Dems mobilize homeless vote in Ohio. Ohio election officials brace for early voting
From AP via Yahoonews
By STEPHEN MAJORS, Associated Press Writer Tue Sep 30, 4:50 AM ET

COLUMBUS, Ohio - For weeks, the Ohio GOP accused the state's Democratic elections chief of interpreting early voting law to benefit her own party in a crucial swing state.

But the Republican-dominated Ohio Supreme Court decided on Monday that Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner was following the law when she ruled there is a six-day window in which voters can register and vote at the same time.

The decision — also backed by two separate federal judges — means election officials are preparing for the rush of early voting Tuesday, the first day absentee ballots are accepted in advance of the Nov. 4 presidential election.

"This ruling is a victory for all Ohio voters," Brunner said in a statement.

In Cuyahoga County, the state's largest and home to Cleveland, election workers underwent two days of training last week to properly process voters who are registering and voting on the same day.

In Columbus, voters wanting to cast ballots as soon as possible on Tuesday morning had set up tents Monday night to wait in line outside the Franklin County Board of Elections. The singer John Legend encouraged voters to endorse Barack Obama at a rally on the campus of Ohio State University in Columbus.

The outcome of the court battles is likely to benefit Democrats in a state that narrowly awarded President Bush re-election in 2004.

Obama's campaign has organized car pools beginning Tuesday from college campuses to early voting sites. The Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless is ferrying voters from homeless shelters to polling sites in the Cleveland area. Other organizations that seek to increase poor and minority participation in elections are transporting voters from low-income neighborhoods.

The targeted voters have all traditionally had a harder time getting registered, and then getting to polling places on Election Day. Thanks to Monday's court decisions, these Democratic-leaning voters can do it all at once.
It's a reality that inspired the Ohio GOP to lash out at Brunner once again, despite her victories in court.

"This is a win for Jennifer Brunner's partisan efforts to aide the Democrat turnout strategy," said Ohio GOP Chairman Bob Bennett in a statement.
Still, Republicans weren't ceding the early voting crowd just because they were engaged in a court challenge.

"You have a special opportunity to help elect John McCain, Sarah Palin and Republicans across the ballot," a page on the Republican National Committee's Web site said. "Use this tool to locate your nearest early voting center, where you can register and vote in person."

McCain's presidential campaign has not provided as many details as the Obama campaign on how it intends to take advantage of the window, but still plans to push it.
"We will continue an aggressive grass-roots outreach program encouraging Republicans, Democrats, and Independent supporters of the McCain-Palin ticket to use this opportunity to register and cast their vote before Election Day," said McCain-Palin Regional Campaign Manager Jon Seaton.

The window occurs because state law requires absentee voting to begin 35 days before Election Day, on Sept. 30, while the end of registration for this election is Oct. 6. The window was used by voters sparingly in previous elections, but never got any attention until the Republican-controlled Legislature passed a law in 2005 that enabled all Ohio voters to vote absentee.
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Every McCain supporter in the Buckeye State ought to turn out now rather than wait until Election Day. Doing so now decreases the load for the GOTV effort on 11/4.