Ohio – Page 18 – Doug's Views

October 15, 2008April 18, 2020

GOP’s vote fraud scam gets juicer

Yesterday were two big developments in the Republican attempts to suppress the 2008 vote. A federal court ordered the Ohio Secretary of State to turn over potentially bad registrations to the county boards of election and a Republican think tank is suing ACORN for racketeering.

A federal appeals court on Tuesday ordered Ohio’s top elections official to set up a system by Friday to verify the eligibility of new voters and make the information available to the state’s 88 county election boards.
Last week, a three-judge panel of the 6th Circuit had sided with Brunner, but after hearing an appeal the full panel sided with the GOP and U.S. District Judge George C. Smith in Columbus. Smith had ordered Brunner to develop a way to verify voter registration information and make it available to local election boards.
Brunner argued that it would take two to three days to create the necessary computer programs, and said nothing in the federal Help America Vote Act required her to do what the district court ordered.
Tuesday’s order directs Brunner to verify new registrations by comparing that information with data from the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles or the Social Security Administration.
Ohio Republican Chairman Bob Bennett accused Brunner of pursuing a partisan agenda and said “her delay in providing this matching system leaves little time for election officials to act on questionable registrations.”
Federal court: Ohio must check voter registrations

The key here is the Ohio GOP talking about “questionable” registrations.

You can see their plan of attack coming a mile away. They get hold of the list of questionable registrations and challenge each one. It doesn’t matter how many are actually messed up since they are just doing a mass dump and seeing what comes up. The challenged voter then has to appear in person for a hearing and prove their info on the form is correct. If they can’t or don’t show up then they can’t vote.

The suspect voter can also be forced to cast a “Provisional ballot” which is then counted or not depending if the voter’s eligibility is confirmed. That is done in the same way as a challenge before the election. The person in question would have to show at a hearing in person or the vote isn’t counted. If it is even counted.

In 2004, provisional ballots were used to prevent hundred of thousands of votes from counting.

Unlike the real thing, these ballots are counted only by the whimsy and rules of a state’s top elections official; and in Ohio, that gives a virtually ballot veto to Bush-Cheney campaign co-chair, Blackwell.
Mr. Blackwell has a few rules to make sure a large proportion of provisional ballots won’t be counted. For the first time in memory, the Secretary of State has banned counting ballots cast in the “wrong” precinct, though all neighborhoods share the same President.
Over 155,000 Ohio voters were shunted to these second-class ballots. The election-shifting bulge in provisional ballots (more than 3% of the electorate) was the direct result of the national Republican strategy that targeted African-American precincts for mass challenges on election day.
Kerry Won Ohio: Just Count The Ballots at The Back of The Bus

The only good news on this part is since the SOS is a Democrat, provisional ballots are more likely to be counted. Still it is a legally easy and cheap way to cage voters.

The other “news” concerned a Republican think tank suing ACORN as if it were an organized crime group:

COLUMBUS — A conservative think tank in Columbus has sued the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, known as ACORN, over voter registration.
The Buckeye Institute alleges that ACORN engages in a pattern of corrupt activity that amounts to organized crime.
The lawsuit filed today in Warren County Common Pleas Court uses a civil provision in the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly referred to as RICO.
The suit seeks the dissolution of ACORN, which has been accused of registering potential voters multiple times in Ohio and other states.
A message seeking comment from a spokesman for ACORN was not immediately returned.
The RICO statute most commonly is used to prosecute alleged members of organized crime.
Buckeye Institute sues ACORN under racketeering law

The Buckeye Institute includes the former Secretary of State Ken Blackwell – ironic isn’t it. The suit is another attempt to call into question “false” voter registrations, The GOP falsely equates false registrations with illegal voting. The suit also ignores the fact that ACORN is required to turn in all forms it receives even ones they know are false.

I don’t know too many crime groups who would knowingly incriminate itself by following the law. I mean if they are in fact trying to “deprive voters of the right to participate in an honest and effective elections process….. fraudulent voter registrations submitted by ACORN dilute the votes of legally registered voters” why would they provide the evidence of their “crime” to authorities.

It seems to me that federal law is forcing ACORN to commit the “crime” that the Buckeye Institute is accusing them of doing.

How is ACORN responsible for that?

Again false voter registrations don’t equal illegal votes and except in isolated cases, no illegal votes have occurred from a false registration.

October 11, 2008April 18, 2020

The cry of voting fraud is a fraud

The past week or so the Republican National Committee and other state Republican parties have been complaining about possible voting fraud by the group Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). They have also tried to link Democrats and Obama to ACORN as if to say they are perpetrating voting fraud.

The GOP believe that since ACORN pays people to collect registrations and some of these have been faked, that actual votes are or will be cast illegally. They seem to forget that states check each and every new registration against state and federal records.

As Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo writes:

The Republican party is grasping on to the ACORN story as a way to delegitimize what now looks like the probable outcome of the November election. It is also a way to stoke the paranoia of their base, lay the groundwork for legal challenges of close outcomes in various states and promote new legal restrictions on legitimate voting by lower income voters and minorities. The big picture is that these claims of ‘voter fraud’ are themselves a fraud, a tool to aid in suppressing Democratic voter turnout.
This is fraud against ACORN. They end up paying people for registering more people then they actually signed up. If you register me three times to vote, the registrar will see two new registrations of an already registered person and the ones won’t count. If I successfully register Mickey Mouse to vote, on election day, Mickey Mouse will still be a cartoon character who cannot go to the local voting station and vote. Logically speaking there’s very little way a few phony names on the voting rolls could be used to commit actual vote fraud. And much more importantly, numerous studies and investigations have shown no evidence of anything more than a handful of isolated cases of actual instances of vote fraud.
Again, there have been numerous investigations of this. Often by people with at least a mild political interest in finding wrongdoing. But they never find it. It always ends up being right-wing hype and lies. Remember, most of those now-famous fired US Attorneys from 2007 were Republican appointees who were canned after they got tasked with investigating allegations of widespread vote fraud, did everything they could to find it, but came up with nothing. That was the wrong answer so Karl Rove and his crew at the Justice Department fired them.
The Gist of the ACORN Story

There is a significant effort in Ohio, by the GOP, to suppress the vote. They filed a lawsuit against the Secretary of State claiming that registrations weren’t being checked. The suit came 2 days after the state got a nasty letter from the Social Security Administration complaining that Ohio was making too many checks of social security numbers. The SOS was ordered to provide a list of new registrations to county boards of elections – which already have access to them through the State Board of Elections computer system. The Secretary of State plans to appeal the ruling.

Ohio Republican Deputy Chairman Kevin DeWine said the ruling spoke volumes about Brunner, a Democrat.
“Her refusal to comply with federal law raises serious concerns about her ability to objectively oversee this election. It’s especially troubling in light of her connection to ACORN and that group’s stunning confession this week of fraudulent registration activity happening right here in Ohio,” DeWine said.
An ACORN representative is on a Brunner advisory committee, while Republicans say Obama has “strong ties” to ACORN, serving in the past as an attorney and “leadership trainer” for the group.
Within three hours of the ruling, DeWine sent out a GOP fundraising appeal, saying, “Please contribute today and help us fight the legal effort by Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner and her Democrat allies to let voter fraud go unchecked.”
Brunner loses lawsuit to GOP

The reason the GOP wanted the lists released was so they can use them for frivolous challenges to suppress votes that would affect Democratic votes. The GOP also had people writing down licence plate numbers during early voting at Columbus’ Vets Memorial.

They want to create distrust of the vote.

Again, registration isn’t the same as casting a ballot. Back in 2004 there was ONE case in Franklin county of someone voting more than once and it was an elderly couple who forgot they mailed in an absentee ballot and then voted on election day. They were caught and their extra vote was discarded and they had to have a visit with a judge.

In 99% of the cases ACORN catches bad registrations but by law they are forced to turn in all forms they get. When they do they flag the suspious ones for authorities and they help in any legal actions against their workers.

Franklin County had problems with ACORN in 2004 after authorities discovered dozens of voter registration forms with fake names or false information. A part-time worker for the group was indicted on charges he forged a registration form.
So far this year, officials said they have had 11 challenges to new voter registrations, and about half had been submitted by ACORN. Elections Director Michael Stinziano and Deputy Director Matthew Damschroder said it’s impossible to know how many bad registration cards might get through.
But Damschroder, a Republican, said ACORN has been “markedly better” in the county since 2004, and there’s no evidence of anyone casting a ballot using a fraudulent registration.

I am more worried about GOP voting suppression efforts than I am about false registrations.

October 8, 2008April 18, 2020

Rep Jim Jordan says “Nay” to the unemployed

On the same day Rep Jim Jordan (R – OH 4th) voted against the Wall Street bailout, he voted against H R 6867. What is H R 6867? The short title is known as Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2008. The act extends unemployment benefits for people at least until March 2009. Rep Jim Jordan (R-Urbana)?

Yes, Jordan who seemed vote against a bill he felt didn’t provide an American solution to the finance meltdown, didn’t seem to want to help people who are out of work and close to exhausting their unemployment benefits. He was one of 28 Republicans to say “Nay” – the only nays on the bill. It passed the House 368 to 28.

Well at least he is consistent and following in the esteemed steps of Michael Oxley who held the seat before him.

I guess it’s okay for the 6 to 10 percent unemployed across his district. They don’t vote, do they?

September 17, 2008April 18, 2020

The Great Columbus Windstorm of 2008

I guess it had to be Karma because of my sick attempt at humor at the expense of Hurricane Ike.

He found out where I lived and put the smack down on me and the entire Central Ohio area on Sunday. We had 75 mph sustained winds for several hours on Sunday afternoon from a combination of the remnants of Ike and his homie – a wicked strong cold front coming from the west.

By dark, thousands of trees were down in the area and half a million people were without power. I posted a picture of the tree that fell in my front yard. The car to the left was just missed by a foot or two. Click on the image to see the full size.

With the so many people being out of power our friendly electric monopoly – American Electric Power – gave us grim news. Some of us wouldn’t have power back for up to 7 days.

To see how random it was, my building was out but the building next door had power as did the apartments across the street. Kroger was closed but the Speedway on 5th avenue was open. Corned Beef Hash is not that good cold. But I did luck out Monday night as the Taco Bell on 5th was open.

I found out that a flickering candle is irritating and causes a headache when trying to read. Also I plan on getting real candles or if they are scented ones they will all be the same scent. It smelled like I was in a cat house with all the different perfumes mixing together.

The picture on the left is the inside of my apartment on Monday night about midnight. The audio portion of the movie “Batman Begins” is pretty good. My MP3 player has FM radio on it so I could listen to the audio from WSYX which is ABC here in town. The only news I could get was the audio from WSYX. Oh and guys at Channel 6, you could deliver more news without having to say “6 on your side” every other sentence. And to all the other news geeks in Columbus – how can I check your website for the complete list of school closings if I don’t have power?????

My emergency flashlight lasted a day and I had to go a nearby laundry to recharge my cell phone.

Other stories on the news had whole neighborhoods getting together. They cleaned up the downed trees, secured damaged houses, and some had huge cook outs as people tried to empty fridges and freezers before the food went bad. On a nearby street, a sign was posted that said “Looters will be shot…” Yes, togetherness was the rule of the day.

Lucky for me my power came back on Tuesday afternoon. It is so nice to see TV again and check my e-mail. Roughing it is fun but not all the time. And I will never make fun of Hurricanes again.

August 15, 2008April 18, 2020

What is wrong with Payday lending?

Here in Ohio a group funded by the payday lending business is pushing to get a measure on the ballot to repeal HB 545, which when signed in the spring capped the interest rate that can be charged on payday loans to 28%.

A payday loan is where someone needs some quick cash – under $800 – and goes to a payday lender. The user writes a check for the amount plus the fee for the loan that the lender then either cashes in 14 days or the borrow returns to the store and buys the check back. The fee amount is usually $15 per $100 loaned. It works out to be a 391% yearly interest rate.

The lenders are upset because HB 545 will cut into those fees and we’re told that they will have to close their stores – hurting the working poor who are the primary users of the service.

Pro HB 545 people counter that 391% is an outrage and the “service” can lead people in financial trouble into a worse cycle – needing to get more loans to pay off the previous ones. They equate payday lenders to predatory mortgage lenders that have caused all kinds of economic issues for many people.

I sit in the middle of the debate. Both sides have good arguments.

I too, think that 391% interest is inhuman no matter the reason but on the other hand it should be a person’s choice to either get the loan or for a lender to lend the money. $15 per $100 loaned is a lot better than $35 or more for a bounced check.

Could someone get stuck in a cycle of loans? Sure. I know from personal experience that it easy to do it. There was a time when I almost got sucked in, but I went 2 weeks without getting another loan and broke out. It was very hard to do – I remember it meant a lot of mac and cheese dinners and no outside entertainment.

On the other hand – crap happens. Sometimes bills come up outside of your pay check and I don’t know too many creditors who will wait until your next pay day. Many people only get paid every 2 weeks or maybe only once a month – in those circumstances if you already budgeted your money for current expenses – you can’t afford something unexpected.

Try to get a small loan from a bank. They put you through the same checks as if you were borrowing money for a house.

Traditional banks have overdraft protection but you have to have good credit to get it. Writing a bad check isn’t just dangerous fee wise but if you do it too many times you can get into legal trouble.

Also the fees associated with bouncing a check are outrageous – I know this from experience.

Several years ago I missed calculated my balance in my checking account by $3. Seven – yes I said seven – checks were bounced at $35 a pop putting me on the hook for $245 in fees alone besides the $180 in bounced checks. They took the small amount I had left in my savings account and closed my checking account, conveniently after the 7 bounces with through. I refused to pay the fees and they put me on the bad risk list keeping me from even getting a savings account. I figured I would wait them out the five years the black mark would be on my report but then they reissued the black mark after four years by sending another report to Chex Systems.

Payday lenders also provide other important services for those who don’t have bank accounts. Many of the lenders operate check cashing services. For those years I couldn’t open another bank account, payday lenders helped me by cashing my payroll check and letting me buy money orders to pay bills.

While I do think some regulation of payday lenders are needed, HB 545 hurts the consumer.