Due to the fact the Arena Grand is closed, there will be no Free Press free movie this month, however — the Franklin County Greens are sponsoring three free movies this summer!
Free Movie screening: “Kilowatt Ours” at the Franklin County Green Party Meeting
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Screening of Kilowatt Ours – 7:00 PM
Green Party Central Committee meeting 6:00 – 7:00 PM (Open business meeting)
Sierra Club and Environment Ohio are partnering to make three movies available to be shown by organizations this summer to draw attention to the problems and solutions of global warming. Franklin County Greens will be viewing the first of series, “Kilowatt Ours,” at the June meeting. We will screen “Carbon Nation” in July and “Journey to Planet Earth/Plan B – Mobilizing to Save Civilization” in August. These screenings are free and open to the public. Location: FCGP meets every third Thursday at the Northwood Building, 2231 N. High St., room 100 (parking available behind the building).
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Join Franklin County Greens in the Pride Parade!
Saturday, June 22, 2013
We will line-up on Front St. between Broad and Main Street between 10:00 AM and Noon. Watch for our banners and Green Party Volunteer t-shirts. We’ll send out the exact location of our position in the parade later this week. Please let us know if you plan to walk with us and contact cmhammond11@att.net if you need more information.
Archive for year: 2013
Bob Fitrakis
June 6, 2013
Did a right-wing election observer falsify election forms? The Columbus Free Press has learned that the Franklin County Board of Elections will consider referring an election observer affiliated with the voter suppression organization True the Vote for criminal prosecution. The special meeting is scheduled Thursday, June 6, 2013.
Prior to the 2012 presidential election in Columbus, True the Vote filed an application with the Franklin County Board of Elections to monitor polling places in the inner city. This application required signatures from local candidates on the ballot in the county or county political party officials to be valid.
The Franklin County Board of Elections determined that up to six of the signatures on the True the Vote application were probably forged. This type of political forgery is a fourth degree felony under Ohio law and carrying a penalty of up to 18 months of jail.
True the Vote started as an offshoot of the King Street Patriots, a Tea Party organization primarily active in Texas. True the Vote focuses on so-called “voter fraud” prevention. Their slogan is: “If you see something at the polls that just doesn’t seem right, record it.”
The organization was targeting Columbus inner city precincts with high percentage of African American voters.
The Franklin County Board of Elections learned of the allegations on Election Day 2012 and has delayed their consideration of the matter since that time. The recent resurrection of the case was prompted in part by the referral of 90 cases of alleged “vote fraud” to the office of Republican County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien on Tuesday, June 4.
The Board of Elections split along party lines with both Republican board member Doug Preisse and Brad Sinnott voting for criminal referral while Democratic board members Zach Manifold and Kimberly Marinello abstaining and complaining that they had had no time to investigate the 90 charges.
In an Board of Elections statement following the criminal referral of the 90 cases, it states: “The cases involve individuals who voted absentee both by mail and in-person at the county’s early vote center or at their local polling place on Election Day.”
William A. Anthony, Franklin County Board of Elections Director, told the Free Press that not one of the voters was able to vote twice and that the procedures put in place by the Board of Election are designed to eliminate just such potential double voting. “It’s considered the correct procedure if you think your absentee ballot has been lost or not cast to vote provisionally. It allows the Board of Elections to check for your absentee ballot before counting the provisional ballots.”
Under Ohio law provisional ballots aren’t counted until 10 days after Election Day. The absentee ballots are counted first and compared against provisional ballots to prevent voters from voting twice. Nearly 575,000 voters cast ballots in Franklin County in November 2012.
Republican Deputy Director of the Board of Elections Dana Walsh prepared the report on the so-called voter fraud. The Republican Party has been pressing the issure of “voter fraud” in Ohio since the 2004 election. Election integrity activists, including the Free Press, have stressed that the lack of transparency in the voting process is the real problem in Ohio’s controversial presidential elections. Ohio election officials allows private, partisan for-profit companies to secretly program its central tabulators and e-voting machines.
In 2004, another voter suppression group based in Texas, the Mightly Texas Strike Force, organized by Karl Rove, was accused in a police report of voter intimidation in Columbus, Ohio. No action was taken in that case.
Election rights activists see True the Vote as a historical continuation of massive voter suppression dating back to the Jim Crow era and emanating from former Confederate states like Texas.
Original post @ :
https://freepress.org/columns/display/3/2013/1974
WCRS Podcast – fightback
[display_podcast]
The Other Side of the News – April 29, 2013 – May Day, food riot and drones
Submitted by fightback on Sun, 04/28/2013 – 6:51pm
in Atlanta drones food riot Jim Leftwich May Day
Bob Fitrakis talks with Free Press investigative reporter Gerry Bello about May Day, a newer food riot in Atlanta and drones in central Ohio.
30:00 minutes (27.47 MB)
http://www.wcrsfm.org/content/other-side-news-april-29-2013-may-day-food-riot-and-drones
“Free Angela — and all political prisoners!”
Thursday, May 9 – 7:00pm
Gateway Theater, OSU campus
This event will only happen if 42 more people reserve a ticket before May 2.
Reserve yours today: http://www.tugg.com/events/3631
Join us for this special one-night-only screening of Free Angela And All Political Prisoners, the gripping documentary on legendary activist and icon Angela Davis. Seating is limited, so reserve your tickets now and invite your friends and family to attend.
Visit http://goblackcentral.com for more information on this event. Support African-American filmmaker, Shola Lynch.
Free Angela is a gripping historic account of the events that catapulted a young University of California philosophy professor into a controversial political icon in the turbulent late 1960’s. Angela Davis joins the Communist Party, protests with the Black Panthers, and becomes a principle spokesperson for the burgeoning prison reform movement. As a result, she finds herself Fighting to keep her job, and in the national media spotlight characterized by her many detractors as a dangerous subversive menace, and by her supporters as a strong leader challenging authority and boldly advocating for “Power to All People.” So on August 7th, 1970, when Angela is implicated in the politically motivated kidnapping and murder of a judge in a brazen daylight shootout at the Marin County, CA courthouse, the nation wonders and Newsweek magazine asks: “What would prompt the daughter of the black bourgeoisie to take a desperate turn to terrorism?” Angela flees California, convinced she will not be given a fair trial and is placed on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list. After a national manhunt she is captured two months later in New York City. Charged with murder, kidnapping and conspiracy, Angela is put on trial in one of the most sensational court cases of its time. After a two-year legal battle, an all white jury acquits her on all charges in 1972. It’s an edge-of-your seat thriller told for the first time by Angela and others who lived through the events firsthand. The interviews recount the politics that led her to challenge authority and spur a worldwide movement for her freedom that cemented Angela Davis, and her signature Afro hairstyle, as an iconic symbol of this still relevant political and social movement — the right to challenge the system. Free Angela is a must see documentary! A candid and powerful account of the tumultuous times and a woman who challenges a society that is afraid of all that she represents. Filled with elements of intrigue, suspense and conspiracies, the film delivers by empowering and inspiring diverse international audiences with its message of hope and redemption. You know her name. Now, you will finally know her story. Follow the conversation on Twitter! #FreeAngela
There will be a brief open discussion following the film.
by Bob Fitrakis
April 18, 2013
The FBI and the state Inspector General’s office are investigating mineral rights lease flipping and falsification of public records in Noble County. Environmentalists claim this is a precursor to massive fracking planned in the rural Ohio area.
One family affected by this are the Bonds. They charge that state officials are harassing them and covering up the theft of gas and mineral leases at the behest of Ohio Governor John Kasich and his quest unleash the forces of fracking on rural Ohio.
The investigation focuses on Form 7, a public record that is filed with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) to identify who actually owns the mineral rights under the surface land. Each Form 7 is supposed to be accompanied by a mineral lease recorded at the County Recorder’s office.
In the Muskingum water conservancy area there are massive discrepancies between the Form 7s filed with the ODNR and the County Recorder’s records. Greg Pace, an environmental activist confirmed to the Free Press that at least one of the Form 7s appears to be fraudulent with a tampered notarized signature. “The fraudulent document has three different dates on it,” Pace commented.
The story begins with a November 10, 2011 call from Jeff and Kerri Bond to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) complaining that a brine tank owned by Jeff Miley, of Miley Gas Company, was leaking. ODNR inspector David Ball showed up and expressed little interest in the leaking Miley Gas tank. Instead, he insisted on inspecting the Bond’s gas well, which they use to heat their home. According to the Bonds, Ball told them “We’ll probably have to plug your well.”
Pace found it curious that the local inspector was “not focusing on contamination problems and didn’t want to pay a lot of attention to Miley Gas.” After the Bonds began to complain about Miley, brine from a tank began to leak into a pond on their property, creating a dead zone within the pond.
Dissatisfied with the ODNR, the Bonds turned to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA). The OPEA never showed up. Instead, ODNR inspector Ball reappeared with more ODNR employees, Gene Chini and Tom Tugend, then-Deputy Chief of Oil and Gas at the state agency. According to the Bonds, Ball then told them if they didn’t shut up they would be written up for violations.
Suddenly, the Bonds were written up for an oil and gas well on their property that had been abandoned 35 years earlier. They claimed Ball trespassed on their property without their knowledge or permission and found and tagged the abandoned well.
The Bonds allege that another ODNR inspector Cindy Van Dyne also inspected their property and told them to “keep it quiet” about the leaking brine, or they would be written up. The Bonds claim Van Dyne told them not to make any problems because “Governor Kasich doesn’t want us to make waves so we really aren’t going by the rules right now.”
On December 22, 2011, the Bonds mailed Miley a certified letter telling him to stay off their property. A copy of the letter was also sent to Tugend at the ODNR. Soon after, inspector Ball re-entered the Bond’s 176-acre farm and cited them for having a 2 foot pipe coming out of the ground without any identification. When the Bonds called Tugend to complain about the latest violation charge from Ball, they allege that Tugend told them “You don’t know how big business works, Mr. Miley is using a guess-tometer and a gentleman’s agreement.” Then the Bonds claim Tugend laughed.
A week after the Bonds mailed the certified letter, the Bonds were ordered by a state inspector to plug within 60 days 12 wells on their property that they had been unaware of. The Bonds next learned that Miley was alleged selling gas to Gatherco without any meters recording the amount. Miley purportedly purchased old gas wells for scrap from the ODNR, but then began to pump gas from them.
In investigating these allegations, the Bonds found out that Miley owned 1200 gas wells, but none had tax I.D. numbers, that all of them had been filed with the County Recorder in August 2011.
The Bonds decided to retain an attorney and began to wonder about the relationship between Miley and Tugend.
On March 6, 2013, Kerri Bond met with the Ohio Inspector General and filed a formal complaint. The complaint alleged that Tugend allowed Miley “…to turn in 16 years of false production records on wells he doesn’t have any rights to.” The complaint went on to state, that there are “no meters on any wells – no Form 7s – no tax I.D. numbers!”
They also checked the box requesting “confidentiality,”
noting they did so “due to fear of retaliation – which is already happening.” The Free Press has also learned that Kerri contacted the FBI local office in Cambridge and filed a complaint as well.
The Bonds are also alleging that the Form 7s, used in legitimate transfer of deed for mineral rights, are being falsified in their area. This is at the crux of their complaint to both the state Inspector General and the FBI.
Second Saturday Salon
Saturday, April 13, 2013@ 6:30pm
Come join us for food, music, art, socializing, and networking with progressive friends. Presentations and movie.
1021 E. Broad St., east side door, parking in rear lot or on street in front.
truth@freepress.org
253-2571
Bob Fitrakis
March 31, 2013
First, we were desensitized to water-boarding at Gitmo and electrical shocks to the genitalia at Abu Ghraib. Now torture has trickled down to elementary schools in the U.S. with the “body sock” for autistic kids.
Recently, Naqis Cochran, a ten-year-old autistic child, was restrained with a device known as a “body sock” at Columbus’s South Mifflin Elementary School. The Sock served as Naqis’ punishment for laughing during class. This restraining device is made of stretchy, purple lycra material that is zipped to cover a child’s arms, legs and head. While zipped inside the Sock, the autistic boy fell on his face and knocked out a permanent front tooth, requiring two emergency root canal surgeries.
The teacher told WCMH-TV in Columbus that she instructed Naqis not to move with the Sock on. Again, Naqis is autistic and asthmatic, a point stressed repeatedly by his parents Asad Shabazz and Amatullah Shields on my Talktainmentradio.com radio show last Wednesday. Just like with water-boarding, any person would tend to panic when their head, arms, and legs are encased and zipped into a physical restraining device.
Imagine your reaction if somebody put you into the equivalent of a straight jacket with a hood completely covering your face. The last time I heard of similar techniques is when I was monitoring the torture of dissidents by the fascist government of El Salvador in the 1980s and early 90s.
When the parents made a lawful request for public records related to the incident, the South Mifflin School principal told them that no such documents had been filed. Neither was there a record related to Naqis’ injury, nor was the emergency squad called after he fell and knocked the tooth out. His mother stated on the radio that her child is not violent and, due to his autism, would have a difficult time defending himself in any way.
“It doesn’t make any sense to put a restraining device on my special needs child,” she stated, “I feel it is child abuse.”
Naqis’ father noted that neither he nor his wife had authorized use of the body sock and were completely unaware of it. “It was not in Naqis’ IEP [Individual Education Plan],” Amatullah said. “They never told us that he did anything that required restraint.”
Another Columbus City School student’s mother has a similar story: “My son attended Winterset Elementary School and they put him in a similar body outfit that restrained his arms. I was not scheduled to visit but had to drop something off for my other son when I found him in that restraining suit. The teacher said that she had to restrain him because he goes after her coffee. Unbelievable. My son has a seizure disorder as well.”
Dennis Spisak, a 20-year school principal, elected member of the Struthers City Board of Education, and the father of two autistic children, pointed out that “Such devices require specific training and many autistic children, including his son, recoils from being touched. The use of any such device with his son would be unacceptable.”
Spisak stressed that if the child is falling over in a body sock and knocking out his teeth, it is clearly negligent supervision.
Columbus City Schools are currently under fire for two major scandals: the altering of students’ achievement records to improve the district’s rating and corruption charges involving No Child Left Behind tutoring centers. In recent years, the Columbus School Board moved its meeting time to hours during most people’s normal work hours making it difficult for parents to attend. They also banned people from speaking on any issue unless it is an issue to be voted upon at that meeting. One well-known school activist, the late Jerry Doyle, was arrested for trespassing at the podium after they granted him permission to speak and failed to notify him of the new policy. He spent 90 days in jail and subsequently a week without his diabetic medicine, which caused a leg infection and amputation prior to his death shortly after.
Putting kids in body socks is unacceptable even for the Orwellian school administrators in Columbus. It is an outrageous, overreaction to a child’s behavior, unless you’re conditioning them for accepting torture from an authoritarian regime.
In this perfect storm of casual torture, burgeoning ranks of autistic kids, and cover-ups by the Columbus City School system, it remains clear that parents and the public need to demand that the practice of using body socks immediately stop.
Our tax dollars should not be spent on torturing kids. Special needs kid must get the services they require, not child abuse they don’t deserve.
—
Bob Fitrakis is editor and publisher of The Free Press.
PRESS RELEASE
March 27, 2013
Contact: Bob Fitrakis
614-374-2380
fcgreenparty@gmail.com
Green Party endorses public financing and end to the Nationwide Arena tax bailout in Columbus
The Franklin County Green Party officially and unanimously endorsed the Columbus Coalition for Responsive Government’s initiatives to end the tax bailout for the Nationwide Arena and to create public financing for Columbus city elections on March 21, 2013.
Franklin County Green Party Co-Chair Bob Fitrakis stated “It’s about time we end the public subsidies and wealthfare checks to four of the richest families in the Columbus area.” Columbus voters have five times rejected public money bailouts of private sports teams and arenas. “This current scheme to funnel money to the rich happened after only a 15-minute debate at Columbus City Council. The one-party machine that runs Columbus City Hall is fundamentally corrupt and compromised,” said Fitrakis.
The current at-large system requires at least a quarter of a million dollars to run an electoral campaign city-wide. “There is no candidates other than the one-party incumbents, who traffic in political favors, that can raise that kind of money to run in a city-wide election,” explained Fitrakis, “The public campaign financing will take the tainted special interest money out and replace it with public matching funds.”
The Green Party, whose 2012 presidential candidate Jill Stein qualified for federal matching campaign funds, is a long-time supporter of removing private interest money from the campaign process. The Franklin County Green Party calls upon the citizens of Columbus to participate in the petition drive to place the initiatives on the ballot this November.
For more information go to: http://columbuscoalition.info/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Franklin-County-Green-Party/125354700874260?ref=hl
Hello Free Press supporter,
I have been working with Staughton and Alice Lynd and a group of people from all over the state of Ohio to organize the “Re-Examining the Lucasville Uprising Conference” at Columbus State Community College which will be held April 19-21, 2013.
As you may know, the Free Press has been following some of the prisoners’ stories who were present at the Lucasville prison before and during the 1993 uprising. Facts reveal that prison conditions seemed to be intent on instigating a riot, and the state of Ohio used the “riot” as an excuse to build the Supermax prison in northern Ohio soon after.
We’ve been working with the Lynds to expose what many activists believe is a gross injustice done to the five men now on death row, and others still imprisoned, as a result of the uprising. Details also reveal that the five men responsible for helping negotiate during the uprising were leaders among prisoners and were singled out to be charged with murders, based on snitch testimony, and have been on death row since.
It has been 20 years since the Lucasville prison uprising, the longest prison uprising in U.S. history, and the prison industrial complex has only grown larger and more insidious. The U.S. has now incarcerated nearly a quarter of the people on the planet. Conditions in prisons are worse than ever, sentences are longer, prisons have been privatized, and states like ours still employ the death penalty.
I would like you to join us on the 20th anniversary of the uprising for all or part of the conference in April. The conference is free, open to the public, includes a number of experts and the voices of the Lucasville prisoners, and will cover a multitude of prison-related issues. We will examine new revelations that authorities involved in the Lucasville prisoner’s cases admit that they do not know who committed the murders for which the five men were convicted.
You can register for the conference at: http://www.re-examininglucasville.org.
It’s important to register so we know how much food to provide for the Saturday lunch.
Donations are encouraged. We also have a program where you or your organization can advertise. If you represent a nonprofit group, we will have tabling space available at the conference as well. There are two fliers attached to this email. Details follow.
Hope to see you there!
Bob Fitrakis
What: Re-examining the Lucasville Uprising conference
When: Friday, April 19, 7 to 9 pm
Saturday April 20, 9 am to 10 pm
Sunday April 21, 9 am to 12 noon
Where: Columbus State Community College
Web: Re-ExaminingLucasville.org
Cost: Suggested donation, $10-50, no one will be turned away for lack of funds.
The event will begin Friday night with the screening of a short documentary film by Derrick Jones, including footage from the uprising and interviews with activists and government officials. This includes an interview with then state prosecutor Daniel Hogan, who admits he does not know and thinks they will never know who actually killed hostage Officer Vallandingham, a crime for which he and other prosecutors sent four men to death row.
Attendees will then hear from some of those men and from others who have been held in solitary confinement since the uprising. Jason Robb, Siddique Abdullah Hasan, Bomani Shakur (also known as Keith Lamar) and Greg Curry will speak from the Ohio State Penitentiary (OSP) on Friday night.
On Saturday, the conference will dig into a close examination of the uprising. Men who were incarcerated at SOCF in April of 1993 will share their stories. Prominent Ohio lawyers and other experts will unfold the layers of injustice the State of Ohio engaged in to secure convictions following the uprising. Advocates and experts from across the US will connect the Lucasville Uprising with nationwide prison issues.
∙ Attorney Mark Donatelli, who represented defendants after the New Mexico prison uprising in 1980, will discuss the horrendous conditions that preceded the disturbance and contributed to successful plea negotiations.
∙ Attorney Niki Schwartz, who represented prisoners in concluding a peaceful settlement of the Lucasville uprising, will speak about the prosecution’s failure to abide by some of its most important provisions.
∙ Attorney Rick Kerger, who represented Siddique Abdullah Hasan in state court until taken off the case by the trial court judge, will speak about the struggle to provide unbiased and effective representation for individual defendants.
∙ Attorney Phyllis Crocker, dean at the Cleveland Marshall Law School, chairperson of the 2007 Ohio Death Penalty Assessment Team of the American Bar Association, and currently serving on the task force appointed by the Ohio Supreme Court to examine the death penalty, will describe the changing scene with regard to the death penalty in Ohio.
On Sunday, attendees will participate in an interactive strategy session and will be invited to take action, joining the struggle for the Lucasville Uprising Prisoners. Conference organizers believe that a critical examination of the Lucasville Uprising will expose deeply unjust and inhumane practices that the Ohio prison system continues to engage in today. The Lucasville Uprising Prisoners continue to fight these injustices, and they hope the conference will broaden support, not only for their struggle, but for the struggles of all Ohioans who are targeted by this system.
Media representatives who would like to interview conference organizers or prisoners should contact Ben Turk at 614-704-4699 or insurgent.ben@gmail.com. More information about the uprising, including radio interviews with some of the prisoners can be found online at LucasvilleAmnesty.org.
See full schedule below for details.
RE-EXAMINING LUCASVILLE CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
Friday, April 19, 7 to 9:30 p.m., Chairperson, Bob Fitrakis
Welcome
Derrick Jones, documentary film, The Great Incarcerator: Part 2, The Shadow of Lucasville
Lucasville Uprising Prisoners speak
Saturday, April 20, 9 to noon, Chairperson, Alice Lynd
9:00 – 9:55 a.m., two skits drawn from transcripts:
The Making of a Snitch,” Highway Patrol interview with man who became an informant;
“The Death-Qualified Jury,” exclusion of potential jurors
10:00 – 10:55 a.m., Survivors of Lucasville, Conditions at Lucasville before the Uprising
11:00 a.m. – noon, Struggle in the Courts
Attorney Vicki Werneke, Capital Habeas Unit, Federal Public Defender, on complicity and obstacles in habeas representation
Staughton Lynd, attorney and author of Lucasville: The Untold Story of a Prison Uprising
Saturday, April 20, noon to 1 p.m., Lunch, to be provided
Saturday, April 20, 1 to 3 p.m., Layers of Injustice, Chairperson, Staughton Lynd
Attorney Mark Donatelli, represented defendants after New Mexico prison uprising
Attorney Niki Schwartz, represented prisoners in Lucasville negotiations
Attorney Rick Kerger, represented Hasan in state court until taken off case by trial court judge
Dean Phyllis Crocker, Cleveland Marshall Law School, chaired ABA panel on death penalty in Ohio, member of task force appointed by Ohio Supreme Court to examine death penalty
Saturday, April 20, 3 to 5 p.m., breakout sessions
Bonnie Kerness and Ojore Lutalo, art work and video “Sneak Peek” on isolation as a political tool in New Jersey prison
Central Ohio Prisoner Advocates (COPA) and Redbird Prison Abolition, current conditions in Ohio prisons
Others to be announced
Saturday, April 20, 7 to 9:30 p.m.
Derrick Jones, documentary film, The Great Incarcerator: Part 1, Dark Little Secrets
Entertainment Open Mic Poetry and Music
Sunday, April 21, 9 a.m. to 12 noon, Building Support, Chairperson, Ben Turk
Noelle Hanrahan, Prison Radio: Mumia Abu Jamal support campaign
Wide-ranging discussion about strategy and possible future actions
Contact: Ben Turk, RedBirdPrisonAbolition@gmail.com, 614 704 4699
Bob Fitrakis
March 18, 2013
A bipartisan Ohio election panel released its recommendations for “voting reforms.” An early indicator of how bad these “so-called” reforms came when Ohio’s controversial Secretary of State Jon Husted immediately endorsed the panel’s proposals.
“A lot of the reforms that are in there are things that I have long advocated for,” Husted said.
The Ohio Association of Election Officials responsible for the recommendations is comprised of equal totals of Democrats and Republicans, but they are 100% party regulars, causing some activists to refer to them as the Ohio Association of Political Hacks. Under Ohio law, the two major parties get to appoint the top election officials in the state’s 88 counties.
These party regulars agreed to eliminate Ohio’s “Golden Week” of voting. During that week, voters were both allowed to register to vote at the Board of Elections and also cast an early ballot on the same day. Apparently the efficiency of such a system that made it incredibly convenient for voters to participate in the democratic process had to go.
Now, voter registration will close the day before early voting begins. Despite the success of Wisconsin which allows same day registration and voting even on Election Day, Ohio has chosen to separate registration from voting, even though they would have been done at the same building.
The reason cited by the panelists for the ruling is that they wanted to remove all uncertainty from the registration and voting process. They added certainty by making it more difficult for Ohio voters to vote.
As the Ohio Association of Election Officials Executive Director Aaron Ockerman told the Columbus Dispatch, “Uncertainty is really, really, really bad for the elections process.”
In an attempt to squash uncertainty, the panel wants the voting hours to certainly be shorter. Instead of embracing Ohio’s successful 35-day early voting period inaugurated by reform-minded former Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, the panel will now restrict early voting to two weeks.
The voting centers which Husted limited to one site per county, as contrasted with the five sites Brunner allowed in 2008, would only remain open on weekdays and only the two Saturdays before the election from 8am-2pm. In the 2012 presidential election, up to 5-hour lines existed at the sole early voting sites in Cleveland and Cincinnati.
The panel failed to grasp that far more people, many without transportation, live in cities as opposed to rural areas. So whether you’re Holmes County, Ohio with 11,000 voters or Cuyahoga County, Ohio with 1.3 million voters, the panel embraced the concept of equality – one early voting site per county.
Also, voting hours are limited on the two Sundays before the election, from 1-5pm. This was predictable since the black churches have been running massive and successful “souls to the polls” campaigns on the Sunday prior to Election Day. These large numbers of people voting while black have caused concern among the overwhelmingly white Ohio Republican Party, but white Democratic politicians in counties like Cuyahoga, Columbus, and Cincinnati. There has been a growing tendency, particularly in Cleveland, for black candidates who challenge the white Democrat-controlled counties to do well due to high black voter turnouts.
Another interesting reform requires that all voters will be mailed an absentee ballot and that voters will be responsible, as they always have been, for postage. What the panel failed to recommend is an ongoing problem with mailed absentee ballots where, for example, in Franklin County (Columbus, Ohio) absentee ballots that required two stamps only had one spot preprinted on the return envelope. In the 2008 election, the Free Press broke the story that there were 10,000 absentee ballots being held up for lack of postage.
An actual reform would have required county election officials to weigh the absentee ballot and envelope and put the proper postage spot preprinted on the envelopes.
The panel managed to ignore the most pressing voting problem in Ohio. In 2012, more than 1.1 million voters were purged from the voting rolls, with the vast majority coming from Ohio’s urban areas. In 2008, the figure was even higher at 1.25 million voters purged. In a computer era, in a state that requires various forms of ID at the polls, it makes no sense to purge voters.
So once again, voter repression masquerades as voting reform in Ohio. The Democrats capitulated to the racist and class-based voter suppression enthusiastically embraced by the Republican Party.