January 22, 201411 yr The downtown location is centally located, has multiple access points for public transportation, and is closest to those voters who are disadvantaged in terms of being able to be mobile. On the whole, for those who can afford a car, it is the best location. Under any analysis, for those who can't afford a car, it is the best location. It's simple logic. Not quite correct. While downtown is certainly far more accessible in terms of the current bus routes, it is not "centrally located." Mt. Airy is centrally located. I would like to see a study before a move is approved. Let's examine the number of those who vote early and what percentage actually arrive via the metro. The downtown location is probably a hindrance to some voters who, while they own cars, do not have the flexibility of circumstances to vote on election day. What do those numbers look like? Also, what is the purpose of early voting? Is it to make voting convenient for the largest number of people, or is it to make voting convenient for folks without cars?
January 22, 201411 yr With a lot of blue-collar work the shifts are too long to allow someone to vote during the normal hours on a weekday.
January 22, 201411 yr The downtown location is centally located, has multiple access points for public transportation, and is closest to those voters who are disadvantaged in terms of being able to be mobile. On the whole, for those who can afford a car, it is the best location. Under any analysis, for those who can't afford a car, it is the best location. It's simple logic. Not quite correct. While downtown is certainly far more accessible in terms of the current bus routes, it is not "centrally located." Mt. Airy is centrally located. I would like to see a study before a move is approved. Let's examine the number of those who vote early and what percentage actually arrive via the metro. The downtown location is probably a hindrance to some voters who, while they own cars, do not have the flexibility of circumstances to vote on election day. What do those numbers look like? Also, what is the purpose of early voting? Is it to make voting convenient for the largest number of people, or is it to make voting convenient for folks without cars? It's not an exact science, but it is centrally located from any objective standpoint even if there might be a more exact central location. And it not only offers bus routes, but also rapid routes and is at the point of convergance of nearly every major roadway. As for the goal of early voting, I would say it is premised on the notion that not everyone can spare the time on election day to go to the polls, such as the people who may work two jobs, or who have don't have nannies for their kids, or who are not high up enough on the ladder at the workplace to take a two hour lunch break. It is a convenience for many, but more importantly it is a necessity for some who want to cast in-person ballots. Absentee voting probably disproportionately benefits the elderly, active duty military personnel, and college kids. Nothing wrong with that. Every one can take adavantage of it. Early voting probably disproportionately benefits the economically disadvantaged, yet there is no means testing to engage in it. Nothing wrong with that either.
January 22, 201411 yr Author Early voting enables activists to find their voters and bring them to the voting location for many days in a row. It makes it easier for people who have to work around appointments.
January 22, 201411 yr Bus times (approx) to Broadway 1 hr - Mt Washington .25 - .5 Clifton .5 - 1 hr - Oakley .5 - 1 hr - Westwood .75 - Madisonville .75 - 1 hr - Sayler Park Bus times (approx) to Mt Airy Hospital 1.5 - 2 hr - Mt Washington 45 min Clifton 1 - 1.75 hr - Oakley 35 - 65 min - Westwood 1.5 - 1.75 hr - Madisonville 1.75 - 2 hr - Sayler Park
January 22, 201411 yr Mt. Airy is not centrally located. Norwood or Bond Hill or Hartwell are. It's about a 1/2 mile walk from an infrequent #17 bus branch to get there without a car. The downtown BoE can be reached easily by any bus line.
January 22, 201411 yr ^I think the person who said it was centrally located was simply referring to geographically. Not demographically or based on population. It is very centrally located geometrically.
January 22, 201411 yr It is almost the exact center of the county, but anywhere around Norwood is much more central relative to how people actually move.
January 22, 201411 yr Somebody over at NextDoor said Sammarco's plan was to move BOE records to Mt Airy but not the voting operations. I haven't seen anything about that elsewhere, but it makes sense.
January 22, 201411 yr Somebody over at NextDoor said Sammarco's plan was to move BOE records to Mt Airy but not the voting operations. I haven't seen anything about that elsewhere, but it makes sense. Isn't Hamilton County's primary motive to consolidate their services into fewer buildings so that they can potentially sell some of their county-owned buildings? And now Alex Tryintafoolya is claiming that the motive is better access for drivers? Why don't they move the BOE into the former coroner's space on UC's campus? I'm sure that plan will delight Hamilton County Republicans.
January 23, 201411 yr If you can afford a car, you can afford to park downtown for the time it takes to go vote. If you can't afford a car (or otherwise can't drive), there is no similar guarantee that you can afford the extra time to get to Mt. Airy by bus. Quimbob, that is a nice time breakdown, but it doesn't even account for suburban voters from, say, Lincoln Heights or Springdale!
January 23, 201411 yr Howabout drive thru voting? I added the communities Tryintofoolyou brought up Probably no surprise access times from Green Township are a bit better. Of course you have to walk out of the township to find a bus stop. Current travel times look like this 1 hr - Mt Washington .25 - .5 hr Clifton .5 - 1 hr - Oakley .5 - 1 hr - Westwood .75 hr - Madisonville .75 - 1 hr - Sayler Park 1.25 hr Harrison 1 - 1.25 hr - Forest Park .75 hr - Terrace Park 1.5 hr - Green Township To get to the Mt Airy facility, times look like this 1.5 - 2 hr - Mt Washington .75 hr - Clifton 1 - 1.75 hr - Oakley .5 - 1 hr min - Westwood 1.5 - 1.75 hr - Madisonville 1.75 - 2 hr - Sayler Park 2 - 2.75 hr - Harrison 1 hr - Forest Park 1.25 - 2 hr - Terrace Park 1 - 1.25 hr - Green Township http://quimbob.blogspot.com/2014/01/self-interest-free-stuff.html
January 23, 201411 yr Tryintofoolyou is crowing about having a ballot drop off box downtown. Dunno what that does for you if your registration is being challenged by OVIP yahoos.
January 24, 201411 yr There is going to be nearly universal opposition to moving the BOE. Cranley is speaking out against it, council is speaking out against it, and the Cincinnati NAACP is speaking out against it. Not sure if any of these will influence the Republican County Commissioners who will make the decision, or if there's something that voters can legally do to stop it.
January 24, 201411 yr In the last coroners race, the GOP candidate, who I believe is a cousin of Al's, promoted no investment in the lab, saying it was just fine. Meanwhile Al accused Sammarco of all sorts of bogus ethics violations. This could just be a GOP ploy to sabotage any new lab.
January 27, 201411 yr On the 1/26/14 Newsmakers, the coroner cites a whole host of county departments that could consolidate into the hospital building besides the BOE. Mainly she cited law enforcement which makes sense. Tim Burke brought up the fact that the coroner's office should be somewhere secure & that didn't mesh well with a very open public agency like the BOE.
January 27, 201411 yr Cranley tells BOE member to recuse himself from voting on BOE move to Mt Airy http://cincinnati.com/blogs/politics/2014/01/26/cranley-to-lobbyist-dont-vote-on-boe-move/
January 30, 201411 yr Here's the interview with Sammarco & Burke about the crime lab & the Mt Airy site. She suggests making it more of a law enforcement center - moving SWAT, Cyber Crime, Narcotics, Dive team out to the facility instead of leasing numerous locations and also free up space at the jail so more inmates can be held. The BOE thing gets more & more ridiculous. http://www.local12.com//entertainment/features/newsmakers/stories/newsmakers-january-26-2014-53.shtml#.Uuky7ijvMUg
March 23, 201411 yr Al Sharpton, Alicia Reece & Melloweese Richardson kick off voting rights Act campaign http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/elections/2014/03/21/democrats-convicted-poll-worker-hero/6712981/ 3 of my favorite people.
April 3, 201411 yr Can Ohio, it's counties, townships & cities, require a minimum number of votes to make an election take effect? Say, 40% of registered voters need to show up or the old politicians stay in place. Eventually, people would have to show up & vote the old guys out or they could just stay home if they thought everything was hunky dory (and hope everybody else would do the same).
April 3, 201411 yr Can Ohio, it's counties, townships & cities, require a minimum number of votes to make an election take effect? Say, 40% of registered voters need to show up or the old politicians stay in place. Eventually, people would have to show up & vote the old guys out or they could just stay home if they thought everything was hunky dory (and hope everybody else would do the same). Interesting idea. It's similar to the logic that petitioners need to collect signatures equivalent to 10% of the people that voted in the last mayoral election. If people show up to vote in larger numbers, it is harder get an issue on the ballot, making it harder to overturn the decisions of leaders that brought out that higher turnout.
April 4, 201411 yr Can Ohio, it's counties, townships & cities, require a minimum number of votes to make an election take effect? Say, 40% of registered voters need to show up or the old politicians stay in place. Eventually, people would have to show up & vote the old guys out or they could just stay home if they thought everything was hunky dory (and hope everybody else would do the same). Imagine the voter suppression that would happen if this was to be implemented.
April 19, 201411 yr So, apparently this guy is a media mogul & mayor of a town in Romania on the Black Sea. He staged this media spectacle where he got a bunch of models in bikinis to vote in an election, I think, to oust the president. Maybe something like this could get out more young voters in Cincinnati. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E53hwjr_R_o
May 5, 201411 yr NPR yaking about Dems reaching out to single women. http://www.npr.org/2014/05/05/308955525/all-the-single-ladies-5-takeaways-about-unmarried-women-voters?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20140505
May 15, 201411 yr We need this guy http://bcove.me/zd5fpz0b This is an animation promoting voting in the upcoming EU election
May 30, 201411 yr Melloweese Richardson is asking for a replacement check for the work she was doing while committing fraud. http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/courts/2014/05/29/poll-worker-convicted-fraud-wants-money/9733903/ The fact that she is so shameless is pretty amazing but if she had cashed the check earlier, I doubt the BOE would have tried to get it back.
June 3, 201411 yr Melloweese Richardson is asking for a replacement check for the work she was doing while committing fraud. http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/courts/2014/05/29/poll-worker-convicted-fraud-wants-money/9733903/ The fact that she is so shameless is pretty amazing but if she had cashed the check earlier, I doubt the BOE would have tried to get it back. What has the potential to send this viral is she cast at least two illegal votes in the 2012 election. This in a state where the Dem nominee for Secretary of State once saw nothing wrong with saying "vote early, vote often" in a robocall.
July 8, 201410 yr More evidence every vote counts In the May 6, 2014 primary election 16 local races and four local issues were decided by one vote or a tiebreaker. http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2014/07/07/evidence-every-vote-counts/12311865/
July 8, 201410 yr The group collecting signatures to put the Voter's Bill of Rights on the 2014 Ohio ballot did not collect enough signatures. They can continue collecting signatures to get it on the 2015 ballot.
October 6, 201410 yr Ohio - last day to register to vote: http://www.sos.state.oh.us/sos/elections/Voters/register.aspx
October 6, 201410 yr Does anyone know whom to contact regarding the proliferation of ground signs throughout the CLE Interstate system? This cannot be legal. Most particularly odd for a Court of Common Pleas candidate to have her minions posting this crap in very unsafe places. I'm particularly looking for code that shows what is allowed and not allowed before I go tattling on anyone
October 6, 201410 yr Political signs are usually regulated by whatever local municipality you are in. So you would look at the local code section. Courts have traditionally tended to look at those local ordinances very skeptically as they relate to a limitation on political speech. However, the Federal Circuit court in Cincinnati just gave those regulations a big boost when it upheld Garfield Heights' size limitation on political signs placed on private property. What you might be seeing are those signs the campaign staffers/volunteers (not courtroom 'minions') might place near the on-ramps/off-ramps. Depending on whether they are along a state route or an interstate highway, different regulations might apply. I think there is some distance requirement under the Highway Beautification Act for billboards, but that might not apply to your run of the mill political yard signs.
October 6, 201410 yr I get the local stuff. I have to deal with that every season in Euclid (zoning enforcement). I'm specifically talking about the countless signs of the likes of Sherrie Miday. They are not just on the exit/entrance ramps. They are literally every place you can think of on the freeway: I77, I480, I490, I90... etc. As far as I know, political signs (or any advertisement for that matter, cannot be placed in public rights-of-way... generally speaking). That's not even taking into consideration the danger factor in said minions being out int he middle berm of said interstates placing the signs. There has got to be some sort of rule on this, no. I looked on the Secretary of State, Cuyahoga County BOE, and other web sites, but might not be looking in the right place. Maybe I should just straight to ODOT?
October 6, 201410 yr Start here - http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/5516 - to see if you can find an answer (there might be a corresponding OAC section). I seriously hope the signs are not "on the freeway" or "in public rights-of-way". I assume you mean 'along'..... if not, then see http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/5589.33
October 7, 201410 yr Thanks - duly noted. Now... how to get somebody to enforce it "No advertising device shall be erected or maintained within six hundred sixty feet of the edge of the right-of-way of a highway on the interstate system"
October 7, 201410 yr I suppose contacting the District Attorney would be a great start. Although, DeWine is running for reelection as well... so, not sure if him or his office is up for ruffling feathers. Going to give it a try anyway
October 7, 201410 yr Dewine is Attorney General for the State of Ohio. The U.S. District Attorney is a different office and is under the DOJ. I would probably start with ODOT and/or whatever municipality the signs are located.
October 7, 201410 yr For all you Hamilton County voters, here is the official listing of all the ballot issues. Cincinnati residents -- what are your thoughts on Issue 11?
October 7, 201410 yr Cincinnati residents -- what are your thoughts on Issue 11? I think the media, city council (Kevin Flynn especially, since this is his baby), and the people working on the charter update have done a horrible job with keeping the public up to date on what they're actually doing. Unless that changes soon, I would personally vote against it. Too much opportunity for sleights-of-hand.
October 13, 201410 yr Judge Richard Posner (7th Cir. Court of Appeals) strikes again. A few weeks ago during oral argument on a gay marriage case, he flat out embarrassed the AG's of Indiana and Wisconsin who were trying to defend their bigoted laws. Now, he has released a scathing indictment of Wisconsin's voter ID laws. This is noteworthy because Posner was the one who had written the Crawford decision, upholding such laws in Indiana not even a decade ago. Now, he is seemingly fed up with the pathetic attempts to justify these laws. Yet another (genuine) Reagan conservative shaking his head at the modern-day, self-proclaimed Reagan conservatives. "There is only one motivation for imposing burdens on voting that are ostensibly designed to discourage voter-impersonation fraud," he writes, "and that is to discourage voting by persons likely to vote against the party responsible for imposing the burdens." More specifically, he observes, photo ID laws are "highly correlated with a state's having a Republican governor and Republican control of the legislature and appear to be aimed at limiting voting by minorities, particularly blacks." In Wisconsin, according to evidence presented at trial, the voter ID law would disenfranchise 300,000 residents, or 9% of registered voters. Posner systematically demolishes every argument mustered in support of voter ID laws. Combating voter fraud? "There is compelling evidence that voter-impersonation fraud is essentially nonexistent in Wisconsin." Assertions about voter fraud are "a mere fig leaf for efforts to disenfranchise voters." He adds that "some of the 'evidence' of voter-impersonation fraud is downright goofy, if not paranoid, such as the nonexistent buses that according to the 'True the Vote' movement [a voter suppression organization originating in the tea party movement] transport foreigners and reservation Indians to polling places." Indeed, Posner writes, lists of the states that impose the strictest requirements "imply that a number of conservative states try to make it difficult for people who are outside the mainstream, whether because of poverty or race or problems with the English language...to vote." http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-why-voter-id-laws-are-evil-20141013-column.html#page=1
October 14, 201410 yr Judge Richard Posner (7th Cir. Court of Appeals) strikes again. A few weeks ago during oral argument on a gay marriage case, he flat out embarrassed the AG's of Indiana and Wisconsin who were trying to defend their bigoted laws. Now, he has released a scathing indictment of Wisconsin's voter ID laws. This is noteworthy because Posner was the one who had written the Crawford decision, upholding such laws in Indiana not even a decade ago. Now, he is seemingly fed up with the pathetic attempts to justify these laws. Yet another (genuine) Reagan conservative shaking his head at the modern-day, self-proclaimed Reagan conservatives. "There is only one motivation for imposing burdens on voting that are ostensibly designed to discourage voter-impersonation fraud," he writes, "and that is to discourage voting by persons likely to vote against the party responsible for imposing the burdens." More specifically, he observes, photo ID laws are "highly correlated with a state's having a Republican governor and Republican control of the legislature and appear to be aimed at limiting voting by minorities, particularly blacks." In Wisconsin, according to evidence presented at trial, the voter ID law would disenfranchise 300,000 residents, or 9% of registered voters. Posner systematically demolishes every argument mustered in support of voter ID laws. Combating voter fraud? "There is compelling evidence that voter-impersonation fraud is essentially nonexistent in Wisconsin." Assertions about voter fraud are "a mere fig leaf for efforts to disenfranchise voters." He adds that "some of the 'evidence' of voter-impersonation fraud is downright goofy, if not paranoid, such as the nonexistent buses that according to the 'True the Vote' movement [a voter suppression organization originating in the tea party movement] transport foreigners and reservation Indians to polling places." Indeed, Posner writes, lists of the states that impose the strictest requirements "imply that a number of conservative states try to make it difficult for people who are outside the mainstream, whether because of poverty or race or problems with the English language...to vote." http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-why-voter-id-laws-are-evil-20141013-column.html#page=1 Isn’t a certain degree of English fluency a requirement for US Citizenship? If not, it should be and there is IMO no Constitutional bar to such. I do agree that requiring an ID to vote means that “non driver” state IDs must be made available free of charge, otherwise it’s a poll tax.
October 14, 201410 yr Judge Richard Posner (7th Cir. Court of Appeals) strikes again. A few weeks ago during oral argument on a gay marriage case, he flat out embarrassed the AG's of Indiana and Wisconsin who were trying to defend their bigoted laws. Now, he has released a scathing indictment of Wisconsin's voter ID laws. This is noteworthy because Posner was the one who had written the Crawford decision, upholding such laws in Indiana not even a decade ago. Now, he is seemingly fed up with the pathetic attempts to justify these laws. Yet another (genuine) Reagan conservative shaking his head at the modern-day, self-proclaimed Reagan conservatives. "There is only one motivation for imposing burdens on voting that are ostensibly designed to discourage voter-impersonation fraud," he writes, "and that is to discourage voting by persons likely to vote against the party responsible for imposing the burdens." More specifically, he observes, photo ID laws are "highly correlated with a state's having a Republican governor and Republican control of the legislature and appear to be aimed at limiting voting by minorities, particularly blacks." In Wisconsin, according to evidence presented at trial, the voter ID law would disenfranchise 300,000 residents, or 9% of registered voters. Posner systematically demolishes every argument mustered in support of voter ID laws. Combating voter fraud? "There is compelling evidence that voter-impersonation fraud is essentially nonexistent in Wisconsin." Assertions about voter fraud are "a mere fig leaf for efforts to disenfranchise voters." He adds that "some of the 'evidence' of voter-impersonation fraud is downright goofy, if not paranoid, such as the nonexistent buses that according to the 'True the Vote' movement [a voter suppression organization originating in the tea party movement] transport foreigners and reservation Indians to polling places." Indeed, Posner writes, lists of the states that impose the strictest requirements "imply that a number of conservative states try to make it difficult for people who are outside the mainstream, whether because of poverty or race or problems with the English language...to vote." http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-why-voter-id-laws-are-evil-20141013-column.html#page=1 Isn’t a certain degree of English fluency a requirement for US Citizenship? If not, it should be and there is IMO no Constitutional bar to such. I do agree that requiring an ID to vote means that “non driver” state IDs must be made available free of charge, otherwise it’s a poll tax. NO considering Puerto Rico, Guam, Hawaiian, Alaska and the USVI. English may not be your first language. Especially Alaskan-American, Native-American or Puerto Rican Americans.
October 14, 201410 yr ^ There is a very basic test of English language skills as a part of the naturalization test, but I would say it stops pretty far short of testing for fluency.
October 14, 201410 yr I think it's absurd to require immigrants to be fluent in English. Especially considering the US has no official language. I have multiple issues with a voter ID law. 1) IDs cost money. You may not think it's much, but if you have to choose between buying your children school supplies or getting an ID so you can vote, those people will pick the school supplies. Requiring a payment to vote is illegal. An ID must be free if it is required for voting. 2) There needs to be a large buffer period between enacting the law and enforcing it. Perhaps giving four years between enacting it and it being enforced. That gives a full presidential election cycle to get people to obtain a state issued ID. 3) There needs to be an active state presence seeking out individuals who do not have state IDs. Perhaps an ID mobile that goes to the poorest neighborhoods and cities. The very rural areas in Appalachia. It could print IDs for residents who have trouble getting to a county office to obtain it. Maybe even allowing people with disabilities or transportation difficulties to request the ID mobile to come to their house by signing up at a library or online. 4) The ID should not have to match the address shown on the voting rolls. This ID should just prove that your name and face are recognized by the state. Many people with little income in urban areas move frequently because they lose jobs, get jobs, get evicted, etc. The ID's should also be valid for at least 10 years to ensure that it is not a burden on people who cannot afford the time to get a new ID. So provided the IDs are free, the law is not enforced until 4 years after passage, there is an aggressive state sponsored campaign to identify those without IDs, the ID doesn't have to match the address you are registered with, and the ID lasts at least 10 years, then I would support a Voter ID Bill. Anything short of that is an attempt to disenfranchise eligible voters from voting against your party and I cannot support it.
October 14, 201410 yr I think it is absurd and almost certainly unconstitutional to require English fluency as a prerequisite for voting; almost all literacy tests were restricted by the Supreme Court in the 1960s. However, I also do not believe there is any constitutional requirement that a state print its ballots in every language spoken by citizens in that state, meaning that a state can choose to print its ballots only in English. Therefore, while a state cannot forbid a non-English-speaker from voting, they can make it about as difficult as ordering off a menu written in another language, so it is extremely advisable for non-English-speakers to at least learn sufficient English to read and understand the ballots. That does not require "fluency," though--sticking with the menu analogy, there are plenty of Americans who can't read French prose but could muddle through a French menu.
October 14, 201410 yr ^^Just seems a helluva lot easier to not have voter ID laws, right? But, for the sake of argument, I would also add that IDs are regularly lost, misplaced, stolen, etc. The papers you need to obtain an ID are often lost, misplaced, stolen, etc. Obtaining both the papers you need to get an ID and getting an ID, putting aside any cost, is time-consuming as well. The state agencies which issue IDs are usually only open during the hours when most people work. For a large part of the country, there is not such agency within walking distance or along a public transportation route. Regardless, as Posner notes, all this debate is silly as the motivation for such laws is so obvious.
October 15, 201410 yr ^ There is a very basic test of English language skills as a part of the naturalization test, but I would say it stops pretty far short of testing for fluency. Is this for me? Because all the places I listed, the residents are all Americans.
November 4, 201410 yr Interesting, Ohio-centric article. Even Without Voter ID Laws, Minority Voters Face More Hurdles to Casting Ballots Heavily black and Latino precincts often have long lines and fewer voting machines on Election Day. Why? By Stephanie Mencimer Over the past decade, Republican legislators have pushed a number of measures critics say are blatant attempts to suppress minority voting, including voter ID requirements, shortened early voting periods, and limits on same-day voter registration. But minority voters are often disenfranchised in another, more subtle way: polling places without enough voting machines or poll workers. These polling places tend to have long lines to vote. Long lines force people to eventually give up and go home, depressing voter turnout. And that happens regularly all across the country in precincts with lots of minority voters, even without voter ID or other voting restrictions in place. Nationally, African Americans waited about twice as long to vote in the 2012 election as white people (23 minutes on average versus 12 minutes); Hispanics waited 19 minutes. White people who live in neighborhoods whose residents are less than 5 percent minority had the shortest of all wait times, just 7 minutes. These averages obscure some of the unusually long lines in some areas. In South Carolina's Richland County, which is 48 percent black and is home to 14 percent of the state's African American registered voters, some people waited more than five hours to cast their ballots. http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/10/minority-voters-election-long-lines-id
November 5, 201410 yr Interesting, Ohio-centric article. Even Without Voter ID Laws, Minority Voters Face More Hurdles to Casting Ballots Heavily black and Latino precincts often have long lines and fewer voting machines on Election Day. Why? By Stephanie Mencimer Over the past decade, Republican legislators have pushed a number of measures critics say are blatant attempts to suppress minority voting, including voter ID requirements, shortened early voting periods, and limits on same-day voter registration. But minority voters are often disenfranchised in another, more subtle way: polling places without enough voting machines or poll workers. These polling places tend to have long lines to vote. Long lines force people to eventually give up and go home, depressing voter turnout. And that happens regularly all across the country in precincts with lots of minority voters, even without voter ID or other voting restrictions in place. Nationally, African Americans waited about twice as long to vote in the 2012 election as white people (23 minutes on average versus 12 minutes); Hispanics waited 19 minutes. White people who live in neighborhoods whose residents are less than 5 percent minority had the shortest of all wait times, just 7 minutes. These averages obscure some of the unusually long lines in some areas. In South Carolina's Richland County, which is 48 percent black and is home to 14 percent of the state's African American registered voters, some people waited more than five hours to cast their ballots. http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/10/minority-voters-election-long-lines-id In Cuyahoga County, aren't election resources determined and assigned by the county election board? They are strictly non-partisan, in any case it would be hard to accuse them of being biased towards the GOP. Anecdotally, I voted in Maple Heights District One from 1980 through 2006. For most of that time, there were 4-5 poll workers at my station, mostly elderly women. They did a tremendous job. In 2006 there were two workers, one a young woman who apparently did not understand alphabetical order as she began looking for me under "A". (My last name starts with S).
