Ohio voter suppression strikes again

Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern and Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman expressed concern about recent voter suppression activities occurring at local polling places in Greene County. Led by the former law partner of McCain Ohio Campaign Manager Mike DeWine, Republican officials in Greene County are staking out polling places and requiring names, addresses, and social security numbers of any Ohio voter who registered between Sept. 30 and Oct. 6. The chairman and mayor are both concerned with the targeting of African-American college students, some of whom are first-time voters, due to the two historically African-American colleges in Greene County. Redfern called the actions in Greene County a “textbook definition” of voter suppression, although there has been “no evidence of voter fraud whatsoever.” In response to this suppression, the men have alerted the national media in hopes of external support to allow people to vote in Greene County and to prevent a repeat of the similar circumstances that occurred in Ohio during the 2004 election.