All Challengers Banned From Ohio Polls

A Federal Judge has ruled voter challengers can not be deployed by any party or group in this year's election. This ruling coming at this late hour just adds more confusion to a confusing situation. I think overall this is the best way to run an election, but the timing is not good to really make it come true for the whole state.

What this does is put an increased burden on the county BOE's who will then get piles of challenges of every voter possible under law, but they were going to get that anyway, so in the big picture, I think this will make the polls go smother. That was after all the purpose. Ken Blackwell should be supporting this ruling. Will the AG try to appeal it today? The Ohio GOP stated in the article that they will appeal.

The mess is beginning to take form. Ground is being set for court challenges come Wednesday.

This story now is the Top Story on Yahoo. It is going to be a new turner.

UPDATE: A second Judge has ruled to ban the challengers.

UPDATE #2: Here is a copy Dlott's ruling (PDF).

Hate in Ohio

Atrios posts on a Salon article that illustrates pure hate from Bush Rally attendees up in Columbus. Did we get any of the same kind of thing from Cincinnati Bush supporters? Anyone saying "We don't want faggots in the White House?"

A Sample of Right-wing Voter Suppression

This is how you try to suppress the vote of non-Republicans.

Now, to be fair, we don't know for sure if this came from a Republican. We will likely never know who actual mailed them. This has the earmarks of Young Republicans everywhere. Kos has more examples.

Axinar's Universe Lays Down the Law

Axinar puts a thumping bigot/racist blogger from Springfield in his place by, well, pointing out that he is a racist and bigot and frankly a teenager who knows next to nothing. As adults we know next to that which is next to nothing, so we are ahead of the game only slightly, but in "Obi Ken's" case that slightness is measured in light years, something far beyond the scale of the Kessel Run. Let us hope this kid can go away to a good state college and grow out of his upbringing.

Edwards In Town On Monday

There are no details but WCPO reports at Dem VP nominee Senator John Edwards will make a stop in Cincinnati tomorrow.

Someone is likely staying at the Cincinnatian tonight; whether it is Edwards or Bush I have no idea. I say this because of the additional security in alley behind the downtown hotel. While at the rally today I observed blocked alleyways next to the building I parked in.

In case you have not figured it out, I did not go to the Bush Rally. I did not want to have to sit with a bunch of right-wing zealots for two plus hours waiting to hear Bush say blah blah blah and then have to fight traffic. Odds are that I would have gotten into the event and would not have had anyone notice me and my lack of cheering or clapping. If I find out Edwards is having a public event I will be there definitely, but at this point I would say it is more of a focused event, not for a mass crowd.

Questions by Vote Challengers

The Enquirer is reporting that these are the questions a voter could face if their vote is challenged at the polls

• Are you a citizen of the United States?
• Are you a native or naturalized citizen?
• Where were you born?
• Have you resided in this state for 30 days immediately preceding this election?
  Where have you resided?
• Please give names of two persons who know your place of residence.
• Have you been absent from this state within the 30 days immediately preceding this election?
• Have you continuously resided outside this state for a period of four years or more?
• Did you, while absent, look upon and regard this state as your home?
• Did you, while absent, vote in any other state?
• Do you now reside in this county?
• Do you now reside in this precinct?
• When you came into this precinct, did you come for a temporary purpose merely or for the purpose of making it your home?
• Are you 18 years of age or more to the best of your knowledge and belief?

These questions differ slightly from the ones the Dayton Daily News reported last week.

Kerry Rally at Fountain Square

Overall Thought: for Cincinnati this was a pretty good rally. I would put the number of people from 500 to 1000, which is really good considering this event received no attention in the local media or PR before hand otherwise. For my first foray into live blogging I will call it success, but I must say that the Wifi on the square leaves a lot to be desired. The speed really was worse than dial-up at many times. The city and CincyBell need to get on the ball and open-up more hotspots around town.

2:55 PM: Roxanne Qualls

Write in Rucker! Write in Rucker! Write in Rucker!

2:50 PM: David Crowley tells us he would never have thought that we would have to worry about voter intimidation in Ohio.

2:45: William O’Neil Running for Supreme Court of Ohio

2:40 PM: David Pepper asks those working the polls to ask their Republican counter part, “Do you know this is a Jim Crow law you are endorsing?”

Glen Miller

Steve Brinker

2:30 PM: “I am not a Myth” so says the crowd responding to Stephanie Jones, daughter of Nathanial Jones

2:20 PM: Tim Burke

2:00 PM: Music is starting up. The rumored speakers are to include Mark Mallory, Charlie Luken, and Roxanne Qualls.


1:45 PM: My first on location live blogging event: Kerry Rally on Fountain Square.

First element: it is taking way to long to log into Cincinnati Bell Wifi, but I was at least able to easily able to connect to the network.

The crowd so far is limited, but very enthusiastic. The funniest thing is seeing the Bush people coming in for the rally at GAP tonight. They all so far have looked like they came right out of West Chester or Anderson and as I sit outside Rock Bottom Brewery they are heading in to eat before they sit and wait 6 hours for Bush to speak.

Democratic Rally Today 2 PM Fountain Square

I plan on doing some live blogging at the Fountain Square event.

Enquirer Picks Miller Over Brinkman

What a difference two years make for the Enquirer with their endorsement of Glen Miller for the 34th District of Ohio House, my district. It is an obvious choice for any sane human being. Brinkman is an extremist ideologue who seems to be more concerned with controlling women's bodies, destroying all levels of government, and providing guns to any nut with a pulse, than with preserving the rights under the Fourteenth Amendment, the rights of the first amendment, or of keeping a basic level of government to protect the poor from having to beg from the powerful corporation just to live.

The change from the Enquirer lies in the fact that they did not list an endorsement for this race back in 2002. I guess it is either more competitive this time around, or when Brinkman pushed a law where people could carry concealed guns in Churches and day care center just may have been the straw to break the blinders off the Enquirer's face.

I join the Enquirer in stating that we must vote for Glen Miller in the 34th.

Maggie Downs Missing From Friday's Enquirer

Yesterday I read Friday's Cincinnati Enquirer online, as I do everyday.

Friday is normally the day everyone can read Maggie Downs' weekly column, but I looked all over the front page. I looked in her archived column section. I looked and looked and looked and looked.

I did not find a column for Friday. I "wonder" why I did not find a column on Friday. I guess the bumper sicker column pissed off some West Chester GOP hacks who swear they tore off every Kerry bumper sticker they saw. From their perspective her count of Kerry stickers must be the result of some kind of, oh I don't know how they put it, "liberal bias?" We all know bias has no place in an opinion column.

Why is the Enquirer trying to silence Maggie? What fear do they have of opinion, and a liberal one at that, in their Metro OPINION columns? There is certainly no shortage of conservatives. I would love to know how often they kill a Bronson column for being too right-wing.

Hot Spots?

A request for anyone out there: Where are the hotspots for WiFi downtown? I know of Hamburger Mary's, but where else can I go at night? I am will to pay, up to a point for it, so I don't need just the free-places. There are several around UC also and Panera Bread and a few fast food places have it too. Anyone else been to any and know of good places to go, with good food or beverages if applicable? I have a new laptop, in case you did not hear me say it 100,000 times over the last week, and I want to try out some remote location blogging.

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

An official ticket to the Bush rally at GAP.

I am torn on what I should do. Should I go to the event or not? I want to test out the local GOP staffers who may or may not be on the ball enough to keep me out of the event.

I will try to have a Kerry sticker on as I go in, assuming I go, but not a big one or open to see.

My real plan is to try and talk with some of the protestors and see if that gets me banned from going in.

I got the ticket from a friend who did so fairly easily. He went down to the Cincy Bush HQ and they gave him four tickets. He had to say he was a Bush supporter, but I am sure he at least supports Bush on something remote so as to not make that a lie. He had to gave his name, but did not have to sign anything.

The Enquirer gave its typical puff piece on the event showing people torn between trick-or-treating or going to the Bush event. For the record, any Parents forcing their kid to see Bush instead of trick-or-treating is either a fundamentalist (and extremist) or is just plain cruel. That goes the same for the Dems who bring their kids to protest. I hope every kid there at least was able to have beggar's night tonight instead.

19th Century Enquirer Thinking

I guess the Enquirer Editorial Staff have a concept of time forieng to most living in this century as illustrated by their Groppe endorsements:

She has used technology to counter a rush of refinancing when interest rates fell, and has kept a close eye on her budget.

I guess the 2 months it takes to process a title is good by 1878 standards.

Blackwell Asks AG To Bar Challengers From Polls

In yet another surprise move Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell has asked Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro to ban all challengers from the polls on Tuesday. Blackwell lacks the authority to do so and short of a change in the law, I don't see what can prevent them, short of the Governor using some type of emergency power.

The lawsuit that caused problems with challengers took on a nasty reality when Democrats reported that 250 of the 251 precincts the local GOP registered challengers with were in predominatly Black areas.

Republicans also submitted a list of 251 other precincts where they may put challengers. Of those, county Democratic Party Chairman Tim Burke said 250 are majority-black precincts.

I guess I will not see anyone in Cincinnati 1K. I am going to try and look up the possible precincts they could be targeting. It could just most of the City or it could pick out specific places to try and keep minority votes down.

Halt of GOP Pre-Emptive Challenges Upheld

To my surprise the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court's ruling that the pre-emptive voter challenges can't go on before the election.

The real question about these challenges rests on how these people were identified as registrations to challenge. In the Akron area it appears that the reasons were at best sloppy and at worst partisan targeting.

CiN Weekly One Year Later

CiN Weekly is one year old and wants you know it. Well, what do people think of it after they have lived through 52 weeks of it?

I myself can say it a nice light publication and objectively speaking it serves its purpose. CityBeat is still better as publication, but CiN adds a CNN morning show style cultural feel, which is at least hipper than the Today Show. I hate to say it but there is a market for CiN. Think of CiN as Starbucks to CityBeat's Kaldi's.

HypoSpeak Challenges Ohio Reporters

Hypothetically Speaking is asking if you, a professional journalist, have the guts to seek out the alleged fraud the GOP is claiming. $100.00 American Dollars await the first reporter "who can document that 'massive and systematic voter fraud' has been conducted by pro-Kerry forces in this campaign." There are rules so have a look and take your best shot.

Ohio AG Carrying GOP Water?

The Ohio Attorney General is reportedly appealing the federal court order halting BOE hearings on voter registration challenges. Will this do any good? Well if the Conservatives on the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals here in Cincinnati get their way, they will be having hearings the second they can overrule the lower court order.

Shine a Light on the Vote Challengers

Covington Jim has put forth an idea of capturing a photograph of vote challengers at each precinct, forever documenting who is going to be trying to suppress the votes. Now, there are going to be both Dems and GOP challengers, but only the GOP have stated they will challenge votes. Dems here in Ohio have stated they will not challenge votes at the poll.

I am willing to snap a photo at my poll station, but I doubt they will have anyone there, since I live in a GOP area. What I think is more interesting is to see the face of those challenging votes in mostly black precincts. I don't know if you have to be registered in the precinct to be a challenger in that precinct or not, but if not I expect some very white faces to be in OTR, the West End, Walnut Hills and Avondale challenging voters.

I will accept some photos and post them, but I would want some verification of who you are, your polling location, and verification that this was taken on Nov. 2nd. I will not be able to post all of them.

If some enterprising young person (or old person) out there wants to set up a website to accept and display this collection, I would be happy to promote it.

REM at the Taft

Did anyone see REM at the Taft last night? I did not go, so I would not mind a review, and maybe some without the politics. I wished the Post could have kept it to the music, but this was a political concert, so I guess I can't get my music separated. It would have been better to have a political story on the event and then a music story.