Victory In Hamilton County Voting Case

NEOCH Voting Settlement Preserved by Court

Way back in 2006, the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless sued the State of Ohio over identification issues and voting.  We reached settlements for the 2006 and 2008 elections on the procedure for accepting identification on election day and how to count the provisional ballots. The Hamilton County Board of Elections in supervising the 2010 election decided to ignore the Secretary of State directive on counting of provisional ballots that were based on our settlement.  There was an extremely close race between Tracie Hunter and John Williams for juvenile court judge.  The final total provided by the Board was Williams winning by 23 votes.  This last week, a federal court judge in Cincinnati ruled that the hundreds of votes tossed out should be counted.

The Board of Elections excluded ballots that were cast with some error associated with the provisional ballot.  Many of these errors were the result of the poll worker misdirecting the voter in the proper procedure for completing the ballot.  It would seem obvious if the employee of the Board of Elections misdirects the voter, that voter should not be disenfranchised and have their vote thrown out.  The federal court judge has decided that these voters cast legitimate votes that must be counted if the poll worker erred. After two years of the seat being vacant and the people of Greater Cincinnati waiting for a decision in the case, the federal court has upheld our settlement.  The Cincinnati Inquirer story says that most of the disputed ballots are in heavily Democratic areas of town.  The local media is predicting that the election will swing the other way and Hunter will prevail.  Judging from the visceral response from the Hamilton County officials who answered the lawsuit and represent the other political party, they seem to agree. 

This is a victory for the Coalition and a victory for providing as many citizens as possible the chance to participate in democracy.  These same rules will be in place for the upcoming presidential election unless the state legislature makes changes this spring.  The difference is that these settlement and the directives will now have the success of being verified by the federal courts.  The Hamilton County Board of Elections has not decided if they are going to appeal this ruling. 

Brian
Posts reflect the opinion of those who sign the entry.

Voting Advocacy Opportunity

Cuyahoga County: Send Out Notice of Early Election

This morning the Cuyahoga Board of Elections split along party lines about sending out applications for early voting in the November 2011 election. As you are aware, the State of Ohio passed a law in June which bars local county boards of elections from paying for a mailing that includes a blank early voting application. That law will take effect in late September unless advocates collect enough signatures to get the voting law on the ballot. The County had already approved the funds for a mailing, but the Board of Elections just needed to send out the mailing. This morning the Board could not achieve a majority of votes to authorize this mailing. It is likely that Republican Jon Husted, current Ohio Secretary of State, will side with the two Republican Board members in Cuyahoga County and not approve the mailing.

Cuyahoga County has the opportunity to claw back these funds for the mailing from the Board of Elections, and do the mailing themselves. This is not a Presidential election, and these odd year elections can sneak up on voters. The shut in, the person who travels a great deal, and the homeless individuals waiting for their birth certificate from another state so that they can get identification, would appreciate a blank application in the mail to complete and send back to make sure that they do not miss the opportunity to vote. This is a bad state law that we hope will be overturned by voters. We need more participation in the election, and reminding voters only boosts turn out. Urge the County Council to send out this mailing to all eligible Cuyahoga County voters. They have a month and half to make this happen. Give your Councilperson a call to urge them to send out this early voting information mailing. Here is the contact information:
http://council.cuyahogacounty.us/en-US/council-members.aspx

Brian
Posts reflect the opinion of those who sign the entry.

Voting Changes Coming to Ohio

How do you vote, when you can bring your residence to the polling place?
Photo by Cheryl Jones of the Grapevine Photo Project

Why Are We Making All These Changes?

Was the 2010 election corrupt in Ohio? Did we have long lines at the polling places? Did we have a flawed electronic voting system without a backup for verification purposes? Were there charges from either side that voters were casting multiple ballots? Were there problems with counting the ballots or with provisional voting? So, why did we change the procedure for voting Ohio with the passage of House Bill 194?

NEOCH has been involved in a lawsuit against the State of Ohio since 2006 that we finally settled in 2010. We have a 20 year history of working to assure that those without a traditional residence have a right to vote. We believe that it is critical to have homeless people participate in the electoral process under the thinking that they above other citizens need to vote for leaders willing to address the housing, job and healthcare crisis. These changes are especially troubling to groups that represent very low income individuals, and will make it difficult for our constituency to participate in democracy.

The leaders down in Columbus made changes to the procedure for voting with the passage of HB 194, and then two weeks later corrected the law that they had just passed. Strange, and it does not inspire confidence in the law if they needed a fix only two weeks later. So what are the changes and what will they mean?

• The size of the precincts will be changed so that they are larger, but for some reason only in urban communities. This will mean longer lines for those in cities where the majority of homeless people reside.
• Poll workers will not be required to tell people that they are voting in the wrong precinct, which will result in many more spoiled ballots and disenfranchised voters.
• Counties may not send out an application for early voting to registered voters. Large counties tried to encourage voting to cut down on lines by sending out notices to every registered voter, and paid for the return of the ballot to the Board. This new law will prevent counties from communicating with voters and prevents them from paying for the return of the completed request. This will result in more people voting in person thus causing lines.
  
• There are a whole series of changes that allow corporations greater participation in the election, which will bring more dollars into the election.
  
• The time to bring citizen petitions to a statewide ballot would be shortened making it harder to get ballot issues before voters to decide.
  
• Provisional ballots could be excluded from being counted for technical reasons. This was the settlement of the NEOCH vs. State of Ohio lawsuit that will be overturned. Homeless people often have to vote a provisional ballot because they move around so frequently. It was our position that if a poll worker makes the error the ballot should count. This new law would allow that a poll worker who suspects the voter to be casting a ballot for the other party they could make an intentional error on the processing of the ballot and it would not count thus benefiting the poll worker's party.
  
• They have taken away the ability to open early voting sites on Sundays and reduced early voting to 16 days (down from 35). This will result in longer lines for early voting and fewer people with the ability to vote early in person. Again, more people will be forced to vote in person on election day again resulting in lines.
• Long lines at the polling place cannot interfere with local surrounding businesses. I have no idea what this means or how it is can be enforced. Would the county sheriff or Ohio Highway Patrol shut down voting activities because it was interfering with a local bowling alley which happens to share a parking lot with a church polling place? Would the local police have jurisdiction to enforce this part of the law?
  
• There are new rules for when to take a voter off the voting rolls. This would allow the state to search databases and take a voter off the list of eligible voters. Often there is a conflict between two state databases due to clerical errors, and with this new law that could involve the individual being taken off the voting roles. The voter would then have to vote a provisional ballot and hope that it gets counted under the new rules.
  

These changes will be harmful to those who live in cities. They will make it more difficult to vote in person and by mail. They will fix problems that never existed in Ohio, and will reduce confidence in the election. Ohio had major problems with voting in the 2000 and 2004 Presidential election, but the only problem in 2008 election was with duplicate registrations. No one charged that there were duplicate voters or that Mickey Mouse voted in Ohio, just that ACORN paid people to register people and many of these canvassers made up registrations in order to get paid. Why would we want to go back to long lines and attempts to trip up voters by figuring out ways to disqualify voters? We should try to get as many people as possible to want to vote and make that process as easy as possible. Ohio is moving the wrong way in providing an efficient and trustworthy process for participating in democracy.

Brian
Posts reflect the opinion of those who sign the entry.

Good Article in CWRU Magazine

Consider the Difficulty in Finding Identification

The CWRU Magazine, Think, had an interesting article about how difficult it is for those re-entering from incarceration to obtain identification. As we move forward in Ohio again on changing the process for voting (Remember how great a job we did in the 2005 reform?), legislators need to keep in mind how difficult it is to obtain identification.

In case the article disappears on the CWRU website here it is:

Regaining Identity a Nightmare for Recent Inmates

Obtaining an identification card is, seemingly, a normal passage through life. But those who recently have been released from prison, a valid ID can be a nearly impossible luxury.

Case Western Reserve University social-work researcher Amy Blank Wilson, PhD, says obtaining identification is an uphill battle for inmates reentering society. Lacking it can bar ex-offenders from public assistance programs like food stamps and Medicaid, which require clients to show ID.

“Released prisoners are being systematically excluded because of UD requirements,” she says.

The problem starts early in the criminal justice system: Suspects routinely have their identification confiscated when they are arrested. Those who don’t have it with them as they are apprehended are never given an opportunity to grab it. And the homeless are often forced to abandon all belongings on the street.

Wilson says that for those who are lucky enough to have some form of ID when they’re released, often what they have isn’t enough. Obtaining major forms of government-issued identification-such as a Social Security card- can require two different forms of Ids, such as a driver’s license and birth certificate, neither of such can be granted without at least one other major form of ID.

“When they’re released, former inmates face the Catch-22’ that it takes ID to get ID,” Wilson says. “This is keeping people from receiving life-sustaining resources. They’re missing out on the services they need.”

As a founding member of the local Homeless ID Collaborative under the guidance of West Side Catholic, the public needs to realize that it is very difficult to both afford and obtain a birth certificate. For those not born in Ohio, it can take months to get a birth certificate and the cost can be as high as $70. This is not an easy undertaking, and as the article suggests identification is now invaluable for housing, voting, obtaining a job and health care. Legislators need to be aware that identification is not so easy to come by even if the state decides to pay for the state identification card. A citizen cannot get a state id unless they have a birth certificate and social security number.

Brian
Posts reflect the opinion of those who sign the entry.

Voting Under Attack Again

Advocates sign up homeless people and take them to the polling places during the 2010 election during "Golden Week."

Advocacy Update: VOTING

In another effort to solve a problem that does not really exist in Ohio, legislators have proposed a reform of voting laws in Ohio. This voting legislation will make it more difficult for low-income voters to participate in the electoral process. Current Secretary of State, Jon Husted has proposed a reform of Ohio election law despite not having any evidence that there is a problem with the current system. Activists are hosting a press conference on Monday to show their opposition to this reform of the voting system. The Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless, Cleveland Tenants Organization and others oppose this proposed bill. We believe that these are bills to limit access to the ballot box ahead of the 2012 Presidential election, and Ohio will again see a controversial presidential election like we saw in 2004.

PRESS CONFERENCE DETAILS:

When: Monday, May 16, 12:30pm or 1:00pm
Where: Steps of the Board of Elections
Invited participants: -Rep. Sandra Williams -Councilman Jeff Johnson -Rep. Mike Foley -Rick DeChant, Voting Rights Institute -Rev. Marvin McMickle

Text of bills: House Bill 159 (Photo ID bill)
House Bill 194 (House version of Husted bill)
Senate Bill 148 (Senate version of Husted bill)

Here are is the summary of the the Husted bill:

1. The plan will make it harder to vote. The bills slash early voting days from 35 to as few as 6 days. In 2010, 1,200 homeless people in Cuyahoga County voted early. In addition, the bills eliminate the busiest early voting days: the Monday and Saturday preceding the election. Politifact recently gave Secretary of State Jon Husted a “Pants on Fire” for the lies he told while advocating fewer early vote days. The bills also give the Secretary of State unprecedented ability to purge Ohioans from the voter rolls.
   
2. Under the plan, fewer votes will count. Under the bills, a vote won’t be counted if a voter fills in the oval for a candidate and also writes in the name of the exact same candidate. This particularly disenfranchises low-income voters who aren’t familiar with optical scan ballots. An estimated 10,000 voters would have their ballots thrown out, even though their intent is 100 percent clear. In addition, these bills require additional personal information from voters casting provisional ballots, including a voter’s full Social Security number, exposing voters to potential identity theft.
   
3. Local control is eliminated under this plan. The bills take away the right of local boards of elections to determine how best to use resources to run smooth elections in their counties. Larger counties have made it easier to vote early by mail, which helps prevent long lines on Election Day. The plan would take us back to the days of voters standing for hours in line in the rain on Election Day. In addition, the plan eliminates counties’ ability to set up early vote locations that accommodate older voters and may provide adequate parking. NEOCH supports uniform standards across the state, but we feel that we should implement laws that allow the largest number of voters to participate and not limit access to the ballot box as this legislation does.

Brian Davis
Posts reflect the opinion of those who sign the entry.

Local Reports from Around the US

National Coalition for the Homeless March 2011
Local Reports

Minnesota still has General Assistance and they may reform it.

Austin, Texas
The House the Homeless group could not get the city to agree to do away with the prohibition on sitting and lying on the public sidewalk, so instead they convinced City Council to provide an exemption for disabled homeless people. White Noise was introduced at the shelter to try to reduce noise and help people sleep.

New York City
All time record shelter population—40,000 people including 16,000 children—the agencies are struggling with recession and government policy changes that also has impacted services. 113,000 spent time in the shelters in 2010 in New York City. This does not include specialized populations (people with AIDS, Domestic Violence victims, etc. or those sleeping on the streets. There are some rough budget battles ahead in New York with historic levels of need. So far, there is not any proposed cuts to supportive housing because of budget shortfalls. The time limited rent subsidy program that advocates were not big supporters of is being cut because it is a revolving door back to homelessness, but the problem is that there is nothing to replace the program proposed. The rent regulations that put a cap on the local rental market is up for expiration in June 2011. 1 million apartment units fall under this law, which translates to 2.2 million people who could see a large rent increase this year.

Puerto Rico
Hate crimes legislation passed in December to include homeless people. HUD is trying to clean up the use of federal funds by the City of San Juan including problems with CDGB. Housing task force created but did not include homeless advocates. There is a great deal of fighting by many organizations over which group will oversee supportive housing projects.

Massachusetts
The Anti-Defamation League sponsored a forum on hate crimes for homeless people—five different police forces attended to learn more about the issue. Boston healthcare providers are trying to work on the issue of housing. They have selected the top 35 homeless users of the emergency room at Boston General, and they are working with other partners in the community to house those individuals. There is going to eventually be a showdown between the criminal justice system with the proximity housing limitations for sexually based offenders and the shelter community who are forced to housed people for long periods of time.

Indiana
Homeless Management Information System problems with the state demanding social security number as a requirement for getting a bed. HUD stepped in to stop this practice. HUD is going to visit Jeffersonville next week to look at a number of issues regarding homelessness, funding, and planning activities in rural communities. Criminalization efforts on the rise throughout the state of Indiana.

Atlanta, GA
8,000 people attended a rally at the capital around the anti-immigration bill that is making its way through the legislature. Lawsuits expanded to include Emory and United Way about the effort to shut down all services downtown to homeless people. Also, there is a pending HUD complaint that alleges that there is a pattern and practice of discrimination in Atlanta. HPRP is not working and anyone who comes back into the shelters are labeled “not compliant” and are denied any services.

Arkansas
Stimulus money was spent and did a lot of good. Housing Trust created but put no money in it. There is a law making its way through the legislature to demand identification in order to vote.

US. Congress
There is a budget proposal being proposed which will have a cap on welfare programs—including the student loan pell grants, Earned income tax credits, Medicaid, and others. The only thing that progressives are doing is playing defense, and trying to protect programs for the poor. Probably one more continuing resolution and there will be big cuts. Big cuts expected for 2012 budget. Emergency food cut for 2011 and VASH was cuts.

South Carolina
An attempt to cut to Medicare/Medicaid within the state to eliminate all non-essential services. Asked their federal representatives to not cut CDBG because it was so important to local communities, and they got almost the same letter back from both Senator and federal representatives. They basically said, that the deficit is such a threat to America it is worse than a terrorist attack. So brace for massive human services cuts—asking business community/religious community to pick up the slack. Businesses and religious groups are already tapped out and have no more money to help out poor people. The state is also proposing an voting ID provision.

Maryland
Eviction prevention dollars were cut, but advocates got it restored but were only able to get back 50% of the funding. There was an introduction of legislation to ban discrimination based on source of income/SSI/Section 8. There is also a movement to “Ban the box” provision to prevent employers from asking about criminal background and credit checks in order to get a job. Bill to propose zoning of shelters within Baltimore for any shelter with over 20 people (use regulations). There is a 10 year plan in Baltimore and the city is trying to increase the amount of money for services in order to accomplish these goals.

Sacramento
State hate crimes bill proposed again. $9 billion dollar cut to human services expected because of budget deficit. Eliminated community re-development agency, which was a $1 billion dollar cut. Agencies are trying to scramble to figure out what to do. Safe Ground (Sacramento tent city) is still going strong. Second Chance Act to help those coming out of jail has been used to provide additional housing/services in Sacremento. Trying to create a re-entry center. 95% of the HPRP referrals are to unsubsidized housing. 111 SRO units are sitting empty. Lots of communication among the three big tents cities in the Northwest.

Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
Governor is cutting everything in Florida. ID is a growing problem. Problems with people storing their items without funding. HPRP is not working because the agency does not have any familiarity with working with homeless people. Lots of tension among advocates, and competition among the social service providers.

South Dakota
Government moved significantly to the right. There are budget woes at the state level with debt issues. Expected 10% cut across the board human services cut. There are big cuts to education including cuts at the local level. ID is a problem within the state. Pushing for a housing trust fund and the banks are supporting it and pushing for it to be created statewide ($10 million total, but only expected to get $1 to $2 million). Local groups are trying to creating community awareness about homelessness.

Montana
Legislature also move to the extreme right. They have proposed a nullification law that would allow the state to withdraw from federal programs like Medicaid and health care system. They are expected to have massive medicaid cuts, education cuts, senior cuts.

Colorado
Hate crimes bill passed the house. There is a $1 billion dollar state budget shortfall. Got $3 million restored to the budget for Healthcare for the Homeless in 2010 through federal funding. Colorado Coalition is opening a 98 unit development and a 102 unit apartment is in development (both are supportive housing project). Kreske Foundation has helped fund a Renaissance work program as part of the supportive works program. They will have a Pizza fusion program that employs formerly homeless people. HPRP only measures status after leave the program and not six months down the line, which is a problem with the program. Prevention requests overwhelming the system may not make a difference may only forestall homelessness for a couple of months.

Mississippi
HPRP is working well in the state and they are using it effectively for the mostly rural state.

Washington
Massive state budget cuts coming. In order to fund Homeless and Prevention at the same level they need a fee recordation fee increase. Landlords are supporting it the increase because it can help people stay in their apartments. Housing Trust fund unlikely to be funded—50% cut to the program because of the budget deficit. $100 million last year—typically only help other tax credits funded. Hate crimes measure introduced, but unlikely to get out of a committee. State is now helping out with funding the tent city in Seattle.

Brian Davis
Posts reflect the opinion of those who sign the entry.

Homeless Denied Identification

The Identification Crisis Collaborative
*West Side Catholic Center * St. Colman’s Outreach Ministry * Lutheran Metropolitan Ministries- 2100 Lakeside Shelter for Men * NEOCH * Community Women’s Shelter – Mental Health Services * Care Alliance * St. Malachi Center * Project SAVE * The Church
* Catholic Charities – Bishop Cosgrove Center and Emergency Services at St. Augustine

Fiscal Agent: West Side Catholic Center, 3135 Lorain Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44113, www.helpcleveland.org

November 3, 2009
PRESS RELEASE

HOMELESS DENIED STATE PHOTO ID’S:
With No Proof of Residency Homeless Are Not Eligible for Jobs or Housing

As of October 8, 2009, people who are homeless and not living in shelters, are no longer eligible for state photo ID’s or drivers licenses because they have no proof of residency. Because state photo IDs are required for services including employment, housing and health care, these people cannot meet their basic human needs. This new mandate by the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles prevents people who are living in their cars, abandoned property, on the streets, or any place where they cannot prove residency, from any chance of improving their lives.

The members of the Identification Crisis Collaborative are agencies that assist homeless and low income people to obtain their birth certificates and state photo IDs. They include homeless shelters, drop-in centers, churches, mental health services, and other agencies working with this population.

The process of acquiring a state photo ID is already fraught with Catch-22s. A birth certificate is required to get an ID, but in many states, you must send a copy of a state photo ID to get a birth certificate. People born in Cleveland can get their birth certificates at Cleveland City Hall, but a state photo ID is required to enter.

Now, all applicants for state photo IDs and drivers licenses must bring proof of residency – lease agreements, utility bills, etc., with them to the BMV, or leave and return with the documents. These regulations apply to everyone, but are particularly difficult barriers for the elderly, disabled, homeless and low income citizens.

Jim Schlecht, Outreach Worker for Care Alliance, which provides health care and help for people who are homeless, stated, “This new rule is keeping people homeless and a continuing burden on the community. It doesn’t make sense.” He is currently trying to assist someone who stays around E. 9th and Superior. This person, who is homeless and has no residence, has been sober for almost a year and wants to get off the streets. He has the opportunity to get a HUD subsidized apartment, but he cannot prove he has a current residence so that he can get a state photo ID. Because HUD requires a state photo ID, he is being denied the apartment.

Brian Davis, Executive Director of the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless, stated, “The fundamental expression of American democracy is voting, and Ohio requires identification for those who want to vote in person on election day. These new rules will make homeless people into second class citizens on election day, unable to vote in person.”

Gerald Skoch, Executive Director of the West Side Catholic Center which operates a drop-in center for people who are homeless, stated, “The residency requirement is yet another burden placed upon the indigent and homeless striving for self sufficiency. The unintended consequences of this type of regulation are significant and usually overlooked. In our efforts to achieve greater safety and security we trample on the hopes of the marginalized.”

Eileen Kelly, Outreach Minister from St. Colman Church, stated, “Even if the homeless can’t prove their existence to the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles, we know that the men and women who are most affected by these new unreasonable requirements do exist. We meet them every single day at our doors and struggle with them to break down the barriers to work, to decent housing, to basic human services. By building these new barriers to obtaining official ID, it seems to us that the Ohio BMV is now in the business of preventing some of our most vulnerable neighbors from providing for themselves, from working, from living in decent housing, from voting.”

Signed:
Francis Afram-Guyaning, Executive Director of CARE Alliance
Brian Davis, Executive Director of Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless
Gail Doucette, Director of Catholic Charities Emergency Assistance
Carol Fredrich, Executive Director of Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry – 2100 Lakeside Men’s Shelter
Eileen Kelly, Director of St. Colman Church Outreach Ministry
Susan Neth, Executive Director of Mental Health Services – Community Women’s Shelter
Gerald Skoch, Executive Director of West Side Catholic Center

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Secretary of State Responds to Voting Letter

Sun Setting on Voting "Golden Week"

Photo by Sabrina Otis a graduate of the 2008 Photo competition.

The Secretary of State of Ohio published a draft of her recommendations for reforming Ohio voting laws. There were a series of lawsuits over voting procedure in 2006 and 2008 including an identification lawsuit by NEOCH. The Republican led legislature passed a massive change in the procedures in voting in early 2006 after a controversial presidential election in 2004. This new law has only amplified the problems and disputes with both conservative and liberal groups going to court in 2008.

Secretary of State Brunner had a series of public meetings, and invited participation from all corners of the state. Brunner herself is one of the most knowledgeable scholars on voting in the United States, so she was the perfect person to lead this effort. Everyone realizes that the current voting system in Ohio is flawed and needs reform. The Republican legislature in a lame duck session in late 2008 had proposed reform that would have limited participation in voting by lower income and minority populations. Fortunately, this effort died. An unfortunate thing happened on the way to reform: Brunner threw her hat into the ring for the Ohio U.S. Senate race.

I think most people wish that we could debate all these reforms (health care, voting, energy policy, and taxes) based on what is best for the country, instead of what is best for the politician's election. Most of these decisions are put forward based on the theory "will they hurt or improve my chances for re-election in the next office that I would like to conquer." So, we have these weak reform efforts that have a few short term gains, but they usually only push the problem down the road. Sometimes these reforms are structured so that the full impact (federal bankruptcy) do not occur until the candidates are safely re-elected such as the prescription drug benefit. Senatorial candidate Brunner who is expected to have a tough primary next year sent out her recommendation for voting reform.

There are a few improvements and certainly a large number of needed clarifications, but there are two serious flaws. Our concern, on behalf of homeless people, is that there is a new requirement for identification. Those voting will have to show two forms of identification, and one must be issued by a government. The law is clarified that ID is only to prove who the person is, and not to prove an address. The other negative change for homeless people is the elimination of golden week. The sun is setting on this great quark in the law that allowed homeless people to vote and register or change their address at the same location at the same time. Over 500 very low income people used this week to vote in the 2008 Presidential election in Cleveland. This overlap of the early voting and the deadline for registration helped us to assist over 1,200 homeless people to vote during the last election. There is a report on our website detailing the work of the Coalition on voting during 2008.

In late June, we received a reply to our concerns from the Office of the Secretary of State. Bryan Clark, Policy Coordinator, for Secretary Brunner responded to our letter asking for a second look at these policies. Clark points out that the state legislature supports identification for voting so there is no chance of getting rid of this. Clark claims that a shelter letter and the notification from the Board of Election would satisfy the ID requirement. This is not clear in the draft document on the website, but if this makes it through the legislative process we support this concept. Both these forms of identification would be free and thus would allow homeless people to vote without having to wait for the money to buy a birth certificate from their home state.

Clark on behalf of the Secretary said that the participants at the public meetings supported an end to "Golden Week." With the Republican legislature hating "golden week," and now the Democratic Secretary of State on record supporting a change that would eliminate golden week it looks like the overlap is dead in the water. The problem is that there is a state election in 2010 with Brunner running for Senate and many state offices including Secretary of State up for election. Just because of the campaign and contentious nature of voting reform, I predict that nothing will be done on voting. I cannot see a way that a compromise will be struck between the two sides. There is a canyon between the Rs and the Ds on this issue. Good government and efficient voting procedures will have to wait until 2011.

Brian
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Why Don't You Want Homeless People to Vote?

New Secretary of State Voting Proposal Leaves Homeless Behind

The Secretary of State released her long awaited report on needed voting reforms. These were influenced by statewide meetings held back in December, but they seem to be more influenced by a possible run for U.S. Senate. It is unclear if the alleged "streamlining of identification" will homeless people. There would still be a requirement that an individual present either a picture identification or two other forms of identification. A homeless person may have a social security card, but the only other form of identification would be a library card. There are no details in the report to provide information about what would count as "other forms of identification." We need more details on this initiative.

Dear Secretary Brunner:

Why are you ending Golden Week? Why are you not providing free identification to homeless people so that they can vote? Why are you forcing voters to bring two forms of identification to the polling places? Why are you alienating homeless people?

Why are you proposing a shorting of the early voting time to 20 days which would eliminate the one week overlap when early voting begins and when the registration deadline ends. In the last election, we were able to help 500 very low income go to the polls to vote and register during the Golden Week. Providing 30 to 35 days to verify the registration of those new voters has to be enough time in this modern age of computers. Other states allow registration right up until election day, why do we have to be so old fashioned in Ohio? The Golden week was huge for homeless people. It is not difficult to verify a voter, so why not allow voting registration and voting 35 days before election day? If the goal is to get a maximum number of voters, why not make it easy to vote? Please keep the Golden week.

Brian Davis
Posts reflect the opinion of those who sign the entry.

Testimony Before Senate

Lame Duck Congress Attempts to Change Voting Law in Ohio

In December 2005, the Ohio Legislature voted to overhaul the voting process in Ohio. This end of the term overhaul was wildly successful with homeless, immigrants, unions, minority groups, students, and those serving the elderly all suing the state over the last three years. Ohio became the laughing stock of the country, because we could not run an effective election. So, now at the last few hours of this Congress, they are back at it. The State legislature dominated by Republicans is not trying to fix all the problems from 2005, but are proposing new issues for NEOCH and others to sue. So, I went down along with the NAACP, League of Women Voters, ACLU, COHHIO, and Common Cause to testify against this silly bill which would extend the deadline to 60 days before election day. This is a clear violation of federal law, and would result in Ohio being the only state in the union with a registration deadline greater than 30 days before the election day.

Here is a most of what I said:

"We are back here again during the end of a term as we try at the last minute to reform the voting laws in Ohio. It was December 2005, at the end of the last Congressional session that state legislators went behind closed doors and crafted a bill to restrict access to the ballot box. Now, having two years to work on changing poorly constructed HB 3 from 2005, we are at the end of the term and we are trying to restrict access to early voting.

Three years ago, we testified against HB 3 which reformed the voting law to include identification requirements. In fact, the hearing in December 2005 featured a large number of groups opposed to the bill and then only the author of the bill testifying in support. No one listened when we said that this was a bad bill and should be defeated. No one heard us list the flaws in the bill, and the state was repeatedly sued because of the unclear and contradictory law. So, today, I am here to take the opposite position in hopes that you will again disregard what this expert is saying and do the opposite. If you think all these community groups who oppose this bill are down here just to sway the election for one party and not in an effort to make sure that every legitimate voter has a chance to vote, then we will argue in favor of this bill. The Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless strongly supports Senate Bill 380 further restricting access to voting, and we urge you to pass this bill in to law so that fewer people will be able to cast a ballot or will have to wait in long lines or vote when it is least convenient.

The last voting reform was so successful, we should do it again at the end of another legislative session. Students, immigrants, unions, homeless people, and groups representing the elderly all sued the state over the last voting overhaul in Ohio. This strategy has inspired such confidence in the legislators and elected officials in control in 2005 that many of those politicians who passed the HB 3 have moved into the private sector and out of the limelight. So, I say keep trying to reform the voting process because for every homeless person who was a likely Democratic voter who is forced to cast a second class provisional ballot there is an elderly woman and likely Republican voter who will have to cast a provisional ballot because she has no driver’s license and lives in a nursing home. For every union household who will no longer be able to vote early and register at the same time there is a suburban traditionally Republican family facing foreclosure who are not sure where they are supposed to register now that they are sleeping on a friend’s couch so they go to the Board of Elections and change their registration and cast their ballot at the same time.

So, who will be affected by this change in the law? There are the thousands in foreclosure who are unsure where they are allowed to vote. There are homeless people who are waiting for the state of California to send their birth certificate so that they can get a state identification. They used the “golden week” to change their registration to the shelter where they currently reside and then cast a ballot since they already waited in line. Thousands of elderly people went after church to vote on a bus in Cuyahoga County, and a few had relocated to a nursing home in 2008 so they updated their registration at the same time. Voting multiple times is the fraught with huge risk, and is the least likely way to corrupt an election. Once again, this bill is addressing a problem that does not exist in the state of Ohio, and that is what it seems we sent you people down here to do. This law also makes it easier for party officials to challenge voters by releasing information on database mismatches. We believe that it is a good idea to model our system of voting after Soviet style tactics where party officials in trench coats challenge the validity of veterans who show up to vote without the proper identification because it worked so well in 1970s USSR.

Voting is the cornerstone of our confidence in government. If it is the strategy of the state legislators is to limit access to the ballot box then this legislation needs to be passed. If it is the strategy to undermine confidence in government then this bill is the perfect compliment to the 2005 House Bill 3, because the state will no doubt face more lawsuits. If the state legislators long for the days of a poll tax that restricted access to the ballot box, then this bill will maintain the mistakes of the last bill. Identification is not free in Ohio so for a homeless veteran to vote a standard ballot on election day they must pay a fee to secure identification. By the way, military identification does not contain an address, which was a requirement from the last voting bill passed. If you are nostalgic for the days when only land owners voted then keep the current rules in place that make it difficult for homeless people to vote.

If state legislators want to show that the state can stop the assault on home rule by challenging the Help America Vote Law, which requires registration deadlines no more than 30 days before an election, then vote for this bill. Who cares about the 11 states that allow voter registration within two weeks of the election or on the same day as the election without any reported problems. Who cares that Ohio would be the one state with a deadline more than 30 days before an election. Ohioans should not care that there are no reported problems in traditional Republican states of Alabama, South Dakota or Utah which has registration deadlines within one or two weeks of the election.

It is a good idea to continue to tinker with the voting process, so that Ohio can continue to viewed nationally as unable to administer an honest election. These last minute laws will only reinforce that national reputation. We should keep the courts busy with repeated challenges to voting procedures and challenges and contradictory statutes. Think how many lawyer we will keep in business over the next four years challenging this law. In a down economy, it is important to keep lawyers in business. This could be considered a mini-stimulus bill for lawyers in Ohio. Most people are not educated about the issues, so current elected officials who spend all day working on these issues should figure out ways to make it harder for the undereducated to vote. Please pass this law, because the last voting overhaul was so successful we need to keep going"

The vote in next week. The state legislators quizzed the Board of Elections Chairperson from Allen County who supported this bogus legislation for over one hour. They dismissed those opposed to the legislation after only a few questions, and the author of the bill left during the testimony of all those who opposed the legislation. So, this bill will pass. Our only hope is that Governor Strickland will veto this bill in an effort to allow the Secretary of State to craft a comprehensive bill that will fix all the problems with the voting system.

Brian Davis

Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.

Where is the Plain Dealer?

Updates on Voting Case

The Columbus Dispatch, my least favorite paper, has had stories three days of this last week about the provisional ballot court case against Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner. Saturday's story is here, and Fridays story is here. This is an important story about how to count provisional ballots in Ohio, but we have not seen any stories in the Plain Dealer in the last two weeks. Why not? The judge in the case will decide if the case stays in Federal court or goes back to the Ohio Supreme Court on Monday morning. The case could decide the winner of the 15th Congressional district to the House of Representatives in Columbus. Out of the 26,000 provisional ballots there are nearly 1,000 that apparently had some kind of poll worker error and could be disqualified. It seems like an important story for Ohio.

Plus, the Columbus Dispatch has stopped using the Coalition's name in their coverage of this court case referring to us as a Cleveland homeless advocacy coalition. We were stripped of our name in the Columbus paper. Please Plain Dealer editors, write about this story so that NEOCH can get its name back.

Brian
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.

Republicans Challenge NEOCH Settlement

Brunner Settlement Made Before Election Under Scrutiny

As we discussed back in October, Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, temporarily settled the voter ID lawsuit. We could not reach agreement on the ID provision for election day because of time, but we got a directive to count the provisional ballots in a way that is fair and consistent with the law across the entire state. We signed a settlement that was certified by the court to have uniform standards for counting the provisional ballots in all 88 counties. Now that there is a close race between Stivers and Kilroy in Central Ohio for the U.S. Representative in District 15 the Republicans are claiming that there is a problem with our settlement. The Republican who currently leads by 400 votes has objected to the settlement agreement for how to count provisional votes.

The new lawsuit asks the Court to reopen this settlement and two voters have filed suit to overturn the Brunner issued settlement as well as her first directive. They are trying to eliminate provisional ballots in which the poll worker did not follow the proper procedure. So, in other words, the voter did everything that they were supposed to do, but for whatever reason their name did not appear in the poll book. The local board of elections certifies them to be a legitimate voter having voted in the correct precinct. The Board determines that they were who they said they were when the voter signed the provisional ballot. The voter filled out everything correctly on the provisional ballot, but because the poll worker did not sign or date the ballot those filing suit want the voter stripped of their vote. Through no fault of their own, but because an overworked elderly individual who only is employed for this one day by the County makes a mistake, the Republicans want to have the voter denied the ability to participate in the democratic process. Is that fair? Is that really what the Republican party has become?

We will keep you informed as the judges and lawyers work this out. I hope that the judges side with Ohio voters and give every legitimate voter the chance to cast a ballot.

Brian Davis
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.

Halloween Scary Out There!!

Finding Enemies of America Everywhere


It is that time of year to look for communists, anti-Americans, class warriors, election thieves, and the robber-barons who caused this financial collapse. Is it political sport because of the national election to label political rivals as enemies or is it something far more sinister like a new House Committee on Un-American Activities? I saw a few bogus comments from elected officials about how the National Housing Trust Fund was passed in order to subsidize ACORN. One of the most amazing charges is that ACORN is responsible for the mortgage meltdown because of their advocacy on behalf of Community Re-Investment Act. There are two good statements about CRA that bust some of the myths here at National Community ReInvestment Coalition and here at the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

Both of these charges are rediculous, and the media needs to do a better job to set the record straight. Greed is at the heart of the mortgage crisis not the law that protects against bank redlining their lending practices. No government forced these banks to make these loans. CRA protects communities from racist sharks attempting to keep minority populations out of a neighborhood. CRA forces banks that make money from poor communities to provide the same loan products they offer to the richer communities where they have branch offices. Greed, inflated salaries of CEOs, and attempts to make money in a dishonest manner are at the heart of the mortgage crisis. Blaming CRA for the mortgage meltdown is like blaming the gun trigger lock for excessive violence on the streets of Chicago.

I have to say that ACORN does not deserve the criticism they are currently receiving, but they do deserve some criticism for their voting activities. The Coalition did a ton of work on protecting the rights of homeless voters in 2008, 2006, and 2004. Back in the last presidential election in 2004, we paid homeless people to register other homeless people. We quickly realized that we had to set up a system to protect against fraudulant registrations being submitted. We did not want the added scrutiny from election officials, and we did not want to reward people for making up registrations. We had this extensive process put in place to protect ourselves. It is obvious that ACORN did not adopt the same standards. Maybe it is because they put in place a national system that had to conform to 30 different state laws. Maybe it has to do with the relative high turnover in staff at ACORN locally or maybe there are some other reasons. I have to say that ACORNs inability to effectively supervise a registration campaign has hurt our efforts. NEOCH was swept up in the anti-ACORN ferver, and we had a harder time settling our two voting lawsuits. They had to realize that by setting a goal of registering over one million people, they would have a huge target on their backs. They needed to set up a system to protect their agency from unnecessary criticism. Carelessness on their part makes it hard for all of us trying to do the right thing. Do not get me wrong. I do not believe that they were trying to undermine the election or there was any larger conspiracy as some suggest. It is just that the organization did not pay attention to the details, and made a whole lot of work for the local boards of elections.

Brian
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.

Ohio and the Hanging "Chads" of 2008

We Better Hope Ohio is Not Close this Year...

NEOCH never did settle our lawsuit over the state's requirement to force people to show identification if they want to vote in person. After our case, the Supreme Court supported Indiana's voting identification law. Our issue was in 2006 that there is no such thing as free identification in Ohio (as there is in Indiana), and many homeless people have a hard time maintaining identification. We wanted to do everything we can to avoid having homeless people have to vote with a provisional ballot. In 2006, our suit was against Kenneth Blackwell, then Secretary of State, and we eventually agreed to a compromise for the November 2006 statewide election. All of us thought with a new Secretary of State, and the luxury of time we would reach a permanent compromise. We could not reach this compromise, and so Thursday October 23, 2008, we go back to court.

This week our lawyers have been interviewing members of Boards of Elections across the state, and we have found that there is no standard for counting the provisional ballots in Ohio. This is the hanging "chads" for the 2008 election. If the election is close in Ohio, we are in big trouble. Some counties are disqualifying large numbers of potential voters, and others are using a liberal definition of verifying that the voter is a legitimate voter. While there are rules, they are not being enforced, and it is the wild wild west out in the field. Every board is doing whatever they want, and if the election comes down to provisional ballots we better wake up Justice Thomas and Stevens for another December late night decision on the presidential election. I hope that we can settle this lawsuit as we did in 2006 before the election or we have to hope that all the Ohio races are blowouts.

Brian
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.

NEOCH Gets Homeless People to the Polls

Volunteers and Early Voters during Golden week at the Board of Elections--photo by Josh Kanary

A Great Deal of Misinformation about Voting

We assisted with the transportation of hundreds of homeless people to the Board of Elections this last week. I heard in the media (both television and in the print media), a large number of inaccurate statements about these early voting opportunities. First, this was the second election that this opportunity was available. We tried it in 2006, but the Board was not prepared for the idea and so we shut down our efforts to focus on the identification problems for voting day. This was not a partisan effort for any one of the campaigns. As we have done since 1992, our interest was to figure out the best time to get people without homes to the vote. This last week was the best week for homeless people, because if there was any problem with their address they could register at the same time. It does not make any sense that in the age of computers we have to close registrations 30 days before the election. For those worried about fraud, there is plenty of time to investigate these new voters. There is time to send them mail, and verify every one of the new registrants. We drove veterans who may lean toward McCain and African Americans who may lean toward Obama. We did not ask anyone their political affiliation. We went to every shelter in the city and picked up anyone and everyone who wanted to go vote. There was no partisan literature exchanged, and no volunteer was allowed to wear anything that supported either political candidate. The cause was just to get voters who may be experiencing homelessness to the polls to vote. Despite what the New York Post and Fox News says this was just an effort to best serve our constituents by providing transporation to the polling place.

Homeless people do have a right to participate in the democratic process. All the hardships that homeless people have to go through it would seem that we could at least make it as easy as possible for those who need it most to vote. Since the Republicans wrote this voting law, and have been in power in Ohio for years, why are they complaining? How could they go to court to complain about a law that they wrote? They passed the law that allowed early voting in person at the Board of Elections. They passed the law that closed registration 30 days before the election day. They voted into law the provision that said absentee/early voting begins 35 days before the election. Any other interpretation of the law did not make sense. To follow the lawyers for the Republican party's interpretation of the registration law, the deadline for registrations should have closed in the second week in September to assure that a voter was registered for 30 days before they were allowed to ask for an absentee ballot. The other problem with their interpretation is that our system has never treated those changing their address differently from those new registrants. In the eyes of the Board, we do not have two separate deadlines for these two classifications. Those who become homeless on October 14 cannot change their registration. They must vote in the precinct that they previously lived, and they may have to vote by provisional ballot. Even the worst Ohio Secretary State in history, Ken Blackwell, did not use this bizarre interpretation of the registration deadline.

These attempts were pure and simple attempts by one party to suppress voting in Ohio, and homeless people were going to suffer because of these partisan games. All of this shows that we need a real overhaul of the voting process in Ohio. We need to either give out free identification or eliminate the id requirements on election day. We need to go to a County based election system instead of a precinct based system, so that a person can go to any polling place on election day and vote a county-only ballot. If they do not care who is on City Council or if the local restaurant can sell alcohol, but want to vote for President and Congressman, they should have that option. There are no rules at this time for the counting of provisional ballots. What is the standard? What proof is necessary to prove that an individual ballot is valid? We should have a two week window to vote and register at the same time, and every county should have to pay for vote by mail ballots. Or better yet, the federal government should force the post office to deliver for free the ballots to the front doors of democracy--the local boards of elections . All non-elected county employees should be trained to work at a polling place for each election. This way we would not have to rely exclusively on an entirely new workforce who are forced to work incredibly long hours on election day. If we had county workers assisting poll workers, they could work 7.5 hour shifts and not be overwhelmed with the current 13 or 14 hour shifts that poll workers are stuck with right now. All Counties should have to open everyday for 30 days leading up to the election. This will make it easier for people to vote at their convenience. No one should be allowed to challenge a potential voter except a poll worker, but the public should be allowed to observe democracy in action. Right now, you must be with a political party to observe the voting process. This is wrong. A person should be allowed to sit in and watch people vote, and if there is problems be able to communicate with someone to avoid a person’s ballot being spoiled. I created a ruckus in the 2006 election, because one of my friends staying in a shelter was directed to the wrong precinct. I knew that if I let her vote in the wrong precinct her vote would never count, but there was nothing in place to let me communicate my concerns to a poll worker. Finally, since we seem to have accepted as a society a permanent class of people who will live without a home, we should have rules for homeless voting so that people will not feel groups are trying to pull a fast one when they drive homeless people to the Board of Elections.

Brian
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.

Shelter Voting will Proceed

The Goal: 2,000 Homeless People to Vote in Two Weeks!!!

Despite the Republican Party lawsuit, which attempts to block homeless people from participating in early voting beginning September 30, we are moving forward. We need your help volunteering to transport homeless people to the main Board of Elections from September 30 to October 7. This is amazing that anyone is objecting to this plan. This was a law that the Republican party wrote with no input from outside experts. We sued to block the law with our ID lawsuit. So, NEOCH and homeless people were no fans of this massive change in election law. Many experts provided input at the hearing that this law was poorly crafted. Remember that the law written by the Republicans who controlled the Ohio legislature for 12 years, said a voter could use a military id as long as it contained an address. There are very few military identifications, if any, that list an address. So, now that we are trying to use a law that they wrote to help homeless people to vote, they are objecting. The nerve. We have used this law for years except that before 2006 a person had to say that they were going to be out of the City or otherwise unavailable to vote on election day.

It is a burden to get homeless people to vote, and we should all try to make it easier instead of putting up barriers. This is a great opportunity for a homeless person to register and vote at the same time. It is difficult, if not impossible, to get mail within the shelters. So, mailing an absentee ballot to the shelter is a huge crap shoot. By definition, homeless people need to change their address with the Board of Elections after having lost their homes. Since we have come to accept homeless people in every city in America, we should make it as easiest as possible for this population to participate in the democratic process.

Brian
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.

Still Room for Next Teach In

NEOCH Focuses on Identification and Homeless Voting

The next Teach In will focus on identification and voting registration issues. This is critical to the assisting homeless people with voting in-person on election day. There is still space for the next Teach In on September 16, 2008 at 5:30 p.m. at the NEOCH conference room. Please RSVP to Joshua Kanary at 216/432-0540 if you can attend this meeting. We will have Linda Stamm from West Side Catholic and an expert on identification issues. We will go over all the issues that the Coalition is focused on with regard to voting, and opportunities to volunteer. We will have a representative of Ohio Votes and most likely a representative of the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections. This should be a interesting 3 hours of information as we prepare for the 2008 Presidential election. We also tour one of the local shelters to look at their work in getting homeless people to participate in the democratic process.

If you cannot make this time, we will have a training on September 27, 2008 at 11:30 a.m. for those who want to help get homeless people to vote. We are still looking for vans and van drivers for September 30-October 6. If you can help call 432-0540.

Brian Davis
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.

Sorry for the Delay...

NEOCH Has Been Busy

Sorry, that we have not posted for two weeks...we have been working on the plan for the future of NEOCH. It is nearly done, but still needs some finishing touches. We are working on transferring two of our programs to another non-profit agency in Cleveland. We have made good progress in assuring the continued existence of Bridging the Gap housing program and Cleveland Community Voice Mail program. We will post the plan on our website as soon as it is done.

NEOCH has been working on a ton of other issues as well. On Wednesday, I spent the entire day down in Columbus trying to finally settle the homeless voting ID lawsuit. We hope that everything is settled by the end of the year in the NEOCH vs. Brunner (formerly Blackwell) lawsuit.

We believe that we have made a break through in this food problem on Public Square. We believe that we have reached a compromise with the City on a good alternate location. We just need to work out the agreement before Monday and we hope to get agreement with all the groups. Unfortunately, our e-mail system at NEOCH has been down for two days. It is extremely difficult to get work done in this day and age without an e-mail system. If you have sent us an e-mail recently, it most likely came back. We should have it repaired by Monday. Sorry for any inconveniences.

Finally, we are working on some other community planning activities in Cleveland including the implementation plan for Heading Home--a housing/homeless prevention strategic plan. In addition to all the other things we do including Teach Ins, Stand Down, Resident Councils, and Homeless Congress meetings, it is a busy time.

One last thing...RealNEO has another great post about the campaign to educate the public about panhandling. It may be a sign of the apocalypse, but we are the last city in Ohio to roll out this plan. The same company, Block by Block, is doing "clean up" of the Downtowns in Cincinnati, Columbus, and Toledo along with a bunch of other cities in the Midwest. Cleveland is late to game of educating the public that some people are dishonest when asking for money. Remember that dishonest behavior is not confined to panhandlers. It is my experience that politicians, telemarketers, salesmen, professional fund raisers, corporate spokespeople, and lawyers who represent big business interests, have been know to shade the truth when asking for your hard earned money. But you probably wouldn't know that because no one is "educating" you about that with a poster and a washboard.

For those of us downtown everyday, this advertising campaign is part of the landscape, and just blends into the Cityscape. I am just thankful that the City is not passing another law directed at homeless people and instead spending time on this "education" campaign.

Brian
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.