While this is more of a state issue, I think it's an important one. In the Cleveland Plain Dealer today it points out this information:
Columbus -- Looking for an easy way to register to vote? Simply print the form on the Web site of Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, fill it out by hand, and mail it in.
Looking for an even easier way to register to vote? Simply fill in the online form on Blackwell's gubernatorial campaign Web site, print it out and mail it in.
Accused by Democrats and left-leaning voter-registration groups of trying to curtail the Democratic vote, Ohio's Republican chief elections official has given his critics another reason to question his motives.
While I'm not suggesting that the motives not be questioned...Take a look at Blackwell's site. Right there on the front it states "Register to Vote". Now, head on over and visit Ted Strickland's page even if you go to "Get Involved" there is no link on voter registration. Visit the Ohio Democratic Party on their page for voter registration and the link that is supposed to be to the form doesn't work. When I tried it, and I did it several times, all that is displayed is a blank page. The Ohio GOP also has a fill in form for voter registration on their site...
While I was happy to read that the Secretary of State's office was going to make the online form for voter registration similar to what is on Blackwell's site, while Democrats are complaining, they should also perhaps be updating their websites so that it does make it easier for those who have not registered to vote to do so. That should be the goal shouldn't it?
Don't look for this type of information from either one of our local political parties though...They both direct you to Lucas County BOE. ps....Lucas County Dems...Frank is still missing and so is Mark and Mike...while you took out the blank spaces you still forgot a few, you did take out Taylor and add Lourdes...I'm really starting to worry for Mark Sobczak especially since he's not one of those pesky "other guys" and yet he's never been listed.
:-)
As an FYI type update...I did a quick check of all of the top candidates for office both Republicans and Democrats, Blackwell is the only one who has a register to vote link on his front page. Libertarian Bill Peirce also has no voter registration information; Green Party Bob Fitrakis doesn't either.
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9 comments:
Well in this situation it appears the GOP is ahead of the Democrats when it comes to making voter registration easy.
Locally, the GOP did update their website faster when I started pointing out things that needed to be updated, as I'm still waiting for the local Dems to do so. Also on a local basis, the GOP is listing candidate campaign websites.
To me it's rather ironic because you traditionally think of the Democrats as being more "new age" in their campaigning yet at least here in Ohio, the Democrats are not making use of the internet the way they could.
I also agree the good old boy party bs has gone on too long on both sides, but I still have hope that some of that will change. Especially on the Democratic side as more of the Young Democrat members start replacing some of those currently holding party positions. If they stay true to what they are now? At least locally things could change. It could very well be the same on the Young Republican front, but I haven't had any real contact with them to be able to say.
Sounds like your basement got hit, sorry to hear that. Thankfully all I had was three puddles that I'm pretty sure were from the basement windows needing to be replaced.
FYI:
When I saw this article, I looked into the technology that Blackwell is using to accomplish this. It is my understanding that inserting form results into a pdf requires a php function that is not available on all servers. It is not easy. Nonetheless ODP should figure this out.
The other question is: is Blackwell collecting the information that is submitted? There is a SS# field.
Valid point Todd, that was brought up in the Plain Dealer article, people could easily believe that they were required to provide their full SS number.
Brunner also noted that the form on Blackwell's campaign site requests an ID number. Under Ohio law, voters are required to supply only the last four digits of their Social Security numbers or their driver's license numbers. If they have neither, the state will assign them a number.
Which is why I stated there are valid questions that should or could be asked, I just think that the general concept of providing the form the way both the Ohio GOP and Blackwell is should be something Democrats should consider.
I'm really starting to worry for Mark Sobczak especially since he's not one of those pesky "other guys" and yet he's never been listed.
I'm afraid that Irish and Montalto are still working on his resume because there isn't much more to it than 'union hack.'
Maybe we could have a contest here to help them make Mark look like more than that. Any ideas??
Lisa- thank you for trying [again] to wake up the Ohio Democratic Party. When will they ever learn that they cannot muscle their man into office like they have been able to do in years past?
Mr. Redfern, did you read this posting? Are you aware of the Blackwell site and the simple registration form?
While we might be able to excuse the stupidity of which we have been accustomed at our local Democratic headquarters, we do expect just a little more intelligence at the state level.
Mr. Redfern?
HELLO.......hello....
Hopefully some of those in a position to do something did read this LD, I do know that for this week this particular post is ranked second in number of reads and for a brief time it was the number one ranked post over at Lefty Blogs.
I also saw in Technorati that Russell over at Buckeye State Blog posted the the link. "Someone" thanks you Russell.
:-)
Paul, while you know how I feel about Blackwell, I do have to agree with you that this issue isn't one to attack him on. What I found interesting was no one mentioned that the Ohio GOP has the exact same format for voter registration information. I don't know who did it first.
I also read Michael Meckler's article that mentions this topic. He points out that the URL question that was raised by Brunner is related to the website design/creator. I'm assuming since the Ohio GOP offers a similar format that their website was done by the same person/persons.
I believe we do need to better embrace technology and on this one? Blackwell and the Ohio GOP have done a better job.
Lisa,
Let me see if I have this right:
Ken Blackwell, a Republican (who has a voter registration form available on his web site) is being accused by Democrats and left-leaning voter-registration groups (who provide no such voter registration service/feature) of trying to curtail the Democratic vote, by enabling easy voter registration, by EVERYONE.
Yup, I see it now, a definite pro voter/voting bias.
How utterly despicable…
Ken Blackwell should be subjected to severe retraining, in order to stop him from making it easy for ANYONE to vote.
Democrats in particular, are rightfully indignant and offended by Ken’s obvious attempt to allow citizens to vote.
Why, there oughta be a law or something…
Pretty much Hooda, me being the devious sort, I'd suggest people use the GOP and Blackwell's handy dandy easy manner of filling out a voter registration form. Heck, I'd thank him for providing it for all of us because very few people are going to base their vote on who provided the best voter registration format.
:-)
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