White House Calling Shots in Ohio Voter Suppression

The White House admitted on Monday that President Bush has asked the Justice Department to take a look at the registrations of more than 200,000 people, here in Ohio. Bush made the request last Friday, according to the Washington Post and UPI-news.

Ohio republicans want all new voters to reconfirm their registrations before next week’s election. The United States Supreme Court has already ruled that GOP requests for such actions are not necessary and dismissed the latest GOP lawsuit last week.

You will recall that GOP officials throughout Ohio, such as Hamilton County Prosecutor, Joe Deters, have continued attempts to suppress the vote, by calling for grand jury investigations, and quarantining ballots already cast in Ohio’s early voting, here in Cincinnati. A special prosecutor was appointed to oversee the investigation by Common Pleas Judge Norbert Nadel. The special prosecutor is a former assistant to Joe Deter's.

The sheriff of Greene County has taken similar actions and made similar requests and attempts to suppress the vote in his area. Greene County his home to historically black Wilberforce University, Central State College, Wright State College and Antioch. A record number of students have signed up to vote in this year’s election and officials speculate that they may overwhelmingly favor Barack Obama.

Other counties have taken the same kinds of actions, here in Southwest Ohio. There has been no word from the Justice Department about any actions that it plans to take.

The DOJ is currently involved in its own scandal, having to answer for the firings of 8 US Attornies who reportedly refused to follow White House orders to pursue or investigate similar voter suppression charges that surfaced back in 2006.

UPDATE: The Justice Department has announced that it is sending out 800 feds to monitor voting on Tuesday. No federal monitors will work in Ohio. However, federal staffers will watch polls in Cuyahoga County...that's Cleveland and the surrounding area. No official monitors or staffers here, in Hamilton County or anywhere in Southwest Ohio.