All are among the 35,000 whose eligibility has been challenged by the Ohio Republican Party. Since mail came back undelivered, the GOP says, those registrations could be fraudulent. Democrats say the GOP is trying to keep the poor and minorities, who move more often, from voting.
A federal judge put a temporary halt to the challenges Wednesday, ruling in favor of Democrats who said the GOP was targeting new voters registered by political groups supporting Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic challenger to President Bush. U.S. District Judge Susan Dlott ruled that six county elections boards should stop hearings scheduled this week in Ohio.
Dlott, appointed by former President Clinton in 1995, said her temporary order would remain in effect until further rulings in the case. She scheduled a hearing in her Cincinnati court for this morning.
Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro appealed the judge’s order on Thursday, saying it “has just thrown Ohio’s electoral process into disarray, and has opened the door to voter fraud.”
In southwest Ohio, Republicans challenged the registration of Surjo Banerjee, a fact his brother found unusual. Banerjee, 40, is an Army sergeant who is now in Fallujah, Iraq.
Banerjee, also a veteran of the first Gulf War, uses his brother’s house in Centerville as a permanent address, said his brother, Dr. Partha Banerjee.
Republicans withdrew all 2,319 challenges in Montgomery County, including the one against Banerjee, after acknowledging several mistakes in its mailing.
In suburban Franklin County, the registration of Raven Shaffer was wrongly challenged because he gets mail at a post office box, according to the federal lawsuit filed Tuesday by Democrats. The “family’s mailbox has been repeatedly hit by delivery trucks,” the lawsuit said.
Also in Franklin County, 291 homeless people are being questioned out of the 2,370 total challenges, according to an analysis of the challenges by the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio. In Cuyahoga County, 757 people of the 17,717 total being challenged are homeless.
Mary Sullivan, 57, looked for work for a year after losing her job in August 2003. She was evicted from her apartment after her money ran out this past June and spent two months at Friends of the Homeless, a shelter on Columbus’ east side.
“My vote has to be counted,” Sullivan said. “Just because you’re homeless doesn’t mean you’re stupid.”
It isn’t just Kerry supporters who’ve had their registrations challenged. Roy Bottiggi, a 31-year-old registered Republican who plans to vote for President Bush, was confused when he got a call about a challenge to his registration. He has been a registered voter for 13 years, has lived in the same house for five years and voted in every election, general and primary, during that time.
The Republican Party withdrew its challenge after the Lake County Board of Elections documented his registration.
By ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS Associated Press writer
http://www.cantonrep.com
This page was created October 29, 2004
©2004 The Repository
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