Ohio GOP board members block plan to pay postage on mail-in ballots
A postage plan for Ohio's mail-in ballots failed to gain approval from Republicans on a key panel in the state, a move that reportedly makes it all but impossible for ballots to get stamped in time for the November election, The Associated Press reported.
The proposal, put forward by Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose, failed in a 2-4 vote as Republicans on the Controlling Board opposed approving $3 million from a special fund to cover the postage of mail-in ballots. LaRose argued that the cost was within the law, with the fund previously being used to cover the costs of voting machines, poll worker training and other election-related fees.
“A no vote today is a no vote that is over the objection of our bipartisan election officials and over my objection as the state’s chief elections officer,” LaRose said.
LaRose had called his postage funding proposal an “innovative solution” that would make “every mailbox a dropbox for millions of Ohioans." It was a final effort to address a mail-in voting changes needed during the coronavirus pandemic, as previous election changes have stalled in the GOP-controlled state legislature earlier this year.
Republicans on the panel argued, however, it was an issue to be argued among state lawmakers and the action way beyond their authority.
The decision means Ohio voters will likely have to buy their own postage if they wish to vote by mail.
"Ohio has a sound elections system, but today was another missed opportunity by the legislature to make a small change, without an impact on our state budget, that would yield a big improvement," LaRose said in a statement after the decision.
The Ohio Capitol Journal reported one of the Republican board members who voted against prepaid postage announced that he tested positive for Covid-19 less than one hour before the meeting began. The Controlling Board met for the vote over Zoom.
Russian jets identified in Trump campaign ad calling for support for the troops
A recent digital ad for President Trump’s reelection campaign calling for the public to “support our troops” reportedly used a stock image of Russian-made fighter jets and weapons, Politico reported Monday, citing experts who identified the image.
“That’s definitely a MiG-29,” Pierre Sprey, who helped design both the F-16 and A-10 planes for the U.S. Air Force, told Politico regarding the photo in the ad. “I’m glad to see it’s supporting our troops.”
Ruslan Pukhov of the Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies in Moscow also confirmed to Politico that the planes are Russian MiG-29s and said the soldier on the far right carries an AK-74 assault rifle.
The digital ad was made by the Trump Make America Great Again Committee and ran from Sept. 8 to Sept. 12. It features the silhouette of soldiers standing beneath the jets.
In identifying the jets to Politico, Sprey noted the angle of the aircraft’s tail and the spacing of the engines. Russia’s MiG-29 was developed during the Cold War specifically to counter American F-15s and F-16s, and the U.S. obtained a few to play the adversary in war games, Politico noted.
The Trump Make America Great Again Committee is run by the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee (RNC).
The Trump campaign and the RNC did not immediately respond to The Hill for comment. The RNC declined to comment to Politico.
Politico identified the image used in the ad as a stock photo available on Shutterstock named “Military silhouettes of soldiers and airforce against the backdrop of sunset sky.”
Democrats, advocates seethe over Florida voting rights ruling
Democrats and civil rights groups are seething over a court ruling last week that upheld a Florida law requiring indigent former felons to pay off outstanding court fees as a precondition to having their voting rights restored, a policy critics compare to a modern-day version of the Jim Crow-era poll tax.
The 6-4 opinion by the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday was expected to disproportionately burden the franchise of African Americans with felony records in Florida, where Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee, is running neck and neck with President Trump.
“This decision takes away voting rights from 800,000 Floridians, 2/3s of them Black. It’s a modern day poll tax,” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) wrote in a tweet. “When we vote in November, we vote to end their disenfranchisement.”
As election-related lawsuits pile up, legal experts say the court fight over the controversial Florida law has produced perhaps the most consequential ruling to date given Florida’s role as a swing state and the large number of affected would-be voters.
The Friday ruling, which represented a bitter disappointment for voting rights activists, comes less than two months before the November elections and just weeks ahead of the state’s Oct. 5 voter registration deadline.
“This ruling runs counter to the foundational principle that Americans do not have to pay to vote,” Julie Ebenstein, a senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU) Voting Rights Project, said in a statement. “The gravity of this decision cannot be overstated. It is an affront to the spirit of democracy.”
The ACLU, which is backing the plaintiffs along with other civil rights advocacy groups, estimate that around 774,000 felons in Florida owe outstanding court debt. By some estimates, most of the affected would-be voters are likely to lean Democratic.
The legal dispute traces back to a 2018 amendment to Florida’s constitution, known as Voting Restoration Amendment 4, that restored voting rights to those with most types of felony convictions who had completed “all terms” of their sentences.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) the following year signed into law a bill that obligated Floridians with felony records to settle all outstanding court debt before their voting rights were reinstated — even if they were unable to afford court fees and other legal financial obligations.
Several poor, court-indebted felons who had otherwise served out their sentences asked a federal court to strike down the payment requirement on constitutional grounds.
In May, a federal trial judge in Florida agreed. U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle, a Clinton appointee, struck down the payment component as unconstitutional.
But on July 1, just more than two weeks before the voter-registration deadline for the state’s primary, the 11th Circuit agreed to halt the lower court ruling while an appeal played out, which sparked a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The conservative-majority Supreme Court in July declined to intervene in the case. In a fiery dissenting opinion joined by fellow liberal justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan, Justice Sonia Sotomayor accused the majority of “continu[ing] a trend of condoning disfranchisement.”
“Under this scheme, nearly a million otherwise-eligible citizens cannot vote unless they pay money,” wrote Sotomayor, calling the policy a “voter paywall.”
The Friday ruling formally overturned the lower court, thereby upholding the payment requirement.
Writing for the majority, Chief Judge William Pryor, a George W. Bush appointee, rejected the argument that the law amounted to a poll tax, which is prohibited by the civil rights era’s 24th Amendment to the Constitution, or that it ran afoul of other constitutional protections.
“That criminal sentences often include financial obligations does not make this requirement a ‘capricious or irrelevant factor,’ ” Pryor wrote. “Monetary provisions of a sentence are no less a part of the penalty that society imposes for a crime than terms of imprisonment. Indeed, some felons face substantial monetary penalties but little or no prison time.”
A spokesman for DeSantis praised the ruling as fair-minded.
“All terms of a sentence means all terms,” Fred Piccolo said in a statement to media outlets. “There are multiple avenues to restore rights, pay off debts and seek financial forgiveness from one’s victims. Second chances and the rule of law are not mutually exclusive.”
But in one of four blistering dissenting opinions, Judge Adalberto Jordan, an Obama appointee, wrote: “I doubt that today’s decision — which blesses Florida’s neutering of Amendment 4 — will be viewed as kindly by history.”
After Friday’s ruling, the Campaign Legal Center (CLC), which represents the challengers, blasted the court’s reasoning.
“This is a deeply disappointing decision,” Paul Smith, vice president at CLC, said in a statement. “While the full rights restoration envisioned by Amendment 4 has become less likely to be realized this fall, we will continue this fight for all Florida voters, so the full benefits of Amendment 4 will someday be realized.
“Florida’s voters spoke loud and clear when nearly two-thirds of them supported rights restoration at the ballot box in 2018,” he added. “Nobody should ever be denied their constitutional rights because they can’t afford to pay fines and fees.”
When asked Monday how the CLC would respond, a spokesman said the group is “actively considering our options.”
Election law experts say it’s unlikely that the Supreme Court would take the case before the fast-approaching election.
Rick Hasen, a law professor at the University of California, Irvine, and an election law expert who has tracked the Florida case closely, underscored the stakes of the court’s decision.
“This case is perhaps the most consequential when it comes to election outcomes,” he wrote earlier this summer on the Election Law Blog. “Florida is a perennial swing state and the number of voters affected by this ruling is significant.”
Although the legal challenge has hit a roadblock, fundraising efforts are underway to pay Florida felons’ outstanding court fines and fees so their sentences can be completed and their voting rights restored. As of Monday, close to $4 million of the $6.1 million goal had been raised to help cover costs for several thousand would-be voters.
It's not about the postage arch, it's about the GOPers trying to do anything they can to suppress voting.
So why this:
Quote:
Ohio GOP board members block plan to pay postage on mail-in ballots
And then this:
Quote:
The Ohio Capitol Journal reported one of the Republican board members who voted against prepaid postage announced that he tested positive for Covid-19 less than one hour before the meeting began.
Talk about a hit piece. Postage is free I believe, but then the dig at "a republican board member tested positive for covid less than 1 hour before the meeting began" during a zoom meeting.
I can't believe democrats are on the side of felons again.
So people have to pay off their court fees, and now they cry foul, How about don't commit a felony to begin with, and 2/3rds are black, of 800,000, why do such a disproportionate amount end up felons, do you know how hard it is to get a felony, it's easy to obey the law, just don't do anything I can't believe I have to explain.
What is the democrats message to victims of crime, ehh, felons, nah no stigma, it's actually something to raise money for,
How about teaching people to not do things that get them the label of felon in the first place, and then the whole world would be a better place with nobody commiting felonies.
Every time, the democrats are on the wrong side of an issue, and sometimes it's unbelievable.
Democrats... : Every American can surely afford 100-400+ dollars a month, minimum, depending on the number of dependents you have, For universal healthcare insurance, under Obamacare, Forced to purchase, whether you like it or not!
But 25 cents for a stamp? (a one time cost-) (THAT THEY DON'T EVEN HAVE TO PAY, because they can VOTE IN PERSON)
OH the burden on these poor innocent voters, how will they ever cast a vote with such a burden.
Democrat thinking, how can anybody take anything they stand for seriously, I really don't get how they are on the wrong side of common sense, every time.
Russian jets identified in Trump campaign ad calling for support for the troops
A recent digital ad for President Trump’s reelection campaign calling for the public to “support our troops” reportedly used a stock image of Russian-made fighter jets and weapons, Politico reported Monday, citing experts who identified the image.
“That’s definitely a MiG-29,” Pierre Sprey, who helped design both the F-16 and A-10 planes for the U.S. Air Force, told Politico regarding the photo in the ad. “I’m glad to see it’s supporting our troops.”
Ruslan Pukhov of the Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies in Moscow also confirmed to Politico that the planes are Russian MiG-29s and said the soldier on the far right carries an AK-74 assault rifle.
The digital ad was made by the Trump Make America Great Again Committee and ran from Sept. 8 to Sept. 12. It features the silhouette of soldiers standing beneath the jets.
In identifying the jets to Politico, Sprey noted the angle of the aircraft’s tail and the spacing of the engines. Russia’s MiG-29 was developed during the Cold War specifically to counter American F-15s and F-16s, and the U.S. obtained a few to play the adversary in war games, Politico noted.
The Trump Make America Great Again Committee is run by the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee (RNC).
The Trump campaign and the RNC did not immediately respond to The Hill for comment. The RNC declined to comment to Politico. Politico identified the image used in the ad as a stock photo available on Shutterstock named “Military silhouettes of soldiers and airforce against the backdrop of sunset sky.”
This is a tough one. I voted to restore their rights, of course assuming all debts paid and time served. You don't get a suspended license back unless you pay all your fines right?
But, that said, I didn't realize how much these felon debts were, and with that information, I would be fine with restoring rights, IF, the subject was making steady payments toward their debt.
It is hard for anyone, especially a recently released inmate to come up with thousands of dollars to pay off fines and judgement's. So if they were willing to concede to a payment plan and show a history of maintaining their payments for say 8-12 months, then I think we should re-institute their voting rights even though they were not paid in full.
We don't have to agree with each other, to respect each others opinion.
Russian jets identified in Trump campaign ad calling for support for the troops
A recent digital ad for President Trump’s reelection campaign calling for the public to “support our troops” reportedly used a stock image of Russian-made fighter jets and weapons, Politico reported Monday, citing experts who identified the image.
“That’s definitely a MiG-29,” Pierre Sprey, who helped design both the F-16 and A-10 planes for the U.S. Air Force, told Politico regarding the photo in the ad. “I’m glad to see it’s supporting our troops.”
Ruslan Pukhov of the Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies in Moscow also confirmed to Politico that the planes are Russian MiG-29s and said the soldier on the far right carries an AK-74 assault rifle.
The digital ad was made by the Trump Make America Great Again Committee and ran from Sept. 8 to Sept. 12. It features the silhouette of soldiers standing beneath the jets.
In identifying the jets to Politico, Sprey noted the angle of the aircraft’s tail and the spacing of the engines. Russia’s MiG-29 was developed during the Cold War specifically to counter American F-15s and F-16s, and the U.S. obtained a few to play the adversary in war games, Politico noted.
The Trump Make America Great Again Committee is run by the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee (RNC).
The Trump campaign and the RNC did not immediately respond to The Hill for comment. The RNC declined to comment to Politico.
Politico identified the image used in the ad as a stock photo available on Shutterstock named “Military silhouettes of soldiers and airforce against the backdrop of sunset sky.”
Joe isn't hiding. It's your great ability to play a sheep combined with not paying attention. Maybe he should start holding indoor rallies while people there are being infected with covid. That seems like something you're a fan boy of.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
Still waiting to see how Joe Hiden cowards out of the debates.
I hope Joe Rogan does moderate, I'm not sure he can stand either one of them. Oh, and Biden will kill Trump in a debate, as long as it's early. Trump should be asking for the debates to all be after sundown.
Biden has a slight 1.6 point edge in Florida, the biggest of the battlegrounds, according to an average of all the latest public opinion surveys in the state compiled by Real Clear Politics. That’s down from a 5-point advantage the former vice president held over the GOP incumbent a month ago.
In battleground North Carolina, a new CNN poll indicates Biden with a 49%-46% advantage over the president. The former vice president’s 3-point edge is within the sampling error of the survey, which was conducted Sept. 9-13.
Trump’s The Choice For Voters Who’ve Experienced Violent Protests Tuesday, September 15, 2020
Three-out-of-four voters who’ve had violent anti-police protests in their community rate those protests important to their vote in the presidential election. Among these voters, a sizable majority like the job President Trump is doing.
A self-described "transsexual Satanist anarchist" has won the Republican nomination for the sheriff’s job in Cheshire County, N.H. -- a victory she says proves “the system is utterly and hopelessly broken.”
Aria DiMezzo, who ran with the campaign slogan “ **** the Police” and says she had expected to lose to a write-in candidate, won the nomination for Cheshire County sheriff on Tuesday. The victory was first reported by Inside Sources.
In a Friday blog post, DiMezzo said she opposes a system that allowed thousands of people to walk into a voting booth and vote “despite knowing absolutely nothing about the person they were nominating to the most powerful law enforcement position in the county.”
"I’m running for sheriff because I oppose that very system, and the sheriff has the most hands-on ability in Cheshire County to oppose that system,” she said. “The system that let you down by allowing me -- the freaking transsexual Satanist anarchist -- be your sheriff candidate is the same system I’m attacking. I’m sorry, and I know it hurts to hear, but that system is a lie."
“The entire thing is a lie. It’s broken from beginning to end, and my existence as your sheriff candidate is merely how this reality was thrown into your face,” she said.
Inside Sources reports that she will now campaign against popular incumbent Democrat Eli Rivera, who is seeking a fifth term.
Marilyn Huston, the chair of the Cheshire County GOP, congratulated DiMezzo for the victory and told Inside Sources she “did very well with the primary and that was wonderful.” However, Huston said DiMezzo never showed up to GOP meetings and events, despite being invited.
According to the outlet, DiMezzo comes from a group of libertarian activists that has produced candidates before. DiMezzo hosts an internet radio show where she is referred to as a “She-Male.”
DiMezzo said in her blog post that her victory in the primary was an argument for anarchism because of how “clueless the average voter is.” She garnered 4,211 votes, easily beating a traditional candidate who received only a few hundred votes, election results show.
"Sweet Satan, how can you not be an anarchist?!" she wrote. "Between 75 and 80 percent of the primary voters -- the ones alleged to be more politically aware than the average voter -- were completely and totally ignorant of who they were voting for! What is the percentage with the average voter? 90 percent? 95 percent? These people are deciding who gets to rule you,” she said, before calling on Cheshire County to secede from both New Hampshire and the U.S.
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." Thomas Jefferson.
He's a jerk, but the American public has treated teachers like "losers" for decades. Y'all never wanted to pay us. Y'all blamed us for the problems of students who came from broken families. Y'all have never given us any respect.
Blank Trump Jr and the same to most of America for having their priorities mixed up! You know, kinda like guys like you, Pit, 888, etc who make fun of me for saying I have helped the black community.
More and more teachers are leaving the profession in less than 5 years and even 3 years. The American public has disrespected teachers for decades.
All I will say is..........wait, lemme break it down for some posters: All Ima say is education starts at home.
Now, some high and mighty might come here and try to correct me, but truth is, if education isn't preached and practiced at home, very, very few kids will overcome that.
You have no idea how some of these kids are sent to school. I always taught middle school or high school, but when I moved to SC, I taught 5th grade. It was an eye-opener on seeing the family lives of some of incoming kids.
I recently saw my former assistant VP at the grocery store. We were talking. I asked her how school was going and she said she retired. She's in her mid-30s. She said there was a kid who kept being removed from his Kindergarten class daily and he would get on her desk and poop on it. He urinated all over her room. She got absolutely no support. The mother was hooked on meth. She threatened the district w/racial harassment. It's a scenario that is repeated over and over again, but no one wants to talk about it.
All I will say is..........wait, lemme break it down for some posters: All Ima say is education starts at home.
Now, some high and mighty might come here and try to correct me, but truth is, if education isn't preached and practiced at home, very, very few kids will overcome that.
Exactly why we see a bunch of uneducated trump supporters driving pickups and boats with dozens of trump flags running into and drowning each other with stupidity
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." Thomas Jefferson.
You know, kinda like guys like you, Pit, 888, etc who make fun of me for saying I have helped the black community.
Only that's not what you said... at all.
I missed that post of Vers... I don't remember making fun of Vers claim that he has done more to help the Black Community than any other poster on Dawg Talkers ... I have certainly questioned how anyone could possibly make that claim and will continue to do so. Not only does Vers take on what the Black Community need help with clearly differ from some members of the Black Communities who have expressed their opinion .... no-one here has any clue what other posters have or have not done to help any community or group outside of Dawg Talkers.
The post is a lot like his others where he claims I lie about things when I challenge what he says and writes. If he doesn't like it he starts calling me a liar and runs and refuses to discuss. It's a very effective way of not standing up for what he puts in print.
The more things change the more they stay the same.
You know, kinda like guys like you, Pit, 888, etc who make fun of me for saying I have helped the black community.
Only that's not what you said... at all.
I missed that post of Vers... I don't remember making fun of Vers claim that he has done more to help the Black Community than any other poster on Dawg Talkers ...
That was his actual claim. Not the bogus one he posted earlier.
And his reaction you saw is exactly what his response is when you question the validity of his claims. That's what happened. He once again decided he did more than anyone else on the board to help the black community.
You described perfectly my feelings about such a broad based and general statement without actually knowing what everyone else on this board has done.
Not everyone posts in such a self-aggrandizing fashion. Many think the things they do for others is a personal issue. Many people support charities and groups, lift people up and volunteer to help others, yet they do not post about as some measure of their worth to others.
It's a personal choice and it doesn't really matter either way. At least until you reach the point of saying that somehow you know you have done more than anyone else. At that point? Well, people can decide for themselves. I have.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
He'll be ready.