Ohio has introduced a new tactic in their broader attempts to make it even harder for Democratic voters to get to the polls this year. Early voting stations in Ohio’s heavily Democratic counties will only be open between 8 am and 5 pm, while Republican counties have expanded their hours to allow voting on nights and weekends. This rule is the latest in a broader attack on voting rights in Ohio, which often comes down to a tiny margin of votes.
Ohio Republicans are currently ensconced in a legal battle with the Obama campaign over another new rule that would limit early voting in the three day period before the election exclusively to military families. Mitt Romney falsely claims Obama’s lawsuit is meant to take away voting rights from military families, when in fact he is simply trying to restore voting rights to all Ohio residents. Early voting was introduced to mitigate Ohio’s notoriously chaotic elections, in which thousands of votes are tossed due to clerical errors and bureaucratic confusion.
Apparently the Ohio Republicans are damned and determined not to allow the President to win Ohio again, even if they have to disenfranchise millions of their citizens to do it. So much for the idea of fair elections.
It seems beyond obvious that the Republicans KNOW they cannot win this election on the merits of their candidate or his platform, and are instead doing everything in their power to keep as many Independents and Democrats away from the polls as possible while doing everything except driving Republicans to the polls to help them vote.
The GOP is using similar tactics all over the country, and have demonstrated that they consider democracy to be a failed concept and instead simply want to grab power any way that they can.
I live in northeastern Ohio in a blue county and you better believe these bastard republicans are grinning ear to ear. The DOJ needs to get in here. Like right now.
ReplyDeleteI live in NE Ohio, too. I am appalled at what the Republicans are trying to do and so far getting away with! OMG this makes me so mad!
Delete- Why do leftists think in such extremes? You take an ordinary instance and draw crazy theories. You read so much into something that things begin to lose meaning. You rarely relate your beliefs to practical application and you rarely backup beliefs with actual proof. You personally attack because it’s typically all you have at your disposal in an argument. You reach odd conclusions without care of repercussions for innocent people indirectly involved. You actively leave out any evidence that could or does contradict your belief system. You refuse to look at your opponent and your chosen candidate fairly. Your emotions often get the better of you, which makes you unstable and incapable of thinking soundly and objectivity.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous10:44 AM
DeleteWOW! Great comment...you sound like you're describing that fool that crawled out of the swamp of the Dead Lake Lucille dragging her gargoyle family with her and who is now finally heading back to that swamp where she belongs!
Bitter much?
Hahahahahahahahahaha!
Generalize much?
DeleteWell, 10:44, what's YOUR take on this, then? If you want us to listen to you about it, YOU tell US what this is.
DeleteSorry 10:44, but I see you as the 'extreme'! Your party is a mess and now Romney isn't going to support Ryan's budget plan, but will present his own? What bullshit!!!! He picks Ryan but doesn't approve of what he is doing? They will not be elected!!!
DeleteOBAMA/BIDEN 2012
Excuse me, and I say this as someone who has lived in Ohio most of my life and lived through the Bush fiasco with the voting machines ------you don't know what the fuck you are talking about.
DeleteHyperbolic nonsense is not an argument.
DeletePerhaps you should read the Constitution of the United States. Pay particular attention to the Equal Protection clause. I hope the Justice Department (now there's a word you never use, do you? Justice? What a concept!) has a field day with this one.
DeleteLet's see some proof from you. You allege much but prove nothing.Ever.
DeleteHey y'all...the fool at 10:44AM is an escapee from "Crazies4Palin"...check out what they posted over there....
Delete"Blake Today 02:13 PM
I have one comment to and about "liberals." Yes, this is a general statement. No I do not place all democrats or progressives or leftists in this group. But ALL of the people with whom I've spent time constructively arguing, I receive the same response. So this is my statement:
-
Why do leftists think in such extremes? You take
an ordinary instance and draw crazy theories. You read so much into something
that things begin to lose meaning. You rarely relate your beliefs to practical
application and you rarely backup beliefs with actual proof. You personally
attack because it’s typically all you have at your disposal in an argument. You reach odd conclusions without care
of repercussions for innocent people indirectly involved. You actively leave
out any evidence that could or does contradict your belief system. You refuse
to look at your opponent and your chosen candidate fairly. Your emotions often
get the better of you, which makes you unstable and incapable of thinking
soundly and objectivity."
I'm thinking that Baldy getting dissed all over the place is going to cause more of those patients over there to slip out of their straight jackets...run over here...screaming out their frustrations... will only get worse as it gets closer to the RNC!
Gird your loins folks...it's going to be a bumpy ride! LOL!!!
I remember when Americans used to monitor other countries elections to ensure fair elections.
ReplyDeleteWhat the Republicans are doing is disgraceful.
This is being talked about more and more, but what is lacking is what is being done about it? Is the Democratic party on it in these areas? Are they getting the poor/minorities out to obtain their proper ID?
ReplyDeleteAre we going to end up w/lawsuits after the election if President Obama isn't reelected?
Why are NO solutions being offered in any of the commentary. Rachel Maddow has covered it on her show too, but w/no resoluations!!!
Just seems weird to me!
The democrats SHOULD be spending their time campaigning and doing GOTV activities - but what are they doing - helping people get IDs and preparing court arguments against this legislation.
DeleteYet another case of the GOP not only stopping people voting, but stopping people campaigning and wasting other peoples money.
So what are you doing other than saying it's the democrats who should be sorting this out - and note - the democrats ALWAYS sort out the mess the GOP creates - like what President Obama has been doing for 4 years
Just seems weird to me, also, too! I'm working with the Obama Campaign in Pennsylvania. Tom Corbett, our republican governor, enacted "voter id" laws.
DeleteI have elderly people who can't get appropriate id because their driver's licenses have expired because they no longer drive, these people have long histories of voting, some over fifty years, with no problem. Have you tried to find an eighty year old's birth certificate? Especially immigrants. It can take years to track down and get these papers.
Corbett (and the GOP) can't prove "voter fraud" happened, yet they disenfranchise these voters?
What's wrong with this picture?
http://tinyurl.com/cgksyn5
I'm so thankful I can take my paper ballot to the counting machine and insert it with my own two hands. If our campaign process makes us a laughing stock, what does our voting process make us?
ReplyDeleteOh for fuck's sake. Brancy has weighed in on the news of the day. The Palin victim traveling road show couldn't bear to see someone else in the spotlight. (They invented the Vice Presidency, doncha know....)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.patheos.com/blogs/bristolpalin/2012/08/praying-for-mitt-romneys-running-mate-paul-ryan/
Nancy French loves Paul Ryan because he was HEAVILY involved in trying to keep Terry Schiavo alive.
DeleteRyan called Schiavo "a healthy, disabled woman without a living will and with a serious dispute between her parents and her husband." She is not terminally ill, he said.
"She is not in a coma, she is healthy and does not need machines to keep her alive, other than to feed her," Ryan said. "To end her life is to starve her to death."
Paul Ryan is as good a doctor as CBJ.
I saw that, too. It's so freaking obvious that Bristol didn't write that! OMG why doesn't anyone see through her other than us? "Exult?" Seriously? Like she knows that word?
DeleteI want to beat my head against the wall every time I read Nancy's spewage in the name of Bristol. I don't get it, I just don't get it.
"Don't exult in his brilliance." Oh yeah, Brystil wrote that. Suuuuure. They think everyone's as stupid as they are.
DeleteLOLZ
DeleteIt's so OBVIOUS to all but "The Oblivious"!
Even the genius Philosopher/bed warmer "Daddy Gino" said as much, and ended up on a curb, later having an emo breakdown with flailing arms and sobs. Did Beefy wash his feet with her hair and forgive him?
Did Beefy ask her readers to pray for "Daddy Gino"?
o/t -- how did Romney get a U.S. naval carrier for his VP announcement today? Can any citizen rent one?
ReplyDeleteHe's not a veteran, and neither is Ryan.
How much did it cost? For him, and for the Navy.
To be sure his campaign paid for it with all of the funds they have.
DeleteI grew up in Hampton Roads, about 20 minutes outside Norfolk. I believe the USS Wisconsin is part of the exhibit at Nauticus.
DeleteRomRy just appropriated it for their own 'we're so super patriotic' front.
I'm surprised he didn't put up a sign that said "Mission Accomplished"!
DeleteI bet he rented the crowd of people, never saw him draw such a large crowd before, and viola! He announces his vp pick and the crowd magically appears with flags in hand.
Wow! I, in very red Indiana, get to vote from 6AM to 6PM on election day and early voting at the courthouse during working hours. Ohio knows RMoney can't win so they will steal it for him. Bastards, all of 'em!!! The damn attorney general needs to get off his ass and put a stop to this shit!!
ReplyDeleteWHY is everyone blaming the DEM administration for the shit the GOP creates. The state courts are upholding all these laws - lets put the BLAME where it belongs - on the GOP
DeleteThat anyone has to spend time and money sorting out this mess - in the land of the free with its great democracy - is beyond reality. Bring in the UN voting observers
Actually, this seems like GOOD news to me: I expect OH voters to be so outraged by this that they will go Dem in a landslide.
ReplyDeleteAnd if they don't care -- well, good to know, and our problems are far worse than we thought.
they cheated to win in ohio before and got away with it. how is this constitutional? obama better be ready to take this to court in sept.
ReplyDeleteThe United States of America is just like a 'third world country'!!! Voter suppression is alive and well. Time to get the asshole Republicans out of office throughout the nation!! Vote OBAMA/BIDEN, vote to change Congress to a majority Dems and Independents in the House and Senate, vote the majority Republican governors (throughout the nation) out of office in their next election cycles and in the State Legislatures.
ReplyDeleteIt's more than time to come down hard on the Republicans. They are one frightening bunch and have done nothing more than create damage to all of us (financially - don't forget!) since the Bush years!
Thank God we've had the likes of President Clinton and President Obama. And, Hillary is one sharp/hard working lady too!!!
Here is the reason why we will never see anything coherent out of RMoney and also why Ryan is in: Mitt is Grover's puppet and Ryan is the new Cheney.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.balloon-juice.com/2012/08/11/a-man-of-reliable-rubber/
The beltway potentate made it clear last year at CPAC what he wanted:
All we have to do is replace Obama. ... We are not auditioning for fearless leader. We don’t need a president to tell us in what direction to go. We know what direction to go. We want the Ryan budget. ... We just need a president to sign this stuff. We don’t need someone to think it up or design it. The leadership now for the modern conservative movement for the next 20 years will be coming out of the House and the Senate.
And Grover made clear what he considered to be the most important qualification to be the Republican Candidate f0r President:
Pick a Republican with enough working digits to handle a pen to become president of the United States. This is a change for Republicans: the House and Senate doing the work with the president signing bills. His job is to be captain of the team, to sign the legislation that has already been prepared.
With his pick of Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney has surrendered to the crazies. He has rolled over to show Grover and nutters his belly—hoping for a petting, but fearful of a beating. They own him. He is their rubber stamp. A Romney Administration will continue the policies of the Bush Administration—especially the tradition of the Vice President running the show while the President meekly follows orders. Ryan will lead. Romney will follow.
I guess we can add Romney’s lack of a backbone to the list of things (like taxes, Bain, Romneycare and the Ryan Budget) that are rude to discuss.
Cheers
These tactics have to be illegal...do the repubes in my state really think no one will notice and let it go?
ReplyDeleteTo the extreme right wing the end justifies the means and they really could care less about democracy. Unless things start to change, we are done as a country.
ReplyDelete***ATTENTION UNCLE GRYPHEN!!!****
ReplyDeleteNew Election Protection App for your smartphone as reported by Daily Kos, Fox News, Atlanta Blackstar. Please help spread the word.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/10/1118525/-There-s-an-app-for-that
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2012/08/10/civil-rights-groups-release-new-voter-protection-app/
http://atlantablackstar.com/2012/08/10/election-protection-app-is-great-tool-for-black-voters/
Obama/Biden 2012!!!
Here in Michigan there was a fair amount of press when the governor vetoes three egregious measures passed by our hyper-Republican legislature. However, on primary day (last Tuesday) our GOP secretary of state had a new box on the voter slips or ballots asking the voter to indicate whether or not he or she was a citizen. Not allowed to vote if you didn't want to fill in the box. Well, by noon the secretary of state had to contact all of the county clerks and tell them not to proceed with the new illegal requirement.
ReplyDeleteWe voted by absentee ballot and I do not recall seeing anything about citizenship. So we may have missed the little box if it was on our ballots. Our ballots may not have been counted.
In the meantime four persons have been indicted in Michigan for voter fraud - all Republican former legislators. Hmmm.
Wow, for a party that clamors constantly about protecting our freedom, the repubes seem hell bent on destroying the single most important aspect of a free democratic nation, the right to free untainted elections.
ReplyDeleteThe repubes are going to rival the ability of Putin to influence an election at the rate they are going
I agree. Considering how fast Republicans are to wrap themselves in the flag and accuse anyone else of being unpatriotic, it sure is interesting how they want to avoid free and open elections. Obviously the Republican leadership does not think much of their candidates if they have to throw up roadblock after roadblock to keep people from voting. Also interesting that, here in Michigan, where over a million voter applications/ballots were investigated in the search for "voter fraud," the only instances found were by - that's right, Republicans.
Delete