Blackwell under fire

[MelissaB]

Blackwell gets brunt of registrants' anger
He denies trying to disenfranchise voters

Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Ted Wendling
Plain Dealer Bureau

Columbus- Democrats and representatives of voter-registration groups accused Secretary of State Ken Blackwell on Monday of trying to rig this November's election by publishing draconian new rules governing the activities of people who register voters.

Testifying at a hearing chaired by Judy Grady, Blackwell's director of elections, lawyers for ACORN, Common Cause, the Ohio Democratic Party and other groups said training documents drafted by Blackwell's office are so vague that they subject registrars to felony penalties for even inadvertent violations.

...snip

Samuel Gresham, an attorney for Common Cause, charged that the rules are "part of a consistent pattern, intentionally so," by Blackwell to disenfranchise black, low-income and Democratic voters.

Blackwell's actions, Gresham and others said, are intended to suppress Democratic voter turnout in what is shaping up as a closely contested governor's race between Blackwell, a Republican, and Democratic U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland.

"It appears that Ken Blackwell finally figured out how to deal with long lines on Election Day," said state Democratic Party spokesman Brian Rothenberg. "He's just trying to outright deny people the right to vote now."


More: http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1149582726265130.xml&coll=2

Thanks to RawStory here: http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Ohio_Secretary_of_State_accused_of_0606.html

[young_at_heart]

1. I didn't realize that Blackwell had SO much power in Ohio

Is he the only person there to create policy and determine who votes, etc.?

[iconoclastNYC]

3. He's the Secretary of State

He administers the election. He was the Kathryn Harris of Ohio in 2004. Any and every rule he could craft that would supressed Democratic votes was issued. Read about it in RFK's article in rolling stone:

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/10432334/was_the_2004_election_stolen

[tinrobot]

5. So he's administering his OWN election?

Can someone say conflict of interest?

There's gotta be a way to get the courts to intervene.

[iconoclastNYC]

6. Exactly.

And he was the state chair of Bush's campaign in 2004 if memory serves.

Ohio is a sess poll. Google : "Reform Ohio Now" for more information.

[mod mom]

7. Yes. The Dems and 3rd parties asked him to recuse himself, but of course

he said no. Although he is behind in the polls wait for another miraculous comeback by the GOP.

[klook]

9. Why can't they COMPEL him to recuse himself???

It's completely unethical--and should be illegal for anyone to be able to set groundrules regarding the election in which he or she is either a candidate or a campaign manager. Katherine Harris shouldn't have been allowed to do it, and neither should Blackwell--either as Bush campaign manager or as Ohio gubernatorial candidate. But that's the age we live in--the simplest, crudest ethical breaches get a pass.

Or maybe things just work differently in Ohio. Does the Cincinnati Reds' manager get to serve as umpire?

[mod mom]

11. because just like the federal government, the Dems in Ohio have no power.

Ohio has a repug Governor (convicted Taft) , both the senate and state legislature is controlled by the GOP, and the OH Supreme Court is controlled by 5 (out of 7) Republicans (they don't run with party affiliation listed on the ballot but they are backed by parties.)

SEND HELP!

[iconoclastNYC]

14. Bingo

Like i said. It's a sesspool. The whole state has been gerrymandered and it makes it all the more difficult to get any real reform. If you ask me the RON (Reform Ohio Now) initiatives were rigged to. They would have really helped clean up Ohio. But they lost by the margins the pre-election polls predicted victory. Interesting huh.

[klook]

15. I know. It was really a rhetorical question.

I will take you up on your suggestion to send help. I don't live in Ohio, but would like to do something. So I'll probably contribute some $$ either to the Ohio Dem party or to whoever seems like the best Dem governor candidate.

[iconoclastNYC]

2. Picket him.

Follow him around with signs....all his campaign appearances......why don't the dems in Ohio play dirty and hound him?

[mod mom]

12. Fitrakis just made that suggestion at a DFA meeting. He doesn't speak in

public only to closed audiences-sound familiar?

[Kurovski]

4. Hackwell stinks.

He did it before and everyone knows he'll do it again.

Suppression is his stock in trade, and the corrupt Repubbie Party can't get enough of what he's selling.

[truedelphi]

8. if you hate the state of the nation

in its current incarnation, Blackwell is the guy to blame...

[driver8]

10. How can this asshole still be Secretary of State if he is running for

office? So he is in charge of the votes being counted for his own election?

Who are the freakin' geniuses who allow this to happen?

Ohio -- you are fucked.

[Pachamama]

13. Ohio is already screwed & because of Blackwell, so are we & the the rest

of the country and world....

Please Ohio - stop this man before he screws you, us and the rest of the world even more!

:patriot: