[Marxism] "Some fear Ohio will be Florida of 2004"

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Although I doubt that the race is really a dead heat (I suspect the dead
heat in the polls means that Kerry now has a margin greater than that of
Gore in the popular vote), attacks on the right to vote are still
likely, of course. Although I suspect  that the two gangs of crooks are
organized enough this time to cancel each other out as far as the
election result is concerned, unlike last time when the Democrats folded
up, battles to defend the right to vote of Blacks, Latinos, Arabs, and
others seem a virtual certainty.  Note that a "suspected" terrorist is
not legally a felon, and therefore should not be denied the right to
register and vote even under current law.

At least one person has publicly admitted registering  Republican in
order to assure being able to vote without interference in November.

(One thought that occurred to me, after seeing Juriaan's useful
submission on church attendance, is that members of some
"Fundamentalist" and other conservative or pro-Republican churches may
be fibbing to reporters about who they plan to vote for, just as they
fib to reporters about going to church.   They wouldn't necessarily want
some of their coreligionists to know they are voting against the "godly"
Bush).

 In general, I think support at all levels, from the ruling class to the
voters in most parts of the country, is still dripping away from the
current incumbent, and the chances of his getting away with a
Florida-type operation this year seem very slim.  Note again that the
political alignment on the Supreme Court has tended to shift in favor of
the liberals since the 2000 election -- note the reversed vote of
Kennedy on the sodomy laws.
Fred Feldman





Some Fear Ohio Will Be Florida of 2004


By Paul Farhi and Jo Becker
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, October 26, 2004; Page A01


COLUMBUS, Ohio, Oct. 25 -- Democrats and Republicans here traded
accusations of voter fraud, obstruction and intimidation Monday as
officials grappled with what is becoming a confused -- and potentially
chaotic -- presidential election in this critical battleground state.

As Democrats marched through the downtown streets of the state capital
with banners reading "Not This Time!" and chanting "Count every vote,"
Republicans continued to challenge the eligibility of thousands of newly
registered voters. This presented state election officials with the
prospect of holding thousands of hearings over the next week to
determine who can cast a ballot on Nov. 2.

SThe continuing legal and bureaucratic uncertainties have heightened
fears that Ohio could be on the verge of becoming the next Florida,
which could not determine a winner for 36 days after the 2000 election.
Polls here show President Bush and Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) in a
statistical dead heat in a state that each needs to win.

"A storm is brewing in Ohio," Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman (D) said
Monday. "The day after Election Day, we've got to make sure the sun is
shining. By that, I mean each and every vote has to be counted."

Among the looming concerns:

. Republicans have already filed 35,000 challenges to voters'
eligibility and are preparing to send recruits into 8,000 polling places
next Tuesday to challenge other voters they suspect are not eligible,
particularly hundreds of thousands of the newly registered. Democrats
are alarmed at the effort, saying it could tie up voting and keep many
away from the polls.

. Ohio's voter-registration rolls contain more than 120,000 duplicate
names, and an untold number of ineligible voters, such as people who
have moved out of the state. A review of the rolls by the Columbus
Dispatch even found a murder victim and two suspected terrorists among
the eligible.

. Democrats fear that polling places will be inadequately staffed and
equipped to handle the crush of voters on Election Day. Rep. Stephanie
Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio) said Monday she is concerned that many new voters
will not get proper notification from county election boards about where
to vote. That is a critical issue in light of a federal appeals court
ruling Saturday that voters with provisional ballots -- backup ballots
for voters whose names do not appear on the rolls -- must cast them in
their own precinct for the votes to count.

In an interview, J. Kenneth Blackwell, Ohio's secretary of state,
acknowledged that the state may experience "a few hiccups" in the next
eight days, but he dismissed notions of widespread trouble on Nov. 2.
"You manage against systemic choking," said Blackwell, whom Democrats
have criticized for his dual role as co-chairman of Bush's reelection
campaign in Ohio. "I don't think we'll have systemic choking. I don't
anticipate the kind of confusion we saw in Florida."

But Democrats, and some election officials as well, say the most
potentially disruptive action could be Republican challenges of voters'
eligibility filed over the past few days. Although some of the more than
35,000 challenges have been withdrawn or rejected by county officials,
about 25,000 are pending.

The Democratic Party and the Kerry-Edwards campaign sent letters Monday
to Ohio's 88 county election boards asking them to dismiss the
challenges, arguing that they are "unfair" and "arbitrary" and that the
Ohio GOP has not provided sufficient evidence under state law that the
voters challenged are ineligible.

The rules for challenging voters vary from state to state, and officials
nationwide are bracing for an onslaught. In Ohio, the state GOP is
drawing on a little-used 1953 law to file its pre-election challenges.

Ohio law states that a party can challenge a voter's eligibility if the
challenger has a reasonable doubt that the person is a citizen, is at
least 18, or is a legal resident of the state or the county where he
shows up to vote. The law also states that local election boards must
give voters challenged before Election Day three days' notice before
holding a mandatory hearing, no later than two days before the election.


It is not clear, however, how election officials can hold so many
hearings, or what they should do after them.

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