Voting rights groups in Ohio are being lauded for their oversight efforts which uncovered massive errors in the state's recent bid to remove hundreds of thousands of voters from its rolls. The inspection, which was carried out primarily by nonprofit volunteers, found that more than 40,000 voters were mistakenly included on the state's to-be-deleted list.
"It definitely showed that Ohio's registration system needs a major upgrade," Jen Miller, the director of the League of Women Voters of Ohio, told Cheddar on Monday. "We can't be using a policy as severe as a purge when we can't even be sure that our purge lists are correct."
In an unusual move, this past August Ohio's Secretary of State Frank LaRose publically released a list of 235,000 voters that were set to be deleted from the state's registry. By reviewing the long spreadsheet, the League of Women Voters and several other groups uncovered gross inaccuracies, including the inclusion of Miller's name.
Yet Secretary LaRose, a Republican, has praised the process, saying his office undertook the most transparent review of Ohio's voting rolls to date. "Because of our collaboration with outside organizations, the proper safeguards are in place to ensure any eligible voter will have the opportunity to have their voice heard," LaRose said in a statement after revising the list.
The list maintenance process, as it's officially called, is legally mandated in Ohio and seeks to clear the state's system of deceased residents, inactive voters, or people who have moved out of state. Voter purging, however, has become a major issue nationwide as Republican-led initiatives in several states have sought to remove voters through controversial registration requirements, which critics say primarily target minority or Democratic voters.
Other oversight groups that participated in the review include the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, All Voting is Local, and the Fair Elections Center.
Gersh Kuntzman, deputy politics editor at Newsweek, discusses President Trump's remarks on the Parkland school shooting that left 17 students and faculty members dead. President Trump made headlines when he failed to even use the word "gun" in his speech following the massacre.
On today's episode of VF Hive Kristen Scholer and Jon Kelly discuss the shooting in Parkland, CNN's turmoil and the future of Trump's Chief-of-Staff.
Stories of heroism inside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. The mass shooting killed 17 people, and injured many others. Facebook is teaming up with organizations such as Lyft to make it easier to help people during a crisis. The Dow closes 300 points higher. McDonald's change its Happy Meal.
Amazon surpassed Microsoft in market cap. McDonald's is making its Happy Meals healthier. Washington D.C. reacts to the Florida high school massacre. Plus, we hear from an entrepreneur who started the first studio of its kind in the fitness industry.
Tackle the issue of mental health, that's what the president says he plans to do in the wake of a mass shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
Congressman Darren Soto represents Florida's 9th district, roughly 200 miles from the site of the tragic high school shooting in Parkland, FL that left 17 dead. The congressman is calling for action in Washington after "another unspeakable tragedy."
Chris Whipple, Author of "The Gatekeepers" joins VF Hive to discuss his conversation with former White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus. It's been 6 months since he left Trump's side and his time in Washington, DC was certainly a wild one.
Congressman Joe Kennedy is a democrat who represents Massachusetts fourth district. His progressive policies and famous family name have thrust him into the spotlight after he gave the Democratic Party's official response to President Trump's State of the Union Address.
On today's episode of VF Hive Kristen Scholer and Jon Kelly discuss the Parkland, Fla. shooting, John Kelly's future and Evan Spiegel's redesign.
Ashley Kurth, a teacher at Stoneman Douglas High School, says nobody should have to go through the events that transpired Wednesday in Parkland, Florida. The registered Republican says Congress needs to deal with the problem of gun laws.
