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News Alert - Voter Fraud And Suppression High By Republicans!!!
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| MisterOpus1 |
Since Speed is in full-spammer mode today, I thought I'd return the favor. I'm really curious to see if Conservatives have an equally impressive list of Dem. voter fraud as the following:
| quote: | 90. GOP demands that Democratic volunteers in Florida speak to non-English (Creole) speaking Haitian-American early voters in English only, claiming that the volunteers are "threatening" the voters. Democratic volunteers deny this and point out that they were responding to requests of help from the voters (confirmed independently) [via PFAW/NAACP report a story in the Miami Herald]: Details in the Florida page under Voting in Swing States.
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89. GOP in South Dakota intimidates Native American voters by writing down their license plate numbers - judge orders them to stop the practice [via Demos, a report in the Argus Leader]: Details in the South Dakota page under Voting in Red States.
88. Illegal (felon) and false voter registrations reported in Nevada [via Votersunite, a story in the Chicago Tribune]: Details in the Nevada page under Voting in Swing States.
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87. Iowa Republican Auditor wrongly sends away student voters in line at closing time and refuses to hold another day of early voting to compensate [via Votersunite, a story in the Des Moines Register]: Details in the Iowa page under Voting in Swing States.
86. Fraudulent robo (phone) calls to heavily Democratic counties in Michigan provide false information on polling locations and claim that a vote for Kerry is a vote for gay marriage [via Josh Marshall, here is an article in the Detroit Free Press]: Details in the Michigan page under Voting in Swing States.
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85. Fraudulent calls made to Minnesota voters providing wrong polling places [via Minnesotan at Dailykos]: Details in the Minnesota page under Voting in Swing States.
84. Fake email claiming to be from Joe Lockhart in John Kerry's campaign [with a johnkerry.com address] asks readers to vote for Bush [via Atrios]: Details in the Other Voting Irregularities/Fraud page.
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83. Older News: Kentucky Jefferson County GOP Chair announces plan to challenge voters in minority rich precincts and faces calls for resignation from a few of his own party members [via PFAW/NAACP, a report in the Louisville Courier-Journal]: Details in the Kentucky page under Voting in Red States.
82. Older News: Fox News reporter intimidates students registering new voters in Arizona (in late August), suggesting that they were potentially signing up students to commit felonies [via PFAW/NAACP, a report in The Nation]: Details in the Arizona page under Voting in Swing States.
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81. GOP State House candidate in Utah attempts vote suppression through illegal party-based (anti-Democrat) challenges of 1496 voters that turn out to be baseless/false [via Pitterpatter at Dailykos, a report in the Salt Lake Tribune]: Details in the Utah page under Voting in Red States.
80. Dirty Tricks in Wisconsin: Fraudulent callers claiming to be from NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin (which has endorsed Kerry) urge voters to vote for Bush. Called ID shows NARAL's number and a criminal investigation has begun [via Rumblelizard at Dailykos]: Details in the Wisconsin page under Voting in Swing States.
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79. Fake leaflet emerges in Ohio saying Republicans should vote on Tuesday (11/2) and Democrats on Wednesday (11/3) [via Ohio Voter Suppression News]: Looks like this is a multi-state operation (previous reports in Virginia, Pennsylvania). Details in the Ohio page under Voting in Swing States.
78. Vote suppression dirty tricks in Ohio grow at an alarming pace [via Ohio Voter Suppression News]: Frauds showing up at the door to "pick up" absentee ballots and phone lines severed at GOTV phone banks are two examples. Details in the Ohio page under Voting in Swing States.
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77. Dirty trick previously reported in Pennsylvania also seen in email in Virginia. Fraudulent email claims Republicans should vote on 11/2 and Democrats on 11/3 [via reader JT]: Details in the Virginia page under Voting in Swing States.
76. Voters in different states report incidents where absentee ballots were not received (in time or not at all) [via various sources]: Details in the Other Voting Irregularities/Fraud page.
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75. GOP distances itself from vote challenge complaint in Oregon by GOP volunteer/lawyer, saying he does not formally represent BC04 and that the GOP has not decided whether to challenge the voters. Complaint demanded IDs for thousands of new registrants in liberal Multnomah county ONLY -- when IDs are not required by state law and proper identification of such voters is left to the states per the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) [via reader KM]: Details in the Oregon page under Voting in Swing States.
74. Fraudulent flyer in Democratic areas in Jefferson County in Alabama states elections are on November 4th [via Dailykos]: Details in the Alabama page under Voting in Red States.
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73. Fraudulent calls to registered Democrats in West Virginia telling them they are not registered to vote spread to another county; identical earlier incident was traced back to state GOP [update via Atrios]: Details in the West Virginia page under Voting in Swing States.
72. GOP challenger John Thune's campaign in South Dakota hits another low with disgusting flyer with racist overtones; additionally his campaign was found photographing Native American voters [via Buzzflash and Blue Lemur/Raw Story, a report in Indian Country]: As Native Americans line up to vote early, Thune's campaign has released a flyer (showing prairie dogs) titled "The dogs are lining up to vote for Tom Daschle" and this is appearing in many mailboxes in the state. Inside it says "''No wonder the varmints are heading to the polls to vote for him". Thune's campaign claims it referred only to prairie dogs. Native Americans see a flashback to the days when stores in the State displayed signs with the words "No Dogs or Indians allowed". Details in the South Dakota page under Voting in Red States.
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71. Fraudulent calls lead some West Virginia voters to vote via absentee ballot even though they may not be eligible to do so [via dkosopedia, a report from the Charleston Daily Mail]: Details in the West Virginia page under Voting in Swing States.
70. Arizona's Republican Superintendent of Public Instruction issues memo advising schools serving as polling places to take security measures (including police presence) - based on a recent school 'terror alert' from the Bush Homeland Security department that had already been shown to be highly dubious and possibly bogus [via Mbryan at Dailykos]: Details in the Arizona page under Voting in Swing States.
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69. Wisconsin GOP intensifies vote suppression efforts using more than 37000 last-minute vote challenges based on supposedly invalid voter addresses - even though their first batch of alleged "incorrect" addresses had hundreds that were correct [via reader HR, a report in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and via Buzzflash]: Details in the Wisconsin page under Voting in Swing States.
68. Charges and counter-charges between Republicans and Democrats on campaign related violence, vandalism, and theft [via various sources]: There are some sites/articles which are documenting this and I provide links to those - there is too much content to reproduce and I don't have time to sift through the large number of alleged incidents and sort out what is a valid claim and what is an invalid claim. Clearly, some of the charges are nonsensical - e.g., Republicans blaming non-violent but confrontational protestors. Incidents of theft (which should be prosecuted) may or may not be campaign related unless campaign specific materials were stolen. Other incidents such as vandalism of campaign offices or violence against campaign offices/staff are egregious and unacceptable. Anyway, links are in the Other Voting Irregularities/Fraud page.
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67. Karl-Rove style Dirty Trick from Tennessee makes its move to Georgia [via JamesB3 at Dailykos]: Remember the dirty trick in Tennessee surrounding the egregious flyer "Voting for Bush is Like Running in the Special Olympics -- Even if You Win, You're Still Retarded"? As I highlighted in that case, there is no evidence that the Democrats put out this flier and the evidence suggests it was a dirty trick that was played ON the Democrats. Now this garbage has spread to Georgia. Details in the Georgia page under Voting in Red States.
66. Florida GOP and the Bush-Cheney campaign continue attempts to suppress Democratic votes in Florida using evolving methods [via Dailykos - a report by Greg Palast in the BBC, Blogwood, Dailykos]: A GOP "caging list" of voters in a minority rich district was discovered and suspected to be a vote challenge list. Its use for vote challenges exposed as possibly illegal, the GOP claimed they will challenge lots of voters but not specifically the ones on the list. Their vote challenge plan in Florida (using a 109-year old pre-civil-rights-era state law) mirrors GOP plans in Ohio and is expected to cause massive voting delays or shutdowns on voting day (and attendant discouragement/suppression of voters). Governor Jeb Bush encouraged the vote challenges and downplayed the significance of the GOP plan. The GOP vote challengers/poll watchers are disproportionately in minority rich districts - says something doesn't it?
Additionally, the GOP challenged the votes already cast by numerous people claiming that they are felons (using the repeatedly discredited Florida "felon list") - and not unexpectedly, shortly after they propagated this new list it was shown to have names of people who had already had their voting rights restored.
The latest news is that the Florida Elections Director issued a detailed ruling stating that challenges cannot be allowed to delay the polls, that those challenged should be given the option of casting a provisional ballot and that a voter's being in the discredited felon list is not sufficient reason to allow a challenge to his or her vote. Details in the Florida page under Voting in Swing States.
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65. GOP voter suppression efforts in Ohio morph into another growing scandal with fraudulent challenges and angry citizens/voters - Federal courts nix GOP challenges [via various sources, including a personal incident report by reader EN]: The GOP originally challenged about 35,000 registrations in Ohio - only to withdraw thousands of the claims because of self-described "errors" in their filings. Moreover, some of those challenged were homeless. The GOP also claimed over-registration fraud but the Election Board pointed out there is no evidence of fraud and that "inactive" voters have to be kept on the rolls for 4 years per the National Voter Registration Act. After mass protests, Ohio's GOP Sec. of State partially caved in with a "compromise" ruling that allows the challenged voters to cast provisional ballots.
In the meantime, one of the GOP members who challenged the voters faces a possible indictment on felony charges for swearing she had personal knowledge about the voters being challenged when she had no knowledge whatsoever - by her own admission. The election board threw out another 976 challenges due to the latter incident. Another challenger turns out to be Megan Harrington, President of the College Republicans at the University of Toledo. She has been discovered to have challenged a voter based on a claim that he does not live where he claims he does, even though the voter actually does live at that address. Many others including some faculty at the University of Toledo were falsely challenged as well even though they were actually living at the very address the GOP claimed was not valid [NOTE: New Donkey points out that this type of vote challenge is a decades old GOP trick and Dailykos points out that that GOP settled a lawsuit agreeing to not indulge in this kind of vote suppression about two decades ago]. Many of those challenged are understandably angry at this nonsense. There is a possibility that some of those who were challenged may have been on the list since they were contributors to the Democratic party - but this needs further investigation. At least one voter was challenged under the pretext that she was dead, even though she was very much alive. It is quite clear these challengers have no morals whatsoever and need to be indicted or investigated, as appropriate. Details in the Ohio page under Voting in Swing States.
64. Illegal Handling of Absentee Ballot Requests by GOP in South Dakota mushrooms into a scandal, amid resignations; many ballot requests were not even submitted; six Republican notaries charged with a Class 2 misdemeanor and three plead guilty [via Sdindc at Dailykos, Dailykos, Josh Marshall and Buzzflash]: Jeff Thune, nephew of Republican candidate for Senate John Thune (running a very close race against Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle) is under investigation for falsely pretending to be a Notary when collecting absentee ballot requests from prospective student voters. Additionally, even though he claimed 75 applications were notarized - the applications were never notarized or submitted to the county auditor. A number of GOP operatives/consultants have resigned. Six Republican notaries have been charged with a Class 2 misdemeanor and three of them pled guilty. KELO-TV reported that the former governor and GOP congressman in South Dakota says the national GOP is encouraging campaign workers to cheat. An executive board member of the state GOP resigns in disgust at the party's dirty tricks. These and other details are covered in the South Dakota page under Voting in Red States.
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63. Jim Crow Dirty Tricks in South Carolina: Bogus letter claiming to be from NAACP threatens arrest of voters who have failed to pay parking tickets or child support, among other things [via reader PJK, an AP report]: Letter also claims falsely that "voters must have a credit check, provide two forms of photo identification, a Social Security card, a voter registration card and a handwriting sample". Details in the South Carolina page under Voting in Red States.
62. Employee of left-leaning but nonpartisan voter registration group South Carolina Progressive Network (SCPN) involved in submitting numerous fraudulent registrations. Fraud was however discovered by SCPN and reported to state authorities for prosecution of the employee [via Votersunite]: Details in the South Carolina page under Voting in Red States.
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61. Left-leaning but non-partisan group ACORN accused (especially by the GOP) of voter registration fraud in multiple states in favor of the Democratic Party; the data, however, indicates ACORN may have been defrauded and there is no evidence of them solely favoring Democrats. This is particularly apparent from the fact that one of the incidents involved falsely registering 1500 students as Republican. [via various sources]: Voter registration fraud in multiple states has been reported against workers of ACORN - Florida, Minnesota, Colorado, New Mexico and Michigan. The Florida incident involves the false registration of about 1500 students as Republicans. A former ACORN employee in FL who accused ACORN of improprieties was shown to have a credibility problem when he tried to fraudulently cash a check that was not in his name and got fired -- before he went on to accuse ACORN. Another person (in MN) had been fired by ACORN for doing multiple registration two months before duplicate registration cards were found in his car trunk. Likewise, another person in New Mexico had been fired by ACORN prior to her having submitted false registrations. Colorado election officials downplayed the ACORN related incidents there saying most were cases of multiple registrations (which is common as I've indicated here), and not what they would call fraud - and that ACORN helped in the discovery of the fraud. All in all, while it is clear ACORN needs to do better, it is also clear that they have been doing what they should when they discovered attempted fraud. There is certainly no evidence here to suggest that they were intentionally trying to favor any one party (especially the Democrats). Details in the Florida Page, Colorado page, New Mexico page and Michigan page under Voting in Swing States.
60. Iowa State officials reject hundreds of voter registrations because of a problem with their own systems that prevents them from accessing the Social Security database - officials state they will work to fix this [via Votersunite, a report in the Des Moines Register]: Details in the Iowa page under Voting in Swing States.
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59. Bush Justice Department participates in unprecedented legal action to take away the rights of voters to file lawsuits to redress vote fraud or suppression [via Buzzflash, a report in the Los Angeles Times]: The Bush Justice Department has reversed decades of precedent by Justice Departments to allow individuals to go to court to fight for their voting rights. Details in the Other Voting Irregularities/Fraud page.
58. College Republicans at the University of Wisconsin and Congressional GOP candidate keep up the rich tradition of their national counterparts by distributing flyer to students with wrong voting information; they have since apologized for the "honest error" [via reader TK, a report in the Capital Times]: Details in the Wisconsin page under Voting in Swing States.
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57. Dirty Tricks in Pennsylvania: fake leaflets mimicking County stationery asks Republicans to vote on 11/2 and Democrats to vote on 11/3. Leaflets provoking numerous calls to county offices and criminal investigation initiated. [via Jamisen at Dailykos, a report from the conservative Pittsburgh Tribune-Review]: Details in the Pennsylvania page under Voting in Swing States.
56. More electoral fraud/dirty tricks in Ohio: voter receives letter claiming that voters registered by Democratic campaigns or NAACP have invalid registrations and cannot vote [via Atrios]: Details in the Ohio page under Voting in Swing States.
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55. Another GOP funded outfit [Young Political Majors, run by Marc Jacoby] deceives students at the University of Florida by registering (or trying to register) them as Republican. Students in multiple Florida campuses report similar scams (perpetrators unclear), and in some cases changed addresses (which could make it difficult for them to vote). [via Dailykos]: Details in the Florida page under Voting in Swing States.
54. Inappropriate behavior, lying and attempted vote suppression by Democrat-hating Registrar in Rockland, Maine [via dkosopedia]: Details in the Maine page under Voting in Swing States.
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53. In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, fraudulent flyer being circulated in African-American neighborhoods to suppress their votes through "warnings": Dailykos has a scanned copy of the flyer here. Details in the Wisconsin page under Voting in Swing States.
52. College Republican National Committee (CRNC) bilks elderly Republican donors of millions of dollars through massive campaign of deception in which donors thought they were donating to the Republican election campaign; CRNC chair now runs Bush-Cheney '04 campaign in Nevada [via Brown University Democrats/Atrios, a report from the Seattle Times and Talkingpointsmemo]: Karl Rove and Ralph Reed would be proud. Details in the Other Voting Irregularities/Fraud page.
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51. Tens of thousands of absentee ballots go missing in Florida - adding to jeopardy that many votes will not get counted; internal postal service e-mail confirms that at least some absentee ballots were mishandled despite earlier denials by Florida officials. Additionally, outrageous absentee ballot delays in Broward County - ballots only being mailed OUT on Saturday 10/30! [via various sources]: Details in the Florida page under Voting in Swing States.
50. RNC funded firm Sproul and Associates strikes again - voter registration shenanigans extend to Minnesota [via Buzzflash, a report in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune]: Sproul and Associates, which has been in the news for shredding Democratic registrations in Nevada, and false advertising/misleading would-be voters in other states claiming they were non-partisan, has been up to the usual tricks in Minnesota. Details in the Minnesota page under Voting in Swing States.
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49. Three racist Whites in rural Georgia challenge Hispanic vote registrations purely based on race - most of those challenged had already proven they are legally allowed to vote; County Board dismisses complaint after race-based petition becomes evident and challengers declined to provide evidence in some cases [via Hungry Blues and Buzzflash]: Jim Crow continues, under a slightly different name. Details in the Georgia page under Voting in Red States.
48. Demos Report: "Democracy at Risk - Challenges to Election Integrity" [via Votelaw]: I came across this Demos report which is in my must-read list (which I will hopefully get to after this election). Details in the Other Voting Irregularities/Fraud page.
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47. A likely explanation for the GOP's minority-vote suppression efforts (other than the fact that it is easier to suppress than White votes): RNC poll shows Bush will lose otherwise. More details on GOP vote suppression plan become clear [via Kevin Drum, New Donkey]: Details in the Other Voting Irregularities/Fraud page.
46. Iowa Republican Party doesn't want to be left out when it comes to vote suppression [via taliesin at Dailykos, a report in the Des Moines Register]: Iowa GOP attempts to suppress votes of citizens who signed an affidavit certifying their eligibility to vote but forgot to check a box saying they are citizens; also attempts to suppress provisional ballots cast in the right county but wrong precinct. Details in the Iowa page under Voting in Swing States.
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45. Most powerful Republican in Philadelphia, in a moment of candor, expresses an intent to suppress the Democratic vote [via What Really Happened, a story from Campaign Extra]: Pennsylvania House Speaker John Perzel says, "The Kerry campaign needs to come out with humongous numbers here in Philadelphia. It's important for me to keep that number down." Details in the Pennsylvania page under Voting in Swing States.
44. Republican officials across the country try to suppress votes by willfully misrepresenting Help America Vote Act (HAVA) to demand IDs when they are not required; other HAVA implementations disenfranchising voters reported by the Century Foundation. [via Alec Applebaum in TNR and reader radtimes]: Details in the Other Voting Irregularities/Fraud page.
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43. Minnesota's Republican Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer hones the art of vote suppression [via MN Politics, Village Voice]: Multiple stories here - trying to reduce voter registration by Democratic-leaning groups, attempting to eliminate Independence Party candidate (running against GOP platform), rushing to use untested and unreliable voter registration system, issuing posters near voting booths warning of terrorists, placing highly misleading notices near driver's license stations that the voter registration deadline is past, etc. Hey, you can't blame her for not trying to catch up with her party colleagues nationwide! Details in the Minnesota page under Voting in Swing States.
42. GOP plan to field thousands of "vote challengers" in Ohio exploiting a historical minority voter intimidation law dating back to 1953 (the pre-Civil-Rights era) - pushed by GOP Secretary of State and Bush Justice Department. Federal judges rule it unconstitutional but Ohio Supreme Court allows it [via various sources]: Details in the Ohio page under Voting in Swing States.
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41. The potential promise and major perils of unchecked electronic voting (without paper backups): For almost everything you want to know about the promises and major perils of unchecked e-voting (without paper backups) go to Bev Harris' Black Box Voting. This article in the WSJ [via reader Radtimes] covers one of the e-voting machine vendors Diebold. This article in Time [also via reader radtimes] also covers the perils of e-voting machines, but also points out how the Bush administration and the Republican Congress didn't bother to set up unified national standards for new voting machines. More articles/details in the Other Voting Irregularities/Fraud page.
40. Dirty Tricks and Fraud against Democratic Senator Tom Daschle get real dirty in South Dakota [via Josh Marshall]: Specific wording ("S.T.D.") stands out in the mailer accompanying an offensive sticker ("Vote for Daschle & Vote for SODOMY") mass mailed to over a thousand churches statewide along with key Democratic supporters' homes. The mass mailing would have been quite difficult for a random individual or a small fry group to indulge in, prompting Sen. Daschle to suggest that College Republicans (who previously had sold T-shirts made with the words "Get Rid of Your STD") are behind this - potentially including those who were involved in the recent Jeff Thune absentee ballot scandal in the same state. He has filed criminal charges on the matter and the GOP denied they had anything to do with it and have asked for an investigation as well. Details in the South Dakota page under Voting in Red States.
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39. Trials and tribulations for overseas civilian voters and military voters continue [via Alix Christie in Salon.com and reader radtimes]: Details in the Overseas Absentee Voting page.
38. Low income, minority and elderly Florida voters (a Democratic leaning group) fraudulently asked to give away absentee ballots to strangers pretending to be election officials; others illegally asked to vote "at home" or provide information on parking tickets, debt or arrest records [via various sources]: Reports in multiple counties suggest a well-oiled operation aimed at Democratic vote suppression. It seems every day brings new lows. Details in the Florida page under Voting in Swing States.
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37. E-voting machine nightmare begins: votes for one candidate show up repeatedly as votes for the opposing candidate in New Mexico [Via chicagoprogressive at Dailykos]: And what are the local election officials saying? That the voters are to blame! Details in the New Mexico page under Voting in Swing States. NOTE to Voters: Please make sure you triple check your vote when vote!
36. Fraudulent calls made to Ohio voters to suppress their votes using wrong information on voting site [via Atrios and Logan's Lurch]: Details in the Ohio page under Voting in Swing States.
35. Oregon GOP voter "observation manual" instruction on videotaping approaches borderline intimidation; false information on voting deadline reveals attempt at vote suppression [Via Hesiod, a report in The Oregonian]: My initial thought was to consider that the voting deadline issue was a possible error - but when I saw the state GOP's response when the error was revealed in their document it became clear this was no error. This was a wanton attempt to mislead their supporters into indulging in vote suppression. Details in the Oregon page under Voting in Swing States.
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34. Christine Cegelis, Democratic challenger to longtime GOP Rep. Henry Hyde left off sample ballots printed in newspapers in Illinois [via reader SM]: As the article in the Daily Herald notes, the GOP controls the county election board which makes this quite fishy - but I'm not going to attribute intent to this yet without further evidence. If you want to help/contribute to Cegelis, here is her website. Details in the Illinois page under Voting in Blue States.
33. Three reports on Voting Rights in America:
- PFAW Report: "The Long Shadow of Jim Crow - Voter Intimidation and Suppression in America Today"
- Moving Ideas Report: "Voting in America: How Democratic Is It?"
- Republican Ballot Security Programs: Vote Protection or Minority Vote Suppression- or Both?: A Report to The Center for Voting Rights and Protection by C. Davidson et al.
More details in the Other Voting Irregularities/Fraud page.
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32. More cases of students being fraudulently registered as Republican - this time in Pennsylvania [via Dailykos and reader radtimes]: Students who thought they were signing a petition on marijuana legalization (or other petitions/forms) discover they were falsely registered as Republican in the process. Details in the Pennsylvania page under Voting in Swing States.
31. Nevada's GOP Secretary of State rightly declares the Nevada Republican Party's attempt to "challenge" voters using overly broad definition of law as wrong [via Dailykos]: Secretary of State states that vote challenges should be based on a "good faith belief" that the person is not eligible to vote. Details in the Nevada page under Voting in Swing States.
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30. Colorado's Help America Vote Act (HAVA) Compliance Director is a known racist - so much for helping America vote [RMPN via Atrios]: Details in the Colorado page under Voting in Swing States.
29. Virginia GOP State Representative complains that Democratic Governor Mark Warner is re-enfranchising ex-felons too fast and plans to bring up this issue in next year's Gubernatorial campaign! [via Votelaw]: Someone actually believes ex-felons should NOT be re-enfranchised (as allowed by State Law) quickly - just unbelievable. Details in the Virginia page under Voting in Swing States.
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28. GOP voter registration dirty tricks in Pennsylvania [via Dailykos and Hesiod]: GOP funded group (connected to Nathan Sproul) fraudulently poses as non-partisan to selectively register people as Republicans in PA (while push-polling sometimes). Members were told to not offer registration cards to Kerry supporters. This group is also involved in similar activities or worse in West Virginia, Oregon, and Nevada. Details in the Pennsylvania page under Voting in Swing States.
27. 124 fake voter registrations in exchange for crack cocaine in Ohio [via Mark Adams (here and here)]: We have this story in the Toledo Blade about a volunteer Chad Staton hired by a volunteer who in turn worked for the non-partisan but left-leaning NAACP Voter Fund - Staton made up voter registrations with (easily detectable) fraudulent names like Mary Poppins in exchange for crack cocaine. Details in the Ohio page under Voting in Swing States.
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26. ACLU joint study reveals that millions of legal voters across the U.S. may be disenfranchised even today due to flawed procedures for purging felons off the voter rolls [via Farhad Manjoo at Salon.com]: ACLU points out that this is the first report to examine the purge policies of 15 states, which represent the wide variety of state disfranchisement laws. Among the key findings of the report are (I quote):
No Purge Criteria: None of the states surveyed requires its officials to use any specific or minimum criteria to ensure that an individual with a felony conviction is the same individual being purged from the voter rolls.
A Limited Ability to Challenge Purges: Two-thirds of the states surveyed do not require elections officials to notify voters purged from the voter rolls, denying these voters an opportunity to contest erroneous purges. More details in the Other Voting Irregularities/Fraud page.
25. More attempted voter registration fraud reported in Oregon, with students at OSU told that they need to register Republican [Via Buzzflash]: According to this report from Oregon State University, students faced with fraudulent groups trying to register them as Republican using underhanded methods. Details in the Oregon page under Voting in Swing States.
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24. Jeb Bush's indifference to voting rights in Florida start to show up at the polling booth with insufficient or faulty voting machines, long downtimes, and disenchanted early voters - not to mention self-contradictory absentee ballot instructions. Additionally, Duval County where Jacksonville is located had only one early voting site open, far from African American precincts - and some group was videotaping voters. [Via Geheimbundler at Dailykos, St. Petersburg Times (via Buzzflash), reader PT and Simply Appalling]: A report on early voting in Florida from the Sun-Sentinel shows exactly what happens to voters' enthusiasm when voting technology is not ready for prime time or if voting instructions are self-contradictory. Details in the Florida page under Voting in Swing States.
23. Some Ohio Hamilton County absentee ballots mailed to voters WITHOUT the names of Kerry and Edwards on them [Via Pacified at Dailykos]: As much as the person interviewed in the article (reporting this incident) would like us to believe that this is an inadvertent error, my patience is running thin on what is going on in Ohio. I am willing to give Ohio the benefit of the doubt if it turns out that, indeed, only a small number of absentee ballots were affected - if so, I will consider this an inadvertent error. Details in the Ohio page under Voting in Swing States.
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22. High-ranking Pennsylvania GOP and Bush operatives attempt to move 63 polling places (majority in minority districts) at the last minute, in an attempt to suppress minority voting; Lackawanna county Republicans move 15 polling places in Democrat-heavy precincts [via various sources]: Details in the Pennsylvania page under Voting in Swing States.
21. Newly Registered Voters in some Democratic/swing counties in Michigan misinformed that they cannot vote on Nov. 2 - others told by fraudulent caller(s) that their deadline to file for absentee ballots has passed or that they should mail their ballots to a wrong address. Separately, Michigan's GOP Secretary of State issued a rigid ruling on validity of provisional ballots - which is expected to lead to vote suppression - and a Federal Judge threw this out [Via reader JM, The Nation, MyDD and Hesiod]: Some of Michigan's Department of State's offices informed newly registered voters, wrongly, that they are not eligible to vote on Nov. 2; when confronted with this miscommunication, the GOP Secretary of State's office initially did nothing. Finally, after a Democratic Party press conference, the Sec. of State agreed to send out a communication to alert the voters who were misled. Some calls were also made (from as-yet unknown sources) to citizens in Democrat-rich Michigan counties falsely claiming that their deadline to apply for absentee ballots has passed or that completed ballots should be mailed to a wrong address. Separately, the Democratic party filed a lawsuit on the provisional ballot ruling and a Federal Judge ruled in their favor. Details in the Michigan page under Voting in Swing States.
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20. Dirty Tricks in Tennessee begin with old Karl Rove style hit [Votelaw, Josh Marshall and Mark Kleiman]: A nasty flier crops up mocking the disabled and comparing Bush to them and the GOP tries to tar the Tennessee Congressional Democratic candidate Craig Fitzhugh. The Republican organization - Traditional Values Coalition - blames Fitzhugh saying that they have a witness who confirms the flier came from Fitzhugh, but the witness denied this. Other facts surrounding this suggest a Karl-Rove-style GOP dirty tricks operation. Details in the Tennessee page under Voting in Swing States. Developing...
19. Voter fraud and high-handed vote suppression in Florida by Jeb Bush (personally) and the GOP continue unabated [via Various Sources]: Not content with his dirty tricks in 2000, GOP Governor Jeb Bush builds on his shameful legacy this year. Six major incidents so far:
(a) Vote suppression using fake ex-felon list that virtually and conveniently excluded Hispanics (who tend to vote Republican in Florida) but included lots of Blacks (who tend to vote Democratic).
- After a maelstrom of criticism the decision to use this list in 2004 was scrapped
- News has also emerged that Jeb Bush ordered that the list be used (originally) even though his Law Enforcement Department's own computer experts advised against it because of concerns about the accuracy of the list
(b) Attempt to further suppress ex-felon voter registration by eliminating paper applications for felons seeking to recover their civil rights
(c) Intimidation of Democratic voters and Kerry supporters using state law enforcement
(d) Attempt to suppress voting of new citizens (immigrants) by claiming that they didn't check a box! ( It's not enough to swear or affirm otherwise that one is a U.S. citizen - one needs to have ticked a box in the voter registration form in certain counties or face disqualification from voting!) - even when the forms were fixed, some were not processed in a timely fashion.
(e) Florida's GOP Secretary of State Glenda Hood (nickname: Katharine Harris II) issues election rules barring manual recounts (via machine log printouts) for electronic voting machines in close elections, even though Florida law requires a manual recount of ballots in close elections - after a court order against her stance, she issues new ruling which is barely different from her original ruling.
(f) Florida adopts an extremely rigid standard for counting provisional ballots in order to suppress voting -- a voter has to have cast his ballot at his home precinct in order to have his provisional ballot counted.
Details in the Florida page under Voting in Swing States.
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18. New England Chair of Bush-Cheney 04 - Jim Tobin - reported to be unindicted co-conspirator in 2002 GOP phone-jamming vote suppression scandal in New Hampshire which has already produced two felony guilty pleas; Bush Justice Department intervenes to prevent further depositions asked for by DNC and delays fact finding - but Tobin resigns from current post (while denying wrong-doing) [via Josh Marshall]: Details in the New Hampshire page under Voting in Swing States.
17. GOP operative Roger Stone (former aide to Richard Nixon, who led part of the GOP-organized lawlessness in Florida in 2000 for Bush-Cheney '00), discovered to be behind fraudulent "Kerry-Specter" yard signs in Pennsylvania [Campaign Extra! via Atrios]: Yard signs were an attempt to deceive voters into thinking the Kerry campaign was aligned with GOP Senator Arlen Specter in the latter's campaign against Democratic challenger Joe Hoeffel. Details in the Pennsylvania page under Voting in Swing States.
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16. Numerous Democratic Voter Registrations shredded in Nevada by GOP funded organization - Republican state judge refuses request to allow them to register again; separately, GOP operative attempts (unsuccessfully) to get 17000 Democrats off the rolls [via Dailykos, Talkingpointsmemo and NV Democrats]:
(a) A GOP funded private vote registration firm - Voter Outreach of America - is involved in destroying new Democratic voter registrations, potentially by the thousands. Interestingly, this same group was involved in work for Ralph Nader in Florida. A Republican state judge refused to allow those whose forms were shredded from re-registering.
(b) Nevada GOP operative and former director of the Nevada GOP attempts to get about 17000 Democrats off the rolls in Nevada - but election officials rebuff his attempt.
Details in the Nevada page under Voting in Swing States.
15. GOP operatives who resigned over vote fraud scandal in South Dakota recruited by GOP to run operations in Ohio! [via Buzzflash]: Details in the Ohio page under Voting in Swing States.
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14. Wisconsin GOP Co-Chair of Bush-Cheney 04 refuses to print thousands of additional ballots in Milwaukee (where he is county executive) despite indications of large voter mobilization/turnout this year; after criticism and further discussions he relents [Via reader PT and Dailykos]: Details in the Wisconsin page under Voting in Swing States.
13. West Virginia GOP makes fraudulent calls to Democrats telling them they are not registered to vote and will not be allowed to vote [Via Informed Public and Mark Kleiman]: Details in the West Virginia page under Voting in Swing States.
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12. GOP tries to subvert democracy in Alaska [via Dailykos]: The chief of Divisions of Elections (and GOP state government) tried repeatedly to prevent a ballot initiative that would allow Alaskans to elect replacements for Senate vacancies, rather than have the Governor appoint them; later they had the wording of the initiative printed in a misleading way on the ballot - which a judge ordered them to change. Details in the Alaska page under Voting in Red States.
11. GOP voter registration dirty tricks in West Virginia [via Dailykos]: A Partisan (GOP) firm hired by former Arizona state Republican Party executive director Nathan Sproul fraudulently poses as non-partisan while enrolling new Republican registrants - very similar to what is going on Oregon and Pennsylvania - and does not offer registration cards to Kerry supporters unless asked. Details in the West Virginia page under Voting in Swing States.
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10. Democratic Party headquarters in Toledo, Ohio, was broken into and campaign computers containing highly sensitive information stolen, while other valuables/electronics were left untouched [via reader PT]: Report by the Toledo Blade points out that burglary could have a significant impact on the Democratic Party's GOTV efforts and campaigning/results in Ohio. Signs point to a dirty tricks operation considering how many other items of value were left untouched. Details in the Ohio page under Voting in Swing States.
9. Possible Destruction of Democrats' voter registrations in Oregon to be probed; multiple complaints about RNC funded firm destroying Democrats' registrations now received by Attorney General [via reader PT and Dailykos]: AP reports that "Secretary of State Bill Bradbury and Attorney General Hardy Myers plan to investigate allegations that a paid canvasser might have destroyed voter registration forms." At least three separate complaints have apparently been received about an RNC funded firm backed by Republican Nathan Sproul destroying Democrats' registrations. Details in the Oregon page under Voting in Swing States.
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8. GOP voter registration dirty tricks in Oregon [via Dailykos]: Students apparently tricked into registering Republican at Portland State University by unknown group. Separately, Partisan (GOP) political consulting firm headed by former Arizona state Republican Party executive director Nathan Sproul fraudulently poses as a representative of (non-partisan) America Votes in enrolling new registrants. Details in the Oregon page under Voting in Swing States.
7. GOP Secretary of State in Colorado blocks provisional ballot votes from being counted for House and Senate races - making it harder for Democrat Ken Salazar to win the Senate race. Details in the Colorado page under Voting in Swing States.
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6. Disenfranchisement of Overseas Absentee Voters continues [via Votelaw and Salon.com]: Overseas absentee voters - especially civilians - face major hurdles and disenfranchisement, amidst at least one poll suggesting Kerry leads Bush by a huge margin amongst Americans with passports. The Pentagon shut down a key civilian voter registration site on dubious grounds and partly reversed the decision after protests. That and a lot more details in the Overseas Absentee Voting page.
5. Illegal absentee ballot mailing by GOP in Georgia [via Votelaw]: Georgia GOP illegally mails absentee ballots with literature urging voters to support the GOP. Details in the Georgia page under Voting in Red States.
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4. Myriad GOP dirty tricks in Ohio [From various sources]: Thanks to Republican Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwill, voting rights violations have begun in earnest in Ohio. In addition to an illegal (and ultimately reversed) attempt to suppress voter registration (soon after news came out that Democrats were registering in far higher numbers), Blackwill has been busy with other tactics. He let 21 counties wrongly tell ex-felons they can't vote. He has done nothing much to reduce errors due to punch-card machines/voting, in spite of what happened in 2000. And he has suppressed provisional ballots by demanding that "provisional ballots should not be issued if voters are in the wrong polling location" (even if they are in the right town, city, etc.). Details in the Ohio page under Voting in Swing States.
3. Flawed Pre-Election Poll Results (in early to mid September 04 - and sometimes, even now) tilt significantly and artificially in favor of Bush [Cross-posted from eRiposte.com]: A guide to understanding polling results and what to look for in evaluating polls. Details in the Interpreting Pre-Election Polls page. |
All links to each citation can be found here |
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| MisterOpus1 |
If anyone has been keeping up with what's happening in Ohio with the last second court of appeals, here's the lowdown:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...id=694&ncid=716
This ruling, however, is in stark contrast to Ohio law, which explicitly states:
| quote: | (§ 3505.18):
YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO VOTE without presenting any identification after the election officials have verified your signature. If you are unable to sign the register, you may still vote after you present proper identification to verify your identity. |
But even more important, I think it's fair to examine closely at these 2 judges who overruled at the court of appeals last night:
James Ryan - appointed by Ronald Reagan - notable for: dissenting in 2003 against 6th Circuit panel ruling that barred 10 Commandments from Kentucky courtrooms; wrote in his dissent "The influence of religion upon American law and government is a fact of American history and politics that has been widely recognized by scholars, jurists, legislators, presidents, and, not least, the founders themselves...In his Farewell Address to the nation, George Washington stated that religion was not only a part of the foundation of our law and government, it was a necessity."
John Rogers - appointed by George W. Bush - notable for: writing the initial draft of the 1986 Thornburgh brief that urged the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade (as well as to uphold requirements requiring abortion providers to give their clients information about abortion alternatives and requiring that a minor girl obtain the consent of her parents, or a judge, before obtaining an abortion)
Partisan Judicial system anyone?
I predict Ohio is gonna get ugly, much worse than Florida 2000. I really hope I'm wrong. |
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| xKaoSx |
| quote: | Originally posted by MisterOpus1
If anyone has been keeping up with what's happening in Ohio with the last second court of appeals, here's the lowdown:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...id=694&ncid=716
This ruling, however, is in stark contrast to Ohio law, which explicitly states:
But even more important, I think it's fair to examine closely at these 2 judges who overruled at the court of appeals last night:
James Ryan - appointed by Ronald Reagan - notable for: dissenting in 2003 against 6th Circuit panel ruling that barred 10 Commandments from Kentucky courtrooms; wrote in his dissent "The influence of religion upon American law and government is a fact of American history and politics that has been widely recognized by scholars, jurists, legislators, presidents, and, not least, the founders themselves...In his Farewell Address to the nation, George Washington stated that religion was not only a part of the foundation of our law and government, it was a necessity."
John Rogers - appointed by George W. Bush - notable for: writing the initial draft of the 1986 Thornburgh brief that urged the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade (as well as to uphold requirements requiring abortion providers to give their clients information about abortion alternatives and requiring that a minor girl obtain the consent of her parents, or a judge, before obtaining an abortion)
Partisan Judicial system anyone?
I predict Ohio is gonna get ugly, much worse than Florida 2000. I really hope I'm wrong. |
No- you wont be wrong- Ohio and New Mexico are going to make Florida look like some sort of landslide. |
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| MisterOpus1 |
| quote: | Originally posted by xKaoSx
No- you wont be wrong- Ohio and New Mexico are going to make Florida look like some sort of landslide. |
Hopefully NM won't matter too much, since it has only 5 electoral votes. Ohio is another monster altogether..... |
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| xKaoSx |
| quote: | Originally posted by MisterOpus1
Hopefully NM won't matter too much, since it has only 5 electoral votes. Ohio is another monster altogether..... |
If Florida and Ohio split NM's 5 will be huge |
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