The County's Pre-election Witch Hunt

[Algorem]

http://www.clevescene.com/stories/15/76/the-countys-preelection-witch-hunt
Letters 10-15-2008

On Tuesday, October 7, I attended a Cuyahoga County Board of Elections (CCBOE) meeting. I wanted to make sure absentee-vote totals were going to be separated from election-day vote totals. What I observed was a witch hunt.

The GOP is applying pressure to the board to sniff out questionable voter-registration cards, especially those by effective voter-registration projects, and call it "voter fraud." ACORN, a respected community organizing agency, was called in to answer questions about "fishy" and duplicate voter-registration cards. During the increasingly hostile interrogation, ACORN admitted that it lacks the resources to catch every potentially fraudulent voter-registration card. (I was reminded of Republican board member Bob Bennett's insistence that "no election is perfect," back when he was pushing e-voting systems down our throats.) The next day's Plain Dealer reported it this way: "ACORN: Possible Fraud." Fox News and the conveyor-belt media ran with it, and within minutes, blogs and GOP sites were linking Barack Obama and Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner to this "shady organization."

ACORN is required, by law, to turn in all registration forms, lest it be accused of partisan filtering. Of the tens of thousands (65,000 to 80,000) new registrations in Cuyahoga, the occurrence of duplications is marginal. ACORN's quality-control process involves calling voters to try to assess the legitimacy of the cards. They then group cards into categories, "verified," "unable to verify" and "problematic registrations." ACORN employs many canvassers. They do not have a sophisticated voter-registration database that tracks change transactions nor signature-recognition technology.

During the interrogation by the CCBOE, ACORN described the response from one man submitting multiple voter-registration cards: "I was only trying to help the kids!" (I concluded that he was probably referring to the young canvassers who are engaging in a meaningful civic activity.) ACORN representatives said numerous times that they wanted to work with the BOE to catch questionable registration cards (which the county's Diebold voter-registration system is supposed to catch!)...






http://www.wruw.org/guide/show.php?show_id=433

Doing Democracy
with Victoria
Tuesdays 9:00am - 10:00am
Genre(s): Public Affairs










We Are Demo
Devo And Black Keys Team Up In Akron For Obama

http://www.clevescene.com/stories/15/76/we-are-demo

It's the ultimate Akron-bands concert, and it's a benefit for the Democrats: Devo and the Black Keys will play a rally for the Summit County Democratic Party at the Rubber City's Civic Theatre this Friday, October 17.

"The last couple elections, we were living in California, and you're around all these people that thought Al Gore was going to win," explains Devo frontman Mark Mothersbaugh from his home in Los Angeles, where he's lived since the band scored a record deal in 1976. "And we were surprised when we realized not everybody in the world felt the same way. And this time, we wanted to see if we could do something to help. And it's not necessary out here in California."

Though the new-wave group is best known for wearing triangular red energy domes in 1980's kitschy "Whip It" video, its political convictions run deep. Devo's core quartet - Mothersbaugh, his brother Bob, co-mastermind Gerald Casale and brother Bob Casale - met at Kent State University in 1970. Later that year, the arty young students were present at the protests that culminated in the National Guard opening fire on students, killing four and wounding nine.

The Obama concert was announced last week and was initially just a Devo show. The Black Keys, Akron's two-man reigning representatives to the rock world, quickly volunteered to open. Drummer Patrick Carney has called Devo "one of my favorite bands ever" and once stalked the Mothersbaugh brothers when the band returned to town for 1997's Lollapalooza. (This Moment in Black History, whose new single is "Obama ," was offered an acoustic opening slot, but declined.) All proceeds benefit the Summit County Democratic Party...