The Dayton Daily had me blasting BOE officials for the incorrect list of registered voters- which is only a partial truth- the BOE is doing what it is required to do by law- keep names on the registration rolls for years.
The problems occur when the City Charter rules for petitioning government are based on the numbers of registered voters- and my ability to get signatures is guided by those rolls. I knock on doors of registered voters- for every door I knock on where there is no voter present, it sets me back. Here is the quote:
Esrati blasted Board of Elections officials Monday, saying the registered voters list of about 100,000 was out of date and incorrect. He also said the city’s signature requirements are out of date.
Harsman said he has explained to Esrati that the National Voter Registration Act requires registered voters be kept on the list for four years once a notice has been mailed asking for address verification or voting status.
“We can’t just remove names from the list, there are rules,” Harsman said.
via Dayton City Commission to approve 4 candidates for November ballot [1].
Using due diligence of the voter rolls- getting an 80% hit rate is considered good by the BOE, in the real world, an 80% correct rate isn’t satisfactory. The BOE is claiming that 2 of every ten signatures I collected is not a Dayton Registered voter- (and note, I skip houses where they hadn’t voted before ’09). Something isn’t right.
I will examine which petitions they believe to be wrong- and continue my fight from there. I will also examine once again the petitions of the incumbents- who seem to be free to collect signatures anywhere they want – including inside City Hall.
I’ve asked for lists of City workers with addresses before to try to corroborate my theories- only to be told that it would be a privacy violation. I have been chased out of priority board offices, Kroger parking lots, RTA bus stops, and even neighborhood meetings while trying to collect signatures- leaving the canvas by “the list” the only way to go.
It is time for the Secretary of State to step in and push the issue of signatures in the same way as “hanging chads” – to the favor of the voter. What we have is a Board of Elections having more control of the primary process than the voters. The reason we supposedly have primaries is to let the people choose who they want to be on the ballot- at least, that’s what we are lead to believe. In Dayton- we don’t even have primaries thanks to our graphology department at the BOE.
I wouldn’t expect much relief from Mr. Husted unless it is given in an effort to embarrass Democrats (which is possible). The new Secretary of State is pushing forward with his own set of anti-Democratic policies which will likely lead to several hundred thousand Ohioans getting kicked off the voter rolls before 2012. It, like the collective bargaining agenda is being pushed across multiple states – the 1st blows coming in New England where college students are getting kicked off the rolls right now.
What we have in essence are two corrupt parties that will stop at nothing to protect their own power base with little regard for average citizens and the Democratic process. This is getting progressively worse – there are no good guys anymore besides us – ordinary citizens who stand in horror on the sidelines as the spectacle unfolds.
What’s needed is an entirely new approach – one that breaks the death grip and downward spiral of the two traditional parties. It seems clear to me anyway that neither of the two parties can ever be reformed from within the system they jointly control.