Reply #2: OH: State Democrats Leverage Republican Scandals to Create Fair Voting [View All]

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This one is for any of those at DNC bold enough to access DU. This is how you do it: leverage their general scandalous behavior to benefit positive election proposals. How unpopular do the Republicans have to become before we unload on them. The 2004 Ohio race was stolen. It was the scene of election fraud of epic proportions. The only vote that day with a paper trail and without corrupt Ohio officials was the Ohio State Exit Poll. It showed Kerry winning the state 51-49%. Here’s the kicker, it’s all there, right before you. The Ohio Democrats are getting the clue, lets hope the national leadership piles on.

Backers of Ohio issues taking advantage of investment scandal

http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/news/state/12824914.htm

Posted on Wed, Oct. 05, 2005
JOHN McCARTHY

Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Democrats pushing an overhaul of the election system in Ohio - the state that swung the White House race to President Bush last year - are hoping timing truly is everything.

To the Democrats' delight, the four overhaul measures will appear on the Nov. 8 ballot at a time when the long-ruling Republican Party is engulfed in both an ethics scandal and a furor over an ill-fated state investment in rare coins.

"I think the biggest argument for these amendments happens to be the fact that the Republicans are out there saying, `Well, we don't have a problem,'" said Paul Tipps, a former chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party.

Across the nation on Election Day, 39 issues will be decided in nine states, including a redistricting proposal in California backed by Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In Ohio, unions and citizens groups calling themselves Reform Ohio Now are promoting the election overhaul measures as necessary to restore people's faith in state government.

Ohio voters will be asked if bipartisan boards - instead of elected officials - should draw lawmakers' districts and oversee elections and whether campaign contribution limits should be lowered. The state where some voters waited up to seven hours to cast ballots last November also will decide if everyone should be allowed to vote early by mail.

Authority over elections would shift from the secretary of state to a nine-member board. Last year, Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell was criticized for being an honorary chairman of Bush's Ohio campaign and accused of trying to suppress the vote with rulings on registration forms and provisional ballots, a charge he denied.

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"It (a no vote) would protect the integrity of their vote, would keep the power of their vote and it would block special interests from campaign funding advantages," he said.

The ballot measures would also lower individual contribution limits from $10,000 to $1,000 in legislative races. But the amounts some political action committees and parties could contribute would increase.

The state GOP has been hounded this year by scandals that have reached all the way to the governor's office.