Spotlight Shines on Gambier Voters (college students try to vote in Ohio)

[DeepModem Mom]

This is a strange tale of the difficulties Kenyon College students found trying to vote in Ohio. (The small town of Gambier, and Kenyon College students and faculty, are virtually one and the same -- the town is pretty much the school, which is home to the distinguished literary journal, the Kenyon Review.) Ohio Republicans would have known that voting in Gambier would result in probably a thousand or so Kerry votes, and few for Bush. How many times was this tale, I wonder, repeated across Ohio, and possibly across this land?


Mt. Vernon (OH) News

Spotlight Shines on Gambier Voters
Published: Tuesday, November 02, 2004 11:54 PM

Gambier residents and Kenyon College students were in the nation’s spotlight yesterday when equipment malfunctions and an unprecedented voter turnout resulted in some of the longest waiting times at election polls across the country.

As the rainy election day wore on, the Gambier voting precinct began to look more like a disaster relief shelter as students and local residents took up every nook and cranny available in the old school turned community center. Cases of bottled water and muddy, empty pizza boxes laid in hallways, under the feet of voters who had stood in line, some for more than 9 hours.

“On a local level the supervisors here today did an excellent job of managing the voting process. Prior planning on the part of the Board of Elections was appalling. They knew how many voters we had registered and there was no contingency plan. The planning was very poor — 1,300 voters, two machines, 20 voters an hour; you do the math. It just doesn’t work,” said Joan Slonczewski, challenger/witness for the Gambier precinct. Slonczewski added that attempts were made earlier in the day to go to a paper ballot to speed up the voting process; however, Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell refused the request. Additional voting machines were not available.

Paper ballots only became an option after the Ohio Democratic Party filed a federal lawsuit against Blackwell, the Franklin County Board of Elections and the Knox County Board of Elections by two plaintiffs in Knox County, residents of Gambier and several other residents from Franklin County to “provide paper ballots or another mechanism to provide an adequate opportunity to vote.”...

***

Despite the seven- to nine-hour wait, spirits remained high among the voters, predominately Kenyon students, many of whom were voting for the first time. At 10 p.m., student Ben Taylor let out a cheer after casting his ballot, excited to be voting in his first election and because the wait was over. He had been in line since 1 p.m.

“I really want my vote to count. I still have a test to study for, but this is also important. It’s exciting that the students have hung in there.”...

http://www.mountvernonnews.com/local/110304/gambier.html

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. It's too late for this. The game is over.

We are fucked.

[DeepModem Mom]

2. Agreed, nothing can be done -- just an example I happened to know about...

and thought I would share.

[SeattleDem]

3. It makes me sick

this was done on PURPOSE!! They couldn't be as blatant this time around as in Florida 2000.

so instead, they didn't put enough machines in the Democratic precincts. They wanted new voters to get frustrated, run out of time, go home without voting.

How many machines were in each GOP-leaning rural precinct? Why were people in Cleveland still voting when I went to bed at 10p PACIFIC time??

I truly believe the Secy of State and the Diebold CEO pulled off a major "succcess" here for Bush.

[Pithlet]

4. The picture of democracy.

That this scenery played out in this country is a shame. Whether they outright deny a vote, or make the process difficult and discouraging, the result is the same. This is no longer a democracy. The people in power want to grab it. They don't want to be elected by the people. The ironic thing is, they probably didn't even have to do it. It seems enough people gave in to the right wing propaganda that they had it in the bag.

[lakeguy]

5. it is NOT too late for this....

this needs to be repeated OVER and OVER again until everyone in the country knows what is going on!it is only too late for this election...but there are more elections to come (hopefully). spread the word and never let them forget.

[KurtNYC]

11. yes! And we need to look at the "game tapes"

to see what worked and didn't.

If we have in effect lost the ability to vote (meaning: to vote and have it counted) then we need to change priorities and strategy.

[DeepModem Mom]

6. Update: hearing that the national press has come to tiny Gambier...

making this story a national story.

[llmart]

7. I've heard two stories from two different friends in Ohio....

that some polling places had only two machines for the students/voters. This was done purposely I'm sure.

[DeepModem Mom]

8. No doubt about it! Mt. Vernon, Ohio, about five miles away...

apparently had no such problems. I'm also told that the students became aware that they were part of something bigger, which reinforced their determination to vote, no matter what.

[DeepModem Mom]

9. Have additional anecdotal information that a Mt. Vernon Republican area...

had more voting machines than were needed --

[Hand]

10. That's my alma mater!!!!

Kenyon '70, AB Classics (yep, AB, not BA--the diplomas were issued in Latin and ON SHEEPSKIN, no kidding).

Good place to go to college; high academic standards, great faculty for the most part--only problem was the Poli Sci department was (and likely is) totally in thrall to Straussians, at least one of whom was certifiably psychotic. My Classics prof was (and is) a great, great guy, born in Kansas, Rhodes scholar, Quaker by choice, and a conscientious objector in the 1950s. Totally unpretentious and admired by all.

:toast: to Bill McCulloh!

Absolutely no surprise that there would be problems in Gambier but none in Mt. Vernon (aka Mt. Vermin). Mt. Vernon was a pretty right-wing burg in my time (headquarters of the Draft Curtis LeMay movement in 1968), and they would have enjoyed sticking it to the college punks.