Political Quotes

“I do not question the outcome of this election. However, I do know that I stood in line for hours with voters trying to cast ballots, and since election day I have heard from dozens of voters, Democrats and Republicans, who lost their right to vote on November 2 in my State of Ohio. For 8 years in the 1980s I served as Ohio's elected Secretary of State. During my term in office, we held and my office conducted two Presidential elections, two gubernatorial elections, and dozens of primary and special elections. The role of the Ohio Secretary of State serves two main functions: to ensure everyone is confident that his or her vote will be counted and to encourage everyone to exercise that right to vote. Our Secretary of State this year failed on both counts. I speak from experience when I say the 2004 Presidential election in Ohio was riddled with unnecessary problems. I visited four precincts in Oberlin, Ohio, outside of my district where I stood in line with voters, some of whom waited up to 6 hours to vote. I visited Hispanic and white working-class precincts, and I saw long lines everywhere I went. I received panicked calls throughout the day from voters whose polling places had broken machines and were being denied the right to vote.”