What do you think will Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck say about this result? (h/t Brad Blog)
The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) has won a substantive victory on behalf of the voters of Ohio — perhaps hundreds of thousands of them — via a court case filed in 2006, challenging a number of voter suppression tactics employed by the state’s then Sec. of State, J. Kenneth Blackwell (R). […]
Specifically, the lawsuit, Harkless v. Blackwell, which later became, Harkless v. Brunner, alleged Blackwell and officials from the DJFS violated Section 7 of the Act which mandates that state agencies which “provide public assistance” furnish voter registration forms, assist in their preparation and accept completed applications. Per the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeal [PDF]:
A 2005 survey conducted by ACORN revealed that only 3 out of 103 people exiting a DJFS office were offered a form asking whether they wanted to register to vote. Between 2002 and 2004, DJFS offices for rural counties with relatively small populations registered far more voters than urban counties with larger populations and more people living at or below the poverty line. In the same time period, DJFS offices in 10 counties failed to register a single voter, DJFS offices in 17 counties registered fewer than 10 voters, and DJFS offices in 32 counties registered fewer than 100 voters.
The suit, initially dismissed by the District Court, was reinstated by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeal on Oct. 28, 2008, following ACORN’s appeal. The Sixth Circuit decision was issued after the U.S. Department of Justice filed a brief [PDF] in which it agreed that the District Court decision was unsound.
On Monday, the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, issued a press release in which it announced a settlement which their co-counsel, Lisa Danetz, estimates will lead to the registration of “hundreds of thousands of voting-eligible low-income Ohioans”.
The ACORN is out of the barn! Not Real Americans might actually get to vote! Oh the horror! The horror!