It's no surprise to anyone here that Republicans love to mask their agenda in words like "liberty" and "freedom" and present themselves as super-patriots and defenders of the Constitution and the American Way. Just don't bother then with REAL democracy.
Currently, Ohioans are undertaking another repeal battle: to void HB 194, commonly known as the "voter suppression bill." This little gem is a whole collection of measures designed to restrict voting opportunities, make it more difficult for voters to get information about voting, and increase trivial technicalities on which ballots can be discounted.
One of the most contentious issues is its ban on Boards of Election sending out absentee ballot applications to all registered voters. Cuyahoga (Cleveland) and Franklin (Columbus) counties have been doing this since no-fault absentee voting was instituted in 2006. Hamilton (Cincinnati) was looking at following suit. In the last several elections, nearly half of Cuyahoga's voters voted absentee or early-voted at Boards of Election, greatly easing polling place congestion on Election Day.
If we get the 231,154 valid signatures we need by September 29, the repeal will go on the November 2012 ballot and the law will not take effect until after that election.
http://www.fairelectionsohio.com
That has completely freaked out Ohio Republicans because the whole intention of that measure was to lose tens of thousands of Democratic voters — since the elderly and working poor will be disproportionately impacted — and hopefully that would be enough to assure that Obama could not carry Ohio and that Sherrod Brown would lose to the ethically challenged, corporately owned Josh "The Empty Suit" Mandel.
The Cuyahoga Board of Elections took a vote a couple of weeks ago on whether it should continue this initiative regardless and split on party lines. Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted decreed that NO Board of Elections could send out absentee applications in the future.
What quickly developed in the last few days was a war of good vs. evil, the defender of democracy vs. the America hater, with Husted in the black hat and Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald in the white hat.
FitzGerald, noting that the county has already set aside the money, said that the county would send out the ballots to all voters.
Husted freaked out at the thought that his party's little suppression plan might be thwarted. He called FitzGerald a "rogue actor," and announced that he was going to try to find a way to prevent Boards of Election from processing applications received in a mass mailing from the county. It doesn't sound like he thought this through since this most likely would have required libraries, senior building, community centers and campaigns to stop distributing the applications. And figuring out where an application came from would have likely created a lot more work for BoEs. But never mind! Keeping Democrats from voting is worth any cost apparently!
Yesterday afternoon, FitzGerald sent the legislation to our county council, who approved it 10-0 (with one member absent). That included two of the council's three Republicans (one was absent).
About the same time, Husted, apparently realizing how bad the optics were on trying to find ways to prevent people he had no authority over from helping the voters in their area, backed off and said he would not try to block the processing of applications sent out by the county.
That's where things stand today. Now we have to get those signature to get HB 194 on the ballot, to make sure that the multiple suppression and ballot-tossing measures aren't in effect in 2012.
If you are in Ohio, we could really use your help.
Go to
http://www.fairelectionsohio.com
Thanks!