They caught us unprepared in 2000. This year, we're
ready to take them on.
Republicans lost an attempt Friday to restart hearings on thousands of voter registrations contested by the GOP, and the court's action could mean the hearings will never be held.
The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati turned down several Republican appeals, clearing the way for a lower-court judge to decide whether to extend her temporary order stopping the hearings.
The court action could prevent the hearings from ever taking place because they must be held within two days of the election, state Republicans have said.
Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro, who filed one of the appeals,
said stopping the hearings "has just thrown Ohio's electoral process into disarray, and has opened the door to voter fraud."
A fresh challenge arose Thursday over the presence of polling-place witnesses who can question voters' identities. In federal court in Ohio, the Summit County Democratic Party sued the state to block those witnesses, saying voters who end up being disqualified are unconstitutionally denied the right to appeal in time to cast their ballots.
If there was evidence of widespread voter fraud, I might actually understand the GOP's position. But that's not the case.
On the questioned voter registrations, the GOP originally challenged about 35,000 voters but has had little success in having registrations rejected. The party withdrew about 7,500 challenges because of mistakes, and county elections boards have thrown out hundreds more.
The GOP's actions are malicious in intent, and the courts have seen through it. The GOPs actions are designed not just to disenfranchise a large block of voters without evidence of illegitimacy, but to slow down the voting process on election day so people in line would get frustrated and quit.
Update: The basis of the challenge? People who refused to accept registered mail from the GOP.
When Catherine Herold received mail from the Ohio Republican Party earlier this year, she refused it.
The longtime Barberton Democrat wanted no part of the mailing and figured that by refusing it, the GOP would have to pay the return postage.
What she didn't count on was the returned mail being used to challenge the validity of her voter registration.
Herold,who is assistant to the senior vice president and provost at the University of Akron,was one of 976 Summit County voters whose registrations were challenged last week by local Republicans on behalf of the state party.
She went to the Board of Elections on Thursday morning to defend her right to vote and found herself among an angry mob -- people who had to take time off work to defend their right to vote.
After hearing some of the protests, the board voted unanimously to dismiss all 976 challenges.
Let it be said again -- Republicans seek to decrease voter turnout, Democrats seek to increase it.
In a final bit of delicious irony, it looks like at least some of the Republicans making the baseless accusations may face criminal prosecution:
The challengers, all older longtime Republicans -- Barbara Miller, Howard Calhoun, Madge Doerler and Louis Wray -- were subpoenaed by the elections board and were present at the hearings. Akron attorney Jack Morrison, a Republican, volunteered to represent the four.
Democratic board member Russ Pry suggested that the four could be subject to criminal prosecution for essentially making false claims on the challenge forms. The form states that making a false claim is subject to prosecution as a fifth-degree felony.
On Morrison's advice, Miller then refused to take part in any hearings after Herold's, invoking her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
Wray filed a challenge against 25-year-old Barbara Jean DeWilde of Stow, but testified that he had no personal knowledge that DeWilde didn't live at her Stow address, other than information he received from Summit County Republican Party headquarters.
DeWilde called the challenge "a mockery of America's free election process."
Nice try. Hope it lands them in jail.
Update: Jerome has the transcript of the hearing referenced above. It's great.