How is Ohio "proving" the weight of the paper in the reg cards?

[jmowreader]

This is going to sound like a silly-assed question, but what basis are they using to ascertain that 80-pound cover is being used to print the registration cards?

Did they leave a micrometer at the registrar's desk? "Okay, Mary, this is what you do: If a Democrat tries to register, make sure to mike his card, and if it's not nine thousandths of an inch thick, just toss the card in the trash."

I've seen pressmen who could pick up a sheet of paper and without looking at it tell you the brand, sidemark and weight of the stock. ("This is Appleton Utopia 80-pound gloss cover.") These are guys who have been printing for thirty or forty years; a clerk wouldn't be able to do this because clerks don't routinely handle 300 different kinds of paper per year.

Or are they just pitching Democrats' registrations for GP?

Ohio's regulation should be changed anyway. All the Post Office requires is 7-point cardstock--80-pound cover is 9-point. The USPS sells bulk mail cartage by the pound, and a bag of cards printed on 7-point will be cheaper to mail than a bag of cards printed on 9-point.

[politicat]

1. well... 80 pound and 20 pound are pretty different....

Even laypeople know the difference between cardstock (80#) and print bond.

Now we could have lots of fun if we started printing VRFs on 75#clay (text book paper) or 70 # linen rag (money type stock....)

Pcat

[jmowreader]

2. But 80-pound cover and 70-pound cover are very similar

Similar enough that, for most purposes, you can use the less-expensive stock and still have a nice piece. (Note to all you young designers: if your boss asks you to print something on 60-pound gloss cover, I suggest you recommend using 100-pound gloss text instead. It's the same thickness but it's cheaper.)

If this guy is getting that nit-picky, it sounds to me like someone at Purchasing got cheap and had the registration card job run on 7-point bristol instead of 80-pound cover--stock that's thick enough to meet USPS regulations but is less expensive than 80-pound matte cover. Naturally, a pile of new voter registrations from Democrats started flowing in, and the Republican in charge needed some way to disqualify them. "Mabel? What did you get the last million VRFs printed on? Oh, 7-point? Not 80-pound? Great! Love ya! I'll buy you a BIG bouquet!"