Blackwell ends paper chase

[Clinton Crusader]

http://www.columbusdispatch.com/election/election-local.php?story=dispatch/2004/09/29/20040929-A1-01.html

Some could be unable to vote because of flap over registration forms
Wednesday, September 29, 2004
Catherine Candisky
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH


Under fire from voting-rights advocates, Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell retreated yesterday from a directive that critics said would slow voter-registration efforts and even block some people from casting a ballot Nov. 2.

At issue is a reminder Blackwell issued this month to county boards of election that voter-registration forms must be printed on "white, uncoated paper of not less than 80-pound text weight," a heavy, cardlike stock.

While the Franklin County Board of Elections and others have continued accepting forms submitted on lighter-weight paper, some county elections officials said yesterday they have been disqualifying registrations because the paper was not thick enough.

Critics charged that the confusion and inconsistency threatened to prevent tens of thousands of would-be voters from participating in the general election and could trigger lawsuits challenging the results. They also blasted Blackwell for issuing the directive less than a month before Ohio’s voter registration deadline and at a time when elections officials are working around-the-clock to keep up with record-smashing registration efforts in a presidential battleground state.
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:kick:

[Burma Jones]

1. As Jesus said........

For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved

[Beetwasher]

2. Did We Win This One???

Oh thank goodness!!!

[beaconess]

3. Looks like we did. These people can't survive the light of day

Keep the pressure on!

[txindy]

5. How many regis. were disallowed, though?

Before Blackwell changed his mind, I mean. Did the election offices toss out some or did they hold on to them? Big difference there. All people in Ohio who recently reg. to vote need to verify their eligibility.

[beaconess]

8. They're required by law to keep them

Since, according to Blackwell's letter, these forms submitted on light paper were to be deemed "applications for registration." Such applications are records that must be maintained for a period of time, so the election officials should still have them.

But, just in case, every person who thinks they are registered should contact their local board and verify their registration within the next day or two so that, if they find they're not registered, they can still do it before the October 4 deadline.

[spotbird]

22. How will people know to do that?

This stinks.

[beaconess]

31. The County Board of Elections officials who handle these documents

know to do this. It's part of their job.

[LisaL]

7. Win what?

Blackwell did not issue another "reminder". Some counties said they did not accept the light weigh forms.

[beaconess]

10. Apparently they did not accept them at the time, but now Blackwell

has "clarified" his letter and has publicly stated that the local boards are to process the lightweight forms as registrations, not applications. They are to send out cards to be returned for record keeping purposes, but the registrations on lightweight paper are now valid.

This is a win.

[LisaL]

11. Yes, but Blackwell did not issue another directive to do that.

His spoke's person said that what he meant by his "reminder", but that is not what his reminder said. Well, I do hope that if anyone is not registered because of this, democratic party will sue promptly!
And at least two counties admitted they were not accepting light weight applications-that could be thousands of people.
:mad:

[beaconess]

12. It doesn't matter now what his "reminder" said. All that matters is that

he is now on record telling the local boards to accept the registrations as valid. He cannot now change the rules now that the voters and the boards are on notice and are acting in reliance upon his instructions.

You're right - if it turns out that anyone is denied a registration under these circumstances, steps must be taken to correct it, either through a lawsuit or some other means.

But this is DEFINITELY a win! The public pressure forced Blackwell to back down, although he will never admit that he has revised his instructions.

[beaconess]

14. They have to accept them now, even if they didn't yesterday

Which is not difficult. They are required by law to maintain the paperwork - all they have to do is change them from applications to registrations. And we're probably not talking about thousands. Pickaway County said there were "dozens" and, although Madison County wouldn't give an estimate for the Dispatch story, it has about 6,000 fewer registered voters than Pickaway County, so it follows that their numbers would be about the same or perhaps less.

But either way, it should not be a problem since they can just now register the voters they had previously declared ineligible because of the paper the registration was sent in on.

But the voters still need to check to be sure.

[spotbird]

24. Ohio's Democratic Party did nothing before this broke,

and they'll do nothing now. Well, I take that back, yesterday they did issue a short press release saying that this is wrong and anyone disqualified should come to them. Yawn.

It is an ineffective state party. There are no state-wide Democrats, and both legislatures are held by Republicans. Ohio is becoming a post-industrial wasteland, but the Republicans hold is firm.

[beaconess]

29. Do you know this for a fact or are you just assuming that because

you don't know what they did that they didn't do anything?

Are you in Ohio?

[spotbird]

18. Don't be so sure.

The dispatch article said some counties don't know that Blackwell changed his mind. How will they be notified?

Here's another important point from the article:

While the Franklin County Board of Elections and others have continued accepting forms submitted on lighter-weight paper, some county elections officials said yesterday they have been disqualifying registrations because the paper was not thick enough.

Will those disqualified now be qualified? Will those lists be made available?

This might be a diversion, they got away with it up until this point after all.

[johnnie]

4. Someone here at DU had one of Blackwell's own reg form

A registration form that he sent out in his own brochure. From what the poster said, the reg. form was not in accordance to what Blackwell was demanding. I bet this finding help to change his mind a bit.

[G_j]

6. I would guess that people here at DU helped bring about

this outcome.

:toast::toast:

[LisaL]

9. What outcome?

Nothing changed, as far as I can see. Some counties did not accept the light weigh forms.

[G_j]

13. well I guessed I missed that

in my optimism on reading: "Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell retreated yesterday from a directive that critics said would slow voter-registration efforts and even block some people from casting a ballot Nov. 2."

If counties are still rejecting registrations then I suppose we may be still looking at lawsuits.

[beaconess]

17. The story doesn't say that counties are still rejecting registrations

It said that two counties had been rejecting them because of Blackwell's letter. Now that he has "clarified" himself and instructed them to process the registrations, they'll have to do it.

It's interesting to note that both of these counties, Pickaway and Madison, are very Republican and very conservative and both went overwhelmingly for Bush in 2000, so maybe we shouldn't be so anxious to get those registrations processed. :-) Seriously, Bush beat Gore 10,717 to 6,598 in Pickaway County and 8,892 to 5,287 in Madison County.

[spotbird]

19. It says the counties didn't know about the change,

and used two examples. Nowhere in the article does it say that only two counties were acting in accordance with the directive:

In Pickaway County, Elections Director Johnda Perkins said her office already has sent letters and new forms to dozens of voters who registered on lightweight paper, asking them to return the heavier-weight forms.

Voters whose forms were disqualified have quickly responded by re-registering, she said.

In Madison County, Elections Director Gloria Herrel said her office has been sending a letter with an appropriate-weight registration card to would-be voters as their lightweight forms arrive. She could not estimate the number involved.

Ms Perkins said the disqualified voters have responded quickly. Well where's the verification? Why would anyone trust these peoples word?

[beaconess]

20. What do you think should be done about it?

[spotbird]

25. IMO one of the voting rights groups should seek injunctive relief

requiring that all disqualified registration forms be qualified unconditionally. A demand should also be made for the names of those disqualified so far with potential follow-up in mind.

Even today's shift leaves room to disqualify these voters at a later time, since the new qualifications seem provisional. Registrants will now be sent a new form on the proper stock to be returned after the election. They don't explain what will happen if the new form isn't returned, but it's safe to assume the worst.

[beaconess]

30. There's no legal basis for an injunction

Courts don't grant injunctions just because something bad MIGHT happen. And they don't issue injunctions to compel state officers to do things that they've already been instructed to do by their superiors unless there is clear evidence that they intend to defy the order. Otherwise, the courts would be clogged up with people seeking injunctions to force government officials to do all manner of things that they're already obligated to do.

Blackwell has instructed the counties to accept those registrations. The counties have not indicated that they intend to defy his instructions, so there is no case in controversy at this time.

In order to get to a point where an injunction is warranted, one or more Ohio county would have to make clear that, despite Blackwell's instruction, they intend to invalidate voter registrations not submitted on heavy stock. If that happens, a preliminary injunction should be sought immediately.

[in_cog_ni_to]

15. Thank G-D this one was won. Ohio is SO important!

LoParo said Blackwell wants election officials to process the lightweight registration forms and send the applicants a form on heavier-stock paper to return for a permanent record.

That was news to election officials in two counties, who said they have not been processing forms on underweight papers, per Blackwell’s directive.

They haven't been processing the forms? So, what the hell did they do with them? Were the people sent NEW forms?


The paper-weight debate wasn’t the only Blackwell directive coming under fire.

Ohio Democrats filed a federal lawsuit this week challenging state guidelines that would deny provisional ballots for people who show up at the wrong polling place.

Blackwell directed election officials to issue provisional ballots only to voters who are in the correct polling location. Democrats say federal law gives voters the right to obtain a provisional ballot and have it counted if they mistakenly go to the wrong precinct.

The controversy comes during the final push to sign up new voters before Monday’s deadline as well as the start of absentee voting yesterday

Why is it all the questionable BULLSHIT is coming from REPUBLICANS??? They aren't trying to steal any election. Nope. Not the republicans. They wouldn't do such a thing. After all, they ARE Christians. They would never lie, cheat or steal. :eyes:

[Renew Deal]

16. 90,000 new voters in a county Gore won by 5,000

"County elections workers are staffing the office 24 hours a day, six days a week, to keep up with registration forms. The 90,000 new voters now make up more than 10 percent of the electorate in a county that Democrat Al Gore won by only 5,000 votes in 2000."

:wow:

[AmerDem]

21. Our call in helped..The asshole backed down

Thanks for the article!:toast:

[troublemaker]

23. This is NOT Over

If I'm wrong please let me know, but by my reading of this article Blackwell "backing down" is merely declining to enforce his insane directive going forward. It doesn't sound like he is making any corrective order to remedy any disenfranchisement that has already occurred.

This is--or should be--our bottom line. Anything less than this is unacceptable. (If these conditions have been met then color me delighted, but I haven't seen it yet):

Any voter registration received in any county that was disallowed solely for the weight of the paper must be reinstated and processed precisely as it would have been if it was submitted on a heavier stock on the same date it was originally submitted.

Regarding instances where a lighter weight registration form resulted in another registration form being mailed to the prospective voter: If the replacement form is not received by the cut-off date then the initial (lighter weight) registration must be accepted as it is, and processed as a valid registration form received on the day it was first received.

[spotbird]

26. Check this thread out troublemaker.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x917853#917879

[liberal N proud]

27. Good job to any one who had a hand in this decision

Writing letter to editors and officials may have made the difference here.
Keep it up we can make the difference.

[Eurobabe]

28. 90K new voters in Franklin Co.???

WOOHOO!!

Hey, is anyone from OHIO forum tallying these figures? I think we've had some reports from Hamilton, Franklin, Cuyahoga...
-Crozet

[beaconess]

32. 700,000+ newly registered voters in Ohio!