>From Paul Lehto: Todd Rokita is the chief and very well known elections official for the state of Indiana.
This deserves investigation, as do all stories where supposedly high profile officials have trouble voting. (NOTE WELL: These stories always end happily for the official) THe message is, the "harsh" parts of the law apply equally (even Rokita gets bit) but in the end it works out ok (his vote was counted). The message is also that the hyper-partisan Rokita is somehow humble, in that he didn't just order one of his own workers to give him a regular ballot, or ask for the manager to come over and use his own personal recognizance as a substitute for signature verification. To this day "personal recognizance" can save you tens of thousands of dollars in bail money and open countless doors, and is expressly provided for in many state election codes (though I don't know for sure of Indiana's) as a substitute for ID -- it is for sure in Alaska and Michigan. Maybe some democratic election officials decided to dish Rokita up some of his own rules, especially since he was so hyper-partisan before the election. That could well be the case, but it bears confirming. No matter how funny or ironic, the propaganda here is still that "the system worked in the end" and Rokita's spokesperson gets the last word about a "...historic, successful election that we expect to shatter previous turnout records..." All's well that ends well? Rokita should be getting more of a comeuppance than this. Paul On Mon, Nov 10, 2008 at 7:13 AM, Mark Crispin Miller <<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: <http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage> Top of Form ยท All IndyStar Vote-fraud watchdog nipped at polls Posted: November 9, 2008 Secretary of State Todd Rokita, who oversees Indiana elections, got a new perspective on vote challenges this past week. Rokita, of course, is an outspoken defender of one of the strictest photo ID laws in the nation. In the weeks leading up to the election, he also recommended filing charges related to bad voter registrations delivered by ACORN, the community activist group. Then, a funny thing happened to Rokita on the way to voting: His own absentee ballot was challenged by precinct poll workers. According to Marion County election officials, his messily inscribed signature upon checking in to vote -- he signed it "Todd Rokita" -- did not match his neat poll book signature of "Theodore Rokita." So what did poll workers do? Well, they placed his ballot in a pile of provisional ballots that do not get counted until the Election Board can review the challenges one at a time after Election Day. (The board decided Friday that Rokita's ballot will indeed count in the official final tally.) Ed Treacy, the Marion County Democratic chairman, said he thought it was "hysterical" that Rokita's vote was challenged. "This is a person who does everything he can to repress every vote he can," Treacy said. "Now maybe he'll be able to really appreciate the sanctity of the vote." Jim Gavin, Rokita's spokesman, said Treacy's comment was "an unfortunate attack." "It's uncalled-for so close to a historic, successful election that we expect to shatter previous turnout records," Gavin said. Compiled from reports by Star reporters Brendan O'Shaughnessy, Heather Gillers and Mary Beth Schneider. -- Paul R Lehto, J.D. P.O. Box #1 Ishpeming, MI 49849 <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>[EMAIL PROTECTED] 906-204-2333 309-413-6541 fax Content-Type: image/gif; name="image001 47.gif" Content-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> X-Attachment-Id: 0.1 --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
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