Ohio Election Identification Law Appealed, again

[robinlynne]

Here are excerpts from an NPR article. Ohio is a mess. A judge ruled last week that Blackwell's new "ID rules" are a no, and the republican attorney general (so the dirt wouldn't show on blackwell's shirt), appealed that rational decision and won! That means complex, nearly impossible rules apply to both absentee ballots and regular voting IDs. The absentees need a driver's license number, but not the licnese number itself, but a different number you hav to search for on your driver's license. The judge, in his ruling, noted that even he had trouble finding the necessary number on his license! but the republican appeal won today. That menas that thousands 10%, so far, of the absentee ballots will NOT BE counted. because the driver's license number the people put on their ballot is not the number (harder to find) prescribed by balckwell's new law. We cannot permit this!

Here is the npr article, but there is a much better article by bob fitrakis. I can't find it at the moment.

"After the judge suspended voter identification requirements for absentee voters, Ohio's Secretary of State -- and Republican gubernatorial candidate -- Ken Blackwell said he didn't want to fight the court order because it would add to voters' confusion.

But Blackwell's opponent in the May primary, Attorney General Jim Petro, ignored Blackwell's wishes and filed an appeal anyway.

Petro won a battle last weekend, when a federal appeals court overruled the action putting ID requirements for absentee ballots on hold. That marked the second court ruling on election protocol in just one week.

But some Ohioans think the new law itself is causing more problems than it's solving. Some say that if the identification rules are enacted, the requirement could re-create the long lines that kept some voters from the polls back in 2004."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6412629