The first is from Bob Parry's Consortiumnews, the second is from Sen. Sherrod Brown, and the third is from uppitywis.org:
I. Facing the possible loss of the White House to a Democrat, President George W. Bush has asked Attorney General Michael Mukasey to take the Republican side in a fight over eligible Ohio voters. For the full story, go to http://www.consortiumnews.com. II. Sen. Sherrod Brown's Statement On Bush Request For Federal Intervention In Ohio's Enforcement Of Voter Laws October 24, 2008 http://brown.senate.gov/newsroom/press_releases/release/?id=799FA7FF-B81C-48CA-952D-A380DACBB13C WASHINGTON, D.C.-U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown issued the following statement in response to President George W. Bush's request today that the Department of Justice (DOJ) intervene in Ohio's enforcement of election law. "I am disappointed that the president chose to interject partisan politics into the election. My confidence in Secretary Brunner's work remains unchanged. She will ensure that every eligible Ohio vote is counted." White House spokesman Carlton Carroll today confirmed that President Bush will forward a letter from House Minority Leader Boehner (R-OH) regarding Ohio's enforcement of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA). Yesterday Brown, along with U.S. Representatives Marcy Kaptur, Tim Ryan, Zack T. Space, Betty Sutton, and Charles Wilson called on the DOJ to resist partisan calls for federal intervention into Ohio's enforcement of election law. "The eyes of the nation are once again on Ohio in this critical election, and there is no room for partisan politics that seek to erode voter confidence in Ohio's election system," wrote the Members in a letter sent today to Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey. "We have confidence in the work that is being done by Ohio's bipartisan group of election officials and by Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner." With fewer than two weeks before the presidential election on November 4, 2008, DOJ has recently received partisan requests to file suit against the State of Ohio to implement new standards to verify voter registrations under the HAVA. A similar suit brought by the Ohio Republican Party has already been rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court. HAVA was passed to ensure that the votes of all eligible voters are counted. To comply with HAVA, former Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell, a Republican, instituted a voter registration database, known by the acronym SWVRD, in 2006. The State continues to maintain the SWVRD in accordance with federal and state law. No complaints concerning its implementation or operation were received by the Secretary of State's office until the Ohio Republican Party initiated litigation on September 26, 2008. The lawsuit sought to compel the Ohio Secretary of State to implement new standards for the SWVRD - standards that are not required under either HAVA or Ohio law. "It is hard to find another explanation for complaints that are filed with only a few days remaining before the election," continued Ohio delegation members in their letter. "We are concerned that complaints about the administration of HAVA in Ohio are designed to reduce the number of legitimate votes that are cast and counted in our state." III. Bush Seeks Forced Provisional Voting in Ohio Posted October 24th, 2008 by mal contends Incredible! Bush wants the US DOJ to look into the GOP Ohio vote suppression scheme, seeking forced provisional voting that suppresses legal voters. After being shot down by the US Supreme Court on using the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) for the purpose of declaring eligible voters to be tentatively ineligible because of database mismatches - a purpose that the text of HAVA expressively forbids - Bush and the Republicans will not give up. As the Milwaukee Branch of NAACP and the Milwaukee Teachers Education Association write in their amicus brief in the <http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/litigation/documents/VanHollen-MotiontoDismiss-9-26-08.pdf>Van Hollen v. GAB Wisconsin case, provisional voting is inherently suppressive, and many provisional voters will not be able to come back the next day to corroborate their legal voting status, and leave the voting process with questions about whether their votes counted. A provisional ballot is a second-class vote. The voter leaves the polling place not knowing whether his or her vote will count. He or she will only find out by calling a toll-free number or checking a website. If the answer is that the vote was not counted, the voter will be given a reason, but by then it will be too late to correct. That voter will have been directly and absolutely deprived of the right to vote without a meaningful remedy. (<http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/litigation/documents/VanHollen-MotiontoDismiss-9-26-08.pdf>Link to brief filed by Milwaukee Branch of NAACP and the Milwaukee Teachers Education Association in Van Hollen v. GAB.) This will not be a problem in Wisconsin, but the GOP is not giving up on stealing Ohio, again. From <http://www.rollcall.com/news/29533-1.html>RollCall: President Bush is asking the Justice Department to look into whether 200,000 Buckeye State poll-goers must use provisional ballots on Election Day because their names do not match state databases. White House spokesman Carlton Carroll confirmed Friday that the president will forward a letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey from House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), requesting that the Justice Department look into whether the state's voter rolls comply with the Help America Vote Act. In a letter dated on Friday, the House GOP leader wrote that with Election Day 'less than two weeks away, immediate action by the Department is not only warranted, but also crucial.' Folks, we have a major political party, the Republicans, who will do almost anything to stay in power. It's time for mass civil disobedience, something, to disrupt this outlaw element in the American political body. This is not a Party that is deserving of any respect whatsoever in our democracy. http://www.uppitywis.org/bush-seeks-forced-provisional-voting-ohio "Who will govern the governors? There is only one force in the nation that can be depended upon to keep the government pure and the governors honest, and that is the people themselves. They alone, if well informed, are capable of preventing the corruption of power, and of restoring the nation to its rightful course if it should to astray. They alone are the safest depository of the ultimate powers of government". - Thomas Jefferson --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's "News From Underground" newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the "Unsubscribe or change membership" link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the "Unsubscribe" button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
