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.

I Contain Multitudes

I commented today in comments that Cleveland was not as Pro-Kerry as Cincinnati was Pro-Bush HypoSpeaks as poll numbers that prove me wrong. What it also says is that Cincinnati has more Kerry Support than I could have ever imagined. My only assumption is that these are metro numbers, not city proper numbers.

I have been reading HypoSpeaks for a while and have been meaning to add them to the blog roll. Sorry for the delay in do so!

Bias or Bad Journalism? (yet again)

We have an article on Michael Moore's visit to UC yesterday. We hear quotes from Moore, which is good. We get a report of who else appeared with Moore, which included REM. What we then got where quotes from Republicans: Susanna Oakley had tepid yet anti-Moore comments:

Susanna Oakley, an art history senior from Montgomery, said she was not impressed.

"He didn't say anything of substance. He's ridiculous," she said.

That was fine on the surface. That is her opinion and it would have been fine giving the opinion of someone who does not like Moore.

Then the writer ends with an indirect comment that was supposed to fact check Moore, but instead was just propaganda

Moore is twisting the facts, said Lindsay Quinn, a UC senior and organizer of the College Republicans. Those poll watchers will be impartial observers, she said, adding that Democrats will be observing too.

Now, first these are not poll watchers or "observers," they are challengers. They are there to challenge voters, not just watch the polls. They can't do anything but use their cell phone if they think something is wrong at the polls. What sets me off more is that this came from an "organizer of the College Republicans." Why not wake up and fact check what this person says before you publish it as a retort?

Where were the comments of someone who likes Moore and what he said? There were surely plenty of Young Democrats at the event, and the reporter could have gotten a quote, and if she did get a quote and the editor did not print it, well there is your clear cut bias from the Enquirer.

The Columbus Dispatch On Web?

I don't subscribe to the The Columbus Dispatch, but I was able to read this story about the Dems suing the GOP over their pre-emptive hearings trying to kick over 2,000 people off the voter rolls.

In the past the Dispatch limited access to subscribers on all stories. They have been added to Google News, so I guess they don’t know or no longer mind.

Desperation?

Bush won Ohio in 2000. Bush won the Cincinnati area very easily in 2000. Why would he waste time holding a rally here 2 days before the election when he could be in a location where he might sway some voters?

Does Bush's base around here need any more motivation? I guess he needs a big crowd for good video shots, but I would have thought that a visit to Iowa might do him better. I think Bush's chances are fading in Ohio, but in Iowa he is doing much better. But Hell, I hope Bush spends all day Sunday right here in Cincinnati. It does not look good if you spend time in the last days of the campaign in places where you already are supposed to have won without question and without much effort.

Since it is on Sunday, maybe I will try and get tickets. I wonder if you will need to sign an oath or pass a FBI background check to go to it. I have been getting almost daily auto-dialer recorded propaganda from Bush, so someone foolishly has me on a list of undecided voters or something.

QCF Interview Fanon Rucker

Michael Atlman interviews the Democratic endorsed write-in candidate for Prosecutor.

Cyber-Jingoism From Bush

Funnel Cake reports that the Bush Campaign web site is rejecting Non-US visitors. He also provided a link to some confirmation from international users. Why would this be happening? Why would he keep people out? Are people being blocked only in certain countries? I could see this would be a way to stop a denial of service attack, but I would like to know if IP's from Israel are being block, because they UK's are being blocked. How are international Bush voters, Americans abroad, supposed to read his website? Now, I am not saying they should, but I am all for people having the chance to read what all candidates are saying.

Mullane's Back?

We have hope Mullane's Parkside Café will reopen.

Let the Lies of Bigots Begin!

Well, this is not the start but the Zenith of lies from the anti-homosexual crowd pushing another level of theocracy on the state. Their goal is to make homosexuals subhuman, denying them every possible person right or protection any lawmaker could give them. Phil Burress is out to rid the state of gays. Burress is nothing but a theocratic fascist. He and his minions, which include the likes of Carl Linder and Anthony Munoz, hate gays and want to crush their lives so badly that they leave the city and the state.

Hyperbole you ask? Am I overstating things? No, I am not. If I has said genocide was going on, that would have been hyperbole in this case. Here we have a group of people who do not like gays, do not support freedom for gays to be full citizens of the United States or of Ohio.

They also are out to limit the rights of unmarried heterosexuals, but hey, they are living in sin!!!! Let's smite them! Down into the pits of HELL all ye Heathens must go! We can't stand two adults living together who don't get permission from Jesus!!!! We must stamp out all sex!

Ok, that was hyperbole. Or was it?

Meltdown

Yes, we are in the middle of a heavy campaign. Everyone's emotions are a bit high, but one shows signs of serious problems with comments like these:

I've never had a problem with Wes. But I think it's funny that he'll sit in his room and write this on his blog, but cannot even confront me with it when I see him at events. Wes, you can be tough behind your computer screen, but can you be tough in person??

Steve Fritsch just might want to reconsider running for office. When you try and steal Zell Miller's act you not only look foolish, you come across like a schoolyard thug. You know the episode...bully is made to look bad...comes looking for the smart kid...lunch money tends to change hands. I guess Steve wants to rumble behind the monkey bars.

What to Do If You Are Challenged at the Polls

The Dayton Daily News, the best newspaper in Southwest Ohio, does something practical and a public service to the community. They give advice about what to do if you are challenged at the polls, presumable by a Republican operative.

1. The challenger will have to state why your right to vote is being challenged. The four reasons they can challenge are that they believe you are either not 18 or older, not a U.S. citizen, not a Ohio resident for the past 30 days or not a resident of the county and precinct in which you are trying to vote.

2. One of the poll workers and you will move no less than 10 feet from the challenger.

3. You will be asked to take this oath: "Do you swear or affirm that you will fully and truly answer all of the following questions put to you, touching your place of residence and your qualifications as an elector at this election?"

3. You will be asked a series of questions about one of the four areas in which you are being challenged.

4. If you refuse to answer fully all questions or are unable to answer them fully, or your answers indicate you are too young, not a resident or a citizen, you will not be able to vote.

5. If you answer the questions to the satisfaction of the poll worker, you will be given a ballot and will be allowed to vote.

What if you want to appeal? The decisions of the poll workers are final.

What if the challenger appears to be attempting to cause delays or intimidate voters? The chief poll worker, the presiding judge, can expel them from the polling place.

Source: Oct. 20 memorandum, "Challenger and Witness Guidelines," Ohio Secretary of State's Office and the Ohio Association of Elections Officials.

I looked for a copy of this memo online at Secretary of State's website, but could not find it. I would have thought this would have been part of their PR, but I guess they might hope people are fearful and don't vote? I can find no other links or even mention of this memo but in the DDN.

Mixing Politics

For some reason I feel this article had me in mind. Now, I know they didn't. I am read by a handful at the Enquirer, but not most, but I guess I don't mind speculating about some conspiratorial jab telling me that I guess I had better stick to my own kind.

I would honestly find it impossible to marry a conservative. I have dated a conservative before and my opinions were not a boon to the relationship, neither were hers. What is missing from these examples are how they feel on social issues. I think that is mostly where people can find common ground. I could handle differences on economic policy and foreign issues, but on big social issues like Church-State, abortion, free speech, freedom of the press, I really could not put with a hard right-winger. I guess I want a woman who has a brain, and is not afraid to use it on the same level I am. I see the hard right-winger females as one who thinks her role in life is to be a modern June Cleaver.

I am sure I have just disappointed a great many conservative women out there, but oh well.

Rucker TV and Radio Ads

Hamilton County Prosecutor write in candidate Fanon Rucker has produced a television and a radio ad.

Oh, and he got the Enquirer Endorsement.

Vote Challengers; Poll Watchers

It is an outrage that people would stoop to such a thing here in Cincinnati. Dayton was to be free of it, at least organized by the GOP, but now they will. There is nothing stopping some idiot from doing trying this on their own, even though people are supposed to be registered before hand. I would not be surprised if we don't see this kind of thing from some crackpot around the city. The Observer reports on the trouble Ohio is going to be having. That trouble will not be from people trying to double vote, but instead from those trying to suppress the vote in the name of prevent double voters.

What I want to know, are the GOP putting poll watchers in every location? Will be asking in my precinct who the watchers are. I may wander by some other locations and see if there are watchers stationed out in Anderson Township.

The GOP has dropped some challenges to registrations, but the headline is misleading, of course.

Jesse Taylor of Pandagon chimes in with a lament on the disenfranchisement the GOP is angling towards.