Ohio 2008, Still Not Ready For An Election!

[Ichingcarpenter]

A February Check-Up of the Election Websites.

Absentee and Voter Registration Forms Have Problems.

Blackwell still the Secretary of State in One County…

And Only 23 Days Away From 2008 The Presidential Primary.



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By Paddy Shaffer

Director, The Ohio Election Justice Campaign

February 10, 2008,

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An initial report is just in from one of our new citizen election researchers, Jennifer Alexander. There are some troubling issues that need immediate attention for the Ohio Board of Election Websites. It is our hope that this article and research will be taken seriously by Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner and her staff, and that changes will happen immediately to remedy the noted problems. We also hope that the Liaisons entrusted to watch over the County Boards of Elections, will add checking the websites to their duties while doing routine oversight and maintenance for the Boards of Elections (BOE).

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This is urgent, because it looks like some of these problems could easily take away the ability to vote for many people. Auglaize County doesn’t ask for the correct identification information, making it difficult to process the voter’s paperwork. The website does offer this helpful statement, “Voting is a privilege for citizens of the United States. Information that will be helpful to you about voting in the State of Ohio is listed below.” Then it says nothing. Perfect for our current situation, for some it looks like again this year, nothing is known that will help them to vote. It should be enough that we are citizens of this country, why does it have to be so hard?

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Darke, Defiance, Hancock, and Shelby counties invite the voter to fax in the absentee ballot form. At the same time Warren and Montgomery Counties claim it is illegal to fax in such a form. So what will happen to those absentee ballots faxed in? It gets worse in Henry County… Which on their website the information reads, “Deadline for requesting absentee ballot is noon December 10, 2007” yet according to the Ohio Secretary of State, the deadline is “noon the Saturday before election”, which would be March 1, 2008. How can Henry County be off by months… for the absentee ballot? Who is watching over this state?

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http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_paddy_sh_080210_ohio_2008_2c_still_not.htm