PLS Post comments on this Op-Ed piece in this Ohio Paper

[mod mom]

Questionable rules
Ohio’s election system has come under fire repeatedly in recent years, no doubt because of the state’s pivotal role in deciding the 2004 presidential election.

Repeated snafus, such as problems in May with Cuyahoga County and its new electronic voting machines, have only fueled such criticism.

The harshest attack has come from Robert Kennedy Jr. in an article in a recent issue of Rolling Stone magazine in which he questions whether the 2004 presidential election was stolen by Republicans. He singles out Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell for much of the blame.

Now Blackwell, who is the Republican candidate for governor this fall, has provoked more criticism by issuing tough new election rules last week that Democrats and voters’ groups contend are aimed at suppressing the vote this fall.

One of the new rules would require persons being paid to register voters to return registration cards within 10 days either to county boards of election or the secretary of state’s office. Previously, these persons would return the cards to the group paying them, so they could be checked for any errors. Many liberal groups, such as moveon.org, have sponsored voter-registration drives in this state.



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http://www.timesreporter.com/index.php?ID=55015



my comments:



The use of partisan politics in the administration of the '04 election under the supervision of SOS/Co-Chair Bush Cheney '04, Kenneth Blackwell, was a travesty of justice. The use of last minute directives, voter purges in high dem precincts, lower rates of acceptance of provisional ballots in high dem counties, allowing caging and challenges of voters, false homeland securtiy alerts (Warren County) will always leave a lingering doubt about the outcome of the election. I hope everyone takes the time to read the online article in Rollingstone.com by RFK Jr.

Now we have this SOS Blackwell responsible for counting the votes of his own race as he attempts to run for governor. Given his history of allowing partisan dirty tricks, how can Ohioans have faith in the outcome of the election? He should recuse himself and allow a non-partisan board to administer the election.

The use of voter IDs as required from the GOP sponsored HB 3 will disenfranchise low income, elderly and college students. It is a great shame that our nation passes laws that attempts to keep voters from voting. It is nothing short of a modern day poll tax. This new requirement will help the GOP in another manner other than disenfranchising voters, as it will also create bottlenecks (ie more long lines where these voters vote.) This is another example of the failed leadership and their attempt to win at any cost. Shame on them.

[sinkingfeeling]

1. Where did you post your comments? There's a reader vote on the

story and a way of emailing it to others, but I don't see any place for comments.

[sinkingfeeling]

2. Never mind.....found it and did it.