Sunday, August 05, 2012 10:28:34 PM
Romney Falsely Accuses Obama Campaign Of Trying To Restrict Military Voting Rights
Ryan J. Reilly-August 4, 2012, 5:22 PM
Mitt Romney attacked a lawsuit brought by President Obama’s campaign seeking the restoration of early voting rights for Ohio voters by falsely implying that Obama is trying to take away the early voting privileges for members of the military.
“President Obama’s lawsuit claiming it is unconstitutional for Ohio to allow servicemen and women extended early voting privileges during the state’s early voting period is an outrage,” Romney said in a statement Saturday.
Actually, the Obama campaign’s lawsuit [ http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entries/obama-campaign-sues-ohio-for-shortening-early-voting ], filed by the campaign in mid-July, explicitly asks a federal court to restore in-person early voting rights to all eligible Ohio voters on the three days preceding Election Day.
The suit does not seek to prevent members of the military from voting in person during that period, rather it seeks to force Ohio to give other voters (including, for instance, cops and firefighters) the same opportunity to vote.
Romney said in the statement that as president he would “work to protect the voting rights of our military, not undermine them.” He said that members of the military “make tremendous sacrifices to protect and defend our freedoms, and we should do everything we can to protect their fundamental right to vote.”
The Romney campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from TPM on whether he believes cops and firefighters should also be allowed to vote in the three days before the election.
Obama’s campaign is fighting back, calling Romney’s statement a “blatant attempt to mislead [ http://www.barackobama.com/truth-team/entry/protecting-early-voting-in-ohio ]” voters.
“This lawsuit seeks to treat all Ohio citizens equally under the law,” Obama for America attorney Bob Bauer said in a statement. “We want to restore the right of all to vote before Election Day.”
Under the Obama administration, the Justice Department has filed 10 lawsuits [ http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/vot/litigation/caselist.php#uocava_cases ] and reached nine settlements with various states to protect military voters under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA).
Late update: Obama for America Veterans and Military Family Vote Director Rob Diamond issued this statement:
“Mitt Romney and his campaign have completely fabricated a claim that the Obama campaign is trying to restrict military voting in Ohio. In fact, the opposite is true: the Obama campaign filed a lawsuit to make sure every Ohioan, including military members and their families, has early voting rights over the last weekend prior to the election. The case filed with the court could not be clearer on this point. The real story of what is happening in the Buckeye State is that Mitt Romney supports the Republican effort to stop people from voting by restricting their access to the polls. In 2008, more than 93,000 Ohioans utilized early voting in the three days before the election. In complete disregard of the will of Ohio voters expressed last year through the referendum process, the Republican legislature is attempting to remove from the vast majority of voters — including veterans of our armed services — the early voting rights they enjoyed in 2008. This latest Republican attack on rights of voters is shameful — and so is Mitt Romney’s endorsement of it.”
© 2012 TPM Media LLC
http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/08/romney-falsely-accuces-obama-campaign-of-trying-to-restrict-military-voting-rights.php [with comments]
===
No, the Obama Campaign Isn't Trying to Take the Vote Away from Soldiers
By David Weigel
Posted Saturday, Aug. 4, 2012, at 4:40 PM ET
Fifteen military organizations want to intervene in Obama v. Halsted, a lawsuit filed [ http://thetandd.com/politicalpress/military-groups-oppose-obama-campaign-ohio-lawsuit/article_89212380-dd0f-11e1-8e4c-001a4bcf887a.html ] by the president's campaign in Ohio. The Obama filing claims that special early voting rights violate the 14th Amendment; the org leaders read that, and worry that their votes are in danger. Mitt Romney is with them.
President Obama's lawsuit claiming it is unconstitutional for Ohio to allow servicemen and women extended early voting privileges during the state’s early voting period is an outrage. The brave men and women of our military make tremendous sacrifices to protect and defend our freedoms, and we should do everything we can to protect their fundamental right to vote.
That's all good, but the Obama campaign doesn't disagree with it. Here's the backstory. In the run-up to 2008, Democrats, who briefly ran the Secretary of State's office in Ohio, expanded early voting so that anyone could show up at polling sites in the days before the election. In 2011, the new Republican legislature and Secretary of State rolled this back. Early voting would now end on the Friday [ http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2012/07/18/obama-campaign-sues-ohio-for-cutting-early-voting-days/ ] before election day. So the Obama campaign sued. This is how its argument begins.
Plaintiffs bring this lawsuit to restore in-person early voting for all Ohioans during the three days prior to Election Day – a right exercised by an estimated 93,000 Ohioans in the last presidential election. Ohio election law, as currently enacted by the State of Ohio and administered by Defendant Ohio Secretary of State, arbitrarily eliminates early voting during the three days prior to Election Day for most Ohio voters, a right previously available to all Ohio voters. This disparate treatment violates 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and can be rectified by the Court enjoining enforcement of statutory changes that eliminate early in-person voting for most Ohioans during the three days before an election.
I think that's clear enough. The Obama campaign isn't actually trying to stop veterans from voting early. The idea that they would is left over from the 2000 Florida mess, when Republicans realized there were probably votes to gain from military ballots received after the deadline had passed, and hectored Democrats for "opposing military voters" if they didn't want those ballots counted. But the Obama campaign isn't talking about military ballots coming in from Iraq and Afghanistan. It's pointing out that, under current law, an active duty soldier is able to vote, in person, up through the day before election day.
If the campaign wins, veterans will be able to vote early and so will everybody else in Ohio. To clear that up, the campaign filed a motion supporting the 15 military groups, reaffirming that "neither the substance of its Equal Protection claim, nor the relief requested, challenges the legislature’s authority to make appropriate accommodation, including early voting during the period in question, for military voters, their spouses or dependents."
The complaint is here, if you don't believe me.
OFA Complaint [ http://www.scribd.com/doc/102033888/OFA-Complaint-as-Filed (embedded)]
I've got some more of the key documents at that link.
UPDATE: The Romney campaign's line on this gets the Snopes [ http://www.snopes.com/politics/ballot/military.asp ] treatment. Congratulations! Your weekend message is on equal footing with stories like "Nostradamus predicted Obama's win."
© 2012 The Slate Group, LLC (emphasis in original)
http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2012/08/04/no_the_obama_campaign_isn_t_trying_to_take_the_vote_away_from_soldiers.html [with comments]
Ryan J. Reilly-August 4, 2012, 5:22 PM
Mitt Romney attacked a lawsuit brought by President Obama’s campaign seeking the restoration of early voting rights for Ohio voters by falsely implying that Obama is trying to take away the early voting privileges for members of the military.
“President Obama’s lawsuit claiming it is unconstitutional for Ohio to allow servicemen and women extended early voting privileges during the state’s early voting period is an outrage,” Romney said in a statement Saturday.
Actually, the Obama campaign’s lawsuit [ http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entries/obama-campaign-sues-ohio-for-shortening-early-voting ], filed by the campaign in mid-July, explicitly asks a federal court to restore in-person early voting rights to all eligible Ohio voters on the three days preceding Election Day.
The suit does not seek to prevent members of the military from voting in person during that period, rather it seeks to force Ohio to give other voters (including, for instance, cops and firefighters) the same opportunity to vote.
Romney said in the statement that as president he would “work to protect the voting rights of our military, not undermine them.” He said that members of the military “make tremendous sacrifices to protect and defend our freedoms, and we should do everything we can to protect their fundamental right to vote.”
The Romney campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from TPM on whether he believes cops and firefighters should also be allowed to vote in the three days before the election.
Obama’s campaign is fighting back, calling Romney’s statement a “blatant attempt to mislead [ http://www.barackobama.com/truth-team/entry/protecting-early-voting-in-ohio ]” voters.
“This lawsuit seeks to treat all Ohio citizens equally under the law,” Obama for America attorney Bob Bauer said in a statement. “We want to restore the right of all to vote before Election Day.”
Under the Obama administration, the Justice Department has filed 10 lawsuits [ http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/vot/litigation/caselist.php#uocava_cases ] and reached nine settlements with various states to protect military voters under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA).
Late update: Obama for America Veterans and Military Family Vote Director Rob Diamond issued this statement:
“Mitt Romney and his campaign have completely fabricated a claim that the Obama campaign is trying to restrict military voting in Ohio. In fact, the opposite is true: the Obama campaign filed a lawsuit to make sure every Ohioan, including military members and their families, has early voting rights over the last weekend prior to the election. The case filed with the court could not be clearer on this point. The real story of what is happening in the Buckeye State is that Mitt Romney supports the Republican effort to stop people from voting by restricting their access to the polls. In 2008, more than 93,000 Ohioans utilized early voting in the three days before the election. In complete disregard of the will of Ohio voters expressed last year through the referendum process, the Republican legislature is attempting to remove from the vast majority of voters — including veterans of our armed services — the early voting rights they enjoyed in 2008. This latest Republican attack on rights of voters is shameful — and so is Mitt Romney’s endorsement of it.”
© 2012 TPM Media LLC
http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/08/romney-falsely-accuces-obama-campaign-of-trying-to-restrict-military-voting-rights.php [with comments]
===
No, the Obama Campaign Isn't Trying to Take the Vote Away from Soldiers
By David Weigel
Posted Saturday, Aug. 4, 2012, at 4:40 PM ET
Fifteen military organizations want to intervene in Obama v. Halsted, a lawsuit filed [ http://thetandd.com/politicalpress/military-groups-oppose-obama-campaign-ohio-lawsuit/article_89212380-dd0f-11e1-8e4c-001a4bcf887a.html ] by the president's campaign in Ohio. The Obama filing claims that special early voting rights violate the 14th Amendment; the org leaders read that, and worry that their votes are in danger. Mitt Romney is with them.
President Obama's lawsuit claiming it is unconstitutional for Ohio to allow servicemen and women extended early voting privileges during the state’s early voting period is an outrage. The brave men and women of our military make tremendous sacrifices to protect and defend our freedoms, and we should do everything we can to protect their fundamental right to vote.
That's all good, but the Obama campaign doesn't disagree with it. Here's the backstory. In the run-up to 2008, Democrats, who briefly ran the Secretary of State's office in Ohio, expanded early voting so that anyone could show up at polling sites in the days before the election. In 2011, the new Republican legislature and Secretary of State rolled this back. Early voting would now end on the Friday [ http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2012/07/18/obama-campaign-sues-ohio-for-cutting-early-voting-days/ ] before election day. So the Obama campaign sued. This is how its argument begins.
Plaintiffs bring this lawsuit to restore in-person early voting for all Ohioans during the three days prior to Election Day – a right exercised by an estimated 93,000 Ohioans in the last presidential election. Ohio election law, as currently enacted by the State of Ohio and administered by Defendant Ohio Secretary of State, arbitrarily eliminates early voting during the three days prior to Election Day for most Ohio voters, a right previously available to all Ohio voters. This disparate treatment violates 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and can be rectified by the Court enjoining enforcement of statutory changes that eliminate early in-person voting for most Ohioans during the three days before an election.
I think that's clear enough. The Obama campaign isn't actually trying to stop veterans from voting early. The idea that they would is left over from the 2000 Florida mess, when Republicans realized there were probably votes to gain from military ballots received after the deadline had passed, and hectored Democrats for "opposing military voters" if they didn't want those ballots counted. But the Obama campaign isn't talking about military ballots coming in from Iraq and Afghanistan. It's pointing out that, under current law, an active duty soldier is able to vote, in person, up through the day before election day.
If the campaign wins, veterans will be able to vote early and so will everybody else in Ohio. To clear that up, the campaign filed a motion supporting the 15 military groups, reaffirming that "neither the substance of its Equal Protection claim, nor the relief requested, challenges the legislature’s authority to make appropriate accommodation, including early voting during the period in question, for military voters, their spouses or dependents."
The complaint is here, if you don't believe me.
OFA Complaint [ http://www.scribd.com/doc/102033888/OFA-Complaint-as-Filed (embedded)]
I've got some more of the key documents at that link.
UPDATE: The Romney campaign's line on this gets the Snopes [ http://www.snopes.com/politics/ballot/military.asp ] treatment. Congratulations! Your weekend message is on equal footing with stories like "Nostradamus predicted Obama's win."
© 2012 The Slate Group, LLC (emphasis in original)
http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2012/08/04/no_the_obama_campaign_isn_t_trying_to_take_the_vote_away_from_soldiers.html [with comments]
Greensburg, KS - 5/4/07
"Eternal vigilance is the price of Liberty."
from John Philpot Curran, Speech
upon the Right of Election, 1790
F6
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