Cleveland Reportback

In Cleveland we were impressed with the huge, coordinated efforts of the
Election Protection Coalition. We visited the Cleveland headquarters and
followed election protection volunteers to polling sites in East Cleveland,
near Shaker Heights.

The office was buzzing with volunteers from all over
the U.S. including a large contingent from Howard University, a busload from
New Haven and we just missed some Rochester folks. There were friendly
press people at the Coalition office, who were happy to brief us and connect
us with a group heading out to the polls.

While we went to Ohio expecting the possibility of chaos and contention at
the polls, it appears that the protection workers may have been
overwhelmingly successful at preventing mass interventions by Republican
poll challengers (approximately 3600 had reportedly signed up to be inside
Ohio polling locations, but in most places we heard about they did not show
up, or they lurked around in and around the polling places watching or
taking notes). We wonder why the apparent change in approach by Republicans,
who had fought with up to the last minute legal battles, vowing to challenge
voters in the polls.

While there were several reports of irregularities, and extraordinary lines
in some other Cleveland locales, the main observation that we found notable
was the high level of provisional ballots that were being used. We do not
know how many of those will be eventually counted, but it seems likely to be
an area that will be contested, as we now see that Ohio is shaping up to be
this eletion's Florida. People were forced to use provisional ballots when
their names were missing from the voter list and when they had not received
their absentee ballots by mail and then appeared for voting in person, among
other reasons. My impression from talking with some law student volunteers
is that poll workers may have been quick to have voters use provisional
ballots where further problem solving on the spot may have resulted in using
a regular ballot. In general, it seems that the Bush Administration's new
voting legislation, Help America Vote, is confusing and varied in its
implementation.