Ohio SOS Caves In To Pressure from Voting-rights Groups
The Columbus Dispatch
Blackwell ends paper chase
Some could be unable to vote because of flap over registration forms
Under
fire from voting-rights advocates, Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth
Blackwell retreated yesterday from a directive that critics said would
slow voter-registration efforts and even block some people from casting
a ballot Nov. 2.
At issue
is a reminder Blackwell issued this month to county boards of election
that voter-registration forms must be printed on “white, uncoated paper
of not less than 80-pound text weight,” a heavy, cardlike stock.
…Jocelyn
Travis, Ohio coordinator for the Election Protection coalition and
People for the American Way Foundation, said, “We can’t let a piece of
paper stand between people and their right to register and vote.”
The
national coalition of more than 60 civil-rights organizations has been
assisting voters and has trained 25,000 poll monitors to assist voters
in black and Latino precincts in Ohio and 16 other states.
Last
night, a spokesman for Blackwell denied that the GOP officeholder was
trying to prevent people from voting and said county boards should
accept voter registration forms on paper of any weight as long as they
are otherwise valid.
(Click here to read the complete story.)
My hat is off to
the progressive activists who wrote letters, signed petitions, and
generally caused a big stink as the GOP tried to disenfranchise
Democratic voters in Ohio. Well done!
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