First off, a great story about the tremendous voter protection work we did in Florida (patting self on back):
For nearly a month, Zeigler has worked with five volunteers to help voters in five counties whose registrations had not met the state's verification law, better known as the "no match, no vote" law. In Duval County alone, there were 258. Zeigler is one of the people who has worked on election-protection efforts in seven swing states, sponsored by the nonprofit Common Cause.
But the big story today is about Obama, of course, and the incredible moment in American history and American democracy. Indeed, we have many problems to solve and a ton of work to do, but yesterday's numbers tell a promising story: over
130 million votes cast, a turnout over 62% that is
the highest in at least 44 years, led by the historic level of
young voter turnout. And, of course, the first African-American president in our history.
One of the untold stories of this election was the lengthy, and often under-the-radar, work by the Election Protection coalition that we were a part of -- winning court battles, organizing on the ground, and preventing potential election problems in the months and years before Election Day. Folks like our Florida team did a tremendous job of making sure every voter had a chance to cast a ballot that counted.
We still have too much big money in our politics, too many deceptive practices in our elections, and too few companies controlling too many major media outlets. We have a lot to do to continue to mold this beacon of democracy -- but yesterday was a big step forward in many, many ways.
A bit more on Ohio. I just wrote about the wrongful use of provisional ballots, a repeat of a 2006 problem.
Turns out there's more in Ohio that mirrors 2006 and 2004: voters being inexplicably dropped from the rolls.
Voters in Cuyahoga County (Cleveland) and Franklin County (Columbus) are reporting that:
* after voting from same address for years, they suddenly have disappeared from the list at polls
* they received a voter registration card/notice of registration and precinct, as recently as this fall -- yet are not on the poll registry
* they are on the statewide database (DB) but not on the poll registry
Ohio is facing the same problem they faced in 2006: voters being forced to cast provisional ballots when by law they should be casting regular ballots.
It's a frustrating problem; it's hard to tell how wide the scope of it is, but all signs point to a statewide issue. Here are the basics:
The provisional ballot problem largely stems from a misinterpretation of the state's new ID requirements. Voters can demonstrate their eligibility by presenting identification such as a utility bill or a driver's license, even if the license has an old address, but dozens of voters report poll workers who did not accept such ID and forced them to cast a provisional ballot. While a regular paper ballot would be counted today, a provisional ballot may or may not be counted within ten days. Voters casting provisional ballots are advised to return to their BOE and present additional ID within that time frame - an unnecessary burden for voters who have followed the law and should have their votes counted immediately.
Common Blog
