Bush seeks Ohio voter fraud inquiry; will Colorado be next?

Election day is still one week away, but already the Bush Justice Department is looking into allegations of voter fraud. In Ohio. That's the same state where supporters of Democratic Sen. John Kerry charged foul in the 2004 election.

Responding to a request from Ohio Republican John Boehner, who happens to be the House minority leader, President Bush on Friday asked Atty. Gen. Michael B. Mukasey to investigate the status of 200,000 Ohio voters. If those voters remain on the rolls without added checks, Boehner said, "there is a significant risk, if not a certainty, that unlawful votes will be cast and counted."

But critics argue that an inquiry by a Justice Department that is already tainted by allegations that it fired eight U.S. attorneys for not being Republican enough in their prosecutions looks fishy. As voters in Ohio go to the polls to cast early ballots, as seen in the photo above, Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown and five other lawmakers, in a letter, urged Mukasey not to intervene in Ohio.

The eyes of the nation are once again on Ohio in this critical election. We have confidence in the work that is being done by Ohio’s bipartisan group of election officials. ... We respectfully request that you refrain from taking any action absent more compelling evidence than partisan political requests. ... We are concerned that complaints ... are designed to reduce the number of legitimate votes that are cast and counted in our state.

A similar legal drama could play out in Colorado. Republicans there are charging that the Assn. of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) is loading up the voter rolls with unqualified people. Democrats are asking a federal court to reinstate approximately 30,000 Colorado voters purged from registration lists by Secretary of State Mike Coffman, a Republican.

Let the lawsuits begin.

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo credit: J.D. Pooley / Getty Images

Comments

[bkmur]

How is this not domestic terrorism? Where is Homeland Security?

[RL Gumm]

I'm sure the actual vote election results in Ohio are going to be well within the limits of what the crooked Republican political machine can overcome through manipulation of the results after the polls are closed. So, I'm also pretty sure the Republicans are very comfortable with the situation as it now stands in Ohio.

[Purl Gurl]

I am shocked by how little value Americans place upon their right to vote. Voter fraud is an act of treason, not a simple felony crime. Voter fraud is to subvert our system of government. Voter fraud is an attack upon our country. Voter fraud is an act of treason.

When I was born on a rural Oklahoma farm, I was not granted American citizenship and I was not granted a right to vote. We American Indians had to fight long and hard to have our citizenship and to have our right to vote. We American Indians greatly value our American citizenship and especially our right to vote.

Do you know in the state of Maine my peoples were not allowed to vote until 1967 year? Much the same is true for our other states of the union. Is 1967 all that far back in time? How many of you enjoyed a right to vote back then? A lot of you, yes? You take your right to vote for granted.

I read all these pundits and people writing, "No problem, voter fraud is so small this will not make a difference."

Those people do not value their votes. I greatly value my vote and I am extremely angry my vote will not count because of some traitor named, "Mickey Mouse".

I am even more angry, seething angry so many people are willing to throw away my single vote after my peoples struggled so hard to have our right to vote. What is wrong with Americans you place so little value upon our right to vote?

My expectation is one-hundred of you readers will not vote on November 4 so my vote will count. I demand one-hundred of you not vote, you really do not care about your right to vote. Stay home, do not vote, you do not respect our right to vote and you do not care we are being robbed of our right to vote.

Stay home, you do not deserve your right to vote.

I care about my right to vote. I want my vote to count. I demand my right to vote and I demand my vote count. I am an American. Our country is America not some two-bit Banana Republic as many of you readers seem to believe.

Okpulot Taha
Choctaw Nation

[Sfranz]

It takes a lot of blindness to think that trying massive voter suppression at a time when the country is already angry is just some political game with no consequences.

Those who would play with our freedoms for a couple of bucks, a new home addition, or to get a 'friend' a government contract are no friends of the American people and should be regarded as the worms they are. The GOP has asked for the "Minutemen Militia" to "stand and be vigilant" at voting booths.

Trust me, you want democracy to work.

When it doesn't, the alternatives become very grim.