While multiple Republican governors and Mitt Romney surrogates have praised the administration’s response in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) told CNN on Saturday that some voters might blame President Obama for the government’s relief efforts.

Romney’s point-persion in Ohio emphasized the importance of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in helping storm victims recover and argued that voters could turn against the president if victims don’t receive the federal aid they were “promised”:

Portman admitted that Hurricane Sandy “wasn’t helpful” to the Romney campaign at a time when it had some momentum, but suggested televised images of frustrated storm victims in New York and New Jersey might have an impact on a small number of undecided voters this weekend.

“As usual in a major disaster like this, there are a lot of people who are concerned about the government not providing the assistance they deserve and need,” Portman told CNN. “People are feeling like, ‘Hey, where’s FEMA? Where’s the help that I was promised?‘”

Ironically, in 2011, Romney suggested closing FEMA, the emergency response agency, so that states could have greater control over disaster relief, adding if “you can go even further and send it back to the private sector, that’s even better.”

In the aftermath of the storm, Romney’s spokespeople promised that as president, he would retain the agency, though they did not say if he supports the efforts of Republicans — including those of running mate Paul Ryan — to slash funds for disaster preparedness and response.

A last-minute directive issued by Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted (R) could invalidate legal provisional ballots. Ohio is widely viewed as the most critical state for both presidential campaigns and — with some polls showing a close race — the 11th-hour move could swing the entire election.

The directive, issued Friday, lays out the requirements for submitting a provisional ballot. The directive includes a form which puts the burden on the voter to correctly record the form of ID provided to election officials. Husted also instructed election officials that if the form is not filled out correctly by a voter, the ballot should not be counted.

According to a lawsuit filed by voting rights advocates, this is “contrary to a court decision on provisional ballots a week ago and contrary to statements made by attorneys for Husted at an Oct. 24 court hearing.”

Indeed, it also appears directly contrary to Ohio law. From the lawsuit:

Ohio Rev. Code § 3505.181(B)(6) provides that, once a voter casting a provisional ballot proffers identification, “the appropriate local election official shall record the type of identification provided, the social security number information, the fact that the affirmation was executed, or the fact that the individual declined to execute such an affirmation and include that information with the transmission of the ballot . . . .” (Emphasis added.)

The law “ensures that any questions regarding a voter’s identification are resolved on the spot or, consistent with due process, the voter is informed that he or she needs to provide additional information to the board of elections. This protects the integrity of the voting process, and provides a reasonable opportunity to resolve deficiencies.”

The last-minute directive changes this and switches the burden to the voter, greatly increasing the chances that legal provisional ballots will be discarded.

The court gave Husted until Monday to respond to the lawsuit and indicated it will resolve the dispute before provisional ballots are counted on November 17.

Husted has also tried to limit voting in Ohio by reducing early voting hours.

On Tuesday, Tea Party group True the Vote will dispatch poll watchers throughout the country to challenge voters’ rights as they cast their ballots. True the Vote often insists it is a nonpartisan organization simply concerned with election integrity. It has even applied for non-profit status, which would exempt them from taxes. But a new email to True the Vote volunteers in Illinois shows that the organization is recruiting poll watchers specifically for one candidate — Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL).

The email was sent by John Curry, the 32nd Ward Republican committeeman in Chicago who apparently moonlights as a True the Vote coordinator. He encourages volunteers to contact another coordinator named Sharon Keller:

…I have identified an important area for you to poll watch in this election. It is in the general area of Northwest suburban Chicago, including Schaumburg and Elk Grove Village. The area is of concern because of the close campaign between Joe Walsh and Tammy Duckworth for Congress, in which millions of dollars are being spent and many out of area workers are coming in to influence the election. Will you work as a poll watcher in this area? If you agree to do so, please contact Sharon Keller, who is coordinating pollwatching in this area. Her email is estateattorney@earthlink.net and her cell phone is 310-871-3611. Please tell her you were referred by John Curry. She will be running a special poll watcher training on Sunday, so it would be great if you can attend.

This Sharon Keller appears to be the same person who is in charge of partisan poll watchers for the Joe Walsh campaign, according to a Tea Party website:

To volunteer to poll watch for Joe, contact Sharon Keller, who is heading up Joe’s poll watching efforts. Email Sharon at: estateattorney@earthlink.net or call her at (310) 871-3611. She seems to prefer phone calls but will respond to email also. You will be asked to sign up for one of two shifts on Election Day: 6 am – 10:00 am and 3:00 pm – 7:30 pm. (Yes, you can sign up for both shifts.) Right now, they especially need poll watchers for the morning shift.

Illinois categorizes poll watchers as either partisan or nonpartisan. Presumably, True the Vote poll watchers will be posing as nonpartisan so as to not endanger their pending non-profit status. Yet this email to volunteers suggests they are recruiting partisan poll watchers for the Walsh campaign — in blatant defiance of their claim of nonpartisanship.

This isn’t the first time the group has provided illegal aid to a campaign. A judge ruled in March that poll watchers deployed by True the Vote in Texas’ 2010 election amounted to an illegal campaign contribution to the Republican Party. After Tuesday, it will be hard to see how True the Vote can keep up the nonpartisan facade.

Republicans and conservative media outlets like Fox News began blaming the Obama administration for “covering up” the events that led to the deaths of four Americans in Libya just moments after the raid on the U.S. consulate on September 11th. But even as their various accusations and conspiracies have fallen to close scrutiny, the GOP is still making Obama out to be the next Richard Nixon.

“Benghazi is a far worse situation than Watergate,” Rep. Steve King (R-IA) said during an event earlier this week. “I have more questions than I have answers about that one. Who told the Seals to ‘stand down’? We will hold hearings. We will get answers. This is disgraceful. But if Obama is re-elected, it’s going to take longer to get facts about this than it has to get facts on the Fast and Furious.”

An investigation into Fast and Furios — a gun trafficking operation gone wrong — criticized federal officials, but “exonerated Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., whom many Republicans have blamed for the scandal.”