Bad Deeds for 7-9-2011

 

New Republican Voter Suppression Tactic – The Republican-controlled Ohio House tweaked a bill to weaken a law mandating poll workers to direct voters in the wrong precinct to their correct voting location. Under the new language, a poll worker need not direct a voter to where they are eligible, adding that “it is the duty of the individual casting the ballot to ensure that the individual is casting that ballot in the correct precinct.”

Allowing poll workers to refuse to help those who are legitimately confused about where they should vote opens the door for increased voter suppression. As state Sen. Nina Turner (D) pointed out, “Voting in the wrong precinct led to over 14,000 registered voters statewide to lose their vote in 2008.” Rating the statement “true,” Politifact reports:

[T]he second most common reason the ballot was not counted was because while the person was properly registered to vote in Ohio, they cast the ballot in the wrong county or precinct. In all, 14,335 such ballots were not counted for this reason, according to the Brunner report.

Of those 14,000-plus ballots, 3,423 were cast in Cuyahoga County, home to Turner’s district and by far the county with the most uncounted provisional ballots during the November 2008 elections due to wrong place filings.

As the Cleveland Plain Dealer pointed out, mixing up precincts “most often occurs” in “urban and impoverished areas of the state,”

 

Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Tries to Get Contribution From the Koch Brothers – While Democrats have criticized the Koch Brothers for their channeling gobs of money into political campaigns, that hasn’t stopped them from trying to get in on the action. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee reportedly has called Koch Industries to ask that it renew its $30,000 donation from last year. Koch Industries president Philip Ellender shot a letter back to DSCC chair Sen. Patty Murray highlighting the hypocrisy.

 

Koch Foreign Subsidiary Made Illegal Donations – Speaking of Koch Industries, a Luxembourg-based subsidiary of the company admitted this week to the Federal Election Commission that it has made illegal campaign contributions to political candidates and committees.

 

Coal Company Plans to Dig Coal Mine Beneath School – One of the largest coal companies in the United States, Arch Coal, wants to dig a coal mine directly underneath Buckhannon-Upshur High School, in Upshur County, West Virginia. The Upshur County Board of Education is leading the opposition to the proposed mine, citing concerns about the possibility of explosive methane gas leaking into the high school. The Board said last month it will “take all necessary steps to ensure the health and safety of its students and staff.

 

The Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan Have Cost About a Trillion Dollars More Than the Total Cost of the Space Shuttle Program – From the program’s inception in 1972 to its end almost 40 years later, the Space Shuttle program has cost $196.5 billion, only $14 billion more than the AIG bailout, or about a trillion dollars less than the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Regards,

Jim