There has been a lot of discussion here about the scheme being floated by Republicans to change the way electoral votes are allocated, distributing them by congressional districts — but only a swing states where congressional districts are heavily gerrymandered to favor the GOP. It has gotten a lot of attention, and that's good. Virginia Republicans are backing away. So did Ohio's secretary of voter suppress ... I mean STATE ... Jon Husted last November, after his mention of it at a post-election forum got unfavorable attention.
But did you know that one of the key players is a name that should be familiar to anyone who has followed the sordid history of election rigging and voter suppression schemes in this country in the last decade? Someone who should be in prison for his role in the re-election of George W. Bush and not running around loose promoting a system of doling out electoral votes that could elect a Republican who lost the popular vote in a landslide?
Yup: J. Kenneth Blackwell, former Ohio secretary of voter suppress ... I mean STATE ... is back!!!
http://www.theatlantic.com/...
Jordan Gehrke, a D.C.-based strategist who's worked on presidential and Senate campaigns, is teaming up with Ken Blackwell, a former Ohio Republican secretary of state, to raise money for an effort to propose similar electoral reforms in states across the country, he told me this week.
Gehrke and Blackwell have been talking to major donors and plan to send a fundraising email to grassroots conservatives early next week. The money would go toward promoting similar plans to apportion electoral votes by congressional district in states across the country, potentially even hiring lobbyists in state capitals.
Election thief for hire!
Y'all remember J. Kenneth, don't you? He was in charge of Ohio's election in 2004, the year that things like polling places changed or merged and too few voting machines left voters waiting three, four, five or even 12 hours to vote — if they had the time to wait.
And funny thing. These issues and these lines only occurred in urban areas and on select liberal college campuses (Oberlin, Kenyon) where voters tended to vote heavily Democratic — but not in Republican suburban and rural areas.
After the election, when activists and some progressive politicians such as the late congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones (Oh-11) were asking for investigations into what went so wrong, J. Kenneth was rubbing salt in the wounds, issuing a press release that said the election "went smoothly" and that "everyone who wanted to vote got to vote," a blatant lie.
When a coalition of the Democratic, Libertarian and Green parties won the right to a recount, J. Kenneth mocked their effort and his fingerprints seemed to be on elusive efforts to gum it up.
This is a man who will sell democracy down the river for money. He undoubtedly sees wealth and influence in this for him, and he has no shame. I still believe his forcing Diebold systems on Ohio counties in 2005 had less to do with electronic election theft than lining his pocket. It was known he owned Diebold stock but when he ran for governor in 2006, he suspiciously refused to release his tax returns. His entire career was spent in not-very-well-paid public offices, yet he became a multi-multi-millionaire by the time he left the SoS office.
The photo above should be on a "wanted" poster in post offices (do they still have those?). We need to keep screaming at the top of our lungs about this scheme — and we need to know the types of people who are working it.