; ;
; ;
Cc: ; ;
Sent: Tuesday, September 28, 2004 2:26 AM
To: DIRECTORS, Matthew Damschroder, Christopher Heizer, Bryan C. Williams, Paula Hicks-Hudson, Michael V. Sciortino, Marilyn A. Jacobcik.
DEPUTY DIRECTORS, Michael R. Hackett, Steven P. Harsman, John N. Schmidt, Jill B. Kelly, Thomas P. McCabe, Kenneth D. Kelleher.
cc: Kenneth Blackwell
As reported in yesterday's Dayton Daily News (and other publications), it would seem that Ohio's Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell has ordered local election boards to send out new applications to applicants who have submitted registrations on the wrong type of paper. The ostensible reason for this order is to insure that the applications can make it through the postal system without being damaged. The Secretary didn't point to any examples of voters who mailed regular weight paper as a postcard, nor did he cite examples of complaints from the Postal Service that this has been a problem. Never mind also that the applications he wants thrown out have already been delivered to the election boards safely.
I am writing to request that you follow the lead of Cuyahoga County's Michael Vu, and resist the unlawful and un-American effort by Secretary of State Blackwell to suppress voter turnout by strictly enforcing a requirement that Ohio voter registration cards be printed on thick, 80-pound stock paper. This is a clear violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1971 (42 U.S.C. 1971), which states, "No person acting under color of law shall . . . deny the right of any individual to vote in any election because of an error or omission on any record or paper relating to any application, registration, or other act requisite to voting, if such error or omission is not material in determining whether such individual is qualified under State law to vote in such election." It is strongly reminiscent of the Jim Crow laws Southern segregationist Democrats used to deter blacks from voting, such as poll taxes and literacy tests -- the very laws that the Voting Rights Act was specifically designed to strike down. Ohio, and especially the Ohio Republican Party, are better than this; Senator Robert Taft Jr. was one of the strongest backers of the Voting Rights Act. I hope that you will not allow the stain of such antidemocratic practices to tarnish your state's proud legacy.
Sincerely,
Timothy D. Smith
2171 Edgewood Road
Cleveland Heights Ohio, 44118
Interestingly enough, Michael Vu, the Cuyahoga Co. BofE Chairman, is a republican, and he was the one who told the county board to ignore Blackwell's orders. Could this mean a rift in the party?