Update: Same-Day Early Voting Ban in Ohio

An update to our report last week regarding GOP lawmakers in Ohio and their attempt to end same-day registration in the state. From the AP:

The Republican-controlled Ohio Senate approved a bill Tuesday that eliminates a weeklong window during which people can register and vote on the same day.

The 19-to-11 vote came over the objections of Gov. Ted Strickland, elections chief Jennifer Brunner and other Democrats, who have said voter convenience is being removed without evidence that the window created problems.

Supporters of the bill have said same-day registration and voting invites fraud.
If passed by the House and signed into law, the bill would eliminate the window by changing the dates when absentee ballots will be made available to early voters.
State Senator Bill Seitz, a Cincinnati Republican who sponsored the bill, said it is impossible to know whether fraud occurred in November because Brunner blocked access to some of the identifying voter information needed to do cross-checks. About 13,000 people registered and voted on the same day.

Brunner spokesman Jeff Ortega said county boards of elections have always had access to the mismatch information, just not in the format that some might want.
The bill was hastily written and needlessly complicated, Ortega said.

The GOP-controlled House was to continue hearings on the bill Wednesday. 

Ohio Republicans Seek To End Early Voting

After losing an appeal to Democrats in the the Ohio Supreme Court back in September, Ohio Republicans will try once again try to block one-stop voting in future elections, this time by changing the law. The AP recently reported that Republican lawmakers in Ohio are doing all they can to quickly pass legislation that would end early voting procedures as we know them. Time is of the essence however as Republicans have only one month left of their majority stake in both the state's upper and lower legislative chambers.

While Republican officials were scrambling in Columbus last week, Ohio Secretary of State, Jenniffer Brunner, was focused on hosting an election summit where a few hundred election officials from around the country provided input as to how Ohio can improve in the future.  From the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

There was important conversation about provisional voting, registration problems, data bases, poll-worker training, early voting and the merits of touch-screen vs. optical-scan balloting. Not everyone agreed on everything, but one line of consensus did emerge:

Election practices are complex and interrelated, so beware of quick fixes. They tend to cause unexpected problems down the road.

This is the otherwise known as "unable to win by the rules, so let's change the rules" tactic in politics.  There's just one problem however...

Democratic Governor, Ted Strickland, is likely to veto the bill if passed.  Whewww.

Barack Obama won Ohio's 20 electoral votes this year, beating John McCain by more than 200,000 votes (+4%).

Did He Really Just Say That...?

Fred Barnes, talking head on Faux News and chief water-carrier for the Republican Party, has reached a new low - even for him. Watch this:

The next thing you know, he'll be advocating doing away with voting altogether. They say that seeing is believing. In this case, maybe not. 

"Poor old people" taking up all the parking?  Incredible. Just incredible. Is this America or Tsarist Russia?

Just In: Franklin County Ohio Early Voting Returns

According to the EarlyVoting.Net blog, the first Ohio numbers are in for Franklin County (the county in which Columbus is located).

These figures are through Monday.  The totals for those who have voted so far are as follows:

• 9000 Democrats
  
•   900 Republicans
  
• 9000 Unafilliated
  

What I Did This Morning...

Early voting began today in Tennessee, so I hotfooted it to the local early voting precinct as soon as it opened (10am local time). I was astonished to find a long line of voters already waiting to cast their ballots. I waited in line for one hour and forty-two minutes to vote! Wow! If this is any indication, there will surely be a record turnout for this election.

Although I live in a very red state, and vote in a very, very red precinct, there was a lot of favorable (for Obama) chatter in the line about the state of the economy, the need for change and general dissatisfaction with the status quo. Since it is illegal in Tennessee to campaign at the polling place, the talk was subdued and words were chosen carefully. Nevertheless, there was a very encouraging mood in this long line of early voters. Even more impressive was the fact that not a single person grew impatient and left before getting a chance to vote. Everyone waited for her/his turn to cast a ballot.

When I left the polling place, the line of people waiting to vote stretched out of the building, down a long flight of stairs and onto the parking lot. Amazing!

Critical Election Dates This Week: Sept 22-Sept 28

Every Monday, ElectBlue will post critical dates in the upcoming week for participating in the November election. These critical dates include voter registration deadlines and early voting information.  

Voter Registration: Voter registration is still open in all fifty states and the District of Columbia through this week.

Early Voting: Early voting is now underway in the following states: GA, KY and VA. Early voting will begin tomorrow (Tuesday, Sept 23rd) in IA.

Action: Call, text, email or talk in person to everyone you know. Make sure they are registered to vote and encourage them to early vote where possible.