Listen to 6/20/2006 NPR Program on Ohio 2004 and Election Reform

U.S. Represenative John Conyers: Why Ohio's 2004 Election is Still Important; Latest on Voting Rights
Go to original.

I appeared with a number of election law experts yesterday (6/21/06) on NPR's Open Source (Listen to the audio here.)] to discuss Ohio 2004 and Election Reform in general. Mark Crispin Miller, author of Fooled Again: How the Right Stole the 2004 Election & Why They’ll Steal the Next One Too (Unless We Stop Them) joined Ohio State University Election Law Professor Dan Tokaji and I to discuss the Republican tactics in Ohio with Bill Todd, the Bush-Cheney campaign's Ohio counsel in the 2004 elections.

We had very lively discussion about what went wrong in Ohio, and the degree to which malfeasance or human error denied so many people the right to vote. Mr. Todd, of course, would have us believe that Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell ran an exemplary election.

When Mr. Todd spoke about voter fraud, I was happy to have before me a copy of a letter, purportedly from the Lake County Board of Elections, sent to targeted newly registered voters explaining that many voter registrations from the NAACP or the Kerry campaign were unlawful. Recipients were directed to the sheriff's office. This scheme to intimidate and discourage people from going to the polls is known as "caging" and it is illegal.

Unfortunately, I have to report that the Republicans have decided to pull the bipartisan Voting Rights Act from the floor today. This was legislation that received support from the Senate and House leadership from both parties. I remain hopeful we can move this critical bill out of the House before the July 4 recess, but will keep you informed as events warrant.