Voter Protection in Ohio and Around the Nation

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2006/11/05/voter-protection-in-ohio-and-around-the-nation/

Voter Protection in Ohio and Around the Nation

Matt Browner-Hamlin is on the road in Ohio this weekend, blogging on the AFL-CIO union movement’s get-out-the-vote groundswell for the Baltimore Group and Firedoglake, and sends us this report.

Voter protection is one area that Democrats here in Ohio have been preparing for since the Ken Blackwell-induced fiasco of 2004. The Ohio Democratic Party has hundreds of lawyers prepared to do rapid response on election day to assure that Ohioans’ votes get counted. The recent litigation of the Ohio laws regulating voter identification requirements has created a tenuous situation that’s likely to direct many eligible voters towards provisional ballots. The twists and turns of the case are too complicated for me to recount here, but Democratic lawyers have achieved a partial victory in reducing the mandated ID papers to allow people to vote provisionally with only the last four digits of their Social Security Number. Expect Republican vote suppressors to try to confound the court’s decision and challenge Democratic voters whenever possible.

Fortunately the Ohio Democratic Party and the DNC have a voter protection plan that should be able to minimize Republican suppression efforts. The DNC has set up a national hotline that anyone can call in to register complaints about voting in their districts–the calls are tallied and forwarded on to lawyers on the ground, enabling both rapid response and national information awareness about where trouble-spots are developing. The number to call on election day is: 1-888-DEM-VOTE, 1-888-336-8683.

Additionally, Ohio Democrats will be in communication with Progress Ohio and Videothevote.org as well as bloggers across the state, to stay on top of any voter suppression that is taking place. Both these sites will be great resources for people wanting to track any shenanigans in Ohio.

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[Peace Patriot]

1. Thanks for the post! And thanks to Ohioans, Dems, and union workers for

your vigilance! I know this is not an easy task! You folks are wonderful!