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Joe
Uecker
State
Representative
10/26/05
Is
democracy under attack with State Issues 2, 3, 4, and 5?
One
of the greatest rewards of being a State Representatives
is in the meeting of new friends.
Last Tuesday, after session in Columbus, I was
invited to attend a meeting of the Vietnamese Americans
Association. This was a wonderful group of people who
escaped the communists in Vietnam and became American
citizens. These people really know what democracy and
freedom is. Many a philosopher and politician have been
quoted saying that “democracy is hard”.
Ask any of the folks at that meeting and they will
tell you that to them, democracy is easy… compared to
what they have experienced.
They will also tell you that we need to be diligent
to protect our democracy. They were concerned with
something they never had in Vietnam, voting rights.
They wanted to know about the upcoming State Ballot
Issues.
That
brings me to the point of this week’s article: Is
democracy under attack with State Issues 2, 3, 4, and 5?
Well, loosely interpreted, the word “democracy” comes
from the Greek words demos
meaning “of the people” and kratia
meaning “to govern”.
But who are we talking about when we say “of the
people”? I
would suggest the words of the founder of American
democracy, Thomas Jefferson, who said that democracy works
best when it is of the state, not of the federal
government. If
you follow the money behind the movement of ballot issues
2, 3, 4, and 5, you will find it comes from New York,
California, and Washington DC,
just to name a few. This
does not sound like it is “of the people” as Jefferson
suggests. It
sounds like democracy in Ohio is under attack by forces
outside of Ohio.
Issue
Two, if passed, says it will expand to all Ohio registered
voters the option to vote up to 35 days prior to Election
Day by mail or in person at the board of elections.
However, the amendment does not contain a reliable
method to protect the integrity of votes cast early, nor
does it provide adequate safeguards to ensure that only
eligible and qualified voters would be able to use these
procedures. Since
it would allow each county to establish its own rules,
there will undoubtedly be many different methods.
This alone will cause confusion on Election Day
which could cause votes to be questioned or rejected.
This amendment would most likely lead to a
significant increase in cases of fraudulent voting in Ohio as experienced in other states that have adopted similar proposals.
In any case, this amendment is unnecessary as Ohio law already contains generous absentee voting provisions.
Did you know there are 16 reasons that allow
absentee voting in Ohio?
Democracy
MAY be hard and maybe it should be, but it should not be
inhibited by out of state concerns who simply want to
whine about how Ohioans vote.
Tell them we can decide and vote for ourselves by
voting “NO” on State Issues 2, 3, 4, and 5.
Joe
Uecker
State
Representative
Ohio’s
66 District
Representing
Batavia, Goshen, Miami and Union Townships as well as the
Cities of Loveland and Milford and the Villages of Batavia
and Amelia.(614)
466-8134
District
Office (513)-248-2565
Website:
www.JoeUecker.com
Email:
Joe@JoeUecker.com |
