Civil Rights Groups Make Legal Challenge to Ohio Election Results

• Low Income and Black Voters Disenfranchised
  

Two separate voter advocacy coalitions are putting together federal lawsuits against election officials in Franklin County, Ohio, alleging unfair allocation of polling materials, staff and equipment that disenfranchised thousands of voters in the county's low-income and African-American precincts. Drawing from testimonies gathered at public hearings concluding Monday at the Columbus courthouse, a coalition of voter advocacy groups including People for the American Way, Common Cause Ohio, Citizens Alliance for a Fair Election (CASE Ohio) and The League of Pissed-Off Voters contend that state election practices suppressed voters in lower-income precincts and violated constitutional law guaranteeing all US citizens the right to vote. "In previous years we had five or six voting machines at our polling place, this year we had three," said Carol Shelton, a librarian and poll worker in a low-income, primarily African-American neighborhood in Northeast Columbus who volunteered to testify under oath at Saturday's hearing. Common Cause Ohio, a democracy advocacy organization, rests its federal complaint against the Franklin County Board of Elections on the 14th amendment guarantee to equal protection and the 1965 Voting Rights Act declaring federal protection against racially discriminatory electoral practices. Grounding their suit in the public testimonies as well as county records of Election Day procedures, Common Cause intends to challenge this election and push forward more astringent electoral legislation. [more]

• Hearings on Ohio voting put 2004 election in doubt [more]
• Lawyers to challenge election in Ohio [more]
• Common Cause Joins Coalition Supporting Recount in Ohio [more]