Chabot turned away from poll
Howard Wilkinson reports:
Congressman Steve Chabot found out just how serious elections officials are about the new voter ID law when he showed up to vote at his polling place in Westwood.
Chabot went into the polling place at Westwood First Presbyterian Church about 9:30 a.m. and pulled out his Ohio driver’s license to show the poll workers. They looked at his license, and told the congressman that, even though they know perfectly well who he is, his driver’s license was issued to his business office, not his home, which is his voting address.
Somewhat sheepishly, Chabot went back out into the parking lot, jumped in his 1993 Buick - the one he talked about on his campaign commercials - and drove back to his home a few blocks away to find a proper ID.
“I guess I’ll see if I can find a utility bill,” Chabot said. “That’s the law. You have to have proper ID.”
Chabot returned about 10 minutes later with a bank statement and a Social Security Administration statement in hand.
He went inside and voted quickly.
"My wife told me to bring two documents just to be sure," Chabot said. "I guess this just shows the poll workers are really doing their job."
25 Comments:
That's good news for Chabot, then.
Cranley's labor-union cronies won't be able to infiltrate their travelling goon-squad to vote at every precinct.
Not a big Chabot fan, BUT, according to the Hamilton Co BOE, an driver's license can have eithe the current or old address on it an still be used. This is because people frequently move and do not change their address until the license is up for renewal. Seems like someone was lokking fo rtheir 15 minutes of fam...
See the "ecceptions" on the link:
http://www.hamilton-co.org/boe/August%202006%20Newsbrief.pdf
I was at the poll when Chabot came in. The poll workers were great. They told him that even though they recognized him, they still needed to verify his ID. That's exactly how the system is supposed to work. No exceptions! Good job everyone for doing what they're supposed to and following the law!
I saw two people turned away from my polling place with the same problem. The state's election rules also say that a photo id can have an old address:
http://www.sos.state.oh.us/sos/id/index.htm
Stories in the Columbus dispatch report the same problem, but their reporters appear to know that the rules allow for an id with an old address....
Accordin to the Ohio Secretary of State's web-site you can use an Ohio Driver's license or Ohio photo ID even if it shows a previous address. I don't know what this means as far as his office address goes, it sounds like funny business to me.
These are the bullshit guideines that Blackwell created. Fortunatley in this indident, the pollworker was dead wrong.
Its not a bad law, but it is not being enforced everywhere. No one in line with me this morning was asked to provide an ID.
I think it important to report this driver's license misinterpretation to Ham Cty BOE. They can do some realtime educations with poll workers
Why the heck didn't Chabot know the law? If he was any kind of a leader, he would have stood up for it, knowing he would saved a lot of people from being disenfranchised.
Anon 12:21--
Did you vote in Ohio? If so, you have a scoop. I would contact the BOE or the media outlet of your choice.
Why the hell do we have to show ID to vote, anyway? Why can't we just vote? Is this still a free country?
When I was a child, my parents told me how terrible Communist countries were. I imagined that in Communist countries, you had to show ID to do everything. Look where we are now...
hilarious!!! shows how out of touch good old Chabby really is
You all are over looking the fact that it has his busisness office not an old house address. if it had an old house address i dont think there would have been a challenge, but why does it have a busisness address on a drivers licence is what i would like to know.
No, it's not right, and yes, it's happening ALL around the state today. The same exact thing happened to me today, even though I've voted in every single election and primary since 1992. I just have a few points to make:
1. BOOYA. How does it feel to be on the other side, Chab-O?
2. It's NOT the law. According to ALL the experts and everyone OVERSEEING the "election," it's NOT SUPPOSED to matter if your ID address doesn't match as long as it's correct in the book. Poll workers are NOT SUPPOSED to be sending people away.
3. This is what this law is ALL ABOUT...disenfranchising folks---dems, repubs, indies...doesn't matter. Sooner or later...you're going to be the unpopular one, fighting against the majority power, and this dumb law is nothing more than allowing for whoever's in power to control the "election" "results."
4. These people running the polls can't even SHOW UP for their damn job (several have gone MIA throughout the state already, for example, in Cleveland)...and we think they can learn all these convoluted "rules" which BTW ALL contradict one another?
5. So if you contest all these stupid rules, who stands up for you?
I got sent back and forth SEVERAL times by both Republicans AND Democrats. In the end, whatever you get told by the Trilobites that run your polling center is what you have to do, and NOBODY else is going to stand by you to help.
6. And so, in the end, we're so damned worried about free elections in countries where the majority of people actually want a theocracy, and here, in the U.S., where we want a democracy, we can't even get people from our own party affiliation to HELP US vote freely, without hassle and within the so-called law "guidelines."
Got democracy?
I'm all for having to show an ID and having efficient poll workers, but if the law says your license doesn't have to show your current address, then that's the law and the poll worker should be aware of it.
By the way, here in California they did not ask me for my ID just now, they simply took my name off my sample ballot. They also were not terribly efficient or even paying much attention.
Voter fraud? There have been four, count 'em, four cases of people voting illegally in Ohio in the past two presidential elections. The greater problem is fradulent registrations and uncounted provisionals. Also, credentialed media are allowed in polling places, according to Blackwell's spokesman. So poll workers are breaking the law ONCE AGAIN. Might as well call it a homeland security lockdown.
Well Said Michelle! I don't want anyone voting on my behalf and that's the whole point of the ID system. It's not that difficult and I prefer to be ID'd. That way I know I've made my choices, not some idiot making them for me. This should send a huge message to those with Chabby on their ballot. If he doesn't know the rules - do you really want him in office???
He jumped into his car and drove without a drivers license?
"...because of all the problems with voter fraud in the all too recent past..." Actually, no, there have been almost no cases of this kind of serious voter fraud in the recent past. This is a canard used by the Rethuglicans to justify their tactics of disenfranchisement.
Just imagine if Chabot had voted after going to work and wasn't able to go home and return to the polling place before it closed? Or what if Chabot didn't own a Buick to drive home in and had to walk or catch a bus? Poll workers shouldn't be turning people away from the polls!
I thought you could just give the last 4 digits of your social security number....
The problem with requiring everyone to show IDs is that
1) people voting fraudulently under false identities is extremely rare, and
2) many people in poor or minority districts (mostly democrats, in other words) won't have the IDs required by law. They may have been born at home rather than a hospital, never even had a use for a driver's licence, the list goes on and on. Chabot used a bank statement and Social Security Administration statement. How many people will know that these are acceptable forms of ID? Will the poll workers tell them? How many will have these even if they know and/or are told?
The truth is that this is a dirty tactic designed to disproportianetly disenfranchise the poor and minority groups while hiding behind the sanctity of "secure elections."
The law procedure is there only to certify the identity of the voter, not his address. If they said they knew Chabot, they should let him (or another in the same condition) to vote normally. Why not respect the law around the world in important things, and don't bother about this trifle.
Just further evidence that although we are fighting for democracy in Iraq, (i mean i think that is why we are there) we are losing democracy here at home...It is further evidence that we are turning into a police state...Wake up America...your losing your constitution...
I FEEL THAT THIS IDENTITY THING IS MESSED UP. MY DAUGHTER HAD HER SCHOOL ID WITH A PICTURE AND HER BIRTH CERTIFICATE ,AND HER VOTER REGISTRATION CARD. AND WAS TURNED AWAY. I FEEL THAT THIS IS ANOTHER REPUBLICAN TRICK TO KEEP THE MINORITY VOTERS DISCOURAGED AND MAKE THE YOUNGER ONES FEEL THAT THEIR VOTE DONT COUNT.
Easy enough for Chabot, but what about people for whom it's difficult to get to the polls in the first place? Like poor people. What if someone takes two buses to get there, and can't just jump in the car like Chabot and return quickly. Some people might not be able to get home again and then back to the polls before they close.
This kind of law is just a Republican attempt to suppress Democratic-leaning votes.
Nancy Irving
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