Campaign Poll Watchers or GOP thugs?
In what I can only describe as bullying and intimidation tactics the GOP has signed up for thousands of ‘poll watcher’ positions in heavily Democratic neighborhoods in Ohio, considered a battleground state. So far the only online resource I can point to is The New York Times, but I originally heard the story on CNN.
Democrats are being accused of illegally registering people to vote as noted in this thinly disguised quote:
“The organized left’s efforts to, quote unquote, register voters - I call them ringers - have created these problems,” said James P. Trakas, a Republican co-chairman in Cuyahoga County
I see challenges to whether or not someone can vote. The truth is that there are only four legitimate challenges to valid registration in Ohio:
Ohio election officials said that by state law, the parties’ challengers would have to show “reasonable” justification for doubting the qualifications of a voter before asking a poll worker to question that person. And, the officials said, challenges could be made on four main grounds: whether the voter is a citizen, is at least 18, is a resident of the county and has lived in Ohio for the previous 30 days.
Taking that one item at a time: citizenship- are the Republicans going to ask for citizenship papers? And what would that entail: bring your birth certificate or your naturalization paperwork.
At least 18 years old: some young looking women may be flattered to be asked for ID, young looking men would more likely be offended. Bring your photo ID just in case.
Resident of the County: what constitutes proof? Will voters have to bring all their utility bills and leases or a note from their landlord?
30 days: see above.
The GOP is worried about illegal voters but what are they looking to? The ONLY thing that they can look to is their appearance. So what can you tell by looking at someone? Whether they are “white” or not - sort of. But you can’t tell if someone is a resident of the county or the state just by looking at them, you can’t tell if they have lived in Ohio for at least 30 days just by looking at them. You can’t really tell someone’s age just by looking at them.
“Our concern is Republicans will be challenging in large numbers for the purpose of slowing down voting, because challenging takes a long time,” said David Sullivan, the voter protection coordinator for the national Democratic Party in Ohio. “And creating long lines causes our people to leave without voting.”
Sounds like a legitimate concern to me. After all, the more we hear about the 2000 election, and the so called “fixes” to the problems only lead to more doubt about our system. A Texas firm supplied data that improperly removed voters from the Florida rolls. The touch screen system depends upon a Microsoft database server on the backend which is susceptible to tampering by anyone using Access and which does not include a ‘paper trail’ for votes and with a severely limited - even missing - ability to recount votes if necessary. Indeed Deibold has received lots of critisism for its voting machines and openly biased support of the Republican party, including the proclamation by the company’s CEO that Ohio would be delivered to George W Bush.
I say it’s time to call in international or UN elections monitors. Unfortunately former President Jimmy Carter essentially calls Florida’s elections system unfair.
We cannot continue to proclaim democracy, forcing it upon the unwilling in other parts of the world when we cannot even ensure that our own elections process is not corrupt.
