In 2004, Ohio was the poster child for voter suppression. Secretary of State Ken Blackwell wowed America with his tactics. Refusing voter registrations because they were on the wrong weight paper; machine shortages in Democratic (read urban) precincts. Blackwell played fast and loose with provisional ballot procedures by narrowly interpreting law to exclude those who went to the wrong polling place, only issuing ballots to people who have recently moved, or other exclusive reasons not to permit a vote.

In short, Ohio was ground zero of hinky election practices.

People stood in the cold November rain for hours to try […]