This diary relates to the ACORN controversy and how the rightwing nutjobs are trying to make ACORN synonymous with election stealing (by Democrats). Palestra.net is a college news network that is owned by Fox News (or Fox has a financial stake or something). They have a video up reporting that out of town volunteers have registered at an address in Columbus and voted from it. Fox News had a Palestra reporter on to discuss this with the FOX reporter claiming they now had PROOF of illegal voting. I'm getting to that...
Now, college students and recent grads are a transient bunch who often don't meet the legal definition of "permanent resident". Or rather they do meet the technical definition in that they have no intention to reside anywhere permanently therefore, any place they claim to live permanently (and to which they intend to return - highly subjective as we cannot read their minds) is their legal residence.
Fox News and Palestra's story says that Daniel Hemel is involved in the group Vote from Home and voted from 2885 Brownlee Ave in Columbus OH 43209 this year. The story says Daniel is in Oxford as a Marshall scholar. The story says that Democrats won't return the network's calls. They don't mention Republicans returning or not returning calls. Daniel is registered as unaffiliated, Vote from Home is a non-partisan group and I found a writing by Daniel in support of a Republican pol. Why are they assuming that this is Democrats committing fraud? (well, we know the answer to that)
Nowhere in the story do they allege that Daniel voted twice, or that he was not an Ohio resident. He is obviously in Oxford temporarily as a student. He is a Harvard graduate. He is from NY or PA according to Malkin's post on the issue. Palestra's Tiffany Wilson says: "They don't qualify as residents" of Ohio." She offers no legal reasoning for this assertion. That is for a judge to decide. The prosecutor speaks to Palestra and says that temporary residents are not legal residents. But again, he is assuming that he knows what is in the minds of these people. Does he know they have no intent to return to Ohio? Do they have any intent to return anywhere? Are they legally required to vote from their last known address before moving to Ohio? No. They are not. It appears that they lived in Ohio the required amount of time and are now away temporarily (on their various overseas scholarships). Fox News has them charged, tried, and convicted of a felony already without the actual PROOF that they trumpeted at the beginning of the story.
Here is the info listed for Daniel in his voter registration record from the Franklin COunty BOE:
Name: DANIEL HEMEL
Party Affiliation: UNAFFILIATED
Address: 2885 BROWNLEE AVE
COLUMBUS OH 43209
The Palestra stories are here:
They are called:
Ohio Vote Investigation Update
and
Prosecutors NOw Investigating OHio Vote
Here is Daniel's professional profile.
Here is a bit written by him in 2007 defending Republican Larry Craig:
"Jews should oppose Senator Craig’s ouster" Published on September 8, 2007
"The Book of Proverbs instructs us: "Do not forsake your friend." Craig has been forsaken by his own party, but as Craig has shown concern for the fate of the Jews, we should likewise show concern for him."
from: here
Here is the property information for the house, apparently a rental:
SPEYER JOEL E
2885 BROWNLEE AVE
COLUMBUS OH 43209
Here is the Vote From Home website/AboutUs.html - click Team for the list of people who started it. It appears to be a non-partisan group. (but clearly working for people who stood in long lines who lean Democrat).
THE POINT - even if these recent college grads are not found to meet the legal definition of residency (highly doubtful that this will be proven), this single story does nothing to prove the supposed widespread fraud that Fox News, Palestra, and Chicken Little continue to flap their little arms about. Liars, liars, liars... This is voter harrassment that we cannot stand for. Write your local newspapers.
UPDATE: and I'm sure there are many diaries mentioning this now but Joe the plumber appears to possibly be one of the 200,000 mismatches being fought over in an ohio lawsuit on its way to the US Supreme Court - you know, the ones that the Republicans are sure are going to fraudulently vote. Joe Wurzelbacher is in the system as Worzelbacher (real first name Samuel apparently). No shortage of tough German and other ethnic names in that part of the state...