Recordpub.com - Appeals court keeps voter ID law Absentee voters must show identification

By Terry Kinney

Associated Press

CINCINNATI -- A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that Ohio"s new identification requirements for absentee ballots should stand.

The ruling means early voters must provide proof of their ID.

A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overruled a lower court"s decision to suspend Ohio"s new voter law, which requires proof of identification when casting a ballot, as it applies to absentee voting.

The appeals court on Sunday granted a request by state Attorney General Jim Petro to stay a temporary restraining order issued last week by U.S. District Court Judge Algenon Marbley on behalf of labor and poverty groups who filed a lawsuit opposing the ID statute.

The appeals court said that Marbley abused his discretion in granting the temporary restraining order.

In a strongly worded opinion and concurring opinion, the appeals court judges expressed frustration at last-minute challenges that disrupt the election process.

"There is a strong public interest in allowing every registered voter to vote," wrote Judge Julia Smith Gibbons, who delivered the opinion of the court. "There is also a strong public interest in permitting legitimate statutory processes to operate to preclude voting by those who are not entitled to vote.

"Finally, there is a strong public interest in smooth and effective administration of the voting laws that mitigates against changing the rules in the middle of the submission of absentee ballots."

Judge David W. McKeague wrote a separate concurring opinion, and U.S. District Court Judge Arthur J. Tarnow, sitting by designation, issued a separate opinion concurring in part but dissenting from the majority opinion on whether the lower court abused it discretion.

Under the new law, an absentee voter must submit a written application that includes a driver"s license number, the last four digits of the voter"s Social Security number or a copy of a current photo ID, military identification, utility bill or bank statement.

Lawyers who filed the lawsuit said the statute was causing widespread confusion across the state.

County boards of elections were using different requirements for acceptable identification, said Subodh Chandra, a Cleveland attorney who represents the plaintiffs, the Service Employees International Union Local 1199 and the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless.

Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, the Republican candidate for governor, did not challenge Marbley"s decision. Petro, whose staff is representing Blackwell in court, went ahead anyway.

Petro also sought to intervene in the larger issue of whether ID provisions will be applied for voters who go to the polls Nov. 7. Marbley has set a hearing for Wednesday on that request for a temporary injunction.

"We respectfully disagree with some of the court"s analysis," Chandra said following the Tuesday ruling. "We will, nevertheless, have the opportunity to clean up any confusion in the district court tomorrow. Many of our plaintiff organizations" members are affected by the voter identification laws and how they are applied."

Petro spokesman Mark Anthony said the appellate court decision "underscores a point that we made to explain why we"re fighting to protect a properly enacted law from this challenge in court.

"The TRO (temporary restraining order) ... went so far that it upset the status quo and the 6th Circuit saw that."

He said the attorney general"s office will continue talking with the plaintiffs in an effort to settle the lawsuit out of court.

Blackwell"s spokesman, James Lee, said county election boards will be informed about the appeals court"s decision, but said the secretary of state"s office hopes Wednesday"s court hearing will bring a resolution that will last through Election Day.

As county boards waited for the court to rule Tuesday, Ohio residents seeking absentee ballots were being asked for IDs.

Lisa Schwartze, elections director in Hocking County in southeast Ohio, said she stopped asking for IDs on Friday but resumed on Monday.

"We"re just taking it day by day, hour by hour, and making adjustments," Schwartze said.

Matt Damschroder, Franklin County elections director, said Monday that asking for ID was the only way to guarantee the ballots aren"t "held hostage" by court rulings. The county hadn"t asked for identification on Friday and Saturday after Marbley"s decision to suspend the requirement.

In Cuyahoga County, Elections Director Michael Vu said Monday that absentee voters weren"t asked to prove their identity because the board hadn"t been given new directions from Blackwell. On Tuesday, an ID was required, Vu"s spokeswoman said.

Hamilton County asked voters to supply identification when seeking absentee ballots. Pam Swafford, deputy director of the county board of elections in Cincinnati, said applicants were told to write their Social Security number on their request.

The number was then checked against county records, and, if any discrepancy showed up, the board called the applicant for additional information, Swafford said.

1.	Posted by Rageman November 1, 2006
	True Republican Activist Judges! Let's look at the composition of the 6th U.S. District Court of Appeals; Judge Julia Smith Gibbons U. S. District Court, Western District of Tennessee Nominated by Ronald Reagan on April 12, 1983 U. S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit Nominated by George W. Bush on October 9, 2001 Judge David W. McKeague U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan, 1992 Appointed by President George H.W. Bush U. S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit Nominated by George W. Bush on November 8, 2001 Renominated: February 14, 2005. Confirmed: June 9, 2005 Judge Arthur J. Tarnow U. S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan Nominated by William J. Clinton on September 24, 1997 Confirmed 1998 Sitting by designation, U. S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. So what we have here is Ken Blackwell's henchman, Jim Petro in league with two Bush Republican judges conspiring to illegally, unconstitionally affect the outcome of an election. Nothing new here! The next thing we'll be hearing is that an emboldened Blackwell has disqualified Ted Strickland from running against him for Governor. Wake up Ohio! The disgusting stench of Ohio Republican politics has now reached every nose in the nation and we recoil in horror at your indifference to it!