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Filed under Politics (National) Homeless Vote In Columbus
Shelby Holliday reporting from Columbus, Ohio (2008-10-01 14:07:13)
Source: http://www.palestra.net/videos/play/16349
There is plenty of controversy surrounding Ohio's early voting period, and now I can see why. (Click the link above to see the story in video.)
Multiple organizations are driving homeless people to the polls and encouraging them to vote. While these organizations claim to be bipartisan, it is questionable as to whether or not they are pushing an agenda. Some expressed the importance on simply getting people to vote, while others seemed more focused on endorsing a particular candidate.
First of all, I have a heart for homeless people. As a matter of fact, I didn't even intend to do a story about them when I headed to Vet's Memorial in Columbus, Ohio yesterday... I set out to do a story on students who were taking advantage of Ohio's "Golden Week," a period of 7 days in which Ohioans can register to vote and cast a ballot at the same time.
However when I showed up to the polls, I came across a measly 2 students in the 30 minutes that I was there. But who I did encounter were homeless people. A LOT of homeless people. All had been transported to Vets by volunteers.
On one hand, I can understand that volunteers want to support those who have a hard time getting to the polls. However on the other hand, I am skeptical that some volunteers approach the situation from an "I'll help you if you help me" standpoint, if you know what I mean...
It dawned on me about the time a homeless man stumbled over, reeking of booze and mumbling his words, to ask if he could be on TV. Did these guys even know what was going on??
"Who are you voting for?" I asked another homeless man. "Baraaaack," he replied. "I want him to do his thang, you know, do his THUG THIZZLE, you know..."
As I started interviewing the homeless men, it became clear that some of their "buddies" who drove them to the polls were pushing quite an agenda. I am not saying all volunteers did this, but there were certainly a few. It appeared as if the homeless guys were being bribed with rides, food, and who-knows-what to go "vote."
After the cameras were off, my new THUG-THIZZLE friend told me that he wasn't even from Ohio and that he was getting on a Greyhound to go back to Chicago. Yet he was voting in one of the key battleground states? How was that fair?
And how was he going to get to the Greyhound station? His "friend" that had brought him to the poll promised to take him wherever he wanted... the only problem was, his friend was long gone.
A Columbus resident named Connie Hampton told me she was driving by bus stops and telling people to get in the car to go vote. Did she care whether or not they were informed of politically involved? Not one bit. She said there were so many registered voters out there that were uninformed anyways that it didn't matter.
A Vote-From-Home volunteer Marc Gustafson told me that this was a perfect opportunity for "transients" to come in and register at a temporary address like a homeless shelter because "they didn't know where they were going to be the next week."
While I think it is kind of these volunteers to lend a helping hand, I don't understand the big push to get homeless people to vote. If these guys don't even know where they are going to be next week, why would you want them voting in your state and affecting your electorate? Why would you want them voting in the first place?
I guess that was explained by THUG THIZZLE himself. "I mean if they say sign the ballot, just give it and do exactly what they ask you to do, I mean, this is America, you know what I mean? Hahahaa."
All that these homeless people need to register and vote is the last 4 digits of their social security number. No SS card, no proof, no nada. Just 4 numbers.
An OSU professor of Election Law told me that ideally, the state will go through and match up all of the early-vote absentee ballots with voters and their social security numbers so that fraudulent votes won't be a problem.
With Ohio being such a key swing state, let's sure hope so.
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HarryDoyle @ 2008-10-02 02:42:33 --
"I don't understand the big push to get homeless people to vote. If these guys don't even know where they are going to be next week...why would you want them voting in the first place?"
Ummmm... do you really want to stand by that statement? Really?
zaulus @ 2008-10-02 12:16:54 --
i'll stand by that statement. if those new voters really cared, then it wouldn't be necessary to form posses to round them up and get them registered. they would already be registered. on top of that, the whole idea of early voting is bad too. if you can't vote on the day of then you have admitted you don't care enough and therefore shouldn't be voting anyway.
Parkerz @ 2008-10-02 12:27:32 --
"I don't understand the big push to get homeless people to vote. If these guys don't even know where they are going to be next week...why would you want them voting in the first place?"
Gee, maybe because these 'people of the streets' will ALL be voting for Obama, and the chances of their illegal votes being thrown out are slim, AND the organizers who are doing the transporting won't be arrested and charged with voting fraud, etc.
Are you serious or are you just trying to be cute?
jherr @ 2008-10-02 14:43:12 --
Do you have evidence of even one case of vote fraud?
In this entry you claim "seemed more focused on endorsing a particular candidate" but on Fox you couldn't say whether people were being told who to vote for. What evidence do you have that people were being told who to vote for?
This is all just supposition and innuendo. You will be a reporter when you present actual facts.
Shelby Holliday @ 2008-10-02 17:04:25 --
First and foremost, I never accused anyone of voter fraud. I just want to make that clear
And to answer your question about evidence:
http://www.palestra.net/videos/play/16469
Thanks for your comment.
HarryDoyle @ 2008-10-03 02:41:01 --
Zaulus: "If those new voters really cared, then...they would already be registered."
-Excuse me? Unregistered citizens shouldn't be encouraged to register and vote? Unrock the vote!!
Zaulus: "If you can't vote on the day of then you have admitted you don't care enough and therefore shouldn't be voting anyway."
-Ummm... now you're against absentee ballots? I'm sure our troops and elderly citizens would disagree with you're logic.
HarryDoyle @ 2008-10-03 14:11:49 --
edit: your