Non-Ohioans Vote In Ohio…?
This morning, I received information that an Obama campaign worker Jacob I. Smith had registered to vote at a temporary address in Ohio.
We looked up Smith’s public voter record and contacted the residents of the house at which “Jake” Smith was registered to vote.
Smith was being hosted by a man named Don and his wife during the election period; Don agreed to answer a few questions on camera, so we headed down to Howard, OH.
On the way down, Don called me back and said that he wanted us to get Smith’s side of the story as well… he felt bad because Smith was “a good kid.” Don gave Smith my number and before I knew it, I had a new message…
Smith wanted to know why we were seeking him out and told me to please go to HIM, not Don. He said that he was at the Obama headquarters in Mt. Vernon and that we should stop by to speak to him.
A few minutes later Smith called again, wondering how we got his info and why we wanted to talk to him. I said we wanted to ask him a few questions about early voting in Ohio.. he sounded nervous, but he agreed to talk OFF the record.
I called Palestra graduate managing editor Tiffany Wilson to tell her the situation and when I hung up, I had ANOTHER message from Smith. He was frantic and said he couldn’t answer any questions at all… “thanks but no thanks.”
Smith didn’t want to lose his job with the campaign.
Tiffany and graduate reporter Gary Orr headed over to see if they could talk to Smith at the Obama HQ, and I headed to Don’s house with graduate reporter Sean Merinar.
Don was really nice and just gave us the facts- he said that to his knowledge, Smith grew up in Florida and is a graduate of Hofstra University on Long Island, NY. He is a paid worker on the Obama campaign and is staying for the month of October. Don said they don’t talk too much because Smith is always out working, but he seems like a nice guy.
When I asked Don if Smith planned on staying in Ohio, he said he didn’t know.
…so I then asked if Smith was welcome to stay at his pla