NYT: New Registration Rules Stir Voter Debate in Ohio

[DeepModem Mom]

New Registration Rules Stir Voter Debate in Ohio
By IAN URBINA
Published: August 6, 2006

CLEVELAND — For Tony Minor, the pastor of the Community of Faith Assembly in a run-down section of East Cleveland, Ohio’s new voter registration rules have meant spending two extra hours a day collecting half as many registration cards from new voters as he did in past years.

Republicans say the new rules are needed to prevent fraud, but Democrats say they are making it much harder to register the poor.

In the last year, six states have passed such restrictions, and in three states, including Ohio, civic groups have filed lawsuits, arguing that the rules disproportionately affect poor neighborhoods.

But nowhere have the rules been as fiercely debated as here, partly because they are being administered by J. Kenneth Blackwell, the secretary of state and the Republican candidate in one of the most closely watched governor’s races in the country, a contest that will be affected by the voter registration rules. Mr. Blackwell did not write the law, but he has been accused of imposing regulations that are more restrictive than was intended.

Under the law, passed by the Republican-led state legislature in January 2006, paid voter registration workers must personally submit the voter registration cards to the state, rather than allow the organizations overseeing the drives to vet and submit them in bulk....

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/06/us/06ohio.html

[billyoc]

1. It's a poll tax.

I see no other way to describe it.

[DeadManInc]

2. Blackwell is such a pile of shit.

He would try to screw his own family out of voting if he thought they were voting against him.

[msongs]

3. blackwell hates black people in OHIO and wants to disenfranchise

them all. mabye the afroamerican crowd will be wise to that this year.

Msongs
www.msongs.com/2007politicalcalendars.htm

[krkaufman]

4. New regulations wholly unjustified

Catch this closing bit from the article ....

Out of 9,078,728 votes cast in Ohio in 2002 and 2004, the report said, only four ballots were fraudulent

Given this exceedingly low level of fraud, the new regulations can ONLY be viewed as intentionally restricting voter registration.

[rodeodance]

5. HAD ENOUGH?

[sandnsea]

6. Republicans did registration fraud here

If we had signed and numbered registrations, they wouldn't have gotten away with tossing Democratic registrations in the trash. This works both ways. An honest registration system is one of the few things Oregon still needs. While I don't think individual registrars should have to submit cards in person, I do agree with having sign the cards and take responsibility for following registration law.

[tanyev]

7. Silly question:

When he announced his intention to run for governor, WHY didn't he have to resign as Secretary of State? Is this a law that varies by state? I'm sure I've heard of other races where candidates had to resign from a current office in order to run for something else.

[usregimechange]

8. unconstitutional, courts will through it out.

[MissWaverly]

9. Yes, but will that be before or after the November election

and even if it happens next week, now many people have already been prevented from registering
due to his illegal and unamerican rules. A government official should not be passing laws that
need to be struck down by the courts. That alone should have him thrown out of office, every
time we have a medical speaker at my hospital, they have to sign disclosure forms. Why a
government official is allowed to continue in his post after confirmed deliberate abuse of his office is beyond me.