Ohio Election Reform bill being introduced (yuck alert)

[meganmonkey]

Necessary housekeeping

In the wake of one of the most contentious elections in recent memory, the Ohio House this week passed and sent to the Senate a bill updating the state's election laws.

It's a smart effort; chiefly it codifies directives that were issued on the fly last year by Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell. But the bill would also allow unrestrained absentee voting - something that needs much more scrutiny before being approved.

---snip---

Ohio has long required that ballots be cast in the precinct where the voter lives. Critics say this disenfranchises lower-income voters, who tend to move frequently and hence have problems keeping their voter registration records updated. Democrats in particular sought court rulings last year to allow ballots to be cast anywhere in the resident's home county.

But there are solid reasons for requiring that ballots be cast in the voter's home precinct. It cuts down on the possibilities for fraud. It makes it easier for election officials to allocate voting machines and personnel. And, since many items on the ballot involve local races pertaining only to select precincts, allowing countywide voting would significantly increase election costs and the time it would take to count ballots.


http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050519/EDIT/505190330/1003

:banghead:

[JAbuchan08]

1. what is this an editorial

"its a smart effort" "the bill deserves to become law"

[KaliTracy]

2. it certainly reads like an editorial -- especially with the side comments

such as clearing a person off of a voter record off their books if a notice 'undeliverable' comes back to them "(It's important to keep registration lists current, but the process must be more stringent than this.)"

and

"Require county election boards, which are bi-partisan, to formally vote on the number of voting machines to be installed for elections. This is a response to allegations (which proved specious) that some of the long lines last November were the result of deliberate efforts to discourage voting in certain precincts."


Proved Specious? Has this been finally resolved (court cases, et al?) I didn't think ANYthing has been "proven" or "disproven" yet.


Interesting that in the radio account I heard about this yesterday I didn't hear anything about the machines -- and was planning on writing to the Local Radio station that played the report to mention that machine disparity was left out and needed to be addressed. Looks like I need to write a letter to this publication too.

[roseBudd]

3. Please email the cincy post and point out that by precinct only ...

provisional voting rules 500 votes in Hamilton county were not counted because the voter cast their ballot at the wrong table in a polling place that house multiple precincts. This wrong table, right location mix up is because of inadequate signage/poll worker training.

[LightningFlash]

4. Unrestrained absentee?

So now he wants to have absentee fraud? I'm getting sick here. Keep on top of this one, should do a mass letter campaign.

[merwin]

5. Why can't we just have a statewide SECURE voter DB where each

person is listed, and if they have voted. Give the voting locations a computer with this software on it. Don't allow the software to delete or change ANYTHING that that is entered into the database. Require biometric access for the software to function, allowing for ONLY the authorized people to use it.