Kyle Bell

The Republican Party is engaging in voter suppression in the swing states of Michigan and Ohio, as reported by two prominent newspapers. The first incident occurred in Ohio and was reported last week by the Cincinnati Inquirer:

About one-third of the absentee ballot applications received at the Hamilton County Board of Elections have been ruled invalid because Republican Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign printed a version of the form with an extra, unneeded box on it.

In a narrow interpretation of Ohio law, Democratic Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner says many of the McCain forms have not been completed properly. If the box stating the person is an eligible elector — or qualified voter – is not checked, Brunner said, the application is no good.

Even though the box is unneeded, by not checking it voters are essentially admitting they’re not eligible, Brunner said.

The result: nearly 1,000 ballot requests have been invalidated in Hamilton County, Ohio alone. The county election board will now have to contact tens of thousands of voters to correct the problem started by the McCain campaign when they sent out 1 million of the faulty forms. Voters will have to fill out a new form and hope that they receive and send their absentee ballots in time for Election Day on November 4.

Meanwhile in Michigan the Republican Party is planning on challenging voters going to the polls, according to the New York Times:

Last week the chairman of the G.O.P. in Macomb County, James Carabelli, was quoted in the online publican, the Michigan Messenger, as saying that the party planned to use foreclosure lists to stop voters who no longer have valid addresses from casting their ballots.

“We will have a list of foreclosed homes and will make sure people aren’t voting from those addresses,” Mr. Carabelli was quoted as saying, according to a Sept. 10 article in the Michigan Messenger.

The Democratic Party and the Obama campaign are now suing to prevent this illegal practice from occuring. Two months until Election Day and we are already seeing the Republican voter suppression machine in full force.