Bernie wins Ohio lawsuit

[rsacamano]

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[peace13]

1. I wonder how many 17 year olds registered to vote.

In Ohio registration closes 30 days out. Hopefully teachers/ parents encouraged kids to register anyway!

[Gothmog]

2. Sanders lawsuit did not win this case-he filed in fed court and this was state court ruling

Sanders lawsuit was filed in Federal court http://www.cleveland19.com/story/31420000/oh-lawsuit-sanders-campaign-suing-to-protect-young-and-minority-voters
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U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign filed a lawsuit in federal court Tuesday against Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted.

This ruling was in a state court lawsuit filed by Fair Vote http://www.fairvote.org/17_year_old_ohians_can_vote_in_presidential_primary

Fair Elections Legal Network announced today that Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Richard Frye ruled in favor of 17-year-old presidential primary voters. Ohio law allows for 17-year-old voting in presidential primaries. The Court ordered Secretary of State Jon Husted to advise county election boards to count the ballots already received and allow young voters to participate in voting now through Election Day on March 15.

FairVote's legal team noted that an intepretation of law was at issue:

"Presidential primaries technically elect delegates on behalf of candidates, who will then go on to vote for their assigned candidates at the party conventions this summer. Due to this technicality, the Secretary of State’s office says that 17-year-olds are forbidden from voting in the presidential primary. No other state with 17-year-old primary voting appears to follow this interpretation of law."

Studies have shown that 17-year-old voters have a higher turnout than 18-year-old voters. Also, allowing for civic participation at a young age can foster a lifetime of engagement.

Here is the ruling in that case which is in state court and not federal court http://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/16-2346-Final-Opinion.pdf The Fair Vote people won this victory.

[bahrbearian]

3. And Hillary did nothing. Said Nothing, I wonder if she even cared.

They would never contribute $$$ to her, so why would she bother.

[Gothmog]

4. The Sanders lawsuit was not serious-it is sad when I agree with Husted

The Fair Vote lawsuit was filed long before the Sanders lawsuit and Sanders had nothing to do with this victory. Husted is not one of my favorite people but I have to agree with Husted that this was a stunt http://www.wkyc.com/news/politics/elections/jon-husted-calls-bernie-sanders-lawsuit-a-political-act/77941968

A federal lawsuit Bernie Sanders filed Tuesday to allow the state's 17-year-olds to cast ballots is “just a last-minute political act to kind of draw attention to his campaign,” said Husted, a Republican, on CNN this morning.

“Eleventh hour lawsuits are something that we’ve come to expect, but it’s a tragedy that it’s happening,” Husted said, adding that 17-year-olds “can vote. They just can’t vote on every issue.”

Ohio is among more than 20 states with a “threshold voter law” allowing 17-year-olds who will turn 18 by the general election in November to vote in primaries. Husted, the state’s top elections official, issued a directive in December blocking 17-year-olds from voting in presidential primaries.

Lawsuits take time and filing a lawsuit with less than week before the start of voting is not a good way to win.

The Elias lawsuit is moving through the courts and will force some changes for Ohio voters.

I am glad that 17 years get to vote tomorrow but Sanders had nothing to do with this.

[AtomicKitten]

7. The two lawsuits were filed on the SAME DAY.

You wrote: "The Fair Vote lawsuit was filed long before the Sanders lawsuit"

With only a week to go before the Ohio primaries, Bernie Sanders' campaign on Tuesday filed a lawsuit (pdf) in federal court against Ohio Secretary of State Jon A. Husted, alleging that the state's barring of 17-year-olds from voting in the primary plainly discriminates against young Latino and black voters.

Democratic voters in most states are permitted to vote in primaries, provided they will be 18 by the general election.

Voting rights advocacy group FairVote notes that "Ohio law plainly allows 17-year-olds to vote in primary elections, but the Ohio secretary of state has announced that 17-year-olds may not vote in Ohio's 2016 presidential primary. We disagree with that interpretation of Ohio law."

Sanders told the Washington Post, "This campaign is very proud of the fact that we are bringing many, many people into the political process. We want to continue to see that....Unfortunately, in the state of Ohio, there is an effort on the part of the secretary of state to do exactly the opposite."

Sanders' lawsuit cites census data showing that Ohioans between the ages of 15 and 17 are the age group with the largest proportion of African American and Latino individuals, and argues that the "foreseeable consequence—and possibly the intended consequence—of reinterpretation is to reduce electoral participation within the age cohort in which minority voters are represented in the highest proportions."

"It is an outrage that the secretary of state in Ohio is going out of his way to keep young people—significantly African-American young people, Latino young people—from participating," Sanders said in a statement, according to ThinkProgress.

Sanders filed the lawsuit along with six 17-year-old Ohioans.

The Fair Elections Legal Network, a national nonpartisan voting rights organization, filed a separate lawsuit against Ohio's secretary of state on Tuesday over the official's interpretation of Ohio elections law.

(snip)

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/03/09/sanders-sues-top-ohio-official-over-discriminatory-voting-law

link: http://www.jsonline.com/news/usandworld/national/judge-17-year-olds-can-vote-in-ohio-presidential-primary-mjsurnpublicidaporg2e6ec928d9fc4c93b166d0a9-371836201.html

A federal judge earlier Friday temporarily halted the lawsuit brought by Sanders' campaign and several teen voters, saying the court would abstain from a decision in the case until the state court ruled on the similar lawsuit.

[Gothmog]

5. BTW Marc Elias is busy suing in a number of states

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/ohio-hit-lawsuit-over-gop-passed-voting-restrictions

The suit challenges cuts to Ohio’s early voting opportunities, the elimination of same-day voter registration (known in Ohio as “Golden Week”), restrictive procedures for obtaining absentee ballots, and new rules that could lead to longer lines at the polls by reducing the number of voting machines that counties are required to have on hand. All those policies have been put in place over the last two years by Ohio’s Republican administration or its Republican-controlled legislature.

Unless these changes are blocked under the Voting Rights Act, the suit warns, “hundreds of thousands of Ohioans will find it substantially more difficult to exercise” their right to vote.

In 2012, more than 90,000 Ohioans voted during Golden Week, though most were already registered.

The suit was filed Friday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.

In 2004, Ohio was the poster-child for election problems, when a shortage of voting machines in minority and student-heavy neighborhoods led to all-day waits at the polls, causing large numbers of voters to give up in frustration. In response, the state expanded access by introducing early voting and same-day registration, among several other measures. That led to high turnout, especially among minorities and students, in 2008 and 2012, when Barack Obama won the state. Now, the lawsuit argues, Republicans are deliberately aiming to reverse that progress in order to suppress Democratic votes.

Helping to bring the case is Marc Elias, a veteran Democratic election lawyer who serves as chief counsel to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

Marc is the general counsel for the Clinton Victory Counsel program and this lawsuit has the potential to help a great deal

Marc is also suing in North Carolina and some other states

[bahrbearian]

6. Hillary Did Nothing and Said Nothing