Judge: No, you can't disenfranchise homeless.

[SirNitram]

Link

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A federal judge in Ohio has ruled that counties must allow homeless voters to list park benches and other locations that aren't buildings as their addresses.

U.S. District Judge Edmund Sargus also ruled that provisional ballots can't be invalidated because of poll worker errors.

Monday's ruling resolved the final two pieces of a settlement between the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless and Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner.

The coalition agreed to drop a constitutional challenge to Ohio's voter identification law until after the Nov. 4 election. In return, Brunner and the coalition agreed on procedures to verify provisional ballots across all Ohio counties.

The coalition was concerned that unequal treatment of provisional ballots would disenfranchise some voters.

I'm iffy on the use of park benchs as residences, but it looks like a necessary kludge with so few days to go.

[TithonusSyndrome]

What's the legal justification for his ruling? Is this a temporary measure for times of crisis, or can anyone claim a park bench for their residence at any time?

[Col. Crackpot]

What's the legal justification for his ruling? Is this a temporary measure for times of crisis, or can anyone claim a park bench for their residence at any time?

Agreed. What's to stop rabid Republicans or Democrats from safe states from claiming park bench residency in battleground states?

[weemadando]

What's the legal justification for his ruling? Is this a temporary measure for times of crisis, or can anyone claim a park bench for their residence at any time?

Agreed. What's to stop rabid Republicans or Democrats from safe states from claiming park bench residency in battleground states?

I'd assume you'd have to prove homelessness, be known to local support organisations or similar.

[General Zod]

I'd assume you'd have to prove homelessness, be known to local support organisations or similar.

How do you prove that you don't have a place to live, exactly?

[weemadando]

I'd assume you'd have to prove homelessness, be known to local support organisations or similar.

How do you prove that you don't have a place to live, exactly?

Really quite easily. I've worked as a liaison w/State Trustees in my job at Centrelink, where a great number of the Trustee clients are homeless - and in dealing with them there are numerous routes in which to reach them. In Australia at least, there are regular places where these people are known, they'll have social workers, support organisations who deal with them, social security, medical centres (often drug rehab etc), perhaps they've been in supported residences, halfway houses etc. They'll have family who'll probably know their situation and perhaps even have a line on how to contact them.

There's a lot of ways to show that someone is now and has been in the past homeless. In my experience about 10 minutes of phone-calls to the right places/people will net you enough info to do the trick

[Uraniun235]

Ando's right. This isn't that fucking hard. You set it so that the law allows a place which a homeless person frequents - like a homeless shelter, or a church, or even a park bench if you really want to be so welcoming - to be used as the residence under which that voter registers. If a state which votes by mail can somehow allow homeless people to vote then there is no fucking way that any state which uses polling places has any excuse to not allow homeless people to vote.


Also if you have a sudden uptick in "homeless" voters then you can investigate some of those registrations, and if you find they've falsely registered a "park bench" or a shelter as their residence then you fucking fine the shit out of them and you put their asses in prison for voter fraud. Rinse and repeat a few dozen times and the rate of voter fraud should go down a bit.