Intellectual freedom is the only guarantee of a
scientific - democratic approach to politics, economic development, and
culture.
-Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov-
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
-Benjamin Franklin-
Mark Adams is [in no particular order] a Lawyer, Restauranteur, Husband, Father, Grandfather, Landlord, Singer, Guitarist, Political Scientist, Amateur Historian and Rhetorician with no sense of reverence for anything except the freedom to speak one's mind. To visit Mark's Family Law Website
In Ohio, anonymous callers have been contacting
elderly voters and falsely telling them that their polling places have
been changed. (via DU)
SPECIAL THANKS to Kevin
Hayden of The American Street for his down and dirty summation of
what I've been blogging lately from Ground Zero in the Presidential
Election. Kevin gave me the idea to report on what's happening
here and it was not only enjoyable, it became an obsession I will
probably not let go any time soon.
Thanks Kevin, once you got me started it was hard to quit. And
the saga continues, 22 of the 930 registrations challenged by the GOP
in Lucas County are overseas military according to radio reports (the
examination continues, now up to 100 are found OK -- see below), the
campus of the University of
Toledo is up in arms because the administration tried to suppress
publicity of George Soros' appearance there today, the Plain Dealer
gutlessly endorsed "nobody" for president, and the other big "C"
papers, the Dispatch and Enquirer gave Bush the nod (no real surprise)
but the Blade
bucked the trend and proudly threw their support to Kerry, and the
radio voice of
Toledo's mis-informed partisan hackery will be live simulcasted on
C-Span tomorrow as
a lead up to a last minute whistle-stop
by Kerry at
the University of Toledo (hey, how come Columbus gets The Boss, but we
don't? What, Rock stars don't get up at 6am?)
On to the latest view of the world
from the EYE OF THE HURRICANE:
Greg Palast has
probably been spoiled by Florida's balmy weather investigating the
rampant voter fraud 2000. Four hurricanes should tell him that he
needs to find a safer albeit less attractive climate to visit over the
next four years. Now that you've even found the secret
documents exposing the GOP's systematic attempt to once again twart
the will of the people, we're going to need you to looking at the North
Coast. Oh, you
already did.
Mayor Coleman wants light shed on these developments:
The 35,000 challenges.
8,000 polling places will be occupied by GOP challengers
instigating delay, intimidation, frustration and lowering turnout.
An untold number of ineligible voters, such as people who have
moved out of the state.
A review of the rolls by the Columbus Dispatch even found a
murder victim and two suspected terrorists among the eligible.
Democrats
fear that polling places will be inadequately staffed and equipped to
handle the crush of voters on Election Day. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones
(D-Ohio) said Monday she is concerned that many new voters will not get
proper notification from county election boards about where to vote.
What could the GOP be so worried about. After all, even though
Cleveland was recently judged to be
the poorest
big city in America by the US census bureau, the half a
million job
losses here are a myth, right? There's no reason to fear
terrorists when this administration's policies have forced the layoffs
of 700 teachers and cuts in police in Cuyahoga County's nastiest
areas. We're growing our own little monsters right here. Danger Zone?
Any political science student, member of a speech and debate team,
communication major or student delegate or organizer of a model United
Nations conference (I speak here from experience) knows that it is
essential to have plenty of recent
copies of the Christian Science
Monitor around for the latests, most in
depth, and fairest information on the World's most troublesome regions.
So when there are not one,
but two
stories in the CSM which involve Ohio, the first instinct is to head to
the attic to inventory my luggage. But it's not bombs being flung
around here in the "Heart of it All," but ballots.
In the first story, CSM, true to their quest to find and report
what only the most resourceful and connected can discover by sending
reporters to the far ends of the earth on missions deemed impossible
for most of the media, they actually find some of those mysterious
undecided voters we keep hearing rumors about.
Their second story is a real war
saga as only can be fought in America. You naive
civilians. We don't need fewer lawyers, we need more. Every
American citizen should be armed not only with what is left of the
second amendment, but knowledge of what the other guy's lawyers can and
cannot get away with doing to you. We should be a nation of
lawyers as well as laws.
A
federal law designed to make it easier for Americans to vote is also
making it easier for partisan lawyers to challenge key aspects of next
week's election.
* * *
The
litigation has already begun. In recent weeks, seven courts have ruled
on the relatively narrow issue of whether HAVA [Help America
Vote Act] mandates the counting of
provisional ballots that are cast outside a voter's assigned precinct.
State lawmakers had addressed the issue with 17 states adopting a
broader jurisdiction-wide approach, and 28 adopting the more
restrictive precinct-based approach. The lawsuits were filed in five of
the precinct-based states. All are considered key battleground states,
and all have Republican secretaries of state running the elections.
Federal judges in Florida and Missouri, and the Florida Supreme Court,
have upheld in both states the secretary of state's position that
provisional ballots cast outside the voter's assigned precinct will be
disqualified. Federal judges in Ohio and Michigan, as well as a state
judge in Colorado, have sided with those opposed to the secretary of
state in each of those states, ruling that provisional ballots must be
counted as valid even if they are cast outside the voters' assigned
precinct.
Last weekend, a federal appeals-court panel in Cincinnati reversed the
Ohio judge. That same panel is now considering whether to uphold or
overrule the judge in the Michigan case. [Don't count on any favors, vote where you are supposed to vote. The Lib.]
Voters can be
challenged if there is cause to think that they:
• Are not U.S.
citizens.
• Have not been Ohio residents for the 30 days before the election.
• Are not 18 years old by Election Day.
• Do not reside in the county or precinct where they're attempting
to vote.
A
federal judge ruled last week that voters may vote in any precinct in
their county, but Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell is appealing
that decision. [And Won, vote where you are supposed to vote. The Lib.]
Now I hope I haven't confused anyone with my talk of challengers and
challenges (look for that
pesky "r" and forget how typo-prone I am).
Both Parties are placing official challengers in the polling
centers. The GOP, while shedding crocodile tears over Kerry's
legion of lawyers, outnumber the Democrats by over 3 to 1 in
mercenaries hired at $100.00 per head to keep you from voting. GOP's CHALLENGES OVERSEAS TROOPERS' RIGHT TO VOTE
The
Republican Party challenged about 35,000 voter registrations statewide,
saying many were fraudulent. But that number dwindled on Monday, when
the party withdrew about 4,700 challenges in Hamilton County because of
discrepancies with the precincts listed on the party's forms, said
Jason Mauk, a Republican spokesman.
Election officials also reported
errors with 2,800 challenges filed in Franklin County.
Others found that some voters were
legitimate and had updated their voting records recently. About 100 of
the 900 voters challenged in Lucas County appear to be valid so far,
said Paula Hicks-Hudson, the county's election director.
Some of those
challenged included active military personnel who are stationed
overseas.
Did that last sentence bother you? It should.
The problem is trying to avoid a FloriDUH-like disaster from 2000 by
applying an new federal law (HAVA) to Ohio's 1953 election statutes.
It only took a group of 5 people to challenge the voting rights of 930
here in Lucas County. State wide 35,000 new registrations (which
in the grand scheme is only about 4% of the total new voters, and not
only a fraction of 1% of all the expected votes to be cast.
(Estimates have ranged between one million and 800,000 brand new,
highly motivated, angry Ohio voters who have cleared their schedules to
car pool everyone and anyone to the polls November 2nd, twice if
necessary -- whatever it takes) There were over 5 million votes
cast last time, expect between 6 and 7 million this time, and millions
more eligibles staying home.
The Notice provisions are counter-intuitive and lack due process, the
time is frame oppressive, and the burden of proof unsettled. But
other than finding a place big enough to hold the mobs expected
(Columbus is using Veteran's Memorial and Cleveland is opting for the
Convention center -- coincidentally I saw Jethro Tull in both venues);
things are going just swimmingly on this front. For us lawyers
that is. Arnold won't be campaigning in Ohio, maybe just a stop over.
Don't do us any favors Arnold . . . besides I really hate thinking
about members of the Kennedy clan flying around in their own
airplanes. Don't bother
coming to Ohio, even for a quickie. Ohio's "Chad" Update
"Crackhead
Chad's" dealer, NAACP volunteer, Georgianne Pitts, has so far
eluded the felony charges that face our poster child for really stupid
election year stunts, probably because nobody has bothered to arrest
her yet, (?!?) but her rap sheet was released:
Pitts,
who over the past two decades has been convicted of crimes ranging from
domestic violence to resisting arrest, was not arrested this week. She
could not be reached for comment. A month ago, she had just finished a
year of probation for driving with a suspended license.
Yeah, I'd be screening my calls after this too. Black Box Voting
It wasn't just the Columbus
Dispatch who wanted to send in observers to Ohio's Polling
Centers. Secretary of State, Ken Blackwell elected to formally
ban International
Observers from making sure there is transparency in the
process.
This was lauded as a "great development" by gas bag Rush Limbaugh who
also spun the Qa Qaa missing explosives story into "Proof" of
WMD's. (Can't we do something about that guy? Any trumped
up charge will do. Maybe he's on some kind of drugs)
From the Dispatch: "From my long experience of
international election observation, my suspicions are immediately
aroused when officials appear to want to deny observers access to
polling sites," said election observer Owen Thomas, chief executive of
Electoral Reform Services in London. "International observation throws
light on the workings of democracy. Why would anyone be against that?"
I'll admit that it's insulting that anyone should suggest we need official observers. But
the Bush administration has been insulting my intelligence and the
integrity of all liberals for years. And Blackwell relied on that
same 1953 law to keep them out. But really, it smells. No
word on the Dispatch's request that I could find (yet).
This just adds more fuel to the fire to make sure Blackwell's bit for
Governor in 2006 is thwarted by Jerry Springer's populist
uprising. (Oh please, Oh please let Blackwell win the
GOP nomination. He's meat.)
My personal requests to get some union officials together with a
T-shirt designer to distribute "UN Observer" shirts randomly throughout
the state has so far not been taken seriously by either party, but I'm
still hopeful . . . Lake Erie Riviera
Awesome
in November Actual appeal from liberal group in
Washington, D.C.: "Four days in Ohio. Forget about that
Caribbean cruise, why not spend 4 days and 3 nights in lovely Ohio
instead?"
America Votes, a coalition of unions,
environmental groups, and civil rights lobbies, is sponsoring a trip
from Washington to Ohio. It would foot hotel and transportation costs.
The bus leaves Saturday and returns after Election Day.
I wonder if any of them has a
ID which will allow them to vote as Mary Poppins?
November, Ohio? Feh! Weather fit only for ducks who are too
dumb to migrate and boot salesmen. The weather reports from
Cleveland radio talker Mike Trivisano are the most accurate:
The
weather for the first week of November: dark, wet, cold and
crappy. Continued dark, wet, cold and crappy until April, with
only a 50% chance of scattered dark, wet, cold and crappy until through
May and a 60% chance the Indian's home opener won't be snowed out.
Winter and Construction. Those are the only seasons we have
here. I wouldn't live any place else.
