…this is for you.
I have written a number of posts about Blackwell which have yielded responses that are worse than useless. People have said “enjoy your new governor”-he got Bush in, he picked the voting machines, he’s a Sec of State overseeing his own election, the game is rigged.
All this stuff about Ken Blackwell…um, how can I put this delicately? Screw it-I can’t.
No shit, Sherlock! I’ve lived in this state for the past several years. I’ve kind of been following that story, ya know? I’ve even done what I can, with my limited soapbox, to help make others aware of the situation. (More rantage, plus an action item below the fold)
The bottom line is that we can’t afford to move out of the state. But we’re still probably better off than a lot of people in this state. So, rather than feeding myself and my fellow Ohioans more facts from the esteemed research journal Duh!, I’d like to see some of the national high readership blogs pitching in to help.
You all seem willing to give Ned Lamont plenty of air time, because that race is critically important. Well, wouldn’t you agree that safeguarding democracy in Ohio, given our history, is also important?
If you do, then what do you plan to do about it? Plenty of people in Ohio have been working hard to try to give Ted Strickland a Diebold-proof lead over Ken Blackwell. But we also need to keep the honest elections issue in the spotlight. I look forward to positive suggestions as to how bloggers nationally can help have our backs on this one. I’ll start by sharing an action-item I received from Marian Harris, who is a Democrat running for the Ohio House of Representatives.
Dear folks concerned about potential Election Day chaos
The lawyers managing the lawsuit challenging the Ohio Voter ID law – Subodh Chandra, Caroline Gentry, & Ritchey Hollenbaugh – are trying to quickly gather even more evidence that will help with the suit. We
need this information as soon as possible. If you think you might have first-hand information about the different ways this law is being interpreted and applied across Ohio, we ask you to send an email to:
VotingProblems@gmail.com . The information to be included in your email is set out below.We are particularly looking for individuals who fit into any of the following categories:
1) On or after October 3, when you went to your local Board of Elections to vote:
a)you were not allowed to vote until you showed
some sort of ID, orb)you were permitted to vote after showing a
military ID, orc) even if you were ultimately allowed to vote, you were told that there was some kind of problem with an ID you wanted to use to vote. This might include an attempt to use a utility bill, paycheck, bank statement, government check, other government document, photo ID, or any other kind of identifying document you used or hoped to use
2)You sent in an absentee ballot through the mail and:
a)on the front of the envelope containing your ballot you checked the box in front of “My Ohio Drivers License number is:” and then filled in the blank with the number above your photo in the upper right hand corner of your license, or
b)you enclosed with your ballot some kind of identifying document rather than providing a Drivers License Number or Social Security Number on the front of the envelope containing your ballot.
3)You are planning to vote at your polling place on November 7, but you don’t have any of the following forms of identification with your name and address: a drivers license, photo ID, military ID, utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, or other
government document.4) Your absentee ballot application was returned to you by your Board of Elections
If you fit any of the above categories, or you experienced any other problem concerning your effort to cast an early vote associated with the November 7 Ohio election, we’d like to hear from you. Please send
an email to VotingProblems@gmail.com. In that email, please tell us:a)Your name
b) A phone number where we can call you to talk about the problem you had (or if you’d prefer that we communicate with you by email, we’ll try to work that way)
c)Which of the categories above you fit in and/or a little bit of information about the problem you had
We may not be able to get back to everyone who sends us an email, but we thank you, in advance, for your help.