Ohio:Republicans are accused of scaring off voters

[cal04]

Republicans are accused of scaring off voters as Bush looks for converts in Ohio

Taking advantage of state laws, Republicans have challenged 35,000 names in Ohio, almost half of them in Cuyahoga County, which covers the heavily black and Democratic neighbourhoods of Cleveland, Ohio's second largest city.

Republican officials have also recruited 3,600 election monitors who will be positioned outside polling stations to demand checks on the credentials of suspected ineligible voters. Democrats claim the tactic will create endless lines at the stations, intimidating some voters and making others feel that the wait is simply not worth it.

In an extraordinary move, but in compliance with state laws, Cuyahoga county's election board will hold mass hearings at the Cleveland convention centre to examine the cases of some 9,000 people whose registration has been challenged by the Ohio Republican party. Republicans deny they are deliberately attempting to scare away Democrats and hold down turnout. "we just don't know if the registrations are valid, this is just part of the normal process," one local Republican said yesterday.

Equally, confusion surrounds the provisional ballots, to be cast by voters whose names are not on their precinct rolls but who say they have been incorrectly omitted. After a court wrangle, it has been decided that such people will be able to vote - but their ballots will only be counted later, once their credentials have been verified.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=576753

[Randi_Listener]

1. It's a fucking shame

They don't get in front of me. I'll show them wht Earl Campbell used to do to defenders.

[Kolesar]

2. A court decided that the challenges were invalid

There was no time for due process of law.

edit: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1192421