Suppress the vote

[Fallakin Kuvari]

Obama's ties to ACORN were deeper than McCain's ever were.

[Harlowe]

My guess would be laziness or mischief. If I had zero ethics and wanted to fuck this organization over, I'd organize a handful of people to join ACORN in battleground states and start messing with registrations just to screw them. It wouldn't take very many to really hose their credibility.

Since there is little chance if any of those registrations (weren't they already marked as potentially "bad"?) are going to equal actual voter fraud on election day, what other reason would there be for them to do this? If they were trying to commit actual voter fraud, their tactics were comically bungling.

[Lurker]

Obama's ties to ACORN were deeper than McCain's ever were.

And?

ACORN isn't an evil organization. They register minority and lower income voters. Millions of them. Sometimes they have a bad worker that commits registration fraud.

Since there is little chance if any of those registrations (weren't they already marked as potentially "bad"?) are going to equal actual voter fraud on election day, what other reason would there be for them to do this? If they were trying to commit actual voter fraud, their tactics were comically bungling.

Logic doesn't work on enraged wingnuts. We'll see if anything comes of the latest raids and charges. Last time a few workers were indicted for submitting a few invalid registrations.

[Freecare Spiritwise]

You could make the same comparison to local police forces. They get paid to enforce the law! If that isn't a conflict of interest I don't know what is. Some local forces even have secret ticket quota systems. We should disband them all.

[Harlowe]

Frankly I think people should be more concerned about this....but you don't hear the same voices that are crying foul over registration fraud, upset about this in the least.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/09/us/po ... ref=slogin

Tens of thousands of eligible voters in at least six swing states have been removed from the rolls or have been blocked from registering in ways that appear to violate federal law, according to a review of state records and Social Security data by The New York Times.

[Klast Brell]

I saw a blog post somewhere that seemed to make a good point. I would link it but I just cant remember where I saw it.

At this point an O'Bama win is certain. But the republican party has already started laying the groundwork for the myth of the stolen election. Even if O'Bama gets exactly as many votes in each state as the polls predict, the neocons will be howling that the election was stolen by some vast left wing conspiracy to cast illegal votes. Who cares that a single name and address registered multiple times will not create duplicate entries in the rolls. Who cares that Marry Poppins and Mickey Mouse will not be appearing at any polls to cast a ballot. The AM radio waves will be alight with right wing fury that the legitimate winner was McCain and not O'Bama. This will be echoed across every senate and house race where a republican does not win.

How can this be avoided? It will take a landslide. A victory so overwhelming that even the biggest tin foil hat conservatives will be forced to admit that they would have lost no matter what.

[Ddrak]

Nah, when Obama wins by a landslide (which I see as pretty much inevitable now), the right wing talk shows will simply stress how they never liked McCain in the first place. How much the demonize Obama will probably depend on how successful he is as President - the more successful, the more they'll hate him.

Dd

[Kulaf]

I was actually thinking the exact opposite Klast. The Dems have gone over the top on voter drives......fund raising etc....and the polls have Obama in the lead. Should Obama lose.....ohh I can hear it now.

Caging....vote tabulation fraud......police suppression.......poll tampering....yadda yadda.

[Harlowe]

I was actually thinking the exact opposite Klast. The Dems have gone over the top on voter drives......fund raising etc....and the polls have Obama in the lead. Should Obama lose.....ohh I can hear it now.

Caging....vote tabulation fraud......police suppression.......poll tampering....yadda yadda.

Of course it will. Which makes both you and Klast absolutely correct.

The sad thing is that there is most likely going to be some extreme civil tension either way. The ignorant rednecks that think Obama is an Arab, and on the other hand the angry minorities that will be livid over how Obama has been equated to Osama and the absolute hate, racial tension and fear the McCain/Palin campaign has stirred up.

They've created a lose-lose situation imo.

Look at this from an actual GOP site...not a crazy fringe group, but the actual party:

http://www.sacbee.com/812/story/1314854.html

It's fucking ridiculous.

[Lurker]

Of course it will. Which makes both you and Klast absolutely correct.

Hardly.

It's reasonable to look for the cause of something unexpected like an Obama loss. Nobody is setting the stage for allegations of police supression or poll tampering. Caging is a vote supression technique used in every election by the GOP. There's no myth involved.

On the other hand, Klast is describing something that is happening in front of our eyes. The GOP, from Fox News to McCain himself, are stoking the voter fraud myth. We know they are lying and we know why they are lying.

[Freecare Spiritwise]

This has been such a devisive election that I think we're screwed as a country if either candidate wins by a small margin. If Obama wins the popular vote by say 10%, we should be ok. Nobody in their right mind would claim that there were 25 million fraudulent votes. But either way McCain helped to rip open some old wounds, and we'll have to contend with that no matter who wins.

[Harlowe]

Florida (Republican) Governor disagrees there is an issue with voter fraud

Breaking with the talking points of his fellow Republicans in Washington, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist said he does not think voter fraud and the vote-registration group ACORN are a major problem in the Sunshine State. ''I think that there's probably less [fraud] than is being discussed. As we're coming into the closing days of any campaign, there are some who enjoy chaos,'' Crist told reporters.

But Crist's Republican Secretary of State, Kurt Browning, said he doesn't think ACORN is committing systematic voter fraud. And Crist said that settles the matter because ''I have enormous confidence'' in Browning.

Like ACORN spokesmen, Browning says the false voter registration forms could be blamed on unethical canvassers or on citizens who themselves fill out fictitious voter cards.

REGISTERING VS. VOTING
Elections officials point out that while voter-registration fraud is relatively easy, vote fraud is far more difficult because a criminal would have to evade multiple layers of computer-system and identity checks. They also say the system is not overwhelmed with phony registrations, as Diaz suggested during the conference call.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami-d ... 28095.html

[Fallakin Kuvari]

Here, current voter fraud: http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=199573

[Lurker]

And the people should be prosecuted if the allegation is true.

But once again, nobody is asking for scattered examples of fraud. We're asking for examples of fraud that justify the GOP vote supression tactics. The GOP is claiming widespread fraud and that is simply not true.

[Harlowe]

And the people should be prosecuted if the allegation is true.

But once again, nobody is asking for scattered examples of fraud. We're asking for examples of fraud that justify the GOP vote supression tactics. The GOP is claiming widespread fraud and that is simply not true.

Exactly.

[Partha]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americ ... 676922.stm

The US Supreme Court has blocked attempts by the Republican Party to challenge the right of 200,000 new voters to cast their ballots in Ohio.

The court said its ruling was not a comment on whether Ohio was complying with a provision of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 that lays out requirements for verifying voter eligibility.

Instead, the ruling was based on a judgment that the law does not allow private entities - like the Ohio Republican Party - to bring the case to court.

[Kulaf]

Yup....it's that whole "standing to bring the case" thing that we have been talking about in various issues. The GOP does not have standing.

[Ddrak]

Yup....it's that whole "standing to bring the case" thing that we have been talking about in various issues. The GOP does not have standing.

Right, nor should they. I think the USSC got that decision right.

Dd

[Fallakin Kuvari]

They did, imo. Just need a "concerned citizen" to step forward and press the issue sooner rather than later.

[Harlowe]

I won't hold my breath to wait for the moral outrage over people being duped into registering as Republicans and as "absentee" so if they show up at the polls they won't be able to vote. I am sure McCain will get right on repudiating this organization, because the candidates don't have anything better to do!

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me ... k=ntothtml

Election officials and lawmakers have launched investigations into the activities of YPM workers in Florida and Massachusetts. In Arizona, the firm was recently a defendant in a civil rights lawsuit. Prosecutors in Los Angeles and Ventura counties say they are investigating complaints about the company.

The firm, which a Republican Party spokesman said is paid $7 to $12 for each registration it secures, has denied any wrongdoing and says it has never been charged with a crime.

The 70,000 voters YPM has registered for the Republican Party this year will help combat the public perception that it is struggling amid Democratic gains nationally, give a boost to fundraising efforts and bolster member support for party leaders, political strategists from both parties say.

Those who were formerly Democrats may stop receiving phone calls and literature from that party, perhaps affecting its get-out-the-vote efforts. They also will be given only a Republican ballot in the next primary election if they do not switch their registration back before then.

Some also report having their registration status changed to absentee without their permission; if they show up at the polls without a ballot they may be unable to vote.