UPDATE: Full 6th Circuit Sides With Ohio GOP
Submitted by Nick D on Tue, 10/14/2008 - 11:14pm.
Because I'm out on the Left Coast, the time zones are working in my favor tonight.
Tonight the FULL 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati has voted 9-7 to overturn the ruling by a three-judge panel of that court last Friday, and order Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner to set up a system whereby new voter registrations can be checked against the Social Security Administration, Ohio BMV, and other government databases, and to have that system in place by Friday, three days from now. Unless the U.S. Supreme Court wishes to get involved, this ruling will stand.
Staying up late, Bob Bennett has sent out a press release with a predictable orgy of attacks against Brunner, stating: "Her shameful actions...have rightfully damaged her credibility as a nonpartisan election administrator," he said.
Nevermind that those "shameful" actions were ones with which a federal court agreed last Friday.
No word from Brunner or the ODP at this hour. As soon as they respond, I'll post it here.
From my POV, it looks like the 6th Circuit is now complicit with the Ohio GOP and the Columbus Dispatch in undermining voter confidence in Ohio's election system. This order will cause mass confusion as voters who haven't updated their addresses with the BMV will be flagged and challenged by the GOPers looking to disenfranchise poor and minority voters who just might vote for Obama.
Yet another case where the GOP isn't even bothering to hide its racism anymore.
UPDATE: Thanks to Jill over at WLST, I have this statement to present from Secretary of State Brunner. Dunno how she got it, but here it is:
Columbus – OH - Statement of Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner regarding an ‘en banc’ (full court) review of the US Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals overturning a Sixth Circuit three-judge panel’s October 10, 2008, stay of Judge George Smith’s TRO regarding HAVA matching for new or revised Ohio voter registrations since January 1, 2008.
In directing Ohio’s 88 county boards of elections today to thoroughly review and investigate specific allegations of voter registration fraud, illegal voting, or voter suppression, I announced plans to further improve the statewide voter registration database, so as to be prepared for a possible adverse decision from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals en banc such has occurred this evening. On Friday, October 10, 2008, three-judge panel stayed Judge George C. Smith’s temporary restraining order requiring that the Secretary of State modify the statewide voter registration database to provide lists or searches based on nonmatching data from state and federal databases.
Based on preliminary discussions with a bipartisan team of election officials today, we believe that it is imperative that the essential preparation activities of boards of elections be disturbed as little as possible. It is also essential that 1) voters whose records match one of the required databases are left inviolate to vote a regular ballot on or before Election Day, and 2) voters whose records do not match one of the required databases received prompt communication to allow them to assist with resolving discrepancies, which, in many cases are not due to any fault of the voters.
It is imperative that voters not be disenfranchised because of federal government red tape, misstated technical information or glitches in databases beyond the control of voters or the Secretary of State. That is why we will work with the federal court, even though we believe that the order goes beyond the requirements of HAVA. Our goal is to protect the rights of all eligible voters to vote and to have their votes count. HAVA does not permit the matching of databases to thwart eligibility, and we will work to prevent the misuse of HAVA data for that purpose.
As Judge Smith originally noted, “The Court does not have the authority to further order if or how the county Boards of Elections conduct their investigations of the mismatches…”
Judge George C. Smith ordered the following:
1. To comply with HAVA by performing the required verification of a new registrant’s identity, which include matching the new registrant’s information with the information in the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles and Social Security Administration databases.
2. To ensure that Ohio is in compliance with HAVA’s verification requirements, the Secretary of State shall establish a process by which the county boards of elections can access the information generated from the checks run pursuant to HAVA.
3. To provide all county Boards of Elections with access to the information as soon as it is entered into the SWVRD, but no later than October 17, 2008, which is the last day for entry of all the new voter registration information.
4. To provide all county Boards of Elections with an effective way to access and review mismatches, such that HAVA’s matching requirements are not rendered meaningless. There are two plausible methods for achieving effective access: (1) The Secretary of State can provide lists of the mismatches to all the county Boards of Elections; or (2) The Secretary of State can provide all the county Boards of Elections with a method to search the SWVRD database such that they can isolate and review the mismatches and take appropriate action.
The Court does not have the authority to further order if or how the county Boards of Elections conduct their investigations of the mismatches, however, Ohio law does permit challenges to absentee ballots in accordance with Ohio Revised Code Section 3505.19.
NOTE: “For purposes of this Order, a new registrant includes any new or revised voter registration form submitted on or after January 1, 2008.”
"Voting Fraud is a Fraud." Buzzflash interviews Greg Palast
Submitted by JeanLR on Wed, 10/15/2008 - 9:16am.
The strategy is to try to convince voters that Obama is riling up _____s and convicts to steal out country so he can give out welfare on the backs of "regular" americans and consort with terrorists etc.
The rallies we've seen resemble Orwell's "2-minute Hates" and coupled with this demonizing of ACORN, and of course the people they work to get registered, is creating the climate for justifying a McCain win despite all polls showing large Obama leads.
This is what happened during Bush/Gore2000~ all-of-a-sudden it was BUSH who was the victim of the system, it was BUSH that brought the case to the Supremes despite having no standing to bring it~ the only way he had standing was for the Court to find that if the vote counting continued Bush would be harmed, thus in fact, declaring Bush the winner who would lose if Gore got to keep voting.
In other words, they are sowing the seeds for a fight no matter what the outcome of the election, or should i say, the outcome of the count of the votes..~ I'm rambling, read this interview about REAL vote fraud:
"Voting Fraud is a Fraud." Buzzflash interviews Greg Palast
"However, the Republican cry of 'Vote Fraud!' has become the cover for purges and challenges to legal voters by the millions. I even tracked down and filmed some of these so-called fraudulent voters handed me from a GOP list. Every one was a legal voter."
-- Greg Palast, Intrepid Investigative Reporter and Author
* * *
Greg Palast and BuzzFlash go back to the election of 2000. At that time, large progressive political news sites were hard to come by – and there was only one investigative reporter who was able to unravel the theft of the Florida election: Greg Palast.
Greg didn’t just expose the mugging of democracy. As a University of Chicago trained researcher, he was able to detail how Katherine Harris used an outside vendor to create caging lists that prevented legitimate voters from casting their ballots. In fact, Greg has a laptop presentation that actually shows you the lists that Harris’s office worked from in keeping minorities from voting.
Of course, Greg’s investigation on vote theft – which has branched out widely in the intervening years – is persuasive and thorough enough for the BBC and British newspapers, but not for the corporate press in America! We kid you not.
To this day, Palast is effectively banned from reaching the mainstream American voter because television stations and big papers are owned by companies that don’t want to rock the vote. It might hurt their tax cuts or efforts to deregulate media ownership.
BuzzFlash thought that now would be a good time to revisit with our most interviewed expert on BuzzFlash, Greg Palast. After all, we have an election coming up. CLICK HERE FOR INTERVIEW
http://www.gregpalast.com/voting-fraud-is-a-fraud-buzzflash-interviews-greg-palast/#more-2110
~
As I noted last night...
When I posted "There goes the election..all "legal like"..
Last night (beat ya Nick) I noted that Brunner has been looking at this from a bench perspective and I'm hoping that she knew the appeal process could go down this path of partisan "strategery". This could give the Gopers the ability to challenge the election results from a hurried verification process. She may have a plan already in mind to comply......
At least I'm hoping.......