The real enemy on election reform: Blackwell in Ohio

[TayTay]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/6/5/121735/6057

Blackwell is up to his old tricks trying to make registering voters harder and harder.

This is the guy that DU should be uniting to fight, not other Dems.

[Blaukraut]

1. is that even legal?

Wouldn't that go against American Disabilities Act compliance? What a cocksucker!

[Blaukraut]

8. after looking at it again

I guess it's legal, because he's not asking the voter him/herself to turn in the registration in person. My bad. It's still not right, and hampers registration drives. And he is still a c...s...!

[beachmom]

2. But what about the Motor Voter bill?

I'm just trying to think of how people can get around this foolishness. When you get your driver's license you can automatically register to vote, right? That was federal.

Maybe I'm taking a bit of a devil's advocate stance here, but why don't people just register to vote without needing to be babysat by a bunch of 527ers? To be honest, I would never register to vote that way with a third party. What if they screwed up and dropped my form on the ground somewhere? Are we a nation of victims or can people take destiny in their own hands, get off their butt, and just go to the Registrar office and register?

Blackwell is an idiot, but maybe I hold some folks responsible, too (unless they're disabled or elderly and can't leave their house or nursing home). I mean, Iraqis risked their LIVES to vote, yet people need to be REMINDED to register?

Alas, we can all come together on this that Wisconsin is the best state for voting. You just show up at the polls, and you can register SAME DAY as Election Day. That would circumvent the whole thing.

[wisteria]

3. This guy has got to be defeated. I can not think of any vile enough

nouns to describe this guy. Obstructing the voting process, that is what he is doing. Making it difficult to vote. it appears anything goes in Ohio- what a shame.

[emulatorloo]

4. More fun to spew venom @ Kerry than to spew venom @ Bushco/Blackwell

:crazy:

[ProSense]

5. And people are

criticizing RFK Jr.'s report! Unbelievable

[beachmom]

6. I'm going to annoy you guys with one more thought

I live in a heavy Republican district. So when I go vote, I am literally surrounded by Republicans. And I always hear the same thing:

"Those LOSER Democrats are too stupid and lazy to register to vote, and when they show UP to vote they're too STUPID to do it right. Tough luck for them -- they're getting what they deserve. Any loosening of the law will lead to the Dems cheating by getting dead people to vote like what happened in the '60 election in Chicago. Or maybe they'll get illegals to vote and commit fraud."

This issue needs to be dealt with delicately. When we talk about voter suppression, it needs to be told in a way that gains sympathy among the population, not disdain:

1. Elderly
2. The disabled
3. The sick but still coherent

You can get some sympathy from the general population. But not for the poor. And, let's face it -- at this time, they are not voting, perhaps because they are too busy trying to survive. Understandable? Maybe. But you know they are born with a brain, and I say they register to vote. As Americans, they should be motivated to vote not by somebody with a clipboard but with the fact that they are a U.S. citizen. Their nonparticipation means that their lives will not change.

On a personal note, I have been TRYING to get my husband to register to vote since he got his U.S. citizenship last summer. I found the info on the internet, and e-mailed him the links at work, so he could print the form. The Voter Registrar is right near our house. He STILL hasn't bothered, because he really doesn't care that much. Nobody in Virginia is trying to suppress his vote except him. That's how it is; Blackwell is a corrupt individual, but Dems need to face facts that our natural constituents just don't care ENOUGH about our issues to bother with registering to vote. The Republicans care more. Hopefully, in '06 that will change.

[ProSense]

7. I agree more people should vote, but this is about

the various efforts to suppress the votes of willing voters. I have seen no evidence that Republicans care more about registering to vote.

[beachmom]

9. I'm talking about people who on their own register to vote AND

on their own show up at the polls. Not Churchy people, not GOP activists. Just regular Republicans who need no motivation whatsoever to come and vote. I think there are more of these type of people who vote Republican than Democratic. And I guess the crux of my argument is we need to hone a message that makes these steady voters change their mind about Dems and start voting for US.

Kinky Friedman is banking, BTW, on motivating non-voters to show up and vote for him. Let's see how he does in November.

It just annoys me that people need to have their hand held to vote, and then when a jerk like Blackwell interferes with it, well, it makes it look like we have to work so much HARDER to get voters. I don't know. Registering voters is not my game -- perhaps, many of you have done it. For me, I just don't understand how people sit around waiting for someone ELSE to do all the work for them. Why aren't they motivated to do it on their own?

[demdiva]

10. Here here!

I finally made it through the entire RFK article in Rolling Stone and I felt like it was 2004 all over again. Thanks for the update.