From Paul Lehto: About a half hour ago, the NYT reported that the 6th Circuit Federal Court of appeals denied the Ohio GOPs position concerning a disputed early voting window that allows Ohio voters to register and cast a ballot on the same day, upholding SOS Brunner's policy in the process. At the very least, the GOP wanted those ballots segregated, but that request was also denied.
But the 3 judge 6th Circuit Court of Appeals panel also slammed election transparency in the next breath -- while also defeating the GOPs request. While the lower court didn't reach all the issues presented and granted the GOPs case in part and denied it in part, the part the lower court Granted seemed to me to be an unqualified good thing, and reasonable request well founded in law. Instead, the 6th Circuit panel REVERSED the trial court's TRO that required, against SOS Brunner's express policy denying this right, poll observers be allowed to observe early voting. The trial court had ordered that in the name of election integrity, basically, and specifically alluded to the fact that in no way did observers burden the right to vote, it only inconvenienced (at best) the state, and increased the chance of a fraud-FREE election. But the Court of Appeals claimed this pro-transparency lower court ruling sought and won by the GOP was an "abuse of discretion." Unbelievable. The New York Times Summary on this Issue: The appeals court also gave Brunner a second victory, rejecting a GOP challenge to her advisory that county boards of elections weren't required to allow poll observers during early voting. A federal judge in Columbus issued a temporary restraining order against Brunner's instructions Monday. But the appeals court overturned that ruling, saying the district court had abused its discretion in granting the order. <http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/washington/AP-Ohio-Early-Voting.html?_r=1&oref=slogin>http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/washington/AP-Ohio-Early-Voting.html?_r=1&oref=slogin Two Big Victories for Brunner, but one clear Defeat for Democracy, the segregation of ballots detail on the first issue I'm unsure of the details on, and so I can't decide. Certainly same day registration and voting, with proper ID, is ok as practiced this year in 9 states. Paul P.O. Box #1 Ishpeming, MI 49849 <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>[EMAIL PROTECTED] 906-204-2333 --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's "News From Underground" newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the "Unsubscribe or change membership" link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the "Unsubscribe" button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
