ACORN suit over voter registration settled in Ohio

[L. Coyote]

Source: The Plain Dealer

By Gabriel Baird, The Plain Dealer - November 30, 2009, 9:00PM

Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner has agreed to a legal settlement that will result in more low-income residents being registered to vote.

The settlement in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio resolves a three-year legal battle between the state and two women, represented by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now or ACORN.

Attorneys for ACORN had argued that under the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, the secretary of state was required to make sure county job and family services offices gave people applying for or receiving aid an opportunity to register to vote.

..... "We have a clear judicial directive from the appeals court in this case that the secretary of state's office has supervisory authority and responsibility to implement federal voter registration law," said Jeff Ortega, Brunner's spokesman.

................

Read more: http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/11/acorn_suit_over_voter_registra.html

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Home » Discuss » Topic Forums » Election Reform:
ACORN vindicated, lawsuit enfranchises voters, impugns Repubs in OH!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x514600

======================
http://www.lawyerscommittee.org/projects/voting_rights/press_releases?id=0059
Federal Court Lawsuit Settlement Brings Ohio Into Compliance with National Voter Registration Act-Hundreds of Thousands of Low-Income Ohioans to Benefit
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 30, 2009

Cleveland, OH--Low-income Ohio citizens will be ensured access to voter registration at Ohio public assistance offices as a result of a settlement agreement submitted to Federal District Court Judge Patricia A. Gaughan over this past holiday weekend.

The settlement successfully resolves a three-year old lawsuit filed against the Ohio Secretary of State (SOS) and the Director of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) in September 2006 by Lorain resident Carrie Harkless, Cleveland resident Tameca Mardis and the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) charging widespread violations of the federal National Voter Registration Act (NVRA). Section 7 of the NVRA requires public assistance agencies to provide voter registration opportunities to their clients.

Extensive pre-suit investigation and discovery in the case revealed that many of Ohio's county public assistance offices were ignoring their responsibilities to provide voter registration to their low-income clients. Currently, only 71 percent of low-income Ohioans are registered to vote compared to 90 percent of affluent Ohioans.

Before the lawsuit, there was no state official overseeing the state's compliance with the federal law. Although Ohio has designated the Secretary of State as its chief election official responsible for NVRA compliance, at the time the lawsuit was filed, then-Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell contended that the state's obligation to provide voter registration services to its low-income residents was satisfied by the maintenance of a toll-free hotline for public assistance offices to call. ODJFS claimed that Ohio law prohibited it from ensuring compliance by county offices.

"As a result of the steps the Secretary of State and ODJFS director will take, we expect hundreds of thousands of voting-eligible low-income Ohioans to be registered to vote," said Lisa Danetz, senior counsel in the Democracy Program at Demos and co-lead counsel for the plaintiffs. "We applaud the integration of voter registration into agency processes as well as the planned monitoring of the county public assistance offices."

The case was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, and after a decision by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, the case returned to the district court where it settled after extensive fact discovery. The Court of Appeals decision established an important precedent that state officials have ultimate responsibility for compliance with this federal law, even when local agencies also have day-to-day responsibility for administering public benefits programs.

"The changes made under this agreement represent a long-overdue recognition of the need for an active program of voter registration at public assistance offices in Ohio" said Jon Greenbaum, legal director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. "With nearly a full year before the next federal general election, we believe that the implementation of these improvements will bring many thousands of Ohio citizens who would otherwise be unregistered to the polls on election day 2010."

As a result of the agreement, the provision of voter registration services will be institutionalized within the office procedures at county DJFS offices, and both the SOS and ODJFS will make sure such services are provided. In particular:

-- A notice of the availability of voter registration and a voter registration application will be integrated within each agency's benefits forms;

--The provision of voter registration, and its details, will be incorporated into the ODJFS statewide computer system used by all frontline caseworkers;

--The state will implement an extensive and regular training program for those employees with voter registration responsibilities;

-- There will be regular reporting and monitoring of important data from the statewide computer system, county boards of elections and county DJFS offices;

-- The SOS will conduct at least 20 unannounced spot checks of local agencies each year;

--Both the SOS and ODJFS will follow up with counties whose local agencies appear not to be providing voter registration services;

--ODJFS will conduct a regular review of voter registration services, using the same mechanisms that it employs to oversee the local provision of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly food stamps); and,

--To broaden voter registration among low-income residents, the SOS will designate the Department of Veterans Affairs, in its administration of medical services and services for homeless veterans, as a voter registration agency. The SOS will also work with the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction to encourage voter registration among recently released offenders.

"This settlement is good news for all citizens in Ohio and especially the low income communities we serve. The fact that the state of Ohio will honor its duty under the law by assisting people to register to vote when they are in government offices will help more citizens become voters," said Mary Keith, a member of Ohio ACORN's board of directors.

"Across the country, the people least likely to be registered to vote are those from low-income households," said Teresa James, election counsel for Project Vote. "Our hope is that other states that have been ignoring the NVRA will not wait to be sued to fulfill their obligations to these millions of unregistered Americans."

"We are delighted to have worked with our co-counsel and Ohio officials to ensure that Ohio citizens receiving public assistance will be afforded a greater opportunity to register to vote and participate in the democratic process," said Neil Steiner, a partner at Dechert LLP.

The groups have filed similar lawsuits in Indiana and New Mexico, and in 2008 successfully settled a lawsuit in Missouri that has led to a vast increase in voter registration applications submitted at the state's public assistance offices. In fact, agency-based registrations in Missouri skyrocketed from 8,000 a year to more than 100,000 in just eight months after the court-ordered settlement. It is estimated that proper implementation of the NVRA's public assistance provisions nationwide could result in 2-3 million additional voter registrations per year.

The plaintiffs in the Ohio case are represented by Demos, the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Project Vote, Dechert LLP and Cleveland attorney Donna Taylor Kolis of Freedman, Domiano & Smith. The full settlement agreement can be viewed at www.demos.org .

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" ACORN Lawsuit in OH a Victory for Democracy "
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7550

By Ernest A. Canning on 12/2/2009 10:32AM
ACORN Lawsuit in OH a Victory for Democracy
Republican Secretary of State defied federal election law
Hundreds of thousands of voters likely to benefit from settlement...

Guest blogged by Ernest A. Canning

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) has won a substantive victory on behalf of the voters of Ohio --- perhaps hundreds of thousands of them --- via a court case filed in 2006, challenging a number of voter suppression tactics employed by the state's then Sec. of State, J. Kenneth Blackwell (R). .................

[sabrina 1]

1. Excellent! Good for ACORN

one of the few organizations in this country that for so little investment, actually helps the little people.

Shame on Congress for allowing the rabid rightwing to manipulate them into what was probably an unConstitutional vote against ACORN. THIS is why the right hates ACORN. They make sure everyone gets to vote.

One of the heroes of the 'vast rightwing conspirators' (and they really do exist) was Paul Weyrich. He spoke for all of them when he said this:

"I don't want everybody to vote. Elections are not won by a majority of the people. They never have been from the beginning of our country and they are not now. As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.

And so, ACORN had to be stopped. They were so successful at registering the poor so that they could exercise their right to vote.

And that is why the Pimp and the Prostitute were sent out to try to take them down. And Congress apparently agrees with Weyrich. Weyrich it s hero to the likes of Breitbart, Giles et al. He spoke for them. They hate Democracy. It is their goal to destroy it.

And just to reiterate, ACORN was NEVER involved in 'voter fraud'. That was a lie and a lie they continue to perpetuate because we have a media that is complicit.

[certainot]

4. but according to 1000 radio stations the last 3yrs, acorn has been stealing votes

for the dems by registering illegal aliens and other shit.

thanks for the news, and it is good news, but unfortunately until progressive groups picket those stations and boycott the local sponsors they're going to be deciding what version gets pushed into the mainstream..

[certainot]

5. sorry, i misposted to your reply, and thanks for the weyrich

thom hartmann, progressive radio talker, provides the same quote once in a while

[sabrina 1]

10. He does? Good for him, people should know

about this cabal that for the past 30 years has been trying to take down this country. ACORN started about the same time this rightwing movement that brought us Abramoff, Rove, Beck, Limbaugh, Coulter, Norquist and the fundies, started and they've been after ACORN ever since. ACORN committed what to them was a cardinal sin, they forced the banks, the real estate industry and public officials to treat the poor and minorities like first, rather than second class citizens.

When Weyrich died a few years ago, the media made him seem like a great American hero. But if you read back about the history of the rise of the right, he was right there in the middle of it, proposing that kind of anti-democratic idea.

What's sad is how Democrats rather than standing up for them, run and hide as soon as the Right starts its usual attacks. We so need fighters in this country.

But, I'm not worried about ACORN. The rightwing Rovian wannabes, Giles, Breitbart et al, are no match for ACORN who have been fighting hard for others for so long. I have a feeling they will end up regretting that racist stunt they pulled :rofl:

[certainot]

14. the problem with the left the last 20 yrs is that they have

completely ignored right wing radio while the right has used it as an invisible political 2x4. rove and gingrich and much of the disaster of the last 20 yrs were not a cyclical lurch to the right- they were the result of a breakdown of the normal feedback mechanisms a democracy needs. the coordinated uncontested repetition possible only since reagan killed the Fairness Doctrine has been used to launder talking points from lobbysits and think tanks to create immediate constituencies for whatever cause they want to enable and intimidate media and politicians.

unfortunately the left has ignored the problem because it gives them a headache to listen to it. and because there is no national searchable transcript databank of the main national and state blowhards there has been no way to observe the way it dominates the national flavor and gives weyrich's 10% the UNCONTESTED soapbox of a 50%.

acorn is just one of many progressive organizations/causes/candidates who have been punked repeatedly by the likes of limbaugh and rove and they never had a clue as to why.

unfortunately it will continue to obstruct until progressive groups begin to picket the stations and boycott the local sponsors. the weyriches will keep having way too much influence until communities demand some balance for these paul reveres in reverse that are now collectively demanding the heads of anyone who believes in global warming and who will soon be working on a longer term plan to make it harder for obama to withdraw the troops from afghanistan.

[sabrina 1]

17. Excellent post.I

I couldn't agree with you more. I remember so often, wondering why I could not find a political talk show on the radio that wasn't slamming the Clinton administration. I wasn't even that politically aware at the time, but sub-consciously it bothered me. Later when I did begin to pay attention and began asking about it, the answer from Democrats I knew was usually 'better to just ignore them, they are so off the wall, no one pays attention to them'. And from the right, the answer usually was 'there is no audience for a liberal talk show'.

As far as picketing the stations, yes, and I wonder why it has taken so long. We will not get real news in this country until people start boycotting the propaganda and fluff that passes for news here. It may be happening though, considering that the newspaper business is in so much trouble now. I know the internet has a lot to do with that, but if they were to really do indepth reporting on major issues, I think people would be more likely to read them.

Take the Abramoff Affairs, eg. I was watching the C-Span coverage of that. Aside from the revelations of corruption, the coverage was so interesting. The characters that were involved, the schemes they were involved in, it was like watching a movie. But it wasn't covered by the MSM. If it had been, not only would their ratings have gone up, the public would have been informed and outraged as they should be.

If you haven't read the following article, I think you'd find it interesting. It is about what you wrote about in your post. The rise of the right, and how orchestrated it was, just as you said:

http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/2004/Republican-Propaganda1sep04.htm

Tentacles of Rage
The Republican propaganda mill, a brief history

[certainot]

18. on abramoff- i remember

taking a very quick look at the abramoff email dump and found references to use of radio to soften his efforts to perusade- but i had a modem connection - i might look them up again.

thanks for the link i'll check it out.

[jgraz]

2. God, it must really frost the Repukes that they can no longer prosecute anyone they want

Now if we could just get rid of Bush's U.S. Attorneys...

[L. Coyote]

6. Indeed. When will the Bush's U.S. Attorneys be gone.

I'm still waiting for a response from the No Ohio USA regarding my evidence of election fraud! And from DoJ, et. al.

[jgraz]

7. Aw, you just want your pony

After all, who could possibly expect Obama to replace high-level law enforcement officials who just happen to be active participants in an organized crime syndicate? That's crazy talk.

Plus, it might make some Republicans mad, and we can't have that. They're usually so calm otherwise.

[quakerboy]

13. What is the deal with that?

Isn't it traditional for a new president to clear them out and start over when he takes office?

[jgraz]

15. It's a question that needs to be asked over and over again

It's one thing to refuse to prosecute wanton lawbreakers who turned the Justice Department into the enforcement arm of the RNC. It's quite another to let those criminals keep their jobs when you have the power to fire them.

[msongs]

3. there's some good news nt

[alp227]

8. Republicans waterboard ACORN because they're afraid of low-income voters giving Democrats leverage

The complaints are based more on political strategy than facts.

[defendandprotect]

9. ACORN is a thorn in the side of GOP we need to keep viable . . .

[QUALAR]

11. ACORN Vote Registration

I understand that immediately after the ruling, ACORN sped to Rep. Boehner's district and began registering voters 24/7. They must be truly grateful for all of the support Mr No has given the organization.

[No Elephants]

12. Yudda thunk the headline would have indicated that ACORN had sued, instead of being sued.

Glad the Democrats in Congress acted so very swiftly to de-fund ACORN. The Republicans are still laughing over that one and will be for a long time to come.

[lsewpershad]

16. Good news

Now this should happen in all States

[BrklynLiberal]

19. That is great news!!!!!