Ohio Secretary of State attempts to set the parameters of official county review of allegations from the 2012 election.

Husted’s order says election boards must hold public hearings with court
reporters creating official transcripts of the hearings. The directive
also orders any testimony provided to the boards must be given under
oath and all sworn statements must be limited to first-hand knowledge of
the allegation. 

The directive also orders elections boards, when dealing with
allegations of voter suppression, voter fraud, and or election
falsification, to vote on whether or not to forward each a allegation to
the county’s prosecuting attorney for review and that any allegations
being forwarded to the county’s prosecuting attorney will also be
forwarded to the Secretary of State’s election counsel.

In Richmond, the Times Dispatch reports:

Senate Republicans this afternoon pushed through a surprise rewrite of the 2011 redistricting plan that erases a Democratic seat in western Virginia and creates a sixth majority black district that would be located between Petersburg and Danville.

…Sen. Richard L. Saslaw, D-Fairfax, the Democratic leader, reacted angrily to the move, saying “It’s totally over on transportation.”

More out of touch nonsense from the Ivory Tower, this time from a Penn State professor.

Yesterday, Virginia Republicans increased Black minority-majority representation in the state senate by one seat; however, the Democrats cry foul and threaten litigation.  This was a move that Virginia Democrats should have made when they held power but were more interested in trying to create a partisan firewall and protect a narrow artificial edge held in 2011.

Watkins said he realized the plan “would come as a surprise” to
Democrats, but is in line with the federal Voting Rights Act. He said it
increases black representation in the Senate in line with Virginia’s
population breakdown.  Watkins argued that because the state has had only five black
majority districts for the past 22 years the state is out of compliance
with the Voting Rights Act. “It will clean up the lines, protect
us against the threat of litigation, and provide an excellent
opportunity to allow the demographics of this Senate to more closely
align with those of the commonwealth at large,” Watkins said.

But Democrats are crying foul, saying the plan is really intended to give Republicans an outright majority in the chamber.

…Sen. Mamie Locke, D-Hampton,
who heads the Virginia Black Legislative Caucus, said she supports the
creation of sixth minority-majority district, just not in the way it was
handled by her Republican colleagues.

UPDATE: Freeman’s outburst is now at Drudge.

Today Mark Steyn talked about Voting Section attorney Daniel Freeman on Rush Limbaugh’s national radio show.  National Review also has this story about Freeman’s rude and uncivil outburst at the inauguration.  Before coming to DOJ, Freeman represented Islamic terrorists.  He is also covered extensively at my book Injustice. (link over there on left).


Nice Deb has more on Freeman’s politicized background.

Any state or local election official who must deal with the Department of Justice Voting Section must realize they are dealing with unabashed political partisans.  Freeman’s rude outburst is but one tiny symptom of deeper malaise in Holder’s Justice Department.  Any official who receives a call from Freeman’s Voting Section should contact attorney’s familiar with the hyper-partisan nature of the place, and there are plenty.  Just look at any brief that former DOJ officials have filed in Shelby, or email me for the names of others who formerly served as political appointees in the Bush Justice Department who could assist.

So voter ID is right up there with gun violence and climate change.  I guess “fixing those lines” is out the door and it is back to demonizing the confirmation of identity of voters, an issue that was a non-issue in the administration of the election.

The New  York Times reports: “What Mr. Obama wants to achieve this term is pretty clear: a fiscal deal and overhauls of gun and immigration laws, steps to address climate change and less restrictive voter identification laws.”

I actually find this hard to believe and the New York Times has it wrong.  He has little control on the issue in the states and there are many more pressing problems in our country, yet he throws out voter ID in his top 5 priorities.  No wonder the Holder DOJ fought so hard to politicize voter ID and use Section 5 to delay enactment across the country by any means necessary.  The orders came straight from the White House.  

“Karl Reinelt, A 51-year-old felon, was charged in Waukesha County Circuit Court with one count of election fraud after voting in the Nov. 6, 2012 election.  The alleged illegal vote was first reported the day after the election by Clerk-Treasurer Nancy Zastrow. She said she first noticed the mistake when comparing the new registrants sheets with the Government Accountability Board’s list of convicted felons.

Latest at Campaignfreedom.org:

“Since the Citizens United and SpeechNow decisions,
politicians and political parties have struggled under self-imposed
campaign finance laws that once gave them total dominance over the
political sphere.  Although lauded as anti-corruption measures, strict
campaign finance laws mainly prevented political insurgents from gaining
enough of a voice to seriously challenge incumbents.

Without a corruption nexus and with their newly restored
constitutional protections, outside groups have become significant
political players and serious rivals to the traditional party
establishment.  As a result, politicians and political parties are in
the process of dismantling many of the regulations that they once used
to achieve their dominance.

One such restriction is a limit on aggregate contributions. 
Currently set at $117,000 per election cycle, the limit is facing two
Supreme Court challenges.”

and allegations of voter suppression.

The Secretary of State tells lawmakers he is looking to improve the
voting process for military personnel in South Dakota. Jason Gant says
South Dakota received a grant of half a million dollars last year to
help improve voter turnout for service members in the state.

Link to story.