The Conservative Voter Suppression Plot Thickens

a reply to: Spider879

The two-party divide is such a lie. If anyone is rigging the elections through voter fraud -- it's the two-parties working hand in hand for the shadow global government.

And they have been seizing our election systems since Gore v. Bush was staged, when Florida was seized under the guise of voter reform (with help from Jeb). When Kerry v. Bush was staged, Ohio was seized, too (with help from Ken Blackwell).

Once you have the major swing states of Florida and Ohio under control -- you can pretty much control the entire national election system.

Republicans work to ensure that voters have to travel from neighborhoods where faces are familiar to more remote registration and poll locations.

Democrats work to ensure voter ID laws are lax and the voter registration systems are accessible.

Crises are manufactured so that 'voter reforms' will be demanded. I have done a few years of research on the backgrounds of some of these reforms.

For example, in Ohio, Kenneth Blackwell made some senseless decisions before the 2004 election and deviated from normal policy on election day, and it was very easy for democrats to demand change. For example:

• On Sept. 7, 2004 Blackwell issued a directive requiring that voter registration cards be printed on 80 pound stock paper. The Democratic-leaning 527 group America Coming Together charged on Sept. 28 that Blackwell was “trying to bar thousands of newly registered voters from the polls.” Blackwell relented on this point.
  
  
• On Sept. 27, 2004 the Sandusky County Democratic Party, the Ohio Democratic Party and several labor organizations filed suit against Blackwell in U.S. District Court in Toledo challenging his directive to county boards of elections mandating that pollworkers only issue provisional ballots to voters who are residents of the particular precinct. “Ohio Secretary of State Directive 2004-33 (“Directive 2004-33”) eviscerates the federal provisional-voting rights guaranteed by HAVA,” the suit stated. The Ohio League of Women Voters and other plaintiffs filed a similar suit on Oct. 4. On Oct. 14 the judge ordered Blackwell to issue a new directive; Blackwell appealed, and on Oct. 26 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit supported his position. (Sandusky Democratic Party v. Blackwell) This decision did not entirely settle the questions related to provisional ballots, however, and several lawsuits concerning provisional ballots were filed on Election Day.
  
  
• Blackwell on Oct. 20 issued a directive calling for a strict interpretation of the statute which would have excluded reporters and photographers from polling places. “No person, not an election official, employee, witness, challenger, or police officer, shall be allowed to enter the polling place during the election, except for the purpose of voting.” [Ohio Revised Code 3501.35] On Nov. 2 the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court decision, finding that Blackwell “applied the statute overly broadly in such a way that the statute would be violative of the First Amendment.” (Beacon Journal v. Blackwell)
  

Honestly, this just barely scratches the surface. Ken Blackwell gave a lot of people a lot of dumb reasons to demand election reform of all types.

***But, a major objective to seize Ohio's voter registration system was met, in 2006, when ACORN and two other individuals filed a lawsuit against Ken Blackwell and spurred a special type of election reform, in Ohio.***

The gist of the problem behind that case, Harkless v. Blackwell, 467 F.Supp.2d 754, United States District Court, N.D. Ohio, Eastern Division, is as follows:

Since 2004, Harkless has been the recipient of public benefit programs administered by the DJFS [Department of Jobs & Family Services] and covered by the NVRA [National Voter Registration Act]. Despite her numerous visits to the DJFS offices since 2004, she has never been offered the opportunity to register to vote or to change her voter registration address, or been advised that she could obtain voter registration application or change of address forms and register to vote or change her voter registration address at the DJFS office. Mardis, who has received applicable public benefits since 2001, has similarly never been offered the opportunity to register to vote at the DJFS office.

Ken Blackwell, being in charge of Ohio elections as Secretary of State, was repeatedly notified that Ms. Harkless had never been asked if she wanted to register to vote while at the DJFS office. Yet, despite those notices, Kenneth Blackwell just went on ignoring the issue. All he had to do was tell the person working under him to make sure voter registration forms were in every DJFS office and see that Ms. Harkless’ worker asked her if she wanted to register to vote, at her next appointment.

But he didn’t. He let it go. And a handful of surprise ‘unannounced’ visits to some DJFS offices, in Ohio, revealed that there were no voter registration forms, on hand. Imagine that.

So, Harkless, Mardis and ACORN had no choice but to seek justice, in court.

When all was said and done, this lawsuit paved the way for a new policy, at the DJFS. Now, all recipients of DJFS services are required to provide a signature stating that they were asked if they wanted to register to vote – regardless of their decision. Then the DFJS worker is required to keep that signature, file it away, and record all the details in a centralized statewide DATABASE.

You remember the DJFS database, eh? It’s the one that the Obama 2008 campaign folks used to uncover dirt on Joe the Plumber.

So, security is clearly not an issue. No wonder Helen Jones-Kelly went under the bus so quickly for the Joe the Plumber breach, eh? I doubt either party wants anyone to look too closely at how the dirt, on Joe the Plumber, really got under Obama's fingernails. Needless to say, the DJFS database is breachable and accessible to people who may want to punish political enemies and win elections. So, now Ohio has this huge UNSECURE database regarding the voter registration of the most impoverished, in need citizens of Ohio.

And consider this, Ohio's voter ID laws allow a person to present a government check or other government correspondence with a current address as proof of ID thanks to democrats. LINK

AND…Ohio is beginning to move early voting locations out of highly-democratic neighborhoods where people aren't familiar with one another thanks to republicans. LINK

People could arrive in busloads to vote early in remote polling locations and provide only a piece of mail from the DFJS to vote under any name illegally registered in the DFJS database.

***

AND…AND…AND…in 2011 a bill passed that requires Ohio to set up an ONLINE voter registration system.

I have a whole other tale about the Architect behind the major online voter registration system developed by Trust the Vote and used by Rock the Vote.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

originally posted by: Spider879

Ok I am being swayed "somewhat " by arguments that nothing sinister is taking place, however it demands watching, for if voting in those districts suddenly drops then the whole process need revisiting, 3yrs ago is not ancient history.

Why would voting drop due to the DMV closing?

By the fact that they have to travel to other counties to get that I.D ..yes I know that other forms of I.Ds can be valid and if being pushed or threatened perhaps the extra effort will be made to participate in local elections not just general or midterms, so it may have the opposite effect rather than encourage apathy so I am all for a wait and see.

originally posted by: Spider879

By the fact that they have to travel to other counties to get that I.D.

Do you even read your own thread? No one has to leave the county to get a voter ID.

a reply to: MotherMayEye

S&F,, damned fine researching, I never said that Dems are wholly clean and Reps dirty they both for ex; gerrymander when the opportunity arise. but Reps are notoriously barefaced when they do dirt.
And the getting rid of Acorn with some Bull-ish edited vid goes to your point.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

originally posted by: Spider879

By the fact that they have to travel to other counties to get that I.D.

Do you even read your own thread? No one has to leave the county to get a voter ID.

DMV the main source of I.D

a reply to: Spider879

So? That doesn't mean it's the only one. So closing a DMV and leaving the alternative sources open does not stop people from getting their IDs or force them travel all the way to another country unless you believe they are too stupid to figure out how to get an ID anywhere other than the DMV.

originally posted by: Spider879
DMV the main source of I.D

That is not in the article you linked and it does not change the fact you do not need to leave the county to obtain an ID despite your claims to the contrary.

a reply to: Spider879

I mean really who knew that when they closed the DMV closest to my house they were really rendering me unable to get an ID?

Because your implication here is that I would be unable to figure out where the other sources of ID in my area were which is *gasp* what I ended up doing.

originally posted by: Spider879
a reply to: MotherMayEye

S&F,, damned fine researching, I never said that Dems are wholly clean and Reps dirty they both for ex; gerrymander when the opportunity arise. but Reps are notoriously barefaced when they do dirt.
And the getting rid of Acorn with some Bull-ish edited vid goes to your point.

Aw, thanks. It did take some effort, so I appreciate it.

originally posted by: Spider879
And the getting rid of Acorn with some Bull-ish edited vid goes to your point.

I could not agree more about this point. Once they were used, they were thrown under the bus completely. Which makes you wonder about James O'Keefe...the hero of conservative republicans who 'exposed' ACORN.

Curious about him:

‘Pimp’ in ACORN video shares story
James O’Keefe calls himself a progressive radical and an investigative journalist without formal training. ACORN’s tactics had made him angry, he says.

SOURCE

What does everyone do when they obtain their ID? Register to vote.

So why don't corrupt politicians want to encourage voters to get an ID and REGISTER TO VOTE IN PERSON while they are there?

I doubt we will ever see a national voter ID card because it doesn't help corrupt politicians cheat. And no study will ever convince me that politicians don't cheat.

a reply to: MotherMayEye

I don't know. Why do my local DMVs both have voter registration stations in them? Isn't that encouraging people to register to vote at the same time as getting their IDs? I would guess that the other sources of ID have the same voter registration booths too.

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: MotherMayEye

I don't know. Why do my local DMVs both have voter registration stations in them? Isn't that encouraging people to register to vote at the same time as getting their IDs? I would guess that the other sources of ID have the same voter registration booths too.

Yes, they do. There's a reason politicians discourage voter ID laws and, at the same time, discourage registering to vote -- IN PERSON. It has nothing to do with discrimination.

Online voter registration and enormous centralized state voter registration databases are where voter registration 'reforms' are headed.

But it's what's good for us and doesn't disenfranchise, eh?

Not OPENLY anyway.

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: Spider879

So? That doesn't mean it's the only one. So closing a DMV and leaving the alternative sources open does not stop people from getting their IDs or force them travel all the way to another country unless you believe they are too stupid to figure out how to get an ID anywhere other than the DMV.

No not closing "A" DMV but closing all of them?? and in areas that are suspect Dems.

a reply to: Spider879

If there is a source in the county open then there is still a source in the county open.

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: Spider879

If there is a source in the county open then there is still a source in the county open.

It's difficult for me or anyone working M-F, 9-5, to get to the DMV that's closest. The closest Saturday location is a half hour away.

AND STILL, I believe everyone should have to show ID to vote. I'd rather be inconvenienced than sacrifice any election security.

Politicians are corrupt. They can't be trusted to not cheat.

a reply to: ketsuko

You know about apathy right, and for a democracy to work folks must actively participate ,when one interrupt a process some may not know what you know it doesn't make them stupid, I have met reasonably intelligent people that did not know they could register and vote in their Consulate overseas.

originally posted by: MotherMayEye

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: Spider879

If there is a source in the county open then there is still a source in the county open.

It's difficult for me or anyone working M-F, 9-5, to get to the DMV that's closest. The closest Saturday location is a half hour away.

AND STILL, I believe everyone should have to show ID to vote. I'd rather be inconvenienced than sacrifice any election security.

Politicians are corrupt. They can't be trusted to not cheat.

In fact, It would be great if our yearly tax designations could go to making sure everyone has photo ID to vote INSTEAD of to one of the two party's nominee's campaign.

I want secure elections. Screw financing the campaigns of republicans and democrats. In the age of the internet, big campaign money isn't necessary to make candidate information accessible to deliberating voters.

Vote like a Democrat early and often. Benton Harbor Mi has some people in prison for voter fraud and the one guy thinks it cruel and unusual because he's in prison 300 miles from home. Boo Hoo!!!