More bad news in Ohio

I just got an article in my email with the following title: Senate passes bill with minor change on ID requirement for voters. The bill, frankly, sucks out loud, and the concessions are indeed minor.

One change made Tuesday would allow voters' current driver's licenses to be allowed as identification even if a person's address was different than the one on the license.

The bill, which needs House agreement with Senate changes on Wednesday, would require each voter to present a driver's license, bank statement, utility bill or other identification at the polling place. Currently, a registered voter only must match a signature in the poll book.

The Senate eliminated a requirement that voters must cast provisional ballots if they moved within the same precinct before Election Day but the board of elections wasn't aware of the change.

Why was this legislation supposedly needed?

However, Sen. Kevin Coughlin, a Cuyahoga Falls Republican, said the real targets are the outside groups that paid people to register voters in the effort last year to oust President Bush. Some signature collectors used fraudulent names, made-up addresses and in one case, used the names of celebrities or cartoon characters.

"We seek to suppress those who commit fraud against people who cast legal ballots statewide," Coughlin said.

Sen. Teresa Fedor, a Toledo Democrat, said the fraud allegations were groundless. "Mickey Mouse got caught and did not vote. There was no voter fraud," she said.

There was also mention of the protesters who attended today's vote.

Linda Perront, 44, also of Cincinnati, sat in the gallery wearing a sash that read "Let the people vote." Perront said she is worried Republicans may be trying to reduce Democratic votes.

"My fear is that it may be targeted that way. It affects every single voter," she said.

The name appears to be spelled wrong, but given that she wrote yesterday that she would be attending this protest, I think we can be fairly certain that Ms. "Perront" is our own Linda in Cincinnati, seen here (wearing her trademark hat) protesting a visit by Karl Rove to her hometown.

Thank you, Linda, for continuing to fight the good fight.

Alternate link for comments