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Jun
9
Contact Ohio GA conferees now in support of lifting central vote counting ban
Filed Under Cleveland+, Elections, Government, leadership, Ohio, Politics, Statehouse, Voting | Comments Off
Jeff Coryell at Ohio Daily Blog posted the latest information about what’s going on with the effort to keep Cuyahoga County on an even-keel as we head into the November 2008 elections:
Today the Conference Committee, composed of legislators from the Ohio Senate and House, is meeting to resolve differences between the two chambers’ versions of the state capital budget bill. This is the opportunity for the conferees to add a provision that preserves the central count vote system for Cuyahoga, Mercer, and Van Wert counties. This change, supported by Gov. Strickland, will save Cuyahoga County about $5.5 million and prevent the disruption of changing our voting system yet again between now and the presidential election, expected to be the biggest-turnout election on record. If the county is forced to rent precinct-level counting equipment at this point in time, it will be compelled to use outdated equipment that was federally certified under 2002 standards, since newer and better equipment has not yet received the seal of approval. Also, that old equipment requires the use of memory cards to transport vote totals from precincts to a downtown central location, and memory cards can malfunction or get lost, as has happened in Cuyahoga County in the past.
Please contact the conferees and tell them to keep the central count vote system for November — and while you are at it also tell them not to put back the disastrous county government “reform” plan that the House had added to the bill:
Telephone: 614/466-8156
Email: sd17@mailr.sen.state.oh.usSen. Tom Niehaus 14th District:
Telephone: 614/466-8082
Email: sd14@mailr.sen.state.oh.usSen. Capri Cafaro 32nd District:
Telephone: 614/466-7182
Email: senatorcafaro@maild.sen.state.oh.usRep. Jay Hottinger 71st District
Telephone: (614) 466-1482
Email Address: district71@ohr.state.oh.usRep. Shannon Jones 67th District
Telephone: (614) 644-6027
Email Address: district67@ohr.state.oh.usRep. Michael Skindell 13th District
Telephone: (614) 466-5921
Email Address: district13@ohr.state.oh.us
By Jill Miller Zimon at 2:22 pm June 9th, 2008 in Cleveland+, Elections, Government, leadership, Ohio, Politics, Statehouse, Voting | Comments Off
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Jun
9
WaPo Live Chat at 1pm re: The Future of Feminism w/Linda Hirshman
Filed Under Announcements, Gender, WH2008, Women | Comments Off
“In April 2004, around 1 million women went to Washington to rally for women’s rights. One of the main speakers at the event was the junior senator from New York, Hillary Rodham Clinton, even then the object of future presidential speculation. Her surprise appearance elicited an ecstatic response from the crowd. For all its size and enthusiasm, though, the rally failed to achieve its central goal of defeating George W. Bush in the presidential election and protecting the abortion rights majority on the Supreme Court. And now, after a valiant effort, Clinton has apparently likewise failed at her goal of becoming the first woman president of the United States. At 40-something, organized feminism is having trouble reproducing. … And what this precise electoral moment tells us is that in fact it was never in a position to function as an effective electoral force.”
Feminist author Linda Hirshman, who wrote “Get to Work: A Manifesto for Women of the World,” will be online Monday, June 9 at 1 p.m. ET to discuss her Outlook article how the end of the Clinton campaign is indicative of how splintered the feminist movement has become, and how women can better work together for future advancement.
Submit your questions and comments before or during today’s discussion.
Got something to say? GO SAY IT! Or just listen and learn – that’s pretty damn important too you know.
If you can’t be there, you can check out the session’s archive later.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 12:34 pm June 9th, 2008 in Announcements, Gender, WH2008, Women | Comments Off
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Jun
9
Ohio legislature’s GOP calculations will cost Ohioans votes, money & reputation – again
Filed Under Elections, Government, Ohio, Politics, Statehouse, Voting | 1 Comment
Failure of the Ohio House Speaker, Jon Husted (R-Kettering), to allow an amendment that would ensure that Cuyahoga County’s voters’ votes are counted in the November 2008 election will cost all Ohioans, again.
What is this all about? Well – I know I’m a geeky wonk. I was told I was a geeky wonk in a room full of other geeky (women) wonks this weekend. In fact, I think that’s going to be the title of my blog to book project, The Dummies Guide to Becoming a Geeky Wonk.
And election law may very well be for the wonkiest among us. But essentially, Cuyahoga County is being used by Ohio Republicans in an attempt to show up Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner so that they may regain her seat and be able to control the group of Ohio officials who control apportionment.
Getting too wonky again, huh?
Let’s start with Ohio Daily Blog:
For the March primary election the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections leased equipment for counting paper ballots at a central location for about $1.5 million, and the approach of central counting worked well in an election that went off relatively smoothly, despite objections that counting paper ballots at the precinct level is better because it gives voters the opportunity to recast their vote if the ballot counting machine detects an overvote or other error.
However, the GOP-controlled General Assembly passed a law in February that prohibits central counting of paper ballots in the general election. This will have the effect of requiring Cuyahoga County to spend $7.3 million to rent ballot counting equipment for every precinct-level voting location. The General Assembly isn’t paying for the change, and no other avenue for assisting for the cash-strapped county with the expenditure has materialized.
[Then] the Cuyahoga County Commission passed a resolution that calls for lifting the ban on Cuyahoga County using a central count optical scan system in November. The resolution notes that the central counting system was a success in March, it is supported by the Board of Elections, that more reliable voting systems aren’t available for purchase yet because of delays in federal certification and because the General Assembly declined to waive the requirement that new systems be federally certified, and that all 88 counties currently use central counting for mail-in early vote ballots anyway.
So supported by the county BOE that even Republican and former judge Jeff Hastings has signed off on a request to lift the ban.
Even the the Plain Dealer is urging the same thing:
Thanks to heroic efforts by the elections board and its staff – under oversight from Brunner’s office – an optical scan system was installed in less than three months. The March primary attracted 436,609 voters and went off reasonably well.
One problem: There hadn’t been time or money to put scanners in each polling site that would have instantly identified “over-votes” and let voters correct their errors. Federal laws passed after the 2000 Florida nightmare required either such a backstop or an effective education plan to minimize mistakes. U.S. District Judge Kathleen O’Malley rejected an American Civil Liberties Union suit to force the use of second-chance machines in the March primary. After the vote, which produced only 1,412 over-voted ballots, this page urged the use of precinct-based scanners in November – if available at a reasonable price.
It looks as if they aren’t. The tab even to lease some 1,500 scanners could run to $7 million. By comparison, elections officials think they could rent enough high-volume scanners to do a downtown count, as was done in March, for about $1.5 million. As they weigh their alternatives – and try to figure out where the money would come from, the Cuyahoga board and those in two other counties have asked the legislature for permission to do a central count again this fall.
But the legislature is balking at either a waiver or a no-interest loan fund Brunner proposed to help counties buy new equipment. Republicans insist they lie awake nights, worrying about voting errors and security issues – undeniably important issues. But between the lines, they seem to be saying Brunner caused this problem with her sweeping mandates, so now she can live with the consequences.
We agree that Brunner has a disturbing tendency to make broad decisions that puzzle independent observers and even some Democrats. She needs to seek more consensus and pick fewer fights.
But there’s an election in barely five months, in a state the world will be watching. Settling scores or letting Cuyahoga County twist slowly in the wind won’t accomplish what needs to be done.
And that’s the Plain Dealer.
Finally, again from Jeff at Ohio Daily Blog, more on the political ramifications:
This is an enormous issue, and the underpinnings here are frankly all about partisan politics. Ohio Republicans have their sights set on the Secretary of State’s office because it is part of the apportionment board for redrawing legislative districts. [And Ohio House Speaker Jon Husted (R-Kettering) is the Republican most likely to run for that office.] Jennifer Brunner (D) has succeeded in supervising relatively problem-free elections so far, but the general election in this presidential year will be her biggest test. Requiring Ohio’s largest county to change equipment and procedures once again, and to expend enormous amounts of money without reimbursement from the state, is a classic case of sand-bagging a political foe. In short, they are trying to make the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections’ job as difficult as possible, hoping to thereby embarrass the Secretary of State, when what they should be doing is helping in any way they can to ensure a fair and efficient election in the fall. [emphasis added]
As a voter and a resident of Ohio, and not just Cuyahoga County, you can make a statement: let your elected officials know that you are repelled by such maneuvers at the cost of our votes and our state’s reputation. Didn’t we see enough coverage that made fun of Ohio, in every major, and minor, news outlet in the country after the 2000 and 2004 elections?
We can do something about it. We can let the Ohio legislature know that we will not be pawns in their games. We can demand that the legislature approve a measure that allows our county to proceed without additional costs, anxieties or ridicule.
Find your representative’s name here and write them today and urge them to support lifting the ban on the central vote counting system already in place and tested.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 12:23 pm June 9th, 2008 in Elections, Government, Ohio, Politics, Statehouse, Voting | 1 Comment
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Jun
9
Beachwood’s State Rep. Armond Budish to lead House Dems in 128th
Filed Under Campaigning, Cleveland+, Democrats, leadership, Ohio, Politics, Statehouse, Women | Comments Off
From the Akron Beacon Journal:
A gentleman’s agreement has been struck between Budish, D-Beachwood, and state Rep. Matt Szollosi, D-Oregon, who mounted the most serious challenge to his leadership.
Szollosi has agreed to be No. 2 and both men will direct their considerable financial resources toward the effort to pick up four seats and take the majority in the Ohio House after sitting in the minority since 1995.
…at this point, the money is on Budish, figuratively and literally.
Since coming to the legislature, Budish has focused on being leader. He has sponsored one bill to require manufactured home park operators to supply utilities to tenants. It is in the House Public Utilities Committee.
He has attracted the support of his colleagues for a more tangible political reason.
Budish raises bucks better than anyone else.
Yo – where are the ladies of the house in the Dem leadership pic for the next two years, hmm? I know we have them. Here’s the current line-up, headed by term-limited Joyce Beatty.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:17 am June 9th, 2008 in Campaigning, Cleveland+, Democrats, leadership, Ohio, Politics, Statehouse, Women | Comments Off
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Jun
9
Don’t let Phil Burress define “Responsible corporate citizenship”
Filed Under Marketing, Media, Ohio, Social Issues, Women | 3 Comments
I really could not care less about the ads in publications like City Beat. But I do care about someone like Phil Burress defining what “responsible corporate citizenship” is.
Does Burress support pay equity for women? Because that’s part of “responsible corporate citizenship.” And without pay equity – or mandatory sick days (the lack of which unequally burdens mothers and single mothers in particular) for that matter, removing – or including – all the solicitous ads Burress wants wiped out of alt weeklies isn’t going to make any difference in anyone’s quality of life.
I continue to not understand how people who complain about a nanny state keep suggesting that stuff like this should be pursued.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:10 am June 9th, 2008 in Marketing, Media, Ohio, Social Issues, Women | 3 Comments
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Jun
9
[update x2] Phil Burress, McCain & Ohio: Dumping extremists, persuading independents
Filed Under Barack Obama, Campaigning, Elections, George Bush, John McCain, Ohio, Politics, Predictions, Republicans, Ted Strickland, Voting, WH2008 | 6 Comments
Update: Bob Novak’s take today on similar issue.
Update x2: Must be the talking points that the media wants to push because here’s the NYT saying similar things, hattip to Progress Ohio. Works for me but I don’t know everyone else is so happy with it.
An article in the Los Angeles Times today provides several clues as to how hard Barack Obama will have to work to make Ohio turn blue for him, even with the solid support of Ohio’s elected Democrats.
First, the article details how the Phil Burress Citizens for Community Values types are not McCain Supporters:
Burress was not surprised when two high-level staffers from John McCain’s campaign dropped by his office, asking for his help this fall.
What surprised Burress was how badly the meeting went. He says he tried but failed to make the McCain team understand how much work remained to overcome the skepticism of social conservatives. Burress ended up cutting off the campaign officials as they spoke. “He doesn’t want to associate with us,” Burress now says of McCain, “and we don’t want to associate with him.” [emphasis added]
Well, I can certainly understand that.
Then, it discusses the lack of involvement by the McCain campaign in Ohio right now.
Some Republicans say they are also troubled that the McCain campaign has not been faster to build a get-out-the-vote operation in Ohio, a state that is again expected to be a key battleground. These Republicans, who have a close-up view of events, worry that McCain will be overpowered by Obama’s ability to motivate activists.
“I’m going to be very honest with everyone in this room,” said Hamilton County GOP Chairman Alex Triantafilou as he threw his hands in the air during a speech last week at a Republican club dinner in suburban Cincinnati. “We are a little bit frustrated with the ability of the McCain campaign to get going.”
Sounds like McCain needs some B12 shots in the derriere if you ask me.
The McCain plan for Ohio?
In Ohio, McCain will target blue-collar workers outside Cleveland and Youngstown, and in the state’s Appalachian counties in the southeast, who turned their backs on Obama in his primary contest with Hillary Rodham Clinton.
GOP officials also say that new voter-identification technology will help them make up for any falloff in conservative zeal. For example, volunteers will survey voters on special Internet phones that automatically insert their answers into the party’s massive database, called “Voter Vault.” The phone calls are used to identify potential new supporters by asking a series of questions about issues and candidates. In the past, volunteers and party staff would have spent hours typing information into the database.
Officials said the system was tested in a number of local elections last year, including the Canton, Ohio, mayoral race.
Maybe Ben Keeler can say a bit about that Canton experiment? Not sure. Anyone else with knowledge of it, feel free to chime in.
The article then turns to the Dems plans in Ohio, much of which we’ve read about before too:
The state Democratic Party last year conducted a major poll on voter attitudes that included questions on race and gender, in anticipation of a black or female nominee. Party officials said those results have helped them create a plan to target independents and conservatives, which entails recruiting neighborhood-level volunteers with local credibility to make the case for Obama. That means finding white volunteers to help in rural and exurban counties that went for Bush in 2004 and for Clinton in the primary.
In addition, about 10 Obama staff members are at work in Ohio registering voters, with an emphasis on African Americans and other core supporters. And the campaign has begun talks with a top strategist for Ohio’s popular Democratic governor, Ted Strickland, who was an early Clinton backer.
In the end, however, it’s those Phi Burress folks who spell trouble for McCain. The biggest problem I see is this: remember all those statehouse legislators who were silent, absolutely stone cold silly silent when Burress came around to change the adult entertainment law last year? And they all fell in line with him?
You tell me: what are they going to do now? How can they go out to their conservative constituencies who are not actually as conservative as Burress and be consistent? To be consistent, they would have to tell their constituents not to support McCain, if Burress doesn’t support McCain, right? Because otherwise, they have to live with pandering to Burress but crossing him on McCain, since Burress currently sees no use for McCain.
Now – if the Democrats can maximize this duplicity and politically expedient-only behavior on the part of those folks who went along with Burress’s force-fed legislative proposals which have been inflicted of all of Ohio, that conservative base that won’t go for McCain will be far larger than any amount of Independents McCain can snag from Clinton.
Just read: Read more
By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:34 am June 9th, 2008 in Barack Obama, Campaigning, Elections, George Bush, John McCain, Ohio, Politics, Predictions, Republicans, Ted Strickland, Voting, WH2008 | 6 Comments
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