True the Vote poll observers barred from Columbus, Ohio polling sites

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Columbus Dispatch reports True the Vote observers barred from Franklin County polling places:

True the Vote – whose Ohio branch is called the Voter Integrity
Project – was denied status as official observers because at least most
of the candidates who supported the organization's effort withdrew their
backing
. State law allows groups of at least five candidates to assign
poll observers, and the group originally had obtained signatures from a
bipartisan group of six candidates for county office
.

“The Franklin County Board of Elections did not allow Election Day
polling location observer appointments filed by the True the Vote
group," said board spokesman Ben Pisctelli in a statement. "The
appointments were not properly filed and our voting location managers
were instructed not to honor any appointment on behalf of the True the
Vote group.”

There were charges yesterday that the candidates' names had either
been falsified or merely copied on forms requesting observer status for
the True the Vote at several Franklin County polling places
. Many are
in predominantly African American neighborhoods.

Elections Director William A. Anthony Jr. said the group may be
investigated for possibly falsifying documents after today's election
.
The forms themselves warn that elections falsification is a fifth-degree
felony.

Yesterday PlunderBund blog (Ohio) reported
[UPDATED] True The Vote Forged Signatures To Get Observers At Ohio Polls
:

The
FCBOE met today and determined that True the Vote had likely falsified
the forms submitted for general election observers. The new observer
forms, filed over the past few days by True the Vote representative
(and Hilliard Tea Party Member) Jan Loar, used candidate signatures
copied from a previous set of forms filed in early October.

All but one (Scott Rupert, an independent for U.S. Senate) of the six
candidates whose names appeared on the original form had withdrawn
permission to use their signatures prior to the submission of today’s
forms.
  During the BOE meeting Candidate Terri Jamison spoke up to say
her name was “forged” on the latest round of forms.

The form for appointing observers reads ‘election falsification is a
5th degree felony’.  Election officials have confirmed that there will
be a post-election investigation of True the Vote.

The forms have been rejected unanimously by all members (Rs and Ds) on the board.  True the Vote observers will not be allowed in Franklin County polling locations [Tuesday].  Poll monitoring organizations expect they may still be stationed outside of polling locations.

Board member Zachary Manifold told us he was ”amazed that a group that goes to such extreme lengths to claim voting fraud in Ohio would knowingly forge or misuse signatures to try to gain access to Franklin County polling locations.”