Ohio voting rights talk of the Nation and elsewhere

Fallout from last month's Rolling Stone article on Ohio's 2004 voting problems barely cooled. . . and along comes the July 17 edition of The Nation featuring an article on Ohio's past and future voting concerns.

Titled, "The Coming Ballot Meltdown," the article by Andrew Gumbel foretells problems in upcoming elections. Peg Rosenfield, a former Secretary of State employee who has served as an elections specialist for more than 20 years with the League of Women Voters of Ohio, offered this assessment on why chaos ensues locally on election day: "It's not that anyone will be out to steal the election necessarily,'' Rosenfield told The Nation. "They don't need to -- we can screw it up all by ourselves.''

The full article appears here:
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060717/gumbel

New reaction to Robert F. Kennedy's article, "Was the 2004 Election Stolen?" including by former President Clinton, and word of a lawsuit to be filed by RFK and others is posted here:
http://www.rollingstone.com/nationalaffairs
and here:
http://www.rochester-citynews.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A4545

Meanwhile, a coalition of civic groups said it will announce legal action on new Ohio voter registration requirements Thursday at a Cleveland news conference, at 10 a.m. on the front steps of the Carl B. Stokes Federal Courthouse.

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit include Project Vote, ACORN, People For the American Way Foundation, Communities of Faith Assemblies Church and Common Cause Ohio. All the groups conduct voter registration drives they say are hampered by new state requirements.

The voting rights debate also has heated up in Congress and at the Statehouse.

In the race for Ohio's 1st District, Democrat John Cranley will be joined at a Friday news conference by U.S. Rep. Artur Davis, who represents Birmingham and Selma, Ala., in the 7th District. Also speaking at the 11 a.m. news conference at Integrity Hall, 2081 Seymour Ave., Bond Hill, will be the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth and former Cincinnati Vice Mayor Alicia Reece. According to campaign spokesman Elliott Ruther, Cranley plans to take a "voting rights" pledge. Reauthorization of the federal Voting Rights Act is being debated by Congress.

At the Statehouse, meanwhile, Democrats today urged Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act.

State Senate Democratic Whip Teresa Fedor of Toledo sponsored the Ohio resolution. Congressional Republicans recently prevented the federal act, formally titled, "The Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks and Coretta Scott King Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendment Act of 2006" from being reauthorized, insisting on changes.

State Rep. Lance T. Mason, a Shaker Heights Democrat, said he plans to introduce a similar voting rights resolution in the Ohio House.

The federal Act was first passed in 1965 to ensure voting rights of African Americans. Before its passage, many African Americans were subjected to literacy tests, poll taxes and other scare tactics to keep them away from the polls.

When then-President Johnson signed the federal act, he said, "There is no Negro problem. There is no Southern problem. There is only an American problem. . .Every American citizen must have the right to vote. . ."

"I believe that America still has a problem," Fedor said in a prepared statement. "Ohio still has a problem. We have had more than our fair share of voter suppression tactics and schemes just in the past few years. While our men and women are overseas trying to help Iraqis win the right to vote, it is shameful that Republicans at home would prevent renewing the Voting Rights Act."

"Ohio and other states are returning to schemes reminiscent of poll taxes, literacy tests, and other Jim Crow-like behavior," Fedor said. "The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was historic. Unfortunately, 41 years later we still have a lot of work to do in ensuring every eligible American has the right to vote. Without question, America still has a problem, and that is why I am urging Congress to reauthorize this Act."