Smoking Ban Wins

December 7th is the day the ban goes into effect. Will this hurt bars in Cincinnati and Ohio? One bar owner says it hasn't hurt him yet:

Nick Sanders, owner of five restaurants locally, including the Pub at Crestview Hills Town Center in Northern Kentucky, Nicholson's downtown and the Pub at Rookwood Commons in Norwood, said he will be watching closely. He owns a restaurant in Lexington, which enacted a smoking ban in 2003, and said that law didn't change sales much.

In the short run, there may be some problems, but I don't know about the long term. Thoughts? Will an outdoor patio now become the norm for a bar?

Oh Yea, Dems Win Big!

I left early this morning on business, so I haven't blogged on the news but the Dems won the Senate and the House! Locally Pepper Won, and on a state level the Dems won really big.

Wulsin Not Conceding

In the race of the OH-2 the fat lady is not singing. The dragon lady is singing, but she should hold her tongue until all the votes are counted.

2 Precincts Missing

The Enquirer and BOE seem to be making this into no big deal, but two precincts in the City of Cincinnati have not been tallied and are missing. The article indicates that that the BOE states these missing votes won't affect the results of any races. That is true only if these are part of OH-1, not OH-2. 13-H is in North Avondale and Precinct 6-B in Downtown. I am pretty sure 6-B is in OH-1, but not sure about 13-H.

At this early hour no other reports were online concerning the missing precincts. If this was something as simple as the poll workers locking up the poll location without turning in the votes, then that is understandable (someone should be banned from working the polls), but if not, when does the BOE call the police? What cause much concern is that there are two locations not near each other.

If this was an error at the BOE, then I hope they stayed to account for the vote before they went home. The BOE should not sleep if it is possible anyone's vote could have been literally stolen.

Hamilton County Vote Counting Delays

I hope we get more of an explanation than we got here as to why it took so long to have votes counted here in Hamilton County. Ohio held reporting any results until 9PM because polls up in Cleveland remained open, but why did Hamilton County not have any votes counted by then and not until about 10 PM?

The Candidate Doesn't Know How To Vote

Well which is it going to be? Is the Steve chabot an idiot for not knowing what was needed to vote or is this an example of how people will not vote because of the foolish ID requirement? How many people are going to go home and get a phone bill when their Diver's license isn't good enough?

I can tell you that many will not!

When I re-read the SOS website it actually quotes the ID law:

R.C. 3505.18(A)
Voters must bring identification to the polls in order to verify identity. Identification may include a current and valid photo identification, a military identification that shows the voter's name and current address, or a copy of a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, or other government document, other than a reminder or a voter registration notification, that shows the voter's name and current address. Voters who do not provide one of these documents will still be able to vote by providing the last four digits of the voter's social security number and by casting a provisional ballot.

Voters who do not have any of the above forms of identification, including a social security number, will still be able to vote by signing an affirmation swearing to the voter's identity under penalty of election falsification and by casting a provisional ballot.

If you have a valid driver's license, why does your address have to match? That doesn't appear in the law on that website. Who made the interpretation that a matching address on a driver’s license is required?

Finally, this report indicates that a poll worker may have violated the law by denying use of a military ID.

WCPO Staffer Challenged by Pollworkers

The Enquirer Politics Blog is reporting that a WCPO videographer was "challenged" by poll workers at 6:30 AM today after he shot video of Jean Schmidt voted. Poll workers cited a law regarding polling procedures.

It is unclear what the "challenged" meant. I am not sure if they kept him from filming or were claiming he could not use the film he shot. WCPO is reportedly going to air the footage.

Clear Channel owned WKRC was able to film Jean Schmidt and aired it on TV.

[Hat tip to Atrios]


UPDATE: Further down on the Enquirer blog they report that an Enquirer Reporter and Photographer where threatened with arrest in Butler county when trying to interview and photograph John Boehner as he voted.