Yaël Ossowski

op-ed

  • OSSOWSKI: So goes Florida: Bellwether bias in the battleground state

    By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog TAMPA — It is a standard claim that has become irrefutable mantra in Sunshine State politics. “As goes the Tampa media market so goes Florida,”Tallahassee-based Democratic strategist Steve Schaletold the New York Times during the Republican presidential primary in January. “As I4 corridor goes, so goes Florida,” wrote theWashington Times editorial board at the beginning of the 2008 presidential cycle.…

  • OSSOWSKI: Federal judge returns sanity to Florida elections

    By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog TAMPA— Honoring years of legal precedence, a federal judge has ruled that maintaining fair and legitimate voter registration rolls is probably a good idea, especially in the vote-challenged state of Florida. Previous examinations by the state yielded a list of over 200,000 suspected ineligible voters still on the registration lists across the Sunshine State —…

  • OSSOWSKI: Obama’s pledge to halt deportations: A legal immigrant’s take

    By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog TAMPA — It was the memorandum heard around the world. On Friday, the Department of Homeland Security sent out a letter outlining how young undocumented immigrants, whether enrolled in school or enlisted in the military, should not be subject to deportation proceedings and should be considered for work visas that would allow…

  • OSSOWSKI: Electoral reforms increase voter rights, not suppress them

    By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog TAMPA— The fight to recognize universal suffrage has been bloody, costly and, above all, hard-fought. Though considerations of race, sex, income, literacy and property ownership once barred certain individuals from the polling place, today these distinctions remain rightfully absent when American citizens casts their vote. What remains important, however, is not…

  • OSSOWSKI: Confessions of a standardized testing survivor

    By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog TAMPA — Even after hours of cramming mathematical formulas, composing rough drafts and tracking down ever-elusive No. 2 pencils, there was no more excruciating experience than having to complete a state-mandated standardized test. The teachers, worn out from their recent intensive lessons on math, reading and writing expected on…