EVERYTIME....
I think these MOFOS have scraped the bottom of the barrel...
they find a new bottom.
..............................
hat tip-ProfGeo
This can be filed under VOTER SUPPRESSION 2012 News.
From ThinkProgress:
Ohio GOP Weakens Election Law By Allowing Poll Workers To Refuse To Inform Voters Where They Can Vote
By Tanya Somanader on Jul 5, 2011 at 4:20 PM
Last week, the GOP-led House passed an election law overhaul without the highly restrictive voter ID provision. However, the House tweaked the bill to weaken a law mandating poll workers to direct voters in the wrong precinct to their correct voting location. Under the new language, a poll worker need not direct a voter to where they are eligible, adding that “it is the duty of the individual casting the ballot to ensure that the individual is casting that ballot in the correct precinct.”
Allowing poll workers to refuse to help those who are legitimately confused about where they should vote opens the door for increased voter suppression.
As state Sen. Nina Turner (D) pointed out, “Voting in the wrong precinct led to over 14,000 registered voters statewide to lose their vote in 2008.” Rating the statement “true,” Politifact reports:
[T]he second most common reason the ballot was not counted was because while the person was properly registered to vote in Ohio, they cast the ballot in the wrong county or precinct. In all, 14,335 such ballots were not counted for this reason, according to the Brunner report.
Of those 14,000-plus ballots, 3,423 were cast in Cuyahoga County, home to Turner’s district and by far the county with the most uncounted provisional ballots during the November 2008 elections due to wrong place filings.
As the Cleveland Plain Dealer pointed out, mixing up precincts “most often occurs” in “urban and impoverished areas of the state,” leading Turner to sarcastically suggest of Republicans, “I guess the loss of votes for some doesn’t matter.” The bill now heads to Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) for signature.
I worked for awhile for the local election board. As an employee who spent their days trying to make sure that our voter database was on point and up-to-date, I can't even tell you how mad this made me when I first read it.
One of the things that is most important, if you want to ensure QUALITY ELECTIONS - is that the voter be able to cast a legal vote.
It is the RESPONSIBILITY of those who work for elections - TO DO EVERYTHING THAT THEY CAN TO GET THE VOTER TO THE RIGHT PLACE.
I have worked several Election Days. I have been the other person on the end of the line going through all sorts of tricks to find people in the system, so that I can point them in the right direction. The calls that frustrated me the most are when I was talking to a voter, and they said to me, ' I felt I was at the wrong place', and I have to tell them over the phone that, yes, they were at the wrong place, and that, I'm sorry to tell them that there vote will not count.
This takes me back to PROVISIONAL VOTING AND WHY IT'S A SCAM. The most common reason why a Provision Vote is REJECTED/ELIMINATING THIS PERSON'S VOTE - is because they vote IN THE WRONG PRECINCT.
Sometimes, it can't be helped.
But, the thought, the mere THOUGHT, that people would be DELIBERATELY DISENFRANCHISED LIKE THIS.
W-T-F do you mean that the poll workers DON'T HAVE TO TELL PEOPLE WHERE THE RIGHT PRECINCT IS?
W-T-F?
First of all, NOBODY is at those polling places for their health. ERRRRBODY there is COLLECTING A CHECK. So, the tax payers of OHIO, are PAYING people that CAN REFUSE TO POINT THEM IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION SO THAT THEY CAN EXERCISE THEIR RIGHT TO VOTE?
G-T-F-O-H!
I will also remind you another reason why this is utter BULLSHYT, and a DELIBERATE ATTEMPT AT VOTER SUPPRESSION:
We just finished the 2010 Census.
The REDISTRICTING MAPS, state by state, are being finalized as we speak.
Let me repeat that.
THE REDISTRICTING MAPS are being finalized as we speak.
This means, that entire state maps are being redrawn.
This means that EVERY DISTRICT, from the State Representative on up, has been looked at.
Those who do elections, are looking at the maps, street by street. You sit down with maps, and you take a precinct, and you go street by street, and map where the precincts are. Sometimes, the numbers of districts change. Sometimes, the boundaries of districts change. Sometimes, the boundaries and numbers are changed. This is done for EVERY level of political office in a state.
Now, if you live in podunkville, rural area, the likelihood where all you've gotten is a number change is about it.
But, urban areas are something quite different. You can literally have one side of a street voting in one precinct, and another side of the street in a separate precinct.
On top of this, election departments, like any other enterprise in government, is under the pressure to streamline precincts, meaning that they are under the pressure consolidate more groups of voters into larger precincts, the theory being that they will be more efficient. The bottom line of this, is that you have people, who might have voted for the past 2, 3 elections in the same place, but the Elections Department held off on consolidation, waiting for the 2010 Census numbers to come in, so that they won't have to do it again for a few elections.
The place where I used to work for, when I worked for him, had 2800 precincts. Now, they are down to 1900 precincts, and I talked to former colleagues - they're going to try and cut more with redistricting.
That's a whole lot of people who have seen where they vote MOVE.
And, if they show up where they USED to vote, in the past elections..
and not where they NEED TO BE in 2012 - THEIR VOTE WILL NOT BE COUNTED.
It will be discarded.
And the people standing there, at the polling place - DON'T HAVE TO TELL THEM?
Tell me what this is, if it isn't VOTER SUPPRESSION?
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