Live from the Nuke Free Zone

Several of the Zoners and their friends, in various states, have signed up to be pollwatchers, voter assistants, or volunteers in similar positions in various states throughout the country. Though we each have different job descriptions, and some of our jobs are nonpartisan, we all have the same purpose: try to get as many people to vote as possible. None of us are actively involved in depressing voter turnout in any way, even if we’re being partisan about trying to turn out our vote.

From this and a couple of newspaper stories, one would thus be able to deduce that none of us has signed up as a pollwatcher for the GOP in Ohio. That’s right — the Ohio GOP is doing their best, both institutionally and through volunteers, to depress voter turnout among Democrats and newly registered voters, who, in Ohio, seem to be mostly Democratic. (I weep that thousands of people would actually volunteer to do this… maybe they don’t really know what they’re signing up to do?)

The strategies take two forms. First, the Ohio GOP has challenged over 35,000 new voter registrations, solely on the basis of a letter that was sent several months ago and returned as undeliverable. The letters were sent no later than August 31, so one must give at least a moment’s credence to the notion that the party waited until 10 days before the election to challenge the registrations for the purpose of burdening the electoral system, producing maximum confusion among new registrants.

Second, and far more disturbing, is the systematic effort by the Ohio GOP to sign up thousands of volunteers for the sole purpose of challenging voters’ qualifications at the Ohio polls. Well, “volunteers” so to speak — each of the 3,600 workers, “many in heavily Democratic urban neighborhoods of Cleveland, Dayton and other cities,” will be paid $100. Let’s be clear: this is not even an effort to challenge Democratic likelies and aid Republican likelies, and by far not an attempt to clean up any election confusion by challenging new registrants but helping them to clear up any information. These people are specifically going to challenge new registrants, who are probably Democratically registered, based on lists that the Party will provide recruits. One example of their lack of respect for human dignity is this casual statement on one of their areas of focus, quoted from the man in charge of the state’s GOP volunteer training for this effort:

Among other things, he said, the recruits will be taught how to challenge mentally disabled voters who are assisted by anyone other than their legal guardians.

Maybe they figure the mentally disabled scare easily.

The strategy has effects ranging far beyond the specific persons challenged: a large number of challenges would tie up polling staff and possibly contribute to delaying the process, turning off would-be first-time voters or voters on tight schedules. In addition, Democrats traditionally are more sensitive to Election Day problems, turning out less for Election Day when events like rain or long lines occur. (Psst, Dems: let’s not let that get to us this year, huh? Stick it out, and don’t let anyone say you can’t vote.)

The Democrats are also signing up volunteers; Democratic volunteers’ job is to help voters answer challenges, suggest provisional ballots if the proper documentation can’t immediately be found (most states allow a voter with challenged status to fill out a ballot which is set aside and counted after the voter comes in to the appropriate authority within the next few days and presents the proper paperwork to prove their eligibility), and generally get voters connected to ballots.

So one party is doing its best to keep people from voting. The other is doing its best to see that people can vote. Readers, my mother is a Republican. And she ain’t that kind of elephant. If you’re a member of the Republican Party, think for a moment — is this really the kind of American political party you want to be a part of?