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Bush's Legacy on Voting Rights: A Story from Ohio
In June of 2005, John Tanner, the chief of the voting rights section, wrote Columbus, Ohio's election officials to publicly assure them that the Justice Department had found no evidence of intentional African-American voter disenfranchisement in the 2004 election.
Not only was that an unprecedented move, former Department lawyers say, but the letter is another, and particularly galling, example of Tanner using the force of the Department to further Republican aims -- in this case, to hamper future lawsuits or investigations concerning the problems in Columbus.
"It really looked like the Civil Rights Division was used to run interference for Republican election officials in Ohio," former voting rights section deputy chief Bob Kengle told me.
At issue was the experience of thousands of voters in Franklin County, Ohio, in the 2004 election. Voters in mostly African-American precincts were forced to wait hours in long lines to vote. An investigation by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) found that voters often waited as many as four to five hours, some as many as seven, deep into the night. The Washington Post reported that "bipartisan estimates say that 5,000 to 15,000 frustrated voters turned away without casting ballots." The culprit, of course, was a scarcity of voting machines in those districts, one that seemed to follow a suspicious trend: "27 of the 30 wards with the most machines per registered voter showed majorities for Bush" and "six of the seven wards with the fewest machines delivered large margins for Kerry."
But Tanner, who's due to appear in a Congressional hearing, launched an investigation (more on that below) and found that "Franklin County assigned voting machines in a non-discriminatory manner," as he wrote in a detailed 4-page letter to a local official. But if the distribution of the machines was non-discriminatory, why then were polling places in predominantly African-American areas forced to remain open for hours after the normal 7:30 PM closing time in order to accommodate the long lines?
Tanner explained that African-Americans simply vote later in the day:
...the principal cause of the difference appears to be the tendency in Franklin County for white voters to cast ballots in the morning (i.e., before work), and for black voters to cast ballots in the afternoon (i.e., after work). We have established this tendency through local contacts and through both political parties, and it accords with our considerable experience in other parts of the United States. Morning voters may wait in line several hours, as happened in white precincts, without keeping the polls open after 7:30 am; this is not the case, however, at sites where voters arrive after 5:30 p.m.
The letter is remarkable for a number of reasons, not least of which Tanner's increasingly-evident generalizing style. This is the same man who explained that voter ID laws don't discriminate against minorities, because minorities don't grow old, and that African-Americans tend to get photo IDs more than whites because of racial profiling by police.
Needless to say, veterans of the voting rights section say that they're not familiar with a tendency for African-Americans to vote later in the day. “I’ve never seen that before," Joe Rich, a former chief of the section and 40-year veteran of the Civil Rights Division told me. Toby Moore, formerly a redistricting expert with the section who worked on the Ohio investigation with Tanner, called that a "convenient" explanation seized on by Tanner. "I never saw any indication that he was really investigating that," Moore said.
Suspiciously, Tanner, the chief of the section, seems to have been the only section attorney investigating the matter. Moore, who traveled with Tanner to Ohio, said that no other lawyer came along on the trip and that he dealt with no one else on the investigation except for Tanner: "This was not handled the way other investigations were handled." Bob Kengle, who spent more than 20 years in the Civil Rights Division, said that he couldn't think of another type of investigation where no line attorney was assigned.
But that wasn't the only first for the investigation. Kengle and Rich both said that the very composition of such a detailed letter was unprecedented. On occasion, both said, the Department had sent letters informing officials that the voting rights section had decided not to continue the investigation. But such letters were very short and revealed nothing about the results of the investigation to date. The reason for that was clear: offering a lengthy explanation for why the Department had not discovered sufficient evidence of discrimination would "poison the well," Kengle told me, for outside groups attempting litigation on the issue, or even for the Justice Department to return later to investigate.
But Tanner seemed eager to poison the well. "It reads like a defense brief," Kengle told me.
"Tanner bent over backwards to rule that black voters did not have a right to the same number of machines as white registered voters, and then went out of his way to make that ruling public," said David Becker, a former attorney with the section, currently with People for the American Way. "It's one of the most remarkably disconcerting things to come out of the voting section in a long time."
For his part, Moore said that he doesn't think that the evidence shows that Franklin County officials conspired to disenfranchise African-American voters. "Election officials are almost always more likely to be incompetent than venal," he told me. "On the other hand, was it all because of different voting patterns? Or did black precincts get neglected? I know we didn’t try very hard to find out."
Comments (50)
Citizen92 wrote on October 12, 2007 11:05 AM:Ohio?
Don't overlook coin swindlers Tom and Bernadette Noe in this scenario.
White House Political Director Ken Mehlman met with Tom Noe in 2003 in a political strategy session. (http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050707/SRRARECOINS/307070079) Also in that meeting was Coddy Johnson, a Mehlman deputy who later went on to run national voter turnout efforts for Bush-Cheney 04. Coddy's job was to know the numbers -- read this article to see how deep he'd go: (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6420969/site/newsweek/) Coddy is also the son of Bush's Yale roommate.
When push came to shove, would you have any doubts that Mehlman or Coddy would have hesitated to call on Bernadette Noe, then the Chair of the Lucas County (Toledo) Board of Elections - and maybe ask her to move some machines around?
I doubt that's farfetched. Her husband stole money from pension funds to put into Bush-Cheney's coffers.
TexMex wrote on October 12, 2007 11:33 AM:Wow what a racist claim! "Teh black folks were standing in line late because they slept in, how lazy!"
Thomas Williams wrote on October 12, 2007 11:34 AM:When the less than qualified Tanner makes his appearence before congress the chairman should have a rotary phone brought in and have it placed before Tanner and tell him to make the call to bring the summery of OHIOs investigation sent over with the list of assigned personel involved in the investigation showing the amount of time spent on this case by the affected employees, then while they wait he can explain his posistions on why its OK to prevent people from voting and what the legal basis of his posistions are founded upon.
As to the information above the department requires that all time spent on a case be accounted for and who did the work in detail, none of this information can be denied to the comittee and it does not contain internal deliberations so the white house cant block it and from there the comittee can decide who else they need to speak to.
Saint Augustine wrote on October 12, 2007 11:46 AM:TexMex
In truth many minority voters were probably already at work when the polls opened in the morning.
wagonjak wrote on October 12, 2007 11:56 AM:Another example of Republicans lying through their teeth in opposition to the truth that is evident in Ohio...that the election was stolen there--this has been outlined in Robert Kennedy Jr.'s article in Rolling Stone...
The real question is...have these problems been fixed? Have the numbers of voting machines in black neighborhoods been increased so this cannot happen again?
I would like some feedback on this. I do know that Ken Blackwell is no longer in a position to skew the results...
linda wrote on October 12, 2007 11:57 AM:and let's not forget this, also from ohio:
In Violation of Federal Law, Ohio's 2004 Presidential Election Records Are Destroyed or Missing
By Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet
Posted on July 30, 2007
http://www.alternet.org/story/58328/
Two-thirds of Ohio counties have destroyed or lost their 2004 presidential ballots and related election records, according to letters from county election officials to the Ohio Secretary of State, Jennifer Brunner.
The lost records violate Ohio law, which states federal election records must be kept for 22 months after Election Day, and a U.S. District Court order issued last September that the 2004 ballots be preserved while the court hears a civil rights lawsuit alleging voter suppression of African-American voters in Columbus.
The destruction of the election records also frustrates efforts by the media and historians to determine the accuracy of Ohio's 2004 vote count, because in county after county the key evidence needed to understand vote count anomalies apparently no longer exists.
SLOUCH wrote on October 12, 2007 11:57 AM:Good luck with that phone deal.
Since January we've seen dumbass after countless dumbass paraded in front of this "Watchdog" Congress, and the most they've done is shake their head disappointingly. They've sent a few sternly worded follow up letters asking for information they let these crooks lie about in the hearings, and then its back to the important stuff, Limaugh and the like.
Oh wait, they did trash the 4th, didn't they. Don't ever call the 110th a "Do-Nothing" Congress!
I'm not holding out hope that Tanner'll be any different: 4 hours of "I'll get that information for you sir," some outrage from the Ohio delegation, he might even get a few suggestions that he resign, then it's back to his 9-5, using our taxes to take away our rights. An aftershock letter from Waxman or two, and we'll all be talking about lead toys from China by the time is next check is direct-deposited.
moondancer wrote on October 12, 2007 12:34 PM:The lines had a lot to do with a deliberate shortage of voting machines, election official suppression as well. Ohio might have been a bigger scandal than FLa 2000 if Rove hadn't done such a good job of advanced coverup.
two beers wrote on October 12, 2007 12:36 PM:Saint Augustine -
Many minority voters were probably just getting home from work when the polls opened.
With the increasing income disparity between the haves and have-nots, many
Americans of all colors will be learning the joys of working two or even three jobs.
moondancer wrote on October 12, 2007 12:39 PM:Remember the TV coverage of Ohio? EVERY network, including Fox had exit polls showing Kerry winning. Do you think that many lied to pollsters? Neither do I.
Tim from CO wrote on October 12, 2007 12:43 PM:Ohio isn't the only state in which this sort of chicanery was perpetrated.
Thousands of people in heavily-democratic Denver were turned away because they couldn't get through the line at the polls. 'Late voter turnout' and 'technical problems with the voting machines' were the supposed culprits.
Please to note that this didn't happen in Colorado Springs, which is home to Dr. Dobson's Focus on the Family and the Air Force Academy.
nofltwlt wrote on October 12, 2007 12:59 PM:Remember the saying, "You lie and he swears to it"; well, this is rampant throughout the Bush atrocity (admin).
How Kerry Votes Were Switched to Bush Votes wrote on October 12, 2007 1:16 PM:From the Conyers Report: "... we find that there were massive and unprecedented voter irregularities and anomalies in Ohio. In many cases these irregularities were caused by intentional misconduct and illegal behavior...."
Numerous researchers have examined this problem and the facts were known in June
2005 when Tanner made the comments.
The following points derive from:
The 2004 Ohio Presidential Election: Cuyahoga County Analysis
How Kerry Votes Were Switched to Bush Votes
http://jqjacobs.net/politics/ohio.html
* When Cuyahoga County precincts were sorted by the level of Kerry support, the non-vote rate is more than three times the normal expectation in precincts with highest Kerry support. The rate jumps significantly in precincts which reported more than 70% Kerry support. Those are inner-city Cleveland precincts with a predominantly black demographic.
* The precinct-level correlation of non-votes to Kerry votes is 0.423, while to Bush votes it is negative, at -0.50.
* For all Cuyahoga County precincts with over 3.6% non-votes (11.0% of the ballots cast and 27.7% of the non-votes) non-voting is over four times normal. Nearly all have over 75% Kerry support, many have over 90% Kerry support, and Bush's mean tally in this group is 10.25%.
* In a sample of 166,953 votes, one of every 34 Ohio voters, the Kerry-Bush margin shifts 6.15% when the population is sorted by outcomes of wrong-precinct voting. This may be due to punch card ballot switching to precincts where the punch counts differently or to voters using the wrong precinct's voting machines. Statistical analysis can reveal the patterns produced by switching ballots to precincts with different ballot orders to effect vote-switching.
* The obvious inference—intentional manipulation produced concentrated undercounting, cross-voting, and vote-switching in areas of highest Kerry support—cannot be ignored in the face of the evidence and statistics. The possibilty that ballots were switched to different precincts, post-voting to effect vote-switching, must also be considered.
* The 2004 Ohio Presidential election remains to be fully investigated. The blatant evidence of irregularities and unfairness of organization continues to be ignored by the authorities who have been informed of the evidence.
Sara wrote on October 12, 2007 1:17 PM:This is actually something Congress can do something about, given that language in the Constitution regarding "time and mode of Federal Elections."
Congress can require that polling stations be open for sufficent time to allow all qualified citizens to vote, (Personally I would favor holding polls open for a full 24 hours on the grounds that work schedules these days are not exactly 9-5.)
Congress could also require time studies in all states given the election methods in use, to determine given their system, how many voters can be processed in an hour, and in addition, require each polling place to keep an hourly history of the number processed and in addition, any problems that stopped or slowed the line.
This is not at all a new problem for Ohio Voters. I can remember back in the 1940's and 50's that Akron Rubber Workers would vote right after shift changes at the shops, and the County administered (and Republican) board of elections would schedule "lunch hours" for poll workers at precisely those times, as a means of cutting down on the number of CIO represented Rubber Workers who got the chance to actually vote. I think Lorain (Steelworkers) had the same problem and there was much fuss about it. It is time to stop just describing the problem, and getting serious about solutions. The only solution is putting the stiff regulations on election managers into law, with consequences, and getting a public educated to demand an end to the games.
TheraP wrote on October 12, 2007 1:24 PM:moondancer:
but the phones were "tapped" or whatever you want to call the warrantless surveillance we now know was occurring everywhere.
So these turkeys KNEW what numbers were being phoned in by those doing the polling.
slouch:
I too am frustrated at the fact that there have been so many hearings with so little result.
But I take comfort in this: there is a historical record forming here. All these folks are on record. It's all on video, ready and waiting for what comes down the road.
So I'm for hearing after hearing. Let these liars go right ahead and tell their sorry tales. And when the record comes out, woe unto them!
We need to keep our eye on the long run, on history, on things coming to light. And we can keep in mind how many dictators have been exposed. I can't think of any despicable regime in the last century, where ultimately the truth has not come to light. Maybe not in a judicial setting. But injustice has a way of coming to light as time goes on.
Look at Gore today! Gore the Great Nobel Winner - versus bush the babbler, the one who hobbled justice and perverted the constitution and pretends freedom while torturing and slandering critics.
We need the hearings. We need the record.
Joshua wrote on October 12, 2007 1:27 PM:I have absolutely been convinced for several years that the 2004 election was stolen. It wasn't as blatant as 2000, and it never will be deemed as important. One reason is that even if Kerry had won the Presidency thanks to a proper Ohio election he would have had less votes nationwide than Bush - a great bit of comeuppance but Bush's election in 04 is seen as "legitimate" because he had more votes. Yea, it makes no sense to me either.
But the 2004 election absolutely was fixed.
Mafalda Hopkirk wrote on October 12, 2007 1:39 PM:What Joshua said. I agree totally!
Mafalda Hopkirk wrote on October 12, 2007 1:48 PM:Milwaukee also had long, long lines at night, only in black areas.
bt wrote on October 12, 2007 1:51 PM:If it was all innocent, here's an innocent solution: rank order the voting districts by the number of voting machines they had in 2004. Then in 2008, reverse the assignment. So the districts that had the most in 2004 will have the least in 2008 -- and vice versa.
The R's should be fine with that, right?
Henry wrote on October 12, 2007 1:58 PM:I guess that since all black people look alike and fit criminal profiles, they must all vote alike--i.e. after work. This Tanner is really amazing. You'd think that someone who insists that longevity discriminates at the polls because minorities die younger than whites would be a champion of equal access to health care. But that's not what this is about, is it?
ohiomeister wrote on October 12, 2007 1:59 PM:The Dems should impeach this racist liar.
I think I'm going to vomit.
Please, please follow up on this issue. It's just too glaring to let it slide.
OkeyDoke wrote on October 12, 2007 2:00 PM:A simple way to refute Tanner's assertion about African-Americans voting later in the day is to publish the number of registered voters per voting machine by precinct. Then compare the minority-dominated precincts to the white-dominated precincts. If there is a wide disparity, ask him to explain and justify the differences. This should be done before a Congressional committee.
Phlip wrote on October 12, 2007 2:08 PM:Horseshit! I volunteered for Kerry's voter protection program in Franklin County at a predominately African-American precinct, 56F. Kerry carried this precinct 769-62. The lines were hours long by Ten AM, and that was with the enforcement of a five minute time limit in the voting booth.
Anotherlib wrote on October 12, 2007 2:16 PM:My mother votes in Portage county. She told me that her precinct normally has 10 voting machines during an election. In 2004, there were 4 machines. She waited 3 hours to vote for Kerry.
Noam Sane wrote on October 12, 2007 2:21 PM:Well, at least Kerry stood up for himself, and his supporters, and challenged Ohio's voting results at every stop until he was convinced they were legitimate.
Oh, wait...
jugger wrote on October 12, 2007 3:01 PM:"The real question is...have these problems been fixed? Have the numbers of voting machines in black neighborhoods been increased so this cannot happen again?"
Tom wrote on October 12, 2007 3:17 PM:Shouldn't be a problem in 08, they've installed all the 'proper' software patches now and will distribute machines in a more fair manner, but look for an interesting turn of events when all of a sudden minorities begin voting in droves for republicans....if you know what I mean ;)
I like bt's suggestion, reverse the ratio of available voting machines in OH for 2008.
Assuming the litany of broken laws in this scenario are actually enforced, is there such a thing as recalling a sitting president?
Nannie Turner wrote on October 12, 2007 3:39 PM:I have been a poll worker in Hamilton county Ohio since 2001.This claim that African Americans always vote late and whites vote early is a blatant LIE.Some of each vote at all times of the day.However I agree with the other posters here that nothing will be done to correct the voting problems nor the other outrageous behavior of the Bush/Cheney Mafia gang and their cohorts in Congress.The Democrats have done no better since they gaind the majority in '06.We need to vote out everyone currently in both houses and set term limits of four years and one term for all.They spend all of their time trying to be reelected,and they are afraid to vote in the issues that the majority of the electorate supports,because they are so afraid they wont get reelected.It is a viscous cycle.No one should be allowed to stay in congress forty years.
DCB wrote on October 12, 2007 3:46 PM:Even if his assertion that black voters vote late were true, it alone would have justified having more voting machines in their precincts to avoid the long waits after the poll closing hours.
lenski wrote on October 12, 2007 4:00 PM:The clearest print cannot be read through a gold coin.
The Republicans did an excellent job on Ohio in 2004.
They got several important issues on the ballot, a social-conservative issue ("gay marriage" amendment to the Ohio constitution), several Ohio supreme court judgeships, and the standard presidential election candidates. The ballot was extra large, extra complicated and extra important. The time required for each voter was extended significantly beyond a normal election.
It was also the highest-turnout election in recent history, particularly in districts and precincts hardest-hit by recent economic events.
So the average wait in ex-urban districts? 20 minutes. The average wait in urban, and/or districts tending progressive? no less than 2 hours most of the day, often 4 hours, and in rare cases, 9 hours (Kenyon College). I live in a semi-progressive district, was a volunteer and the wait there averaged 2 hours all day.
The application of voting machine technology is not only "hackable and potentially insecure", but (and this is the manipulation I find most common), subject to intentional mis-distribution. The technology does not scale well, and that characteristic was used to great effect in the narrow re-election of the administration in 2004.
JohnL wrote on October 12, 2007 4:18 PM:I like the part where he notes that the number of voters per machine in white districts was a bit more than in black districts but there wasn't a big enough difference to violate the Voting Rights Act. That's right, he suggests that whites were discriminated against.
M. Peachbush wrote on October 12, 2007 5:25 PM:Of course, blacks vote later in the day. They show up early, but after waiting for a few hours, its late by the time they get to vote.
Tom L wrote on October 12, 2007 5:31 PM:Don't forget Ken Blackwell's role in all of this. As Chris Hedges points out in his book American Fascists the guy is a wingnut.
Tom L wrote on October 12, 2007 5:32 PM:Don't forget Ken Blackwell's role in all of this. As Chris Hedges points out in his book American Fascists the guy is a wingnut.
Cuzco wrote on October 12, 2007 7:02 PM:Other than American's addiction to instant gratification, I can see no reason why major federal elections couldn't be spread over several days. If the lines are too long on the first day, just vote on the second or third day.
There's no reason voting has to be like a sports event with the results reported the same day. It's just silly.
Cuzco wrote on October 12, 2007 7:10 PM:Natalie Turner: "No one should be allowed to stay in congress forty years."
Forty years is a bit excessive, but I disagree on forced term limits. The reason being is that like any profession, experience matters.
You can take a graduate out of any college in any discipline and while they may be smart as hell and great on theory, they need seasoning to really get up to speed solving real world problems. The same is true for running a government. We need people who know what they are doing and the only way they can get that experience is if they learn by doing.
Very few grads right out of college could handle being CEO of a major corporation they need to spend years acquiring the skills. The same is true of people in government.
anon wrote on October 12, 2007 7:31 PM:... The 2004 Ohio Presidential election remains to be fully investigated...
And, apparently, unfortunately, and criminally, will remain so since most of the evidence has been destroyed.
WTF, when it was obvious that Ohio was screwed didn't everyone put their foot down? Yes, the DoJ was used to cover it up. Yes, the Dems were out of power and limited in what they could do. And, yes, some people tried.
But when it's obvious that something is wrong and the 2004 Ohio election was obvious--we all saw the lines and the missing machines and the screwy stats-- why didn't the Dems stick to their guns. These hearings would be going somewhat differently now, if the Dems had the moral authority that comes from speaking up. Argh. Frustrating.
And why haven't all the Dem presidential candidates addressed voting? Why isn't good voting hygene a major plank for all Dems? Where's the plan to sort out voting? Why not have a plan to adopt Canadian style pencil and ballot voting? Why not endorse open source voting software? This stuff is not that hard. Yes, voting is controlled at the state and local level to a large extent but that doesn't mean that national political parties can't plan/influence/encourage/demand fair voting from top to bottom.
Barbara wrote on October 12, 2007 10:45 PM:I voted early in an African-American district for the first time in 2004 because it was near my job. I waited in line for 3 hours--early in the afternoon, by the way. Most everybody stayed in line though. I've NEVER had to wait more than 15 minutes in my usual European-American district. That was in NC and many of my African-American work friends were pretty incensed about the election.
Tom wrote on October 13, 2007 9:25 AM:Is anyone sick of this nonsense yet?
Let's just accept one fact -- Republicans are deluded fools. When I asked my mother (strong repug) what she thought of the S-chip program and its defeat her answer was "I'm sure they've got something better in the works."
My Mom -- God love her... but what a fool.
nuQlerOstrich wrote on October 13, 2007 11:56 AM:We get a holiday to honor a genocidal maniac, who murdered entire races of people. Columbus.
But we can't get a day off to vote?
greenpagan wrote on October 13, 2007 8:00 PM:two beers wrote on October 12, 2007 12:36 PM: With the increasing income disparity between the haves and have-nots, many Americans of all colors will be learning the joys of working two or even three jobs.
=====================
RESPONSE: Personally, I'd much rather rob a have-more than work for one...
GOP Mess America!
====
Clovis wrote on October 13, 2007 9:57 PM:Remember Ken Blackwell guaranteed a win for Bush/Cheney. And where is Ken today. Awww, he didn't win the governorship of Ohio? Too bad for him. May all of the Republican criminals burn in hell forever and ever!!
Toronto Mortgage wrote on October 14, 2007 12:47 AM:now that is what i call discrimination! no one should tell the voting public when they should be able to vote!
rrb wrote on October 14, 2007 4:46 PM:Nannie Turner: term limits are not the answer. We'd have lost John Conyers, for example, or Henry Waxman.
Here in Michigan term limits have robbed us of experienced legislators and left us with people who don't remember all the problems that happened last time they tried the same stupid things they're doing now.
We need paper ballots and random audits of selected precincts. We also need a fair number of machines in every precinct, by federal law.
rrb wrote on October 14, 2007 4:51 PM:anon is right: we need
- open source software for everyone to inspect
- a paper trail that can be audited, with some
audits simply done at random, as well as audits wherever there are questionable results,
and, we need
- democrats who stand up for the protecting the integrity of the vote, and
we would be better off if we had citizens who would take to the streets and refuse to let fraudulent election results stand. The Democrats might have more courage if they thought people would fight for their rights.
counting votes- 1,2,6... wrote on October 14, 2007 6:14 PM:Oh, Joshua and Mafalda,(10/12), what do you mean "even without Ohio...Kerry would have had less votes nationwide than Bush; ...Bush's election in 04 is seen as 'legitimate' because he had more votes."
Seen as 'legitimate' by whom? Not by most non-Republicans I know. Most professional 'legitimate' polls, which were always respected by peers, showed that both Kerry and Gore actually were ahead before Bush was declared the winner by the Supreme Court or by the easily hackable BushRanger partisan, secretly programmed machines the Bushies had installed across the nation, at huge taxpayer expense.
Let's not fall for the lies. Let's not repeat the lies. Bush was allowed to 'record' more votes. Bush was 'reported' to have more votes, to the shame of the Press, that is protected by the Constitution so it can guard the nation and investigate and expose lies and high crimes and misdemeanors, especially of those who claim or gain power.
The Press should not ignore the dozen reported ways the BushRovers blocked Gore and Kerry voters from exercising citizenship and how they actually controlled the output of EVERY voting machine and the vote totals. But the Press is now largely owned by Bush Friends.
The Justice Department should investigate, but the Justice Department is now lead and infiltrated with Bush Friends.
If our heads were not full of the fanciful vision of America as this Great Golden "Land that I love"...mountains, prairies, democracy, opportunity for all,
fairness, land of laws, etcetera, we might see the sabotage of our country from within by the man who stole the White House and the Treasury; who is demeaning everything we value such as truth, caring, health, livable pay for honest work, freedom, privacy, independent thought...
Bush is killing our young and theirs in a land far away.
We need to take back our government with honest elections, and term limits, to help assure that our 'representatives' fulfill their legitimate role of serving us, The People, with honor.
We need Paper Ballots hand-counted by people of all parties watched by people of all parties, starting at the Precincts.
Kurt wrote on October 19, 2007 11:59 AM:Remember, though, elections are usually handled at the COUNTY level, with significant control in the hands of local municipal governments. Some of these are in D hands (especially urban areas), so they bear some responsibility. The good thing about this is that it is possible to have an impact with a relatively small amount of effort by engaging your county and local election officials (or voting them out if they don't respond effectively).
Anonymous wrote on November 10, 2007 8:26 PM:This is disgusting.
"Tanner bent over backwards to rule that black voters did not have a right to the same number of machines as white registered voters, and then went out of his way to make that ruling public,"
After making such an outrageous accustion, there should be at least some attempt to justify it. Yet there's no support of that claim at all. And the comments just continue the dishonesty.
"Teh black folks were standing in line late because they slept in, how lazy!"
He never said that.
“The lines had a lot to do with a deliberate shortage of voting machines”
Not according to JohnL.
“When Cuyahoga County precincts were sorted by the level of Kerry support, the non-vote rate is more than three times the normal expectation in precincts with highest Kerry support.”
The normal non-vote rate is about 50%. So, what, in Kerry counties, it was 150%? Oh, wait, I guess you were using a DIFFERENT definition of "non-vote", but didn't bother mentioning that fact. Way to stand up for transparency, there.
“but the phones were "tapped" or whatever you want to call the warrantless surveillance we now know was occurring everywhere.”
No, they weren’t.
“Gore the Great Nobel Winner - versus bush the babbler, the one who hobbled justice and perverted the constitution and pretends freedom while torturing and slandering critics.”
Pot, kettle. You guys are posting blatant lie after blatant lie, Gore has shown himself to be a weasel, and you’re accusing Bush of dishonesty? The only reason Gore got the Nobel Prize was to piss off Bush.
“I guess that since all black people look alike and fit criminal profiles, they must all vote alike--i.e. after work.”
He never said that.
“The Dems should impeach this racist liar.”
You guys haven’t produced anything remotely establishing that he is either. On the contrary, you’ve shown yourselves to be lying, hate-filled, intolerant nutjobs who fly into a range whenever someone fails to toe your paty line..
“This claim that African Americans always vote late and whites vote early is a blatant LIE.”
Except that he didn’t say that. Which makes you the blatant liar.
“I like the part where he notes that the number of voters per machine in white districts was a bit more than in black districts but there wasn't a big enough difference to violate the Voting Rights Act. That's right, he suggests that whites were discriminated against.”
No, he’s pointing out that people like you are full of shit. This entire pile-on has been premised on the entirely unsupported allegation that black people had fewer voting machines. Now that that assumption has been refuted, instead of doing the decent thing and admitting that you were wrong, you try to spin it as him suggesting that whites were discriminated against. The probability that the rates will be EXACTLY the same is pretty much zero. If whites have more machines, you scream that it MUST be because of racism. And if blacks have more machines, it’s obviously part of a nefarious plot to pretend that whites are being discriminated against. You sure are a piece of work.
“We get a holiday to honor a genocidal maniac, who murdered entire races of people. Columbus.”
He did no such thing.
“no one should tell the voting public when they should be able to vote!”
And he DID NOT SAY THAT!
"This is actually something Congress can do something about, given that language in the Constitution regarding "time and mode of Federal Elections.""
That phrase does not appear in the US Constitution.
Ohio electoral votes were assigned through a system approved by a majority of Ohio voters. All this talk about of how many people voted for Kerry is, in the end, irrelevant. The Constitution says that the electoral votes of each state are assigned as that state sees fit, not by how many people vote for whom. Should the legislature declare that there shall be no election, and they will assign the electoral votes as they see fit, there would be no Constitutional problem with that. If the people of Ohio state choose to implement a system which you consider “unfair”, that isn’t really any of your business unless you are a resident of Ohio. And if you are a resident, it cannot fail to appear self-serving if your complaints appear only after you have learned that the current system did not lead to the victory of your favored candidate.
Besides which, if you have to wait hours in line, why not get an absentee ballot?
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