|
Updated 10.17.08
Read the latest voting rights litigation news
go»
Election Day is November 4, 2008 – Are you ready? Check out our new
VOTE! page for all the latest resources.
You can download ACLU voter rights handouts:
- 10 things you should do this election season
- VOTE! What every college student needs to know
- The ten questions civil libertarians should be asking candidates
- Voter Empowerment Card
- Student poll worker program information for students, parents
and teachers
Find links for:
- The Ohio Secretary of State’s website to download a voter registration form, check your registration status, or request an absentee ballot.
- A directory of Ohio’s 88 county Boards of Elections.
- Information on voting in other states
- Ways to report problems, including the ACLU’s online voter feedback form.
Key dates for 2008 election
Tuesday, September 30 → Absentee and early voting begins in Ohio
Monday, October 6 → Deadline to register for the November election
Tuesday, November 4 → Election Day
The right to vote has
been called the
“vital principle of self-government and individual liberty.”
When you register to vote and participate in elections, you play a
critical role in preserving our democracy.
What’s Happening Nationally
In June 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court decided a pair of cases upholding the constitutionality of voter ID requirements: Crawford v. Marion County Election Board, No. 07-21 (an
ACLU case) and Indiana Democratic Party v. Rokita, No. 07-25.
Read more about these cases.
What’s happening in Ohio
Election Reform
The ACLU of Ohio monitors state and local government
for any changes to election policy, including voting systems.
In April 2008, the ACLU of Ohio released a report detailing problems
that occurred during the March 2008 primary election, along with
recommended remedies. Read the report
here.
In December 2007, Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner issued a report on
voting technology systems and proposed changes, including a
return to unconstitutional non-notice technology. The ACLU of Ohio, as
well as other organizations, opposed these changes.
Read more on Professor Daniel Tokaji's
blog on election-related issues.
In September 2007, the ACLU of Ohio released a report on systemic Ohio
election problems from 2004-present. The report urged the Secretary of State and Boards of Elections
to address these concerns prior to the 2008 election.
Read the press
release and
list
of recommendations.
Youth Poll Workers
In 2006, Ohio law was changed to allow 17-year-old high school seniors
to serve as poll workers. The ACLU of Ohio encourages
young people to get active!
Information for students
Information for teachers
Read Staff Attorney Carrie Davis' April 22, 2008 testimony
in support of student poll workers
before the Ohio Senate State and Local Government and Veterans Affairs Committee.
Read Staff Attorney Carrie Davis'
January 10, 2008 testimony in support of student poll workers before the Ohio House State Government and
Elections Committee.
ACLU Litigation
Voting by Newly Registered Voters
Several lawsuits were filed in September and October 2008 relating to the so-called “5-day window” during which someone can register and immediately request or cast an absentee ballot. While these cases began as a challenge to same-day registration, they have morphed into a bigger challenge to rights of all newly registered voters.
- State ex rel. Colvin v. Brunner (Ohio Supreme Court) – Two registered voters filed suit against Secretary Brunner asking the Ohio Supreme Court to reject same-day registration and voting.
- Project Vote v. Madison County Board of Elections (Northern District Ohio federal court) – The ACLU, representing voters and voter outreach groups, filed suit against Madison County and Secretary Brunner, asking the Court to declare that new voters should not be subjected to “waiting periods” or threats of prosecution for voting early.
- Ohio Republican Party v. Brunner (Southern District Ohio federal court) – After the ACLU filed suit in the Northern District, the Ohio Republican Party (ORP) filed suit against Secretary Brunner in the Southern District alleging that her directives violate various federal laws. The ACLU is amicus in the case.
- ORP asked the District Court for a TRO to prohibit same-day registration.
Read the ACLU’s amicus brief opposing ORP’s request and asking the court to not impose a “waiting period” on new voters.
-
Read the District Court’s Sept. 30, 2008 order
abstaining from ruling on same-day registration in light of the Ohio Supreme Court’s decision.
- ORP then filed a renewed TRO motion alleging that Secretary Brunner violated the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) by not properly verifying new registrations against computer databases. ORP asked the Court to order Brunner to re-process all voters who registered since January 1, 2008.
Read the ACLU’s amicus brief
opposing ORP’s request on the grounds that ORP's proposed computer matching is unreliable and not required by HAVA, and that potentially removing voters in this manner would violate federal voting rights law.
-
Read the District Court’s order granting the TRO.
- Secretary Brunner appealed the TRO to the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Read the ACLU’s amicus brief urging the 6th Circuit to vacate the TRO.
-
Read the Sixth Circuit's October 10th opinion granting Brunner's motion to stay the district court's October 9th order.
-
On October 14, the full Sixth Circuit, sitting en banc
reinstated the district court's TRO.
Read the decision.
-
Brunner has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the en banc
Sixth Circuit Decision.
Read the application for a stay of the Temporary Restraining
Order.
-
On October 17, the ACLU of Ohio and ACLU Voting Rights Project filed an amicus brief in the U. S. Supreme
Court, in support of Secretary Brunner's request to overturn the Sixth Circuit Court's decision.
Read the amicus brief.
-
On October 17, the U.S. Supreme Court granted the stay and
vacated the TRO.
Read the
Supreme Court decision.
Absentee Ballot Request Forms – State ex rel. Myles v. Brunner (Ohio Supreme Court)
The McCain presidential campaign sent absentee ballot request forms
to roughly a million Ohio voters. Secretary of State Brunner instructed
boards of elections to reject any forms where the voter failed to check
a box next to a statement that they are an eligible elector. Voters who
received the McCain mailers and had their absentee ballot requests
rejected filed suit in the Ohio Supreme Court. The ACLU, together with
other voting rights advocates, filed an amicus brief opposing Brunner’s
position as one of form over substance. Ohio law requires the request to
contain certain information but does not have to be in any specific
form. The Ohio Supreme Court
ACLU of Ohio v. Brunner
In April 2008, the ACLU of Ohio was victorious in a lawsuit challenging
the return to non-notice technology in Ohio. Secretary of State
Jennifer Brunner proposed the switch in December 2007, mere months
before the March 2008 primary. The ACLU Voting Rights Project and the
ACLU of Ohio challenged these systems as unconstitutional because
without notice, votes, particularly those in African American
communities, are uncounted because of mistakes on the ballot. In light
of new legislation outlawing the type of non-notice voting technology
used in Cuyahoga County, the State filed an agreement not to use any
type of non-notice technology for upcoming elections.
Read more about the case, including press releases and testimony to the
Cuyahoga County Board of Elections,
here.
Boustani v. Blackwell
On October 4, 2006, the ACLU of Ohio and other voting rights groups
prevailed in this important lawsuit. The groups
challenged a provision that would have allowed poll workers to inquire
if a voter is a naturalized citizen and require those voters to provide
proof that they were naturalized. The law singled out one group of U.S.
citizens and placed an unfair burden on them to cast their ballot.
Read more about the case, including press releases and testimony to the
Cuyahoga County Board of Elections,
here.
Stewart v. Blackwell
The ACLU sued the State of Ohio after the 2000 presidential election
exposed several constitutional and statutory violations in the process
by which elections were conducted in several Ohio counties. Disparities
between punch-card and optical scanning and/or touch screen systems
arbitrarily deprive voters of the equal protection of the law and the
right to due process. Statistics show that voters in counties that use
punch-card systems are more likely to be African-American and/or
indigent.
Read more about the case, including press releases and testimony to
the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections,
here.
Get Active!
- Register to vote and participate in
elections. The
Secretary of
State oversees the election process in each of Ohio's 88
counties.
- Democracy needs an operator! Become a poll worker.
Elections cannot be held without poll workers. You are eligible if
you are a registered voter, are available for training sessions, and
can work on Election Day. Compensation is available. Please contact your
local board of elections
for details.
- Host an ACLU Freedom Files voting rights party. Invite your friends
and neighbors to view a Freedom Files episode about voting rights and
learn about elections in Ohio. We supply the material, you supply the
get-together. To learn more about the ACLU TV series, click
here. For help
setting up a party, send an
email to the ACLU office.
Resources
Ohio Secretary of
State's website
Cuyahoga Election
Review Panel Final Report, July 20, 2006
Our
Voter Empowerment Card gives you all the information you need to
make sure your vote counts.
Can Homeowner’s Associations Regulate Political Speech?
Voter information from League of Women Voters of Ohio
Voting rights updates across the country from the
national ACLU
Election reform and voting rights
blog
by Dan Tokaji, ACLU of Ohio board member, volunteer attorney, and voting
rights advocate
Information and insight on the laws governing federal, state, and local
elections from Ohio State University's
Moritz
College of Law
Read
From Registration to Recounts: The Election Ecosystems of Five
Midwestern States, published by Election Law @ Moritz.
While Ohio restores voting rights to people convicted of felonies, many
states do not, garnering international condemnation. Read
Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
Also see the ACLU report
Race & Ethnicity in America: Turning a Blind Eye to Injustice.
Read voting rights press releases and news articles in our
News Center.
 |
| |
|
news center
volunteer