Received training this morning to be a poll challenger on Tuesday

[ClevelandSportsCurse]

I will be a poll challenger on Tuesday. I don't think we have all that much to fear. The Republicans can challenge, but assuming a Federal ruling goes as anticipated, they won't be allowed to challenge just for the hell of it. They have to have a valid cause (i.e. residency requirements, age, citzenship, etc) for a challenge. We were pretty much instructed to make sure that those who are eligible to vote are allowed to vote and be a witness to everything that goes on.

After the training, I was talking to a lawyer who said that Blackwell has screwed things up so much in terms of his public image that he does not have much recourse left. That is, Blackwell has to let things go because any move he makes will viewed with much scrutiny. As a result, there is now a tremendous amount of infighting and finger pointing within the Republican Party because their plans have not worked.

As far as Akron goes, I am not worried about Tuesday. We are on top of the Republicans and watching their every move.

[SharonAnn]

1. Do you mean "Poll Watcher"?

Unless, that is, you plan to actually be challenging voters' rights to vote.

[ClevelandSportsCurse]

4. Officially, the title is a "Challenger"

but we likely won't be challenging anybody. We're mainly going to watch.

[Philostopher]

2. Just curious.

I'd read something somewhere in the past week that said if the poll challengers make too many frivolous challenges, the person in charge of the polling location could eject them. I couldn't remember where I read it, though, whether it was hearsay or actual information. Do you know anything about that?

I think you're right about Blackwell, too. Wonder what they're going to do for him? He did ruin his chances at running for governor here, I think. Guess they've got a place for him somewhere, if Bush* loses.

[ClevelandSportsCurse]

5. Yes, a challenger can be ejected

for making too many frivilous challenges. The presiding judge has a lot of power over the polling place. Based on which way the precinct voted in the last election, the party that won the precinct picks the judge.

[Philostopher]

7. There won't be any in my precinct, anyway,

because it's overwhelmingly white, suburban and middle-class (and probably 45% Dem to 55% Republican, which is the most important thing that will likely determine where they place their challengers), but I had heard that the challengers could be thrown out for too many frivolous challenges. Glad to hear that's so -- they haphazard way they made up their Ohio challenge lists, sending out registered mail from the GOP to people they knew had registered as Democrats, could cause this very thing to happen in districts that almost always go Dem (and, therefore, would have polling judges appointed by the local Dem Party head). That little stunt could backfire on them by causing too many challenges of people who are legitimately registered, and get them pitched out on their behinds -- it was really stupid, I thought.

[Hog lover]

3. Don't you mean poll "watcher"?

I am also a poll watcher in Arkansas, and like you, we are NOT asked to challenge anyone, but to monitor and report GO(Fascist)P actions.

[lizzieforkerry]

6. In Ohio we are called poll challengers

We have to have that title to be allowed into the polling places.

[Philostopher]

8. No, Hog lover -- it's not the same thing.

Poll challengers are an old tradition in Ohio that hasn't been used in something like a century; the GOP wants to go to minority neighborhoods and challenge minority voters' registrations to intimidate them and keep them from voting. It's something they did back before the Voting Rights Act and the era of civil liberties reforms to accomplish the same basic end -- to intimidate and suppress the votes of people they don't want to have vote due to their likely partisan affiliations. It's a dirty trick, but the law was still on the books, so they're allowed to do this.

There will also be 'poll watchers,' but they're different.

[Hog lover]

10. Wow, sounds like you guys need to review the law

and make some changes.

[ClevelandSportsCurse]

9. Also, anybody has already been challenged by the GOP

canNOT be challenged again on Election Day. Everyone was given a list of voters in their assigned precinct who have already been challenged and cleared (there were none in my assigned precinct). This allows the Democratic challengers to prevent any re-challenges by the Republicans.

Moreover, the challenge can only occur at the table and must be done before the voter receives the ballot.