[EL] More on case with 5-year sentence for double voting (from ELB News and Commentary 7/18/13)

[Rob Richie]

A friend of mine, Bill Collins of Cincinnati, sent me and email about the
Ohio case involving a five-year prison term for voting on behalf of her
sister in several recent elections despite her sister being in a coma.

I'm no defender of voter fraud, but I question this sentence and the
apparent behavior of the judge. Bill is copied on this message in case
anyone has more questions about the case.

As an aside, I'll note has a practice where many people delegate their vote
to others to cast as a proxy. Voting by mail is not done in presidential
elections (and only done for parliamentary elections for the first time
last year), so someone away from home instead gives a formal letter to
someone allowing them to cast their vote. Turnout in presidential races is
more than 80%.  It just shows how norms can be different in different
nations. They see absentee voting as potentially ripe with fraud, and I
assume many Americans wouldn't like the idea of this voting-by-proxy.

- Rob Richie

#################
From: Bill Collins <bcollins1 at cinci.rr.com>
Date: Thursday, July 18, 2013 10:23 AM

Good morning.  It is so sad to read about the sentencing of Madisonville
resident Mae Richardson to a five-year prison term, and the outrageous,
bullying, racism verbal attack on her by Judge Robert Ruehlman at the
sentencing hearing. See
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20130717/NEWS0107/307170089/Illegal-voter-gets-5-year-prison-term?gcheck=1

I hope that individuals in Madisonville will speak out against Judge
Ruehlman's sentence of Mae and the judge's outrageous behavior in court
yesterday.  Below are the comments I just posted on
http://www.cincinnati.com.

Best regards,

Bill Collins
Phone: (513) 271-4425
- - - - -

This long sentence for Mae Richardson is an outrage.

I know Mae. She is a likeable but prickly and difficult personality. She is
an eccentric person, for sure, and her bizarre statement yesterday at the
court sentencing clearly shows that. It's obvious that Mae needs
professional help.

Judge Ruehlman's mocking treatment of her, in response, was an outrage.
After all those years on the bench, doesn't Judge Ruehlman recognize mental
illness? Is he THAT dense as to not see the evidence of mental illness
standing before him at the bench?

- - - - - - -
Anybody who knows and observes Mae closely knows that she is a black woman
who needs psychiatric help, and does not need a bullying, self-righteous
lecture by a white judge from the bench at the time that he is sending her
off to jail for five years. The judge has the power; Mae has no power. The
judge's trashing Mae from the bench as he sends her to jail for five years
is the worst kind of bullying, and yes the worst kind of state-sanctioned
racism.

What Mae needs, and has needed for a long time, is some good mental-health
services. Sending her to a regular prison with other female inmates will
make her condition worse. PLEASE. The courts system needs to stop this
outrage, sentence Mae to an appropriate sentence and get her some
mental-health services. I hope for the best, but fear that the system -- if
left unchecked -- will destroy Mae Richardson.

This is an OUTRAGE! The American people are not cruel people. Melowese
(Mae) Richardson deserves better and we deserve better than this sort of
state-sanctioned bullying, cruelty and racism meted out by Hamilton County
Common Pleas Court Judge Robert Ruehlman.

On Thu, Jul 18, 2013 at 11:46 AM, Rick Hasen <rhasen at law.uci.edu> wrote:

>   Melowese Richardson Gets Five Year Term for Illegal Voting<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=53138>
> Posted on July 18, 2013 8:28 am <http://electionlawblog.org/?p=53138> by Rick
> Hasen <http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
>
> See here<http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/201307171724/NEWS0107/307170089&nclick_check=1>.
> This is a significant sentence for some serious misconduct, including
> voting her sister’s vote, who has been in a coma since 2003.  Although the
> poll worker accepted a plea deal, she was unrepentant:
>
> “I think the board has shown me nothing but total disrespect for the 30
> years I’ve served them,” she told the judge. “I believe in the system and
> I’ve done nothing to harm the system or cause disgrace to President Obama.”
>
> The conservative, outspoken judge responded with scathing comments,
> blasting Richardson for suggesting she was being prosecuted because she was
> a black Democrat helping a black Democratic presidential candidate.
>
> “It has nothing to do with race. It has nothing to do with politics. It
> has nothing to do with disrespecting you. You did this to yourself,”
> Ruehlman told her.
>
> “You’re very selfish, self-centered. I really believe President Obama, if
> he were asked about this today, he would be appalled. He would not want
> anybody to cheat to get elected.”
>
>
>
-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Respect for Every Vote and Every Voice"

Rob Richie
Executive Director

FairVote
6930 Carroll Avenue, Suite 610
Takoma Park, MD 20912
www.fairvote.org  <http://www.fairvote.org> rr at fairvote.org
(301) 270-4616

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