The Full-Length Movie
30 October 2008
29 October 2008
Ballots picked up, then disappear
The disappearance of some absentee ballots, picked up under unusual circumstances, has raised some serious questions.
MiamiHerald.com
Three Hialeah voters say they had an unusual visitor at their homes last week: a man who called himself Juan, offering to help them fill out their absentee ballots and deliver them to the elections office.
The voters, all supporters of Democratic congressional candidate Raul Martinez, said they gave their ballots to the man after he told them he worked for Martinez. But the Martinez campaign said he doesn't work for them.
Juan ''told me not to worry, that they normally collected all the ballots and waited until they had a stack big enough to hand-deliver to the elections department,'' said voter Jesus Hernandez, 73. 'He said, `Don't worry. This is not going to pass through the mail to get lost.' ''
Hernandez said he worries his ballot was stolen or destroyed. He and two other voters told The Miami Herald that the man was dispatched by a woman caller who also said she worked for Martinez. But the phone number cited by the voters traces back to a consultant working for Martinez's rival, Republican congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart.
Read More >>
The disappearance of some absentee ballots, picked up under unusual circumstances, has raised some serious questions.
MiamiHerald.com
Three Hialeah voters say they had an unusual visitor at their homes last week: a man who called himself Juan, offering to help them fill out their absentee ballots and deliver them to the elections office.
The voters, all supporters of Democratic congressional candidate Raul Martinez, said they gave their ballots to the man after he told them he worked for Martinez. But the Martinez campaign said he doesn't work for them.
Juan ''told me not to worry, that they normally collected all the ballots and waited until they had a stack big enough to hand-deliver to the elections department,'' said voter Jesus Hernandez, 73. 'He said, `Don't worry. This is not going to pass through the mail to get lost.' ''
Hernandez said he worries his ballot was stolen or destroyed. He and two other voters told The Miami Herald that the man was dispatched by a woman caller who also said she worked for Martinez. But the phone number cited by the voters traces back to a consultant working for Martinez's rival, Republican congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart.
Read More >>
28 October 2008
Drinking the ACORN Kool-Aid:
How Cries of Voter Fraud Cover Up GOP Elections Theft
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Greg Palast - October 28, 2008
Virtually the entire mainstream electronic media drank ACORN Kool-Aid this month brewed up by the Republican National Committee. Almost no one seriously challenged John McCain's comical assertions that ACORN, a grassroots voter registration group, "is now on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy."
While the Republicans had the distracted media searching for links between Obama and ACORN, RNC operatives were busily completing one of the most massive voter suppression and purging efforts in American history, stealing hundreds of thousands of Democratic votes across the embattled swing states and striving to arrange chaos and endless lines at the voting booths next week.
Read More >>
How Cries of Voter Fraud Cover Up GOP Elections Theft
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Greg Palast - October 28, 2008
Virtually the entire mainstream electronic media drank ACORN Kool-Aid this month brewed up by the Republican National Committee. Almost no one seriously challenged John McCain's comical assertions that ACORN, a grassroots voter registration group, "is now on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy."
While the Republicans had the distracted media searching for links between Obama and ACORN, RNC operatives were busily completing one of the most massive voter suppression and purging efforts in American history, stealing hundreds of thousands of Democratic votes across the embattled swing states and striving to arrange chaos and endless lines at the voting booths next week.
Read More >>
Lawsuit: Thousands of voters illegally purged in Colorado
Raw Story - October 28, 2008
Election watchdog groups are accusing the Colorado Secretary of State of purging up to 30,000 voters in violation of federal law.
Common Cause of Colorado, Mi Familia Vota, and the Service Employees International Union have filed suit in U.S. District Court in Denver. The suit seeks to prevent any more voters from being removed in violation of the National Voting Rights Act of 1993, which mandates that a voter cannot be removed from the rolls less than 90 days before an election except due to felony conviction, death, incapacitation or a specific request to be removed. Also sought is a preliminary injunction to restore the names of those removed. The case is expected to be heard Wednesday morning.
Read More >>
Raw Story - October 28, 2008
Election watchdog groups are accusing the Colorado Secretary of State of purging up to 30,000 voters in violation of federal law.
Common Cause of Colorado, Mi Familia Vota, and the Service Employees International Union have filed suit in U.S. District Court in Denver. The suit seeks to prevent any more voters from being removed in violation of the National Voting Rights Act of 1993, which mandates that a voter cannot be removed from the rolls less than 90 days before an election except due to felony conviction, death, incapacitation or a specific request to be removed. Also sought is a preliminary injunction to restore the names of those removed. The case is expected to be heard Wednesday morning.
Read More >>
27 October 2008
Republican Operatives Step Up Attempts to Purge Voters
James Parks, Oct 27, 2008
Seems like every day, we hear about more efforts by Republican operatives to suppress the vote. Kyla Berry, a college senior in Georgia, received a letter three weeks ago telling her that she is not a U.S. citizen and is not eligible to vote.
That came as a surprise to Berry, who was born in Boston and has a U.S. passport and birth certificate to prove it. The letter, dated Oct. 2, gave her a week from the time it was dated to prove her citizenship. One big problem: The letter was postmarked Oct. 9.
Berry is one of more than 50,000 registered Georgia voters whose names have come up as a mismatch when checked against state computer records. At least 4,500 of those people are having their citizenship questioned, and the burden is on them to prove they are eligible to vote.
Read More >>
James Parks, Oct 27, 2008
Seems like every day, we hear about more efforts by Republican operatives to suppress the vote. Kyla Berry, a college senior in Georgia, received a letter three weeks ago telling her that she is not a U.S. citizen and is not eligible to vote.
That came as a surprise to Berry, who was born in Boston and has a U.S. passport and birth certificate to prove it. The letter, dated Oct. 2, gave her a week from the time it was dated to prove her citizenship. One big problem: The letter was postmarked Oct. 9.
Berry is one of more than 50,000 registered Georgia voters whose names have come up as a mismatch when checked against state computer records. At least 4,500 of those people are having their citizenship questioned, and the burden is on them to prove they are eligible to vote.
Read More >>
ALERT!! Confusing North Carolina Ballot Leaves off Votes for President!!
October 27, 2008
Please contact ALL your friends and family in North Carolina and alert them to the confusing ballots with which some voters have already encountered difficulties, particularly among new voters and the elderly. Voting the straight Democratic party ticket on the ballot DOES NOT include voting for the President!!
Read More >>
October 27, 2008
Please contact ALL your friends and family in North Carolina and alert them to the confusing ballots with which some voters have already encountered difficulties, particularly among new voters and the elderly. Voting the straight Democratic party ticket on the ballot DOES NOT include voting for the President!!
Read More >>
This Year’s Butterfly Ballot
NYT Editorial - Oct 27, 2008
In Florida’s “butterfly ballot” debacle of 2000, voters in Palm Beach County were so confused by the odd layout that many appear to have voted for the wrong candidate by mistake. At the time, there was a lot of talk about improving ballot design. Eight years later there are still far too many badly done ballots. North Carolina may have the country’s worst. It is already causing confusion with early voters. And if the presidential race is close, it could change the outcome.
Like a number of states, North Carolina allows its voters to choose a straight-party ticket. To do that, voters can mark one box and cast votes for all of the nominees of their preferred party. But North Carolina’s ballot has an unexpected twist. Even if a voter checks the straight-party box, he or she must vote separately for a presidential candidate.
North Carolina’s ballot explains the need to check two boxes, and election officials make an effort to inform voters of the drill. But the ballot is still far too confusing.
Read More >>
NYT Editorial - Oct 27, 2008
In Florida’s “butterfly ballot” debacle of 2000, voters in Palm Beach County were so confused by the odd layout that many appear to have voted for the wrong candidate by mistake. At the time, there was a lot of talk about improving ballot design. Eight years later there are still far too many badly done ballots. North Carolina may have the country’s worst. It is already causing confusion with early voters. And if the presidential race is close, it could change the outcome.
Like a number of states, North Carolina allows its voters to choose a straight-party ticket. To do that, voters can mark one box and cast votes for all of the nominees of their preferred party. But North Carolina’s ballot has an unexpected twist. Even if a voter checks the straight-party box, he or she must vote separately for a presidential candidate.
North Carolina’s ballot explains the need to check two boxes, and election officials make an effort to inform voters of the drill. But the ballot is still far too confusing.
Read More >>
Party Lawyers Ready to Keep an Eye on the Polls
NYT - October 27, 2008
With heavy voter turnout expected on Election Day, both parties are amassing thousands and thousands of lawyers to keep an eye on the polls.
Senator Barack Obama’s campaign is expected to send at least 5,000 lawyers to Florida alone. The first recruitment e-mail message the campaign sent out nationally received 6,000 responses from lawyers willing to volunteer. Meanwhile, Senator John McCain’s campaign has lined up “Lawyers for McCain” to spread out at polling places in closely contested states as advocates for the ticket.
Both campaigns plan to use the lawyers to protect their supporters at the polls, help untangle ballot problems and run to court should litigation be necessary. Given the heated ballot challenges in the 2000 and 2004 elections, getting legal talent on the ground on Election Day is becoming as common a tool for the campaigns as advertising and polling.
Read More >>
NYT - October 27, 2008
With heavy voter turnout expected on Election Day, both parties are amassing thousands and thousands of lawyers to keep an eye on the polls.
Senator Barack Obama’s campaign is expected to send at least 5,000 lawyers to Florida alone. The first recruitment e-mail message the campaign sent out nationally received 6,000 responses from lawyers willing to volunteer. Meanwhile, Senator John McCain’s campaign has lined up “Lawyers for McCain” to spread out at polling places in closely contested states as advocates for the ticket.
Both campaigns plan to use the lawyers to protect their supporters at the polls, help untangle ballot problems and run to court should litigation be necessary. Given the heated ballot challenges in the 2000 and 2004 elections, getting legal talent on the ground on Election Day is becoming as common a tool for the campaigns as advertising and polling.
Read More >>
50,000 purged from voter rolls in Georgia
RAW STORY - October 27, 2008
With reports of voting problems rife in the media, and instances of vote flipping seen in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Texas, elections watchdogs are on their toes for any more foul play.
In spite of their activism, 50,000 voters have been lopped off Georgia's rolls.
Read More >>
RAW STORY - October 27, 2008
With reports of voting problems rife in the media, and instances of vote flipping seen in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Texas, elections watchdogs are on their toes for any more foul play.
In spite of their activism, 50,000 voters have been lopped off Georgia's rolls.
Read More >>
Indiana Sec of State Part of GOP "Fear Campaign" On Voting
Zachary Roth - October 27, 2008
Last week, Indiana's Republican Secretary of State, Todd Rokita, sent a letter to federal, state and local authorities asking for a criminal investigation into over 1400 suspicious voter registration forms submitted by ACORN in Lake County, a key Democratic stronghold.
Now, the Obama camp has responded. The Times of Northwest Indiana reports that in a conference call with reporters this afternoon, Bob Bauer, the campaign's top election lawyer, said: "We have seen an orchestrated effort on the part of Republican officials across the country to work with the McCain-Palin ticket and the Republican National Committee to disseminate this message of fraud."
Bauer called the effort "a fear campaign."
Lake County has already been a hotspot for GOP attempts at voter suppression. Last week, the state Supreme Court declined to support a Republican bid to shut down early voting centers in three strongly Democratic cities in northern Lake County.
Read More >>
Zachary Roth - October 27, 2008
Last week, Indiana's Republican Secretary of State, Todd Rokita, sent a letter to federal, state and local authorities asking for a criminal investigation into over 1400 suspicious voter registration forms submitted by ACORN in Lake County, a key Democratic stronghold.
Now, the Obama camp has responded. The Times of Northwest Indiana reports that in a conference call with reporters this afternoon, Bob Bauer, the campaign's top election lawyer, said: "We have seen an orchestrated effort on the part of Republican officials across the country to work with the McCain-Palin ticket and the Republican National Committee to disseminate this message of fraud."
Bauer called the effort "a fear campaign."
Lake County has already been a hotspot for GOP attempts at voter suppression. Last week, the state Supreme Court declined to support a Republican bid to shut down early voting centers in three strongly Democratic cities in northern Lake County.
Read More >>
Thousands purged from voter rolls in Georgia
RAW STORY - October 27, 2008
Update: Federal panel tells state to let those flagged vote anyway, ballots can later be challenged; GA sec. of state says screening to continue
With reports of voting problems rife in the media, and instances of vote flipping seen in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Texas, elections watchdogs are on their toes for any more foul play.
In spite of their activism, thousands of voters have been lopped off Georgia's rolls.
Read More >>
RAW STORY - October 27, 2008
Update: Federal panel tells state to let those flagged vote anyway, ballots can later be challenged; GA sec. of state says screening to continue
With reports of voting problems rife in the media, and instances of vote flipping seen in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Texas, elections watchdogs are on their toes for any more foul play.
In spite of their activism, thousands of voters have been lopped off Georgia's rolls.
Read More >>
Phony Virginia Flier Tells Dems To Vote November 5
TPM - Zachary Roth - October 27, 2008
A phony flier, purporting to be from the Virginia Board of Elections, is circulating in the African-American-heavy Hampton Roads region of the state, falsely informing people that, because of expected high turnout, Democrats should vote on November 5th.
The election is November 4th.
State election officials informed the local press of the flier, which was posted on the website of The Virginian-Pilot, and is designed to look like an official announcement. It even uses images of the state board logo and the state seal, both of which are available online.
Read More >>
TPM - Zachary Roth - October 27, 2008
A phony flier, purporting to be from the Virginia Board of Elections, is circulating in the African-American-heavy Hampton Roads region of the state, falsely informing people that, because of expected high turnout, Democrats should vote on November 5th.
The election is November 4th.
State election officials informed the local press of the flier, which was posted on the website of The Virginian-Pilot, and is designed to look like an official announcement. It even uses images of the state board logo and the state seal, both of which are available online.
Read More >>
26 October 2008
McCain Thugs - Possible use of illegal aliens who can barely speak English to register voters
Read More >>
Read More >>
25 October 2008
Denver Elections trying to find location of 11,000 mail ballots
Rocky Mountain News - October 25, 2008
Denver elections officials are trying to determine what happened to more than 11,000 mail ballots that are unaccounted for.
The U.S. Postal Service said Friday afternoon that its Denver mail processing facility received 10,364 ballots on Oct. 16 and delivered them within a couple of days.
But the California printing company hired by Denver Elections said it delivered 21,450 ballots to the postal facility on that date.
The discrepancy has prompted Denver Elections Director Michael Scarpello to ask Sequoia Voting Systems to give him paperwork to prove that the Porterville, Calif.-based company shipped the ballots.
"Certainly, we're concerned and we're wanting to get to the bottom of it," Scarpello said Friday night. "I don't think we've seen overwhelming evidence to prove one theory or the other.
Read More >>
Rocky Mountain News - October 25, 2008
Denver elections officials are trying to determine what happened to more than 11,000 mail ballots that are unaccounted for.
The U.S. Postal Service said Friday afternoon that its Denver mail processing facility received 10,364 ballots on Oct. 16 and delivered them within a couple of days.
But the California printing company hired by Denver Elections said it delivered 21,450 ballots to the postal facility on that date.
The discrepancy has prompted Denver Elections Director Michael Scarpello to ask Sequoia Voting Systems to give him paperwork to prove that the Porterville, Calif.-based company shipped the ballots.
"Certainly, we're concerned and we're wanting to get to the bottom of it," Scarpello said Friday night. "I don't think we've seen overwhelming evidence to prove one theory or the other.
Read More >>
Colo.'s Katherine Harris threatens '08 election
David Sirota - 10/25/2008
Colorado, as anyone following the election campaign knows, is a major presidential battleground state. Both John McCain and Barack Obama have visited the state multiple times, including in recent/coming days. Though a new poll shows Obama taking a commanding 12-point lead, everyone expects both the presidential and U.S. Senate race here to be very close. That's why the Secretary of State Mike Coffman's (R) moves should worry everyone in Colorado and elsewhere. We've got our own Katherine Harris here - and a careful look at the news suggests he's moving to game this election in a state that could be the Florida of 2008.
I say "careful look" because Coffman's behavior - while outrageous and potentially election-throwing - has received coverage mostly in the back pages of local newspapers (and similarly little attention from the national media). But if you bother to dig down, you will see what I'm talking about - and it's scary.
Read More >>
David Sirota - 10/25/2008
Colorado, as anyone following the election campaign knows, is a major presidential battleground state. Both John McCain and Barack Obama have visited the state multiple times, including in recent/coming days. Though a new poll shows Obama taking a commanding 12-point lead, everyone expects both the presidential and U.S. Senate race here to be very close. That's why the Secretary of State Mike Coffman's (R) moves should worry everyone in Colorado and elsewhere. We've got our own Katherine Harris here - and a careful look at the news suggests he's moving to game this election in a state that could be the Florida of 2008.
I say "careful look" because Coffman's behavior - while outrageous and potentially election-throwing - has received coverage mostly in the back pages of local newspapers (and similarly little attention from the national media). But if you bother to dig down, you will see what I'm talking about - and it's scary.
Read More >>
Bush asks Justice Dept to look into Ohio voter-registration dispute
He does so at the behest of House GOP leader John Boehner. The partisan fight centers on discrepancies in state data.
Mary Pat Flaherty - October 25, 2008
Reporting from Washington -- The White House has asked the Department of Justice to look into whether 200,000 new Ohio voters must reconfirm their registration information before Nov. 4, taking up an issue that Republicans and Democrats in the battleground state have been fighting over in court for weeks.
The voter names are in dispute because their registration information conflicts with other official data.
[...] Also Friday, six former Justice Department lawyers urged Mukasey to ensure that voter registration investigations don't disenfranchise eligible minorities, the Associated Press reported.
The six attorneys, who formerly worked in the department's Civil Rights Division, wrote the attorney general that Justice generally discourages voter-related investigations until after elections to ensure that inquiries don't interfere with legitimate voters.
The Justice Department had not received the letter as of Friday night.
Read More >>
He does so at the behest of House GOP leader John Boehner. The partisan fight centers on discrepancies in state data.
Mary Pat Flaherty - October 25, 2008
Reporting from Washington -- The White House has asked the Department of Justice to look into whether 200,000 new Ohio voters must reconfirm their registration information before Nov. 4, taking up an issue that Republicans and Democrats in the battleground state have been fighting over in court for weeks.
The voter names are in dispute because their registration information conflicts with other official data.
[...] Also Friday, six former Justice Department lawyers urged Mukasey to ensure that voter registration investigations don't disenfranchise eligible minorities, the Associated Press reported.
The six attorneys, who formerly worked in the department's Civil Rights Division, wrote the attorney general that Justice generally discourages voter-related investigations until after elections to ensure that inquiries don't interfere with legitimate voters.
The Justice Department had not received the letter as of Friday night.
Read More >>
24 October 2008
Early Voting Sees Reports of Voter Intimidation, Machine Malfunctions
Democracy Now!'s Amy Goodman interviews professor Mark Crispin Miller on election fraud, voter intimidation, voting machine malfunctions and the Bradley Effect. Miller is the author of "Loser Takes All: Election Fraud and the Subversion of Democracy, 2000-2008." [Amy Goodman reads a few headlines at the beginning, for a minute or two, before the interview starts.]
Democracy Now!'s Amy Goodman interviews professor Mark Crispin Miller on election fraud, voter intimidation, voting machine malfunctions and the Bradley Effect. Miller is the author of "Loser Takes All: Election Fraud and the Subversion of Democracy, 2000-2008." [Amy Goodman reads a few headlines at the beginning, for a minute or two, before the interview starts.]
ES&S Touch-Screen Votes Now Flipping in TX Too!
Obama/DNC Attorneys Still AWOL!
Brad Friedman - 10/24/2008
State After State, ES&S iVotronics Are Flipping Democratic Votes to Republican!
What You Can Do About It, And Where the Hell Are Those 'Thousands' of Obama/DNC Attorneys?...
This is just getting worse and worse. Now it's happening in Texas. (And in MO, if you read to the end of the article). And the vaunted "thousands of attorneys" from the Obama campaign and the DNC are still nowhere to be found.
With every incident so far reported of touch-screen vote-flipping during early voting in this year's general election --- from county to county in WV and in Nashville, TN) --- it's been the ES&S iVotronic touch-screen machine that has failed, flipping votes from one candidate to another not chosen by the voter. In most every instances [see update below], it's been an attempted Democratic vote, flipped to a Republican, or another party.
These are the same machines that lost 18,000 votes in Democratic-leaning Sarasota County in the 2006 U.S. House Race for Katherine Harris' old seat. The Democrat, Christine Jennings, was declared the loser to Republican Vern Buchanan (whose own wife had trouble voting for him that day), by just 369 votes. Several academic studies, and even the GAO, have been unable to rule out either tampering or hardware/software error for the disappeared 18,000 votes.
[...] The latest reports today of ES&S vote-flipping come from Palo Pinto County, TX, where two voters --- one of them an alternate election judge and office manager of the Palo Pinto County Democratic Headquarters --- saw straight-ticket Democratic votes flipped to straight-ticket Republican votes. Two times for the first person, and three times for the alternate election judge!
The report is a doozy...
Read More >>
Obama/DNC Attorneys Still AWOL!
Brad Friedman - 10/24/2008
State After State, ES&S iVotronics Are Flipping Democratic Votes to Republican!
What You Can Do About It, And Where the Hell Are Those 'Thousands' of Obama/DNC Attorneys?...
This is just getting worse and worse. Now it's happening in Texas. (And in MO, if you read to the end of the article). And the vaunted "thousands of attorneys" from the Obama campaign and the DNC are still nowhere to be found.
With every incident so far reported of touch-screen vote-flipping during early voting in this year's general election --- from county to county in WV and in Nashville, TN) --- it's been the ES&S iVotronic touch-screen machine that has failed, flipping votes from one candidate to another not chosen by the voter. In most every instances [see update below], it's been an attempted Democratic vote, flipped to a Republican, or another party.
These are the same machines that lost 18,000 votes in Democratic-leaning Sarasota County in the 2006 U.S. House Race for Katherine Harris' old seat. The Democrat, Christine Jennings, was declared the loser to Republican Vern Buchanan (whose own wife had trouble voting for him that day), by just 369 votes. Several academic studies, and even the GAO, have been unable to rule out either tampering or hardware/software error for the disappeared 18,000 votes.
[...] The latest reports today of ES&S vote-flipping come from Palo Pinto County, TX, where two voters --- one of them an alternate election judge and office manager of the Palo Pinto County Democratic Headquarters --- saw straight-ticket Democratic votes flipped to straight-ticket Republican votes. Two times for the first person, and three times for the alternate election judge!
The report is a doozy...
Read More >>
Project Vote Says NY Times Report on ACORN Erred
Project Vote - October 24, 2008.
Project Vote responds to a New York Times report suggesting ACORN's voter registration errors were much bigger than anyone believed.
An article appeared in the October 24 New York Times that misrepresents comments made by Project Vote about the total number of registrations gathered through the organization’s joint voter registration drive with the community organization ACORN. Project Vote issued the following statement in response:
"We are puzzled by today’s New York Times article. It has always been Project Vote’s position that we collected over 1.3 million registration applications, and we have always said that we identified potentially problematic cards. The core responsibility of local boards of elections has been and continues to be to determine which registration cards are duplicates, which are new registrants, and which are people that changed their addresses. The Times article mistakenly assumes that much of the impact that voter registration drives are designed to have — enabling people to update their addresses so they are able to vote on Election Day — is of no value. In the end, after taking into account these change of address registration applications, nearly one million people we helped to register will be eligible to vote on Election Day because of our work.
"In our interview with the Times we explained that roughly 35 percent of our registrants are expected to be brand-new voters, and another 35 percent will be Americans who needed to update their registrations. Perhaps another 30 percent will be incomplete, will fail to match in government systems, or will be from people who did not realize they were already registered. Less than 1-2 percent will turn out to be deliberately falsified by canvassers.
"The Times article’s characterization is particularly disappointing since Project Vote has been open and forthcoming about these numbers throughout our drive, and in fact explained the same realities about voter registration drives to New York Times reporter Shaila Dewan for a story that appeared on June 15th of this year. "Michael Slater, the deputy director of Project Vote, said high numbers of incomplete applications were not unusual in such drives. He said as a rule of thumb, 35 percent of voter drive applications were new voters, 35 percent were change of address, and 30 percent were duplicates or incomplete."
"For all the talk this season about Project Vote and ACORN "registering" voters, it is important to note again that nonprofits and community organizations do not have the final authority to register anyone. Only the government can register voters. What Project Vote and ACORN do is assist Americans in filling out registration applications and submitting them to election officials who make the final determination of their eligibility.
"Project Vote is proud that we helped collect 1.3 million applications in communities -- and among populations -- that have historically been left out of the process and neglected by other efforts. No one can dispute that America’s electorate does not represent its eligible voting population. Nearly 50 after years after the signing of the Voting Rights Act, and 15 years after the passage of the National Voter Registration Act, we still have an electorate in which Americans of color and young Americans are under-represented by significant margins.
"Our government, unlike most western democracies, has shirked its responsibility to make sure that every eligible American is on the voter rolls. As the New York Times editorialized just one week ago:
The answer is for government to do a better job of registering people to vote. That way there would be less need to rely on private registration drives, largely being conducted by well-meaning private organizations that use low-paid workers. Federal and state governments should do their own large-scale registration drives staffed by experienced election officials. Even better, Congress and the states should adopt election-day registration, which would make such drives unnecessary.
"We couldn't agree more. But until the government assumes this responsibility, voter registration drives like ours have proven to be, by far, the most effective means currently available to reach underrepresented voters. This is a burden and responsibility that Project Vote, ACORN and scores of other beleaguered nonprofit organizations across the country have assumed in the vacuum of real leadership and reform on this issue.
"We look forward to the day when our efforts to help register voters are unnecessary, when our voter registration programs are obsolete. Until that day comes, however, Project Vote will continue to work together to ensure all eligible Americans have their voices heard on Election Day."
Read More >>
Project Vote - October 24, 2008.
Project Vote responds to a New York Times report suggesting ACORN's voter registration errors were much bigger than anyone believed.
An article appeared in the October 24 New York Times that misrepresents comments made by Project Vote about the total number of registrations gathered through the organization’s joint voter registration drive with the community organization ACORN. Project Vote issued the following statement in response:
"We are puzzled by today’s New York Times article. It has always been Project Vote’s position that we collected over 1.3 million registration applications, and we have always said that we identified potentially problematic cards. The core responsibility of local boards of elections has been and continues to be to determine which registration cards are duplicates, which are new registrants, and which are people that changed their addresses. The Times article mistakenly assumes that much of the impact that voter registration drives are designed to have — enabling people to update their addresses so they are able to vote on Election Day — is of no value. In the end, after taking into account these change of address registration applications, nearly one million people we helped to register will be eligible to vote on Election Day because of our work.
"In our interview with the Times we explained that roughly 35 percent of our registrants are expected to be brand-new voters, and another 35 percent will be Americans who needed to update their registrations. Perhaps another 30 percent will be incomplete, will fail to match in government systems, or will be from people who did not realize they were already registered. Less than 1-2 percent will turn out to be deliberately falsified by canvassers.
"The Times article’s characterization is particularly disappointing since Project Vote has been open and forthcoming about these numbers throughout our drive, and in fact explained the same realities about voter registration drives to New York Times reporter Shaila Dewan for a story that appeared on June 15th of this year. "Michael Slater, the deputy director of Project Vote, said high numbers of incomplete applications were not unusual in such drives. He said as a rule of thumb, 35 percent of voter drive applications were new voters, 35 percent were change of address, and 30 percent were duplicates or incomplete."
"For all the talk this season about Project Vote and ACORN "registering" voters, it is important to note again that nonprofits and community organizations do not have the final authority to register anyone. Only the government can register voters. What Project Vote and ACORN do is assist Americans in filling out registration applications and submitting them to election officials who make the final determination of their eligibility.
"Project Vote is proud that we helped collect 1.3 million applications in communities -- and among populations -- that have historically been left out of the process and neglected by other efforts. No one can dispute that America’s electorate does not represent its eligible voting population. Nearly 50 after years after the signing of the Voting Rights Act, and 15 years after the passage of the National Voter Registration Act, we still have an electorate in which Americans of color and young Americans are under-represented by significant margins.
"Our government, unlike most western democracies, has shirked its responsibility to make sure that every eligible American is on the voter rolls. As the New York Times editorialized just one week ago:
The answer is for government to do a better job of registering people to vote. That way there would be less need to rely on private registration drives, largely being conducted by well-meaning private organizations that use low-paid workers. Federal and state governments should do their own large-scale registration drives staffed by experienced election officials. Even better, Congress and the states should adopt election-day registration, which would make such drives unnecessary.
"We couldn't agree more. But until the government assumes this responsibility, voter registration drives like ours have proven to be, by far, the most effective means currently available to reach underrepresented voters. This is a burden and responsibility that Project Vote, ACORN and scores of other beleaguered nonprofit organizations across the country have assumed in the vacuum of real leadership and reform on this issue.
"We look forward to the day when our efforts to help register voters are unnecessary, when our voter registration programs are obsolete. Until that day comes, however, Project Vote will continue to work together to ensure all eligible Americans have their voices heard on Election Day."
Read More >>
Long lines, glitches reported during early voting
October 24, 2008
(CNN) -- In many states across the country, voting has begun, and in some cases, so have the headaches.
With the issues that marred the 2000 election singed into the electorate's collective memory, the reports of problems are troubling signs for many who are skeptical of whether their votes will count.
Forty-two percent of those surveyed in a recent CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll said they were not confident that their votes could be "accurately cast and counted." That number is up 15 percentage points from a similar poll conducted four years ago.
Read More >>
October 24, 2008
(CNN) -- In many states across the country, voting has begun, and in some cases, so have the headaches.
With the issues that marred the 2000 election singed into the electorate's collective memory, the reports of problems are troubling signs for many who are skeptical of whether their votes will count.
Forty-two percent of those surveyed in a recent CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll said they were not confident that their votes could be "accurately cast and counted." That number is up 15 percentage points from a similar poll conducted four years ago.
Read More >>
Bush Orders DOJ to Probe Ohio Voter Registrations
Jason Leopold - The Public Record - October 24, 2008
President George W. Bush late Friday asked Attorney General Michael Mukasey to investigate whether hundreds of thousands of newly registered voters in the battleground state of Ohio would have to verify the information on their voter registration forms or be given provisional ballots, an issue the U.S. Supreme Court weighed in on last week.
The unprecedented intervention by the White House less than two weeks before the presidential election may result in at least 200,000 voters in Ohio not being able to vote on Election Day. Information on the 200,000 voter registration forms does not match up exactly with information on government databases. Republicans are claiming that's evidence of voter registration fraud.
But the mismatched information can be attributed to misspellings and other minor mistakes, not a malicious intent on the part of voters to cast fraudulent ballots.
Read More >>
Jason Leopold - The Public Record - October 24, 2008
President George W. Bush late Friday asked Attorney General Michael Mukasey to investigate whether hundreds of thousands of newly registered voters in the battleground state of Ohio would have to verify the information on their voter registration forms or be given provisional ballots, an issue the U.S. Supreme Court weighed in on last week.
The unprecedented intervention by the White House less than two weeks before the presidential election may result in at least 200,000 voters in Ohio not being able to vote on Election Day. Information on the 200,000 voter registration forms does not match up exactly with information on government databases. Republicans are claiming that's evidence of voter registration fraud.
But the mismatched information can be attributed to misspellings and other minor mistakes, not a malicious intent on the part of voters to cast fraudulent ballots.
Read More >>
Both sides gird for legal challenges in US election
CINCINNATI, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Americans used to wait for problems on election day before crying vote fraud, but both sides have already launched charges of disenfranchisement and cheating ahead of the Nov. 4 U.S. presidential election.
[...] There are now complaints or legal challenges over voting lists, absentee voting and erratic voting machines, and lawyers for both sides have descended on states where a close outcome is expected in case problems arise on election day.
The charges and counter-charges boil down to two basic concerns: conservatives worry ineligible voters will cast a ballot on election day, while liberals worry marginalized groups like racial minorities and the poor -- who tend to vote Democrat -- will be prevented from voting.
The concern is exacerbated this year because Obama, who would be the first black U.S. president, has inspired millions of people who have never voted before, including young people and blacks, overwhelming what critics say was an already underfunded and piecemeal balloting system.
Read More >>
CINCINNATI, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Americans used to wait for problems on election day before crying vote fraud, but both sides have already launched charges of disenfranchisement and cheating ahead of the Nov. 4 U.S. presidential election.
[...] There are now complaints or legal challenges over voting lists, absentee voting and erratic voting machines, and lawyers for both sides have descended on states where a close outcome is expected in case problems arise on election day.
The charges and counter-charges boil down to two basic concerns: conservatives worry ineligible voters will cast a ballot on election day, while liberals worry marginalized groups like racial minorities and the poor -- who tend to vote Democrat -- will be prevented from voting.
The concern is exacerbated this year because Obama, who would be the first black U.S. president, has inspired millions of people who have never voted before, including young people and blacks, overwhelming what critics say was an already underfunded and piecemeal balloting system.
Read More >>
Big Setbacks for GOP Voter Suppression Efforts in Swing States
Brad Blog - Guest blogged by Steven Rosenfeld of AlterNet
Republican Party efforts to stop thousands of voters from casting meaningful ballots in 2008 because their registration information does not match government databases with high error rates was set back by legal rulings in Wisconsin, Ohio and Nevada on Thursday.
In Wisconsin, a judge threw out a lawsuit by the state Attorney General, who also is the McCain campaign co-chair. In Ohio and Nevada, each state's top election official issued an order or opinion rejecting such 'no-match' voter challenges.
While Republican officials criticized these moves, it appears that momentum is building against GOP efforts to use ambiguities in voter registration laws to challenge large numbers of 2008 voters...
Read More >>
Brad Blog - Guest blogged by Steven Rosenfeld of AlterNet
Republican Party efforts to stop thousands of voters from casting meaningful ballots in 2008 because their registration information does not match government databases with high error rates was set back by legal rulings in Wisconsin, Ohio and Nevada on Thursday.
In Wisconsin, a judge threw out a lawsuit by the state Attorney General, who also is the McCain campaign co-chair. In Ohio and Nevada, each state's top election official issued an order or opinion rejecting such 'no-match' voter challenges.
While Republican officials criticized these moves, it appears that momentum is building against GOP efforts to use ambiguities in voter registration laws to challenge large numbers of 2008 voters...
Read More >>
Administration to Bypass Reporting Law
NYT - October 24, 2008
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration has informed Congress that it is bypassing a law intended to forbid political interference with reports to lawmakers by the Department of Homeland Security.
The August 2007 law requires the agency’s chief privacy officer to report each year about Homeland Security activities that affect privacy, and requires that the reports be submitted directly to Congress “without any prior comment or amendment” by superiors at the department or the White House.
But newly disclosed documents show that the Justice Department issued a legal opinion last January questioning the basis for that restriction, and that Michael Chertoff, the homeland security secretary, later advised Congress that the administration would not “apply this provision strictly” because it infringed on the president’s powers.
Several members of Congress reacted with outrage to the administration’s claim, which was detailed in a memorandum posted this week on the Web site of the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department.
Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, called the move “unconstitutional.” He said Mr. Bush should have vetoed the bill if he did not like the provision, and compared the situation to Mr. Bush’s frequent use of signing statements to reserve a right to bypass newly enacted laws.
“This is a dictatorial, after-the-fact pronouncement by him in line with a lot of other cherry-picking he’s done on the signing statements,” Mr. Specter said in a telephone interview. He added, “To put it differently, I don’t like it worth a damn.”
Read More >>
NYT - October 24, 2008
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration has informed Congress that it is bypassing a law intended to forbid political interference with reports to lawmakers by the Department of Homeland Security.
The August 2007 law requires the agency’s chief privacy officer to report each year about Homeland Security activities that affect privacy, and requires that the reports be submitted directly to Congress “without any prior comment or amendment” by superiors at the department or the White House.
But newly disclosed documents show that the Justice Department issued a legal opinion last January questioning the basis for that restriction, and that Michael Chertoff, the homeland security secretary, later advised Congress that the administration would not “apply this provision strictly” because it infringed on the president’s powers.
Several members of Congress reacted with outrage to the administration’s claim, which was detailed in a memorandum posted this week on the Web site of the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department.
Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, called the move “unconstitutional.” He said Mr. Bush should have vetoed the bill if he did not like the provision, and compared the situation to Mr. Bush’s frequent use of signing statements to reserve a right to bypass newly enacted laws.
“This is a dictatorial, after-the-fact pronouncement by him in line with a lot of other cherry-picking he’s done on the signing statements,” Mr. Specter said in a telephone interview. He added, “To put it differently, I don’t like it worth a damn.”
Read More >>
23 October 2008
Court Throws Out WI AG Voting Suit
Kate Klonick - October 23, 2008
It looks like some of the state and local efforts led by Republicans to stymie voters, aren't panning out.
The latest loss for the GOP comes in Wisconsin. Where the suit filed by Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen requesting confirmation on thousands of voter registrations, has been thrown out by a county circuit judge.
From Wisconisn State Journal:
Judge Maryann Sumi said Van Hollen failed to state an adequate claim for bringing the lawsuit and noted that state law has consistently favored protecting citizens' right to vote. Sumi also said that Van Hollen did not have standing to bring the lawsuit.
. . .DOJ spokesman Kevin St. John said the Department of Justice plans to appeal, possibly directly to the state Supreme Court.
Read More >>
Kate Klonick - October 23, 2008
It looks like some of the state and local efforts led by Republicans to stymie voters, aren't panning out.
The latest loss for the GOP comes in Wisconsin. Where the suit filed by Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen requesting confirmation on thousands of voter registrations, has been thrown out by a county circuit judge.
From Wisconisn State Journal:
Judge Maryann Sumi said Van Hollen failed to state an adequate claim for bringing the lawsuit and noted that state law has consistently favored protecting citizens' right to vote. Sumi also said that Van Hollen did not have standing to bring the lawsuit.
. . .DOJ spokesman Kevin St. John said the Department of Justice plans to appeal, possibly directly to the state Supreme Court.
Read More >>
Indiana judge allows early voting to go on
Chicago Tribune - October 23, 2008
A Lake County Superior Court Judge on Wednesday ordered early voting sites in heavily Democratic Hammond, Gary and East Chicago to remain open in a decision that could affect the presidential election in the battleground state of Indiana.
In her decision, Judge Diane Kavadias Schneider dismissed complaints from local GOP officials trying to block the sites on the grounds they violated local election rules and created a risk for voter fraud.
Since local Republicans first sought to close the sites two weeks ago, the case has drawn attention from the presidential campaigns of both John McCain and Barack Obama because Indiana is a swing state.
Read More >>
Chicago Tribune - October 23, 2008
A Lake County Superior Court Judge on Wednesday ordered early voting sites in heavily Democratic Hammond, Gary and East Chicago to remain open in a decision that could affect the presidential election in the battleground state of Indiana.
In her decision, Judge Diane Kavadias Schneider dismissed complaints from local GOP officials trying to block the sites on the grounds they violated local election rules and created a risk for voter fraud.
Since local Republicans first sought to close the sites two weeks ago, the case has drawn attention from the presidential campaigns of both John McCain and Barack Obama because Indiana is a swing state.
Read More >>
Computer error cited in Georgia’s voter registration checks
State says it sent 747,000 verification requests, not 2 million
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution - October 23, 2008
A computer programming glitch is responsible for the high number of voter registration checks Georgia ran this year through the Social Security Administration, Secretary of State Karen Handel said.
The commissioner of the Social Security Administration had asked Handel earlier this month why Georgia had sent 2 million voter registration verification requests to his office in the past year. The number was higher than any other state.
Handel wrote to Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue last week saying that her office did not request “anywhere near” 2 million checks.
Read More >>
State says it sent 747,000 verification requests, not 2 million
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution - October 23, 2008
A computer programming glitch is responsible for the high number of voter registration checks Georgia ran this year through the Social Security Administration, Secretary of State Karen Handel said.
The commissioner of the Social Security Administration had asked Handel earlier this month why Georgia had sent 2 million voter registration verification requests to his office in the past year. The number was higher than any other state.
Handel wrote to Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue last week saying that her office did not request “anywhere near” 2 million checks.
Read More >>
10,000 absentee ballots in Gwinnett are flawed
Votes will have to be transferred to new ballots
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution - October 23, 2008
Gwinnett County elections officials will have to hand-copy votes from at least 10,000 absentee ballots onto new ballots that can be read by a machine.
The original ballots, designed to be filled out by hand, are flawed because of a printing error. The circle beside the candidate’s name is too thick and somewhat misshapen, and consequently an optical scanning machine won’t be able to read the votes on Election Day.
The county discovered the problem last week during routine testing.
Gwinnett had already mailed out 19,700 flawed ballots before it realized the problem.
Of those, 10,000 have already been marked and sent back by voters, said Lynn Ledford director of Voter Registration and Elections for Gwinnett County.
The printing mistake was not apparent to the naked eye, Ledford said.
The elections office will now have to transfer the votes from those 10,000 ballots onto new ballots so an optical scanning machine can read them, Ledford said. If more of the flawed ballots come back, that number will increase.
County spokesman Joe Sorenson said correcting the errors could be complicated.
“[Election workers] are going to have to take the bad ballots, take a look at what each choice is, and mark that choice for the second ballot,” Sorenson said. “There will be two sets of eyes on each ballot.”
Read More >>
Votes will have to be transferred to new ballots
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution - October 23, 2008
Gwinnett County elections officials will have to hand-copy votes from at least 10,000 absentee ballots onto new ballots that can be read by a machine.
The original ballots, designed to be filled out by hand, are flawed because of a printing error. The circle beside the candidate’s name is too thick and somewhat misshapen, and consequently an optical scanning machine won’t be able to read the votes on Election Day.
The county discovered the problem last week during routine testing.
Gwinnett had already mailed out 19,700 flawed ballots before it realized the problem.
Of those, 10,000 have already been marked and sent back by voters, said Lynn Ledford director of Voter Registration and Elections for Gwinnett County.
The printing mistake was not apparent to the naked eye, Ledford said.
The elections office will now have to transfer the votes from those 10,000 ballots onto new ballots so an optical scanning machine can read them, Ledford said. If more of the flawed ballots come back, that number will increase.
County spokesman Joe Sorenson said correcting the errors could be complicated.
“[Election workers] are going to have to take the bad ballots, take a look at what each choice is, and mark that choice for the second ballot,” Sorenson said. “There will be two sets of eyes on each ballot.”
Read More >>
Voters Sue Pennsylvania, Election Official Scoffs
American News Project - October 23, 2008
PHILADELPHIA, PA - Earlier this week, ANP reported that, come November, Pennsylvania voters could face substantial delays at the polls. We spoke with the man running the election in Philadelphia, who scoffed at long lines and tales of lost votes. Now, voters are suing the state of Pennsylvania.
With the help of Voter Action and the NAACP, they filed a complaint this morning in Philadelphia federal court, specifically citing an interview between the American News Project and Philadelphia Deputy City Commissioner Fred Voigt. Here's an update and more of our interview with Philly's deputy commissioner, Fred Voigt.
WATCH VIDEO >>
American News Project - October 23, 2008
PHILADELPHIA, PA - Earlier this week, ANP reported that, come November, Pennsylvania voters could face substantial delays at the polls. We spoke with the man running the election in Philadelphia, who scoffed at long lines and tales of lost votes. Now, voters are suing the state of Pennsylvania.
With the help of Voter Action and the NAACP, they filed a complaint this morning in Philadelphia federal court, specifically citing an interview between the American News Project and Philadelphia Deputy City Commissioner Fred Voigt. Here's an update and more of our interview with Philly's deputy commissioner, Fred Voigt.
WATCH VIDEO >>
12 Ways You Can Safeguard the Vote
BAINBRIDGE ISLAND, Wash. - October 23 - YES! Magazine
Are you worried that we will wake up November 5th to find that, once again, election results in key races are in question? Here's what you can do.
These recommendations from the staff at YES! Magazine are simple ways you can protect your own vote-and the fairness of the system, based on the recommendations of leading voting integrity advocates.
Please forward this checklist to others to help make our election system work.
Read More >>
BAINBRIDGE ISLAND, Wash. - October 23 - YES! Magazine
Are you worried that we will wake up November 5th to find that, once again, election results in key races are in question? Here's what you can do.
These recommendations from the staff at YES! Magazine are simple ways you can protect your own vote-and the fairness of the system, based on the recommendations of leading voting integrity advocates.
Please forward this checklist to others to help make our election system work.
Read More >>
How to Stop the Rigging of Election '08
Sarah van Gelder - October 23, 2008
Don't be fooled by all the accusations about ACORN. The real voting scandal is the voter suppression methods that likely swayed election results in 2000 and 2004, and are in process again as you read this.
Most of the news has focused on John McCain's accusations that ACORN is perpetrating a major vote fraud. The problems with ACORNs work that have surfaced involve registration, not voting. The truth is that ACORN, a group that organizes poor people, has been registering record numbers to vote: a jaw-dropping 1.3 million -- mostly low-income people, people of color, and young people.
[...] This issue of voter fraud is a smokescreen designed to cover a much more serious issue with a long and ugly history: the suppression of the vote of groups that tend to vote Democratic -- especially the poor, minorities, and young people.
Read More >>
Sarah van Gelder - October 23, 2008
Don't be fooled by all the accusations about ACORN. The real voting scandal is the voter suppression methods that likely swayed election results in 2000 and 2004, and are in process again as you read this.
Most of the news has focused on John McCain's accusations that ACORN is perpetrating a major vote fraud. The problems with ACORNs work that have surfaced involve registration, not voting. The truth is that ACORN, a group that organizes poor people, has been registering record numbers to vote: a jaw-dropping 1.3 million -- mostly low-income people, people of color, and young people.
[...] This issue of voter fraud is a smokescreen designed to cover a much more serious issue with a long and ugly history: the suppression of the vote of groups that tend to vote Democratic -- especially the poor, minorities, and young people.
Read More >>
GOP lawyer refuses to deny private eye visits
Two in ACORN controversy say investigator's visits were intimidating
Gwyneth Doland - 10/23/08
ALBUQUERQUE – Republican Party attorney Pat Rogers refused to say Thursday if a private detective who visited the addresses of two of the 10 Albuquerque voters cited at a news conference last week about voter fraud was working for the GOP.
Project Vote, a nonprofit that works with the community-organizing group ACORN, charged yesterday that the 10 voters are eligible voters and that the visits constitute voter intimidation. The group called on U.S. Attorney Gregory J. Fouratt to investigate.
[...] In its letter to U.S. Attorney Fouratt, Project Vote said the private investigator’s visits constitute a form of “intimidation and suppression” that violates the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
“We request that you conduct an immediate investigation into the attempts by the Republican Party of New Mexico to intimidate minority, first-time voters into not exercising their right to vote,” the letter said.
Read More >>
Two in ACORN controversy say investigator's visits were intimidating
Gwyneth Doland - 10/23/08
ALBUQUERQUE – Republican Party attorney Pat Rogers refused to say Thursday if a private detective who visited the addresses of two of the 10 Albuquerque voters cited at a news conference last week about voter fraud was working for the GOP.
Project Vote, a nonprofit that works with the community-organizing group ACORN, charged yesterday that the 10 voters are eligible voters and that the visits constitute voter intimidation. The group called on U.S. Attorney Gregory J. Fouratt to investigate.
[...] In its letter to U.S. Attorney Fouratt, Project Vote said the private investigator’s visits constitute a form of “intimidation and suppression” that violates the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
“We request that you conduct an immediate investigation into the attempts by the Republican Party of New Mexico to intimidate minority, first-time voters into not exercising their right to vote,” the letter said.
Read More >>
Federal Lawsuit Finally Filed Against PA to Demand Emergency Paper Ballots for Voters
Brad Friedman - 10/23/2008
NAACP, Voting Rights Coalition Demand Paper Ballots If 'Majority' of Voting Machines Fail
Sec. of the Commonwealth Had Previously Decried Paper Only Necessary if ALL Voting Machines Break Down in a Precinct...
Finally! A lawsuit [PDF] has finally been filed today in federal District Court in Pennsylvania, against the Democratic Secretary of the Commonwealth, Pedro A. Cortes and the Commissioner of the state's Election Commission, Chet Harhut, over Cortes' recent decree that paper ballots only need be given out to voters in the event that every voting machine in a precinct breaks down.
That stunning decry was in opposition to PA's state law which allows election officials the discretion to give emergency paper ballots to voters if even a single machine breaks down in a precinct.
That neither Obama nor the DNC have said a word about this in the month or so since Cortes issued his decry has been maddening, and should be an outrage to voters of all parties in the Keystone State, sure to be another battleground state this November. The lawsuit was finally filed today by the state's NAACP in concert with the 866-MYVOTE1 Election Reform Network.
While the complaint should call for paper ballots to be made available to any voter who wishes one, or, at a minimum, to be given out if just one machine breaks down in a precinct, or even if the wait time in line is longer than 30 minutes, unfortunately, the suit calls very conservatively for emergency paper ballots to be given out if 50% or more of the voting machines in a precinct break down. But at least it's something, we guess, particularly in lieu of Obama and/or the DNC taking any action at all here, given they have the most to lose by the ridiculous action from state Democrats.
Read More >>
Brad Friedman - 10/23/2008
NAACP, Voting Rights Coalition Demand Paper Ballots If 'Majority' of Voting Machines Fail
Sec. of the Commonwealth Had Previously Decried Paper Only Necessary if ALL Voting Machines Break Down in a Precinct...
Finally! A lawsuit [PDF] has finally been filed today in federal District Court in Pennsylvania, against the Democratic Secretary of the Commonwealth, Pedro A. Cortes and the Commissioner of the state's Election Commission, Chet Harhut, over Cortes' recent decree that paper ballots only need be given out to voters in the event that every voting machine in a precinct breaks down.
That stunning decry was in opposition to PA's state law which allows election officials the discretion to give emergency paper ballots to voters if even a single machine breaks down in a precinct.
That neither Obama nor the DNC have said a word about this in the month or so since Cortes issued his decry has been maddening, and should be an outrage to voters of all parties in the Keystone State, sure to be another battleground state this November. The lawsuit was finally filed today by the state's NAACP in concert with the 866-MYVOTE1 Election Reform Network.
While the complaint should call for paper ballots to be made available to any voter who wishes one, or, at a minimum, to be given out if just one machine breaks down in a precinct, or even if the wait time in line is longer than 30 minutes, unfortunately, the suit calls very conservatively for emergency paper ballots to be given out if 50% or more of the voting machines in a precinct break down. But at least it's something, we guess, particularly in lieu of Obama and/or the DNC taking any action at all here, given they have the most to lose by the ridiculous action from state Democrats.
Read More >>
22 October 2008
Votes Reportedly Flipping from Repub to Dem in TN
Brad Friedman on 10/22/2008
Yesterday we reported the problems experienced at the Davidson County (Nashville), TN polls by Election Integrity filmmakers David and Patricia Earnhardt. Patricia, like so many others before, in so many elections past, saw her vote flip before her eyes on the ES&S iVotronic touch-screen system from her intended candidate, Barrack Obama, to the Green Party candidate Cynthia McKinney.
Last week, we noted voter reports from two different WV counties, Putnam and Jackson, both counties where the same ES&S iVotronic touch-screen machines (which are notorious for flipping and losing thousands of votes and costing at least one Democratic U.S. House nominee her rightful seat) similarly flipped votes away from Democratic candidates.
Earlier today, John Gideon reported on ES&S iVotronics in SC which fail to include a number of races on the final review screen. In at least one county in that state, during the Republican Primary earlier this year, the machines had failed to even turn on at all, leading voters to scramble to find scraps of paper to vote on. ES&S is the nation's largest supplier of voting machines.
Now, finally --- and thankfully --- we have a report of voters experiencing votes flipping from the Republican candidate John McCain, to the Democratic candidate Barack Obama in a second TN county. Does this mean someone can actually take some action to get these machines the hell out of service now?!...
Read More >>
Brad Friedman on 10/22/2008
Yesterday we reported the problems experienced at the Davidson County (Nashville), TN polls by Election Integrity filmmakers David and Patricia Earnhardt. Patricia, like so many others before, in so many elections past, saw her vote flip before her eyes on the ES&S iVotronic touch-screen system from her intended candidate, Barrack Obama, to the Green Party candidate Cynthia McKinney.
Last week, we noted voter reports from two different WV counties, Putnam and Jackson, both counties where the same ES&S iVotronic touch-screen machines (which are notorious for flipping and losing thousands of votes and costing at least one Democratic U.S. House nominee her rightful seat) similarly flipped votes away from Democratic candidates.
Earlier today, John Gideon reported on ES&S iVotronics in SC which fail to include a number of races on the final review screen. In at least one county in that state, during the Republican Primary earlier this year, the machines had failed to even turn on at all, leading voters to scramble to find scraps of paper to vote on. ES&S is the nation's largest supplier of voting machines.
Now, finally --- and thankfully --- we have a report of voters experiencing votes flipping from the Republican candidate John McCain, to the Democratic candidate Barack Obama in a second TN county. Does this mean someone can actually take some action to get these machines the hell out of service now?!...
Read More >>
Massive E-Mail Campaign Freezes Absentee Ballots
Washington Post - October 22, 2008
Efforts by elections officials in Fairfax County and several Virginia jurisdictions to distribute absentee ballots to military members and others living overseas ground to a halt Tuesday after a group concerned about the state's voting system crashed e-mail servers with a massive letter-writing campaign.
Rokey W. Suleman II, Fairfax County's general registrar, said his office was unable to send or receive e-mail for much of the day, which could result in a crucial delay in sending absentee ballots electronically.
The mishap, which also affected several other Virginia jurisdictions including Richmond, occurred after representatives of TrueVote.US sent hundreds of e-mails to elections officials expressing concern about whether Virginia was prepared for an expected record turnout on Election Day.
The e-mails were in response to a report last week that found Virginia is among the least prepared states to handle Election Day problems such as long lines, broken machines and software malfunctions.
Read More >>
Washington Post - October 22, 2008
Efforts by elections officials in Fairfax County and several Virginia jurisdictions to distribute absentee ballots to military members and others living overseas ground to a halt Tuesday after a group concerned about the state's voting system crashed e-mail servers with a massive letter-writing campaign.
Rokey W. Suleman II, Fairfax County's general registrar, said his office was unable to send or receive e-mail for much of the day, which could result in a crucial delay in sending absentee ballots electronically.
The mishap, which also affected several other Virginia jurisdictions including Richmond, occurred after representatives of TrueVote.US sent hundreds of e-mails to elections officials expressing concern about whether Virginia was prepared for an expected record turnout on Election Day.
The e-mails were in response to a report last week that found Virginia is among the least prepared states to handle Election Day problems such as long lines, broken machines and software malfunctions.
Read More >>
No compromise reached on voter verification
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution - October 22, 2008
Civil rights lawyers and state attorneys failed to agree Wednesday on a solution to make sure qualified voters whose citizenship has been mistakenly questioned can vote on Nov. 4.
A three-judge court told the lawyers to get together over lunch during a break in a day-long hearing. The judges considered claims raised in a lawsuit that seeks to halt Georgia’s attempts to verify the citizenship of voters with a statewide database.
Without a compromise, the judges instructed lawyers for both sides to propose solutions to them by mid-day Thursday.
Federal appeals court judge Stanley Birch and U.S. District Court judges Jack Camp and Bill Duffey heard the case. The judges appeared inclined to order the state to allow voters whose citizenship has been questioned to cast paper ballots on Election Day.
“There are things we can do to ensure their vote … and yet not wreak havoc in the whole system,” Birch said.
The Secretary of State’s Office has raised questions on the citizenship of 4,538 prospective voters. Most of those flagged voters are among the 550,000 Georgians who registered to vote this year.
Civil rights groups, representing a Kennesaw State University student, filed suit on Oct. 9 seeking a halt to the matching system. The groups said it amounts to a systematic purging of voter rolls that needed to be pre-cleared by the Justice Department under the Voting Rights Act.
Read More >>
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution - October 22, 2008
Civil rights lawyers and state attorneys failed to agree Wednesday on a solution to make sure qualified voters whose citizenship has been mistakenly questioned can vote on Nov. 4.
A three-judge court told the lawyers to get together over lunch during a break in a day-long hearing. The judges considered claims raised in a lawsuit that seeks to halt Georgia’s attempts to verify the citizenship of voters with a statewide database.
Without a compromise, the judges instructed lawyers for both sides to propose solutions to them by mid-day Thursday.
Federal appeals court judge Stanley Birch and U.S. District Court judges Jack Camp and Bill Duffey heard the case. The judges appeared inclined to order the state to allow voters whose citizenship has been questioned to cast paper ballots on Election Day.
“There are things we can do to ensure their vote … and yet not wreak havoc in the whole system,” Birch said.
The Secretary of State’s Office has raised questions on the citizenship of 4,538 prospective voters. Most of those flagged voters are among the 550,000 Georgians who registered to vote this year.
Civil rights groups, representing a Kennesaw State University student, filed suit on Oct. 9 seeking a halt to the matching system. The groups said it amounts to a systematic purging of voter rolls that needed to be pre-cleared by the Justice Department under the Voting Rights Act.
Read More >>
Early Voting Sees Reports of Voter Intimidation, Machine Malfunctions
October 22, 2008
Early voting has begun, and problems are already emerging at the polls. In West Virginia, voters using touchscreen machines have claimed their votes were switched from Democrat to Republican. In North Carolina, a group of McCain supporters heckled a group of mostly black supporters of Barack Obama. In Ohio, Republicans are being accused of trying to scare newly registered voters by filing lawsuits that question their eligibility. We speak to NYU professor Mark Crispin Miller, author of Loser Take All: Election Fraud and the Subversion of Democracy.
Read More >>
October 22, 2008
Early voting has begun, and problems are already emerging at the polls. In West Virginia, voters using touchscreen machines have claimed their votes were switched from Democrat to Republican. In North Carolina, a group of McCain supporters heckled a group of mostly black supporters of Barack Obama. In Ohio, Republicans are being accused of trying to scare newly registered voters by filing lawsuits that question their eligibility. We speak to NYU professor Mark Crispin Miller, author of Loser Take All: Election Fraud and the Subversion of Democracy.
Read More >>
Sorry, I Can’t Find Your Name
NYT Editorial - October 22, 2008
Before Mississippi’s March presidential primary, one county election official improperly removed more than 8,000 voters from the eligible-voter rolls, including a Republican Congressional candidate. Fortunately, the secretary of state’s office learned of the purge in time and restored the voters.
It’s disturbing that a single official (who acted after mailings to voters were returned) could come so close to disenfranchising thousands of voters. But voting rolls, which are maintained by local election officials, are one of the weakest links in American democracy and problems are growing.
Read More >>
NYT Editorial - October 22, 2008
Before Mississippi’s March presidential primary, one county election official improperly removed more than 8,000 voters from the eligible-voter rolls, including a Republican Congressional candidate. Fortunately, the secretary of state’s office learned of the purge in time and restored the voters.
It’s disturbing that a single official (who acted after mailings to voters were returned) could come so close to disenfranchising thousands of voters. But voting rolls, which are maintained by local election officials, are one of the weakest links in American democracy and problems are growing.
Read More >>
Nevada Secretary of State Rebuffs Latest GOP Effort To Suppress Vote
Zachary Roth - October 22, 2008
Yesterday we told you about the latest GOP effort to make voting more difficult -- a letter sent by Nevada GOP chair Sue Lowden to Democratic Secretary of State Ross Miller, arguing that people should not be able to correct incomplete registrations on the spot when going to vote. Lowden claimed that Nevada law requires voter registration to be closed three weeks before election day, and that in such cases, people should be forced to cast provisional ballots.
Now Miller's office has responded with an interpretation of the law at issue, rejecting Lowden's argument.
Read More >>
Zachary Roth - October 22, 2008
Yesterday we told you about the latest GOP effort to make voting more difficult -- a letter sent by Nevada GOP chair Sue Lowden to Democratic Secretary of State Ross Miller, arguing that people should not be able to correct incomplete registrations on the spot when going to vote. Lowden claimed that Nevada law requires voter registration to be closed three weeks before election day, and that in such cases, people should be forced to cast provisional ballots.
Now Miller's office has responded with an interpretation of the law at issue, rejecting Lowden's argument.
Read More >>
21 October 2008
Voter Challenges Hit Sen. McCain's Ohio Staff
Partisan Games Should Lead To Bipartisan Prosecution or Be Dropped; Voter Challenges Hit Sen. McCain's Ohio Staff
Buzzflash
COLUMBUS - ProgressOhio.org today called on the Franklin County Board of Elections to investigate and refer to the Franklin County Prosecutor evidence that out-of-state McCain/Palin campaign workers have registered to vote in Ohio with no intent to stay in-state.
Read More >>
Partisan Games Should Lead To Bipartisan Prosecution or Be Dropped; Voter Challenges Hit Sen. McCain's Ohio Staff
Buzzflash
COLUMBUS - ProgressOhio.org today called on the Franklin County Board of Elections to investigate and refer to the Franklin County Prosecutor evidence that out-of-state McCain/Palin campaign workers have registered to vote in Ohio with no intent to stay in-state.
Read More >>
NM GOP Lawyer Pushing Voter Fraud: It's "Single Greatest Wedge Issue Ever."
Zachary Roth - Oct 21, 2008
[...] Consisting of little more than a post-office box and some staffers who wrote reports and gave helpful quotes about the pervasive problems of voter fraud to the press, the group identified Democratic cities as hot spots for voter fraud, then pushed the line that "election integrity" required making it harder for people to vote. The group issued reports (PDF) on areas in the country of special concern, areas that coincidentally tended to be presidential battleground states. In many of these places, it now appears the White House was pressuring U.S. attorneys to bring more voter-fraud prosecutions.
Read More >>
Zachary Roth - Oct 21, 2008
[...] Consisting of little more than a post-office box and some staffers who wrote reports and gave helpful quotes about the pervasive problems of voter fraud to the press, the group identified Democratic cities as hot spots for voter fraud, then pushed the line that "election integrity" required making it harder for people to vote. The group issued reports (PDF) on areas in the country of special concern, areas that coincidentally tended to be presidential battleground states. In many of these places, it now appears the White House was pressuring U.S. attorneys to bring more voter-fraud prosecutions.
Read More >>
20 October 2008
Obama Assembles U.S.'s `Largest Law Firm' for Voting
James Rowley
Oct. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Barack Obama and John McCain have a litigation game plan to accompany their election strategy.
Both candidates have armies of volunteers to ring doorbells and get voters to the polls. They are also forming squadrons of lawyers who are filing challenges and preparing in case Election Day doesn't settle the contest for the White House.
Legal battles unfolding in Ohio, Indiana and Wisconsin provide fresh evidence of the potential fights to come over ballot access in an election marked by unprecedented spending to increase the number of voters in strategically important states.
The millions of dollars that have been poured into registration drives have yielded millions of new voters across the country. Those same efforts have now generated heated battles in both parties with cries of voter fraud and intimidation that may threaten the integrity of the election.
Election officials, meanwhile, are braced for huge turnout and the problems that could create with long lines, malfunctioning machines and challenges to voters.
Read More >>
James Rowley
Oct. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Barack Obama and John McCain have a litigation game plan to accompany their election strategy.
Both candidates have armies of volunteers to ring doorbells and get voters to the polls. They are also forming squadrons of lawyers who are filing challenges and preparing in case Election Day doesn't settle the contest for the White House.
Legal battles unfolding in Ohio, Indiana and Wisconsin provide fresh evidence of the potential fights to come over ballot access in an election marked by unprecedented spending to increase the number of voters in strategically important states.
The millions of dollars that have been poured into registration drives have yielded millions of new voters across the country. Those same efforts have now generated heated battles in both parties with cries of voter fraud and intimidation that may threaten the integrity of the election.
Election officials, meanwhile, are braced for huge turnout and the problems that could create with long lines, malfunctioning machines and challenges to voters.
Read More >>
McCain Employing GOP Operative Accused Of Voter Registration Fraud
Sam Stein - Oct 20, 2008
John McCain's campaign has directed $175,000 to the firm of a Republican operative accused of massive voter registration fraud in several states.
According to campaign finance records, a joint committee of the McCain-Palin campaign, the RNC and the the California Republican Party, made a $175,000 payment to the group Lincoln Strategy in June for purposes of "registering voters." The managing partner of that firm is Nathan Sproul, a renowned GOP operative who has been investigated on multiple occasions for suppressing Democratic voter turnout, throwing away registration forms and even spearheading efforts to get Ralph Nader on ballots to hinder the Democratic ticket.
In a letter to the Justice Department last October, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers said that that Sproul's alleged activities "clearly suppress votes and violate the law."
Read More >>
Sam Stein - Oct 20, 2008
John McCain's campaign has directed $175,000 to the firm of a Republican operative accused of massive voter registration fraud in several states.
According to campaign finance records, a joint committee of the McCain-Palin campaign, the RNC and the the California Republican Party, made a $175,000 payment to the group Lincoln Strategy in June for purposes of "registering voters." The managing partner of that firm is Nathan Sproul, a renowned GOP operative who has been investigated on multiple occasions for suppressing Democratic voter turnout, throwing away registration forms and even spearheading efforts to get Ralph Nader on ballots to hinder the Democratic ticket.
In a letter to the Justice Department last October, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers said that that Sproul's alleged activities "clearly suppress votes and violate the law."
Read More >>
Death Threats, Hack Attempts 'Barrage' OH Sec. of State's Office
Brad Friedman - 10/20/2008
The website of the Ohio Secretary of State is being set to "static mode" following a recent series of "security breach" attempts, as well as suspicious packages and a number of death threats sent to the office, according to a press release issued late this afternoon.
The threats against Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner's office come in the wake of a rash of recent burglaries and vandalism at ACORN offices in Massachusetts and Seattle, as well as death threats delivered to a number of their workers following much-hyped media reports of "voter fraud" by the community organization. The attacks against the group escalated following the Republican Presidential nominee John McCain's comments about ACORN "voter fraud" at a recent rally, and his extraordinary allegation that ACORN was "on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy" at last week's Presidential debate.
Notably, there has been no actual evidence of any such "voter fraud" by ACORN, simply allegations by many on the right.
The recent threats against Brunner and her office follow on criticism from state Republicans, who have launched a number of legal suits against her during the final weeks leading up to this November's election...
Brunner's announcement notes the OH SoS website has been temporarily placed into "static mode with limited functionality as a precaution," while an investigation has been launched by her office and state police into the recent threatening incidents.
"Unfortunately, [the attacks on the website are] not the first instance of direct assault on the operations of the Secretary of State's office," the press release states. "In recent weeks, phone lines and e-mail channels have been barraged, even in the business filings section of the office, with menacing messages and even threats of harm or death. Last week, a suspicious package covered with threatening messages and containing an unidentified powder was mailed to the Secretary of State's office via the previous location of the Client Services Center. "
Brunner, a Democrat, has been in a recent series of legal clashes instigated by the Ohio Republican Party and a number of their surrogates. She most recently won a decision at the Supreme Court concerning GOP allegations of fraudulently registered voters in the Buckeye State.
Read More >>
Brad Friedman - 10/20/2008
The website of the Ohio Secretary of State is being set to "static mode" following a recent series of "security breach" attempts, as well as suspicious packages and a number of death threats sent to the office, according to a press release issued late this afternoon.
The threats against Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner's office come in the wake of a rash of recent burglaries and vandalism at ACORN offices in Massachusetts and Seattle, as well as death threats delivered to a number of their workers following much-hyped media reports of "voter fraud" by the community organization. The attacks against the group escalated following the Republican Presidential nominee John McCain's comments about ACORN "voter fraud" at a recent rally, and his extraordinary allegation that ACORN was "on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy" at last week's Presidential debate.
Notably, there has been no actual evidence of any such "voter fraud" by ACORN, simply allegations by many on the right.
The recent threats against Brunner and her office follow on criticism from state Republicans, who have launched a number of legal suits against her during the final weeks leading up to this November's election...
Brunner's announcement notes the OH SoS website has been temporarily placed into "static mode with limited functionality as a precaution," while an investigation has been launched by her office and state police into the recent threatening incidents.
"Unfortunately, [the attacks on the website are] not the first instance of direct assault on the operations of the Secretary of State's office," the press release states. "In recent weeks, phone lines and e-mail channels have been barraged, even in the business filings section of the office, with menacing messages and even threats of harm or death. Last week, a suspicious package covered with threatening messages and containing an unidentified powder was mailed to the Secretary of State's office via the previous location of the Client Services Center. "
Brunner, a Democrat, has been in a recent series of legal clashes instigated by the Ohio Republican Party and a number of their surrogates. She most recently won a decision at the Supreme Court concerning GOP allegations of fraudulently registered voters in the Buckeye State.
Read More >>
GOP Voter Registration Fraud Case Leads to Arrest
Ontario police arrest man in voter fraud case
Evan Halper, Los Angeles Times - October 20, 2008
SACRAMENTO -- The owner of a firm that the California Republican Party hired to register tens of thousands of voters this year was arrested in Ontario over the weekend on suspicion of voter registration fraud.
State and local investigators allege that Mark Jacoby fraudulently registered himself to vote at a childhood California address where he no longer lives so he would appear to meet the legal requirement that all signature gatherers be eligible to vote in California. His firm, Young Political Majors, or YPM, collects petition signatures and registers voters in California and other states.
Jacoby's arrest by state investigators and the Ontario Police Department late Saturday came after dozens of voters said they were duped into registering as Republicans by people employed by YPM. The voters said YPM workers tricked them by saying they were signing a petition to toughen penalties against child molesters.
The firm was paid $7 to $12 for every Californian it registered as a member of the GOP.
[...] Several dozen voters recently told The Times that YPM workers said they had to become Republicans to sign the petition, contrary to California initiative law. Other voters said they had no idea their registration was being changed.
YPM has been accused of using bait-and-switch tactics across the country. 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.
Read More >>
Ontario police arrest man in voter fraud case
Evan Halper, Los Angeles Times - October 20, 2008
SACRAMENTO -- The owner of a firm that the California Republican Party hired to register tens of thousands of voters this year was arrested in Ontario over the weekend on suspicion of voter registration fraud.
State and local investigators allege that Mark Jacoby fraudulently registered himself to vote at a childhood California address where he no longer lives so he would appear to meet the legal requirement that all signature gatherers be eligible to vote in California. His firm, Young Political Majors, or YPM, collects petition signatures and registers voters in California and other states.
Jacoby's arrest by state investigators and the Ontario Police Department late Saturday came after dozens of voters said they were duped into registering as Republicans by people employed by YPM. The voters said YPM workers tricked them by saying they were signing a petition to toughen penalties against child molesters.
The firm was paid $7 to $12 for every Californian it registered as a member of the GOP.
[...] Several dozen voters recently told The Times that YPM workers said they had to become Republicans to sign the petition, contrary to California initiative law. Other voters said they had no idea their registration was being changed.
YPM has been accused of using bait-and-switch tactics across the country. 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.
Read More >>
18 October 2008
Death threat, vandalism hit ACORN after McCain's Irresponsible, Duplicitous and Inciting Comments
McClatchy - 10.18.08
[...] Kettenring said that a senior ACORN staffer in Cleveland, after appearing on television this week, got an e-mail that said she "is going to have her life ended."
A female staffer in Providence, R.I., got a threatening call from someone who said words to the effect of "We know you get off work at 9," then uttered racial epithets, he said.
McClatchy is withholding the women's names because of the threats.
Separately, vandals broke into the group's Boston and Seattle offices and stole computers, Kettenring said.
The incidents came the day after McCain charged in the final presidential debate that ACORN's voter-registration drive "may be perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history" and may be "destroying the fabric of democracy."
[...] Kettenring said that ACORN had received growing amounts of hate mail in recent weeks, but "the campaign debate sort of tipped it over to a scary point, where raising allegations of voter fraud went from a cynical campaign ploy to really inciting racial violence."
Since McCain's remarks, ACORN's 87 offices across the country have received hundreds of hostile e-mails, many of them containing racial slurs, Kettenring said. "We believe that these are specifically McCain supporters" sending the messages, he said.
The e-mail to the Cleveland employee was traced to a Facebook Web page in the name of a Baltimore man. It featured a photo of a McCain-Palin sign.
Read More >>
McClatchy - 10.18.08
[...] Kettenring said that a senior ACORN staffer in Cleveland, after appearing on television this week, got an e-mail that said she "is going to have her life ended."
A female staffer in Providence, R.I., got a threatening call from someone who said words to the effect of "We know you get off work at 9," then uttered racial epithets, he said.
McClatchy is withholding the women's names because of the threats.
Separately, vandals broke into the group's Boston and Seattle offices and stole computers, Kettenring said.
The incidents came the day after McCain charged in the final presidential debate that ACORN's voter-registration drive "may be perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history" and may be "destroying the fabric of democracy."
[...] Kettenring said that ACORN had received growing amounts of hate mail in recent weeks, but "the campaign debate sort of tipped it over to a scary point, where raising allegations of voter fraud went from a cynical campaign ploy to really inciting racial violence."
Since McCain's remarks, ACORN's 87 offices across the country have received hundreds of hostile e-mails, many of them containing racial slurs, Kettenring said. "We believe that these are specifically McCain supporters" sending the messages, he said.
The e-mail to the Cleveland employee was traced to a Facebook Web page in the name of a Baltimore man. It featured a photo of a McCain-Palin sign.
Read More >>
More W.Va. voters say machines are switching votes
The Charleston Gazette - October 18, 2008
WINFIELD, W.Va. -- Three Putnam County voters say electronic voting machines changed their votes from Democrats to Republicans when they cast early ballots last week. This is the second West Virginia county where voters have reported this problem. Last week, three voters in Jackson County told The Charleston Gazette their electronic vote for "Barack Obama" kept flipping to "John McCain".
Read More >>
The Charleston Gazette - October 18, 2008
WINFIELD, W.Va. -- Three Putnam County voters say electronic voting machines changed their votes from Democrats to Republicans when they cast early ballots last week. This is the second West Virginia county where voters have reported this problem. Last week, three voters in Jackson County told The Charleston Gazette their electronic vote for "Barack Obama" kept flipping to "John McCain".
Read More >>
Is Your Vote Safe?
RFK Jr., Mike Papantonio - 22 Sep 2008
Transcript from Ring of Fire on Air America Radio
Bobby: "There are about 30 scams the Republicans are deliberately using, particularly in the swing states to get Democratic voters off the rolls. These scams originate in the so-called Help America Vote Act which was passed after the Florida debacle in the year 2000. It was originally suggested by Democrats and Republicans but it was passed by a Republican congress with a Republican senate and a Republican president. And instead of reforming what happened in Florida it basically institutionalized all the problems that happened in Florida. And institutionalized a series of impediments that make it very difficult for Democrats to register, for Democrats to vote and then for Democrats to have their vote counted.
Read More >>
RFK Jr., Mike Papantonio - 22 Sep 2008
Transcript from Ring of Fire on Air America Radio
Bobby: "There are about 30 scams the Republicans are deliberately using, particularly in the swing states to get Democratic voters off the rolls. These scams originate in the so-called Help America Vote Act which was passed after the Florida debacle in the year 2000. It was originally suggested by Democrats and Republicans but it was passed by a Republican congress with a Republican senate and a Republican president. And instead of reforming what happened in Florida it basically institutionalized all the problems that happened in Florida. And institutionalized a series of impediments that make it very difficult for Democrats to register, for Democrats to vote and then for Democrats to have their vote counted.
Read More >>
Block the Vote
Will the GOP's campaign to deter new voters and discard Democratic ballots determine the next president?
ROLLING STONE - ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. & GREG PALAST
[...] Suppressing the vote has long been a cornerstone of the GOP's electoral strategy. Shortly before the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, Paul Weyrich — a principal architect of today's Republican Party — scolded evangelicals who believed in democracy. "Many of our Christians have what I call the 'goo goo' syndrome — good government," said Weyrich, who co-founded Moral Majority with Jerry Falwell. "They want everybody to vote. I don't want everybody to vote. . . . As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down."
It's Already Stolen
Investigation by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Greg Palast
Don’t worry about Mickey Mouse or ACORN stealing the election. According to an investigative report out today in Rolling Stone magazine, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Greg Palast, after a year-long investigation, reveal a systematic program of "GOP vote tampering" on a massive scale.
- Republican Secretaries of State of swing-state Colorado have quietly purged one in six names from their voter rolls.
Over several months, the GOP politicos in Colorado stonewalled every attempt by Rolling Stone to get an answer to the massive purge - ten times the average state's rate of removal.
- While Obama dreams of riding to the White House on a wave of new voters, more then 2.7 million have had their registrations REJECTED under new procedures signed into law by George Bush.
Kennedy, a voting rights lawyer, charges this is a resurgence of 'Jim Crow' tactics to wrongly block Black and Hispanic voters.
- A fired US prosecutor levels new charges - accusing leaders of his own party, Republicans, with criminal acts in an attempt to block legal voters as "fraudulent."
- Digging through government records, the Kennedy-Palast team discovered that, in 2004, a GOP scheme called "caging” ultimately took away the rights of 1.1 million voters. The Rolling Stone duo predict that, this November 4, it will be far worse.
There's more:
- Since the last presidential race, "States used dubious 'list management' rules to scrub at least 10 million voters from their rolls."
Read More >>
Greg Palast Videos on YouTube >>
PASS THE ROLLING STONE ARTICLE, BLOCK THE VOTE, ON ... PLEASE!
Will the GOP's campaign to deter new voters and discard Democratic ballots determine the next president?
ROLLING STONE - ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. & GREG PALAST
[...] Suppressing the vote has long been a cornerstone of the GOP's electoral strategy. Shortly before the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, Paul Weyrich — a principal architect of today's Republican Party — scolded evangelicals who believed in democracy. "Many of our Christians have what I call the 'goo goo' syndrome — good government," said Weyrich, who co-founded Moral Majority with Jerry Falwell. "They want everybody to vote. I don't want everybody to vote. . . . As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down."
Today, Weyrich's vision has become a national reality. Since 2003, according to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, at least 2.7 million new voters have had their applications to register rejected. In addition, at least 1.6 million votes were never counted in the 2004 election — and the commission's own data suggests that the real number could be twice as high. To purge registration rolls and discard ballots, partisan election officials used a wide range of pretexts, from "unreadability" to changes in a voter's signature. And this year, thanks to new provisions of the Help America Vote Act, the number of discounted votes could surge even higher.
Read More >>
Video: Behind the Story with Kennedy Jr., and Palast >>
Steal Back Your Vote >>
This article, Block the Vote, is a must read, and video a must see - The video (Behind the story) tells you what to do to try to make sure your vote is counted - an army of attorneys on standby all over the country to help, including Robert Kennedy, Jr., Voting Rights Attorney.
It's Already Stolen
Investigation by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Greg Palast
Don’t worry about Mickey Mouse or ACORN stealing the election. According to an investigative report out today in Rolling Stone magazine, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Greg Palast, after a year-long investigation, reveal a systematic program of "GOP vote tampering" on a massive scale.
- Republican Secretaries of State of swing-state Colorado have quietly purged one in six names from their voter rolls.
Over several months, the GOP politicos in Colorado stonewalled every attempt by Rolling Stone to get an answer to the massive purge - ten times the average state's rate of removal.
- While Obama dreams of riding to the White House on a wave of new voters, more then 2.7 million have had their registrations REJECTED under new procedures signed into law by George Bush.
Kennedy, a voting rights lawyer, charges this is a resurgence of 'Jim Crow' tactics to wrongly block Black and Hispanic voters.
- A fired US prosecutor levels new charges - accusing leaders of his own party, Republicans, with criminal acts in an attempt to block legal voters as "fraudulent."
- Digging through government records, the Kennedy-Palast team discovered that, in 2004, a GOP scheme called "caging” ultimately took away the rights of 1.1 million voters. The Rolling Stone duo predict that, this November 4, it will be far worse.
There's more:
- Since the last presidential race, "States used dubious 'list management' rules to scrub at least 10 million voters from their rolls."
Read More >>
Greg Palast Videos on YouTube >>
PASS THE ROLLING STONE ARTICLE, BLOCK THE VOTE, ON ... PLEASE!
Thousands face mix-ups in voter registrations
Many are wrongly flagged as ineligible in new databases
Oct. 18, 2008
Thousands of voters across the country must reestablish their eligibility in the next three weeks in order for their votes to count on Nov. 4, a result of new state registration systems that are incorrectly rejecting them.
The challenges have led to a dozen lawsuits, testy arguments among state officials and escalating partisan battles. Because many voters may not know that their names have been flagged, eligibility questions could cause added confusion on Election Day, beyond the delays that may come with a huge turnout.
The scramble to verify voter registrations is happening as states switch from locally managed lists of voters to statewide databases, a change required by federal law and hailed by many as a more efficient and accurate way to keep lists up to date.
But in the transition, the systems are questioning the registrations of many voters when discrepancies surface between their registration information and other official records, often because of errors outside voters' control.
The issue made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which yesterday blocked a challenge to 200,000 Ohio voters whose registration data conflicted with other state records.
Voters wrongly labeled as felons
It is impossible to know how many voters are affected nationwide. There are no reports of large-scale problems in Virginia, Maryland or the District, but the trouble is cropping up in many states.
In Alabama, scores of voters are being labeled as convicted felons on the basis of incorrect lists.
Michigan must restore thousands of names it illegally removed from voter rolls over residency questions, a judge ruled this week.
Tens of thousands of voters could be affected in Wisconsin. Officials there admit that their database is wrong one out of five times when it flags voters, sometimes for data discrepancies as small as a middle initial or a typo in a birth date. When the six members of the state elections board — all retired judges — ran their registrations through the system, four were incorrectly rejected because of mismatches.
Read More >>
Many are wrongly flagged as ineligible in new databases
Oct. 18, 2008
Thousands of voters across the country must reestablish their eligibility in the next three weeks in order for their votes to count on Nov. 4, a result of new state registration systems that are incorrectly rejecting them.
The challenges have led to a dozen lawsuits, testy arguments among state officials and escalating partisan battles. Because many voters may not know that their names have been flagged, eligibility questions could cause added confusion on Election Day, beyond the delays that may come with a huge turnout.
The scramble to verify voter registrations is happening as states switch from locally managed lists of voters to statewide databases, a change required by federal law and hailed by many as a more efficient and accurate way to keep lists up to date.
But in the transition, the systems are questioning the registrations of many voters when discrepancies surface between their registration information and other official records, often because of errors outside voters' control.
The issue made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which yesterday blocked a challenge to 200,000 Ohio voters whose registration data conflicted with other state records.
Voters wrongly labeled as felons
It is impossible to know how many voters are affected nationwide. There are no reports of large-scale problems in Virginia, Maryland or the District, but the trouble is cropping up in many states.
In Alabama, scores of voters are being labeled as convicted felons on the basis of incorrect lists.
Michigan must restore thousands of names it illegally removed from voter rolls over residency questions, a judge ruled this week.
Tens of thousands of voters could be affected in Wisconsin. Officials there admit that their database is wrong one out of five times when it flags voters, sometimes for data discrepancies as small as a middle initial or a typo in a birth date. When the six members of the state elections board — all retired judges — ran their registrations through the system, four were incorrectly rejected because of mismatches.
Read More >>
Voters say they were duped into registering as Republicans
Los Angeles Times - October 18, 2008
SACRAMENTO -- Dozens of newly minted Republican voters say they were duped into joining the party by a GOP contractor with a trail of fraud complaints stretching across the country.
Voters contacted by The Times said they were tricked into switching parties while signing what they believed were petitions for tougher penalties against child molesters. Some said they were told that they had to become Republicans to sign the petition, contrary to California initiative law. Others had no idea their registration was being changed.
[...] It is a bait-and-switch scheme familiar to election experts. The firm hired by the California Republican Party -- a small company called Young Political Majors, or YPM, which operates in several states -- has been accused of using the tactic across the country.
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.
Read More >>
Los Angeles Times - October 18, 2008
SACRAMENTO -- Dozens of newly minted Republican voters say they were duped into joining the party by a GOP contractor with a trail of fraud complaints stretching across the country.
Voters contacted by The Times said they were tricked into switching parties while signing what they believed were petitions for tougher penalties against child molesters. Some said they were told that they had to become Republicans to sign the petition, contrary to California initiative law. Others had no idea their registration was being changed.
[...] It is a bait-and-switch scheme familiar to election experts. The firm hired by the California Republican Party -- a small company called Young Political Majors, or YPM, which operates in several states -- has been accused of using the tactic across the country.
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.
Read More >>
17 October 2008
High court rejects GOP in Ohio voting dispute
Republicans had won order that state do more to check eligibility
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court sided Friday with Ohio's top elections official in a dispute with the state Republican Party over voter registrations.
The justices overruled a federal appeals court that had ordered Ohio's top elections official to do more to help counties verify voter eligibility.
Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat, faced a deadline of Friday to set up a system to provide local officials with names of newly registered voters whose driver's license numbers or Social Security numbers on voter registration forms don't match records in other government databases.
Ohio Republicans contended the information for counties would help prevent fraud. Brunner said the GOP is trying to disenfranchise voters.
In a brief unsigned opinion, the justices said they were not commenting on whether Ohio is complying with a provision of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 that lays out requirements for verifying voter eligibility.
Read More >>
Counting Electronic Votes in Secret
Freedom to Tinker, October 17, 2008
Professor Andrew Appel of the Center for Information Technology Policy (CITP) at Princeton University has released a previously-suppressed report finding that electronic voting machines in New Jersey make it easy to engage in undetectable election fraud.
"It takes about 7 minutes, using simple tools, to replace the computer program in the AVC Advantage with a fraudulent program that cheats," states the report, which was written by Appel and five other leading computer security experts.
The researchers completed their report on September 2 but were forbidden until Friday from publishing it by a court order that has finally been reversed on appeal. The local elections board in Princeton has also denied a request by Appel and CITP fellow Grayson Barber to observe poll workers on election night, stating that the election is "too important" to permit extra people in the polling place. "In particular, they cited Andrew's status as an expert on Sequoia voting machines as a 'concern,'" Grayson noted.
Read More >>
Freedom to Tinker, October 17, 2008
Professor Andrew Appel of the Center for Information Technology Policy (CITP) at Princeton University has released a previously-suppressed report finding that electronic voting machines in New Jersey make it easy to engage in undetectable election fraud.
"It takes about 7 minutes, using simple tools, to replace the computer program in the AVC Advantage with a fraudulent program that cheats," states the report, which was written by Appel and five other leading computer security experts.
The researchers completed their report on September 2 but were forbidden until Friday from publishing it by a court order that has finally been reversed on appeal. The local elections board in Princeton has also denied a request by Appel and CITP fellow Grayson Barber to observe poll workers on election night, stating that the election is "too important" to permit extra people in the polling place. "In particular, they cited Andrew's status as an expert on Sequoia voting machines as a 'concern,'" Grayson noted.
Read More >>
Report: Kentucky not ready to vote
Lexington Herald-Leader - Oct. 17, 2008
The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University has issued a report, "Is America Ready to Vote ?" Kentucky is listed as one of the 10 least prepared states in the country, according to the report. They base their conclusion on how states fare in four areas: polling place contingency plans; sound ballot accounting and reconciliation; verifiable paper records and the state's ability to conduct a post-election audit. Kentucky is considered "inadequate" in post-election audits and paper records; considered "needs improvement" in ballot reconciliation. The other 10 states on the least-prepared list are: Colorado, Delaware, Louisiana, New Jersey, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Virginia. Kentucky is also mentioned in the Center's report on Voter Purges.
Read More >>
Lexington Herald-Leader - Oct. 17, 2008
The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University has issued a report, "Is America Ready to Vote ?" Kentucky is listed as one of the 10 least prepared states in the country, according to the report. They base their conclusion on how states fare in four areas: polling place contingency plans; sound ballot accounting and reconciliation; verifiable paper records and the state's ability to conduct a post-election audit. Kentucky is considered "inadequate" in post-election audits and paper records; considered "needs improvement" in ballot reconciliation. The other 10 states on the least-prepared list are: Colorado, Delaware, Louisiana, New Jersey, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Virginia. Kentucky is also mentioned in the Center's report on Voter Purges.
Read More >>
Obama Demands Special Prosecutor Investigate GOP Voter Fraud Activities
The Washington Independent - 10/17/08
Charging that the FBI probe of ACORN represents an “unholy alliance” between Republican operatives and potentially illegal conduct by law enforcement targeting voter fraud, the Obama campaign demanded Friday that the U.S. special prosecutor looking into the U.S. attorneys scandal investigate the matter.
General counsel Bob Bauer sent a letter to Atty. Gen. Michael Mukasey charging that coordinated “misconduct” by McCain campaign representatives and GOP officials were relevant to the special prosecutor’s work, because the activities may relate to the dismissal of seven U.S. attorneys in late 2006.
The letter requests that the special prosecutor’s inquiry “include a review of any involvement by Justice Dept. and White House officials in supporting the McCain-Palin campaign [and RNC's] systematic development and dissemination of unsupported, spurious allegations of vote fraud.”
To advance the effort, the Obama campaign convened a conference call with national reporters, though Friday afternoon is not a time that campaigns usually push priority messages.
Read More >>
The Washington Independent - 10/17/08
Charging that the FBI probe of ACORN represents an “unholy alliance” between Republican operatives and potentially illegal conduct by law enforcement targeting voter fraud, the Obama campaign demanded Friday that the U.S. special prosecutor looking into the U.S. attorneys scandal investigate the matter.
General counsel Bob Bauer sent a letter to Atty. Gen. Michael Mukasey charging that coordinated “misconduct” by McCain campaign representatives and GOP officials were relevant to the special prosecutor’s work, because the activities may relate to the dismissal of seven U.S. attorneys in late 2006.
The letter requests that the special prosecutor’s inquiry “include a review of any involvement by Justice Dept. and White House officials in supporting the McCain-Palin campaign [and RNC's] systematic development and dissemination of unsupported, spurious allegations of vote fraud.”
To advance the effort, the Obama campaign convened a conference call with national reporters, though Friday afternoon is not a time that campaigns usually push priority messages.
Read More >>
Ex DOJ Voting Rights Chief: "It's Going to Take a Long Time to Cleanse" Department
By Zachary Roth - October 17, 2008
A former top Department of Justice voting rights official -- who once worked with John McCain in defense of the senator's campaign-finance reform bill -- has added his name to the growing chorus that is denouncing the department's investigation of ACORN as a shameful and inappropriate politicization of Justice along the lines of the US attorney firings.
Read More >>
By Zachary Roth - October 17, 2008
A former top Department of Justice voting rights official -- who once worked with John McCain in defense of the senator's campaign-finance reform bill -- has added his name to the growing chorus that is denouncing the department's investigation of ACORN as a shameful and inappropriate politicization of Justice along the lines of the US attorney firings.
Read More >>
16 October 2008
Returning to the Scene of the Crime
Josh Marshall - 10.16.08
So now we hear leaked word that the FBI is beginning an investigation into whether ACORN "helped foster voter registration fraud around the nation before the presidential election" and where there is "any evidence of a coordinated national scam."
Let's note a few points. DC Republicans have been aggressively lobbying the DOJ to open an investigation into ACORN in advance of the election. And leaking word of such an investigation (possibly starting the investigation at all) most likely violates DOJ guidelines about DOJ/FBI actions which can end up interfering with or manipulating an election.
But, remember, this is right out of the book of the Bush Justice Department's efforts to assist in GOP voter suppression efforts in the 2004 and 2006 elections (part and parcel of the US Attorney firing story). This is the same scam US Attorney firing player Bradley Schlozman got in trouble for pulling with ACORN just before the 2006 election. And before he got canned, Gonzales helped revise and soften the departmental prohibition on DOJ announcements, thus making it easier to play these kinds of games.
This is a big deal. It may be their last gasp to use the DOJ to help mitigate the scale of Republican defeat on November 4th.
Read More >>
Josh Marshall - 10.16.08
So now we hear leaked word that the FBI is beginning an investigation into whether ACORN "helped foster voter registration fraud around the nation before the presidential election" and where there is "any evidence of a coordinated national scam."
Let's note a few points. DC Republicans have been aggressively lobbying the DOJ to open an investigation into ACORN in advance of the election. And leaking word of such an investigation (possibly starting the investigation at all) most likely violates DOJ guidelines about DOJ/FBI actions which can end up interfering with or manipulating an election.
But, remember, this is right out of the book of the Bush Justice Department's efforts to assist in GOP voter suppression efforts in the 2004 and 2006 elections (part and parcel of the US Attorney firing story). This is the same scam US Attorney firing player Bradley Schlozman got in trouble for pulling with ACORN just before the 2006 election. And before he got canned, Gonzales helped revise and soften the departmental prohibition on DOJ announcements, thus making it easier to play these kinds of games.
This is a big deal. It may be their last gasp to use the DOJ to help mitigate the scale of Republican defeat on November 4th.
Read More >>
The Acorn Story
New York Times Editorial - October 16, 2008
In Wednesday night’s debate, John McCain warned that a group called Acorn is “on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history” and “may be destroying the fabric of democracy.” Viewers may have been wondering what Mr. McCain was talking about. So were we.
Acorn is a nonprofit group that advocates for low- and moderate-income people and has mounted a major voter-registration drive this year. Acorn says that it has paid more than 8,000 canvassers who have registered about 1.3 million new voters, many of them poor people and members of racial minorities.
In recent weeks, the McCain campaign has accused the group of perpetrating voter fraud by intentionally submitting invalid registration forms, including some with fictional names like Mickey Mouse and others for voters who are already registered.
Based on the information that has come to light so far, the charges appear to be wildly overblown — and intended to hobble Acorn’s efforts.
Read More >>
New York Times Editorial - October 16, 2008
In Wednesday night’s debate, John McCain warned that a group called Acorn is “on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history” and “may be destroying the fabric of democracy.” Viewers may have been wondering what Mr. McCain was talking about. So were we.
Acorn is a nonprofit group that advocates for low- and moderate-income people and has mounted a major voter-registration drive this year. Acorn says that it has paid more than 8,000 canvassers who have registered about 1.3 million new voters, many of them poor people and members of racial minorities.
In recent weeks, the McCain campaign has accused the group of perpetrating voter fraud by intentionally submitting invalid registration forms, including some with fictional names like Mickey Mouse and others for voters who are already registered.
Based on the information that has come to light so far, the charges appear to be wildly overblown — and intended to hobble Acorn’s efforts.
Read More >>
15 October 2008
Montana GOP Executive Director Resigns After Failed Voter-Suppression Attempts
After a failed attempt to challenge the voting rights of thousands of young people in Montana, the ED of the Montana GOP resigned today to "pursue other interests." A video at the link describes the entire controversy. There was a lot of kick-ass voter protection work done here by Forward Montana, a local progressive youth organization.
Read More >>
After a failed attempt to challenge the voting rights of thousands of young people in Montana, the ED of the Montana GOP resigned today to "pursue other interests." A video at the link describes the entire controversy. There was a lot of kick-ass voter protection work done here by Forward Montana, a local progressive youth organization.
Read More >>
Crist: GOP may be exaggerating voter fraud
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Florida's governor says his fellow Republicans may be exaggerating claims of voter fraud in the state.
Gov. Charlie Crist said Wednesday that he has confidence in Secretary of State Kurt Browning, who says there's only been a scattering of isolated incidents.
Crist said in the closing days of any campaign "there are some who sort of enjoy chaos." There may be more of that going on than fraud, he said.
The Republican National Committee and GOP presidential candidate John McCain have accused an activist group of fraudulently registering people in Florida and other states. It has focused on young people, minorities and others seen as more likely to support Democrat Barack Obama.
Read More >>
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Florida's governor says his fellow Republicans may be exaggerating claims of voter fraud in the state.
Gov. Charlie Crist said Wednesday that he has confidence in Secretary of State Kurt Browning, who says there's only been a scattering of isolated incidents.
Crist said in the closing days of any campaign "there are some who sort of enjoy chaos." There may be more of that going on than fraud, he said.
The Republican National Committee and GOP presidential candidate John McCain have accused an activist group of fraudulently registering people in Florida and other states. It has focused on young people, minorities and others seen as more likely to support Democrat Barack Obama.
Read More >>
Court orders Ohio to verify newly registered voters
The federal appeal court ruling in Ohio on voter registration is a legal victory for the Republican Party.
(CNN) -- A federal appeals court on Tuesday ordered Ohio's secretary of state to establish a system to verify hundreds of thousands of newly registered voters by Friday.
Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner also has to make the eligibility information available to all 88 county election boards and use government records to check for voter registration fraud.
Nine of the 16 members of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals concurred with an opinion that upheld a lower court's ruling in the lawsuit filed by the Ohio Republican Party against Brunner.
"It is imperative that voters not be disenfranchised because of federal government red tape, misstated technical information or glitches in databases beyond the control of voters or the Secretary of State," said Brunner, a Democrat, after the ruling.
"That is why we will work with the federal court, even though we believe that the order goes beyond the requirements of (the Help American Vote Act)."
Read More >>
THEY WILL STOP AT NOTHING TO STEAL THIS ELECTION.
The federal appeal court ruling in Ohio on voter registration is a legal victory for the Republican Party.
(CNN) -- A federal appeals court on Tuesday ordered Ohio's secretary of state to establish a system to verify hundreds of thousands of newly registered voters by Friday.
Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner also has to make the eligibility information available to all 88 county election boards and use government records to check for voter registration fraud.
Nine of the 16 members of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals concurred with an opinion that upheld a lower court's ruling in the lawsuit filed by the Ohio Republican Party against Brunner.
"It is imperative that voters not be disenfranchised because of federal government red tape, misstated technical information or glitches in databases beyond the control of voters or the Secretary of State," said Brunner, a Democrat, after the ruling.
"That is why we will work with the federal court, even though we believe that the order goes beyond the requirements of (the Help American Vote Act)."
Read More >>
THEY WILL STOP AT NOTHING TO STEAL THIS ELECTION.
Federal court: Ohio must check voter registrations
CINCINNATI (AP) — A federal appeals court has ordered Ohio's top elections official to set up a system by Friday to verify the eligibility of new voters.
The full 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati on Tuesday upheld a lower court ruling that Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner must use other government records to check thousands of new voters for registration fraud.
A three-judge panel of the 6th Circuit had disagreed last week, but the full court's ruling overturns that decision.
Ohio Republicans has sued Brunner, a Democrat.
Ohio GOP Chairman Bob Bennett called the ruling a victory for the integrity of the electoral process.
Brunner previously had said there was no way to implement the system with such speed.
Read More >>
CINCINNATI (AP) — A federal appeals court has ordered Ohio's top elections official to set up a system by Friday to verify the eligibility of new voters.
The full 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati on Tuesday upheld a lower court ruling that Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner must use other government records to check thousands of new voters for registration fraud.
A three-judge panel of the 6th Circuit had disagreed last week, but the full court's ruling overturns that decision.
Ohio Republicans has sued Brunner, a Democrat.
Ohio GOP Chairman Bob Bennett called the ruling a victory for the integrity of the electoral process.
Brunner previously had said there was no way to implement the system with such speed.
Read More >>
Stealing America: Vote by Vote
Dorothy Fadiman invites the public to make free downloads of "Stealing America: Vote by Vote" beginning October 21st
Read More >>
Dorothy Fadiman invites the public to make free downloads of "Stealing America: Vote by Vote" beginning October 21st
Read More >>
14 October 2008
Florida Dems Told to Vote by Phone
OpEdNews - 10.14.08
Adding to a lengthening string of vote suppression tactics, the GOP has now been accused of telling Democrats they can call in their vote for Barack Obama. In the Florida Panhandle county of Okaloosa, Democratic Party headquarters received a report last week from a voter who claimed that she received a phone call advising her she could vote for Obama by telephone. A volunteer who overheard the report relayed to OEN that the voter advised she was asked if she were Democrat and if she planned to vote for Obama. Answering yes to both, she was told, "You can skip the lines and the inconvenience of voting at a polling place by dialing this telephone number..." After the voter dialed it, a pleasant voice said, "Thank you for your vote for Barack Obama."
A second source from Okaloosa would only confirm that the matter had been forwarded to the legal department. A phone call to the attorney for the Okaloosa County Democratic Party went unreturned. OEN could not confirm the language of the alleged phone call. Okaloosa has nearly 125,000 registered voters, one-fourth of whom are Democrats.
Tactics employed this year in Florida include:
* Jewish voters were targeted by phone calls claiming that Barack Obama donated funds to the Palestinian Liberation Organization.
* Democrats received a GOP fundraising letter indicating they were registered as Republican. "The first-class GOP mailing has a 'Do not forward' instruction on the envelope, meaning they will be returned to the GOP if a recipient has had mail forwarded, perhaps to a summer address, or has moved," reported the St. Petersburg Times. Letters returned as undeliverable can be compiled into 'challenge lists' that will slow down voters on Election Day.
In 2000, Florida taught the nation how Democrats could be removed from the voter rolls en masse on the grounds they were convicted felons. Greg Palast exposed the Florida tactic while writing for the BBC, whereby nearly 100,000 voters – mostly black males who usually vote Democratic – were removed from rolls. Most of those illegally purged from the rolls had names similar to convicted felons.
"Purges were first instituted immediately after African Americans were granted the franchise," reports the ACLU.
This year, in a similar tactic, millions of voters have been removed from the rolls nationwide on the grounds their voter registration information did not agree with motor vehicle or Social Security information on that voter. A recent report by the Brennan Center revealed that 13 million voters were purged from the rolls from 2004 to 2006. In its study of twelve states, it found that none of them advised voters they were being purged.
A more outrageous tactic by the GOP to suppress votes is to target voter registration organizations. Today, the Buckeye Institute, a neoliberal think tank headed by Ohio's notorious vote suppressor, J. Kenneth Blackwell, filed a state RICO action against the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) on behalf of two Warren County, Ohio voters. Reviving an unsuccessful tactic employed against the organization in 2004, the allegations recycle discredited claims from 2004, and attempt to link unsubstantiated stories to ACORN, raising sensational news stories and patently false and unattributed congressional testimony.
"Such a legal filing by the right wing Buckeye Institute, an organization that features the well-known voter suppression Commissar Ken Blackwell who sought to block Ohio voters from access to the ballot in 2004, has about as much credibility as if they had announced that it was Al Capone that was behind the lawsuit," responded ACORN in a statement to OEN. Click here for the full report.
This year, ACORN, along with Project Vote, recently completed a wildly successful voter registration campaign in twenty-one states, logging 1.3 million new voters.
More on Florida Election Fraud >>
OpEdNews - 10.14.08
Adding to a lengthening string of vote suppression tactics, the GOP has now been accused of telling Democrats they can call in their vote for Barack Obama. In the Florida Panhandle county of Okaloosa, Democratic Party headquarters received a report last week from a voter who claimed that she received a phone call advising her she could vote for Obama by telephone. A volunteer who overheard the report relayed to OEN that the voter advised she was asked if she were Democrat and if she planned to vote for Obama. Answering yes to both, she was told, "You can skip the lines and the inconvenience of voting at a polling place by dialing this telephone number..." After the voter dialed it, a pleasant voice said, "Thank you for your vote for Barack Obama."
A second source from Okaloosa would only confirm that the matter had been forwarded to the legal department. A phone call to the attorney for the Okaloosa County Democratic Party went unreturned. OEN could not confirm the language of the alleged phone call. Okaloosa has nearly 125,000 registered voters, one-fourth of whom are Democrats.
Tactics employed this year in Florida include:
* Jewish voters were targeted by phone calls claiming that Barack Obama donated funds to the Palestinian Liberation Organization.
* Democrats received a GOP fundraising letter indicating they were registered as Republican. "The first-class GOP mailing has a 'Do not forward' instruction on the envelope, meaning they will be returned to the GOP if a recipient has had mail forwarded, perhaps to a summer address, or has moved," reported the St. Petersburg Times. Letters returned as undeliverable can be compiled into 'challenge lists' that will slow down voters on Election Day.
In 2000, Florida taught the nation how Democrats could be removed from the voter rolls en masse on the grounds they were convicted felons. Greg Palast exposed the Florida tactic while writing for the BBC, whereby nearly 100,000 voters – mostly black males who usually vote Democratic – were removed from rolls. Most of those illegally purged from the rolls had names similar to convicted felons.
"Purges were first instituted immediately after African Americans were granted the franchise," reports the ACLU.
This year, in a similar tactic, millions of voters have been removed from the rolls nationwide on the grounds their voter registration information did not agree with motor vehicle or Social Security information on that voter. A recent report by the Brennan Center revealed that 13 million voters were purged from the rolls from 2004 to 2006. In its study of twelve states, it found that none of them advised voters they were being purged.
A more outrageous tactic by the GOP to suppress votes is to target voter registration organizations. Today, the Buckeye Institute, a neoliberal think tank headed by Ohio's notorious vote suppressor, J. Kenneth Blackwell, filed a state RICO action against the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) on behalf of two Warren County, Ohio voters. Reviving an unsuccessful tactic employed against the organization in 2004, the allegations recycle discredited claims from 2004, and attempt to link unsubstantiated stories to ACORN, raising sensational news stories and patently false and unattributed congressional testimony.
"Such a legal filing by the right wing Buckeye Institute, an organization that features the well-known voter suppression Commissar Ken Blackwell who sought to block Ohio voters from access to the ballot in 2004, has about as much credibility as if they had announced that it was Al Capone that was behind the lawsuit," responded ACORN in a statement to OEN. Click here for the full report.
This year, ACORN, along with Project Vote, recently completed a wildly successful voter registration campaign in twenty-one states, logging 1.3 million new voters.
More on Florida Election Fraud >>
Obama campaign: GOP targeting ACORN to 'intimidate, suppress' voters
Nick Juliano - October 14, 2008
Barack Obama's campaign is pushing back at what's been a concerted effort from John McCain, the Republican Party and conservative media outlets to drum up outraged accusations of voter fraud on the part of an independent organization that has been spearheading efforts to register low-income voters.
Obama campaign manager David Plouffe accused the GOP of trumping up claims of voter registration fraud to create a "smokescreen" aimed at hiding the party's own concerted efforts to intimidate voters and suppress turnout.
"What they're doing right now is a form of intimidation," Plouffe told reporters on a conference call Tuesday. He was referring to the repeated smears and legal challenges Republican operatives and the McCain campaign were hurling at the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, saying their goal was to keep legitimate voters registered by ACORN away from the polls.
The Obama campaign has never relied on ACORN workers to register voters, despite GOP accusations to the contrary, Plouffe said, although he did acknowledge the campaign paid an affiliate of the organization to canvass voters earlier in the election cycle. The campaign has also conducted its own in-house registration drive.
[...] The GOP accusations rest on reports of fake or duplicate names being used on voter registration forms. What they don't say is that there's virtually no evidence of faulty registrations essentially leading to fraudulent votes being cast.
[...] Josh Marshall says the GOP's complaints are part of a broader effort of disenfranchisement.
On the conference call, Obama campaign lawyer Bob Bauer called the Republican efforts "fairly shameful," citing reports of caging schemes and attempts to disqualify voters in Montana, Michigan, Ohio and other states.
Bauer went on to point out McCain's own connection to ACORN, speaking to a benefit sponsored by the group two years ago, and accused the Republican candidate of smearing the group because he lacks any other campaign strategy.
Read More >>
Nick Juliano - October 14, 2008
Barack Obama's campaign is pushing back at what's been a concerted effort from John McCain, the Republican Party and conservative media outlets to drum up outraged accusations of voter fraud on the part of an independent organization that has been spearheading efforts to register low-income voters.
Obama campaign manager David Plouffe accused the GOP of trumping up claims of voter registration fraud to create a "smokescreen" aimed at hiding the party's own concerted efforts to intimidate voters and suppress turnout.
"What they're doing right now is a form of intimidation," Plouffe told reporters on a conference call Tuesday. He was referring to the repeated smears and legal challenges Republican operatives and the McCain campaign were hurling at the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, saying their goal was to keep legitimate voters registered by ACORN away from the polls.
The Obama campaign has never relied on ACORN workers to register voters, despite GOP accusations to the contrary, Plouffe said, although he did acknowledge the campaign paid an affiliate of the organization to canvass voters earlier in the election cycle. The campaign has also conducted its own in-house registration drive.
[...] The GOP accusations rest on reports of fake or duplicate names being used on voter registration forms. What they don't say is that there's virtually no evidence of faulty registrations essentially leading to fraudulent votes being cast.
[...] Josh Marshall says the GOP's complaints are part of a broader effort of disenfranchisement.
The level of lying, bad faith or at best ignorance of the people making these claims is really beyond imagining. This isn't vote fraud. There's no evidence of vote fraud. Nothing. This is an effort of a losing political party to a) lay the groundwork for challenging their defeat at the polls b) lay the groundwork to pass laws to make it harder for poor people and minorities to vote.
On the conference call, Obama campaign lawyer Bob Bauer called the Republican efforts "fairly shameful," citing reports of caging schemes and attempts to disqualify voters in Montana, Michigan, Ohio and other states.
Bauer went on to point out McCain's own connection to ACORN, speaking to a benefit sponsored by the group two years ago, and accused the Republican candidate of smearing the group because he lacks any other campaign strategy.
Read More >>
Defending ACORN and the Right to Vote
Laura Flanders - October 14, 2008
Barack Obama's poll numbers are up - and the McCain campaign's gloves are off. This time the GOP's target isn't merely the Democratic candidate -- it's a poor people's group - and if we're not careful, the impact of the targeting may be felt long after the '08 election.
In a new ad running online, the John McCain campaign reprises its attack on commnity organizers. In this case, ACORN. The ads allege that in Chicago, Obama and ACORN were close, and, to quote from the ad: "What did ACORN in Chicago engage in? Bullying banks, intimidation tactics, disruption of business. ACORN forced banks to issue risky home loans. The same types of loans that caused the financial crisis we're in today."
Just to be clear: Poor people, especially people of color, (like those who comprise ACORN) did not cause the 2008 credit crisis. The global practices of investment banks and their deregulators did that. Nonetheless -- blaming people at the bottom rather than those at the top for our economic woes has been around for as long as there have been people at the top making out at others' expense and hoping nobody will notice.
The McCain ad goes on to accuse ACORN of "massive voter fraud," saying the group is under investigation in 11 states "for thousands of potentially fraudulent ACORN (voter registration) forms."
To clarify again: ACORN has registered a stunning 1.3 million voters so far this year. (Not an insignificiant fact in this story.) Most states require all voter applications, even ones with obvious mistakes, to be turned in to election officials. It is that record, flagged and submitted by ACORN, that the GOP attack ads are using. Flawed forms are flagged so they'll be thrown out. No matter what the GOP ads say, "massive voter fraud" has not been perpetrated - because "voter fraud" requires voting.
Raising this specter of "voter fraud" in advance, the GOP is clearly laying the groundwork for delegitimizing a Democratic presidential victory. But ads like these, and the attack on community organizers in general, also serve to demonize exactly those grassroots groups who are working hard this election because they want a voice in the planning of a new direction. The Obama campaign is due to respond. They better speak up strongly in defense of ACORN. A week ago it was Bill Ayers. Now it's ACORN the GOP would have Obama renounce and deny. For their own sake, the entire progressive community should stand up and say enough. The radical Right have no place determining who has a legitimate voice in American politics
Link >>
Laura Flanders - October 14, 2008
Barack Obama's poll numbers are up - and the McCain campaign's gloves are off. This time the GOP's target isn't merely the Democratic candidate -- it's a poor people's group - and if we're not careful, the impact of the targeting may be felt long after the '08 election.
In a new ad running online, the John McCain campaign reprises its attack on commnity organizers. In this case, ACORN. The ads allege that in Chicago, Obama and ACORN were close, and, to quote from the ad: "What did ACORN in Chicago engage in? Bullying banks, intimidation tactics, disruption of business. ACORN forced banks to issue risky home loans. The same types of loans that caused the financial crisis we're in today."
Just to be clear: Poor people, especially people of color, (like those who comprise ACORN) did not cause the 2008 credit crisis. The global practices of investment banks and their deregulators did that. Nonetheless -- blaming people at the bottom rather than those at the top for our economic woes has been around for as long as there have been people at the top making out at others' expense and hoping nobody will notice.
The McCain ad goes on to accuse ACORN of "massive voter fraud," saying the group is under investigation in 11 states "for thousands of potentially fraudulent ACORN (voter registration) forms."
To clarify again: ACORN has registered a stunning 1.3 million voters so far this year. (Not an insignificiant fact in this story.) Most states require all voter applications, even ones with obvious mistakes, to be turned in to election officials. It is that record, flagged and submitted by ACORN, that the GOP attack ads are using. Flawed forms are flagged so they'll be thrown out. No matter what the GOP ads say, "massive voter fraud" has not been perpetrated - because "voter fraud" requires voting.
Raising this specter of "voter fraud" in advance, the GOP is clearly laying the groundwork for delegitimizing a Democratic presidential victory. But ads like these, and the attack on community organizers in general, also serve to demonize exactly those grassroots groups who are working hard this election because they want a voice in the planning of a new direction. The Obama campaign is due to respond. They better speak up strongly in defense of ACORN. A week ago it was Bill Ayers. Now it's ACORN the GOP would have Obama renounce and deny. For their own sake, the entire progressive community should stand up and say enough. The radical Right have no place determining who has a legitimate voice in American politics
Link >>
Ex-GOP Operative in New Hampshire Indicted
Zachary Roth - October 14, 2008
Former Republican operative James Tobin has been indicted for making false statements to the FBI in connection with the bureau's investigation of a phone-jamming scheme in New Hampshire in 2002, according to court filings examined by TPMmuckraker.
Details to follow...
Update: Here's the indictment. It contains two counts, both related to making false statements to the FBI during its investigation into the New Hampshire GOP's effort to jam the phones of the Democratic Party on Election Day 2002.
Read More >>
Zachary Roth - October 14, 2008
Former Republican operative James Tobin has been indicted for making false statements to the FBI in connection with the bureau's investigation of a phone-jamming scheme in New Hampshire in 2002, according to court filings examined by TPMmuckraker.
Details to follow...
Update: Here's the indictment. It contains two counts, both related to making false statements to the FBI during its investigation into the New Hampshire GOP's effort to jam the phones of the Democratic Party on Election Day 2002.
Read More >>
FOX Alert: Hans On the Loose
TPM - 10.14.08
Since last Friday, Fox News has mentioned ACORN 342 times, according to Media Matters. It's all ACORN all the time over there (which by itself should tell you a little bit about the credibility of the allegations of widespread voter fraud).
But I wanted to draw your attention to one of the so-called voting experts Fox has been using lately. Everyone remembers Hans Von Spakovsky, right? He's the former official in the Bush Justice Department who got a recess appointment to the FEC but whose nomination failed to get through the Senate because he's made a career of finding ways to restrict access to the polls.
The politicization of DOJ was wide and deep, and the U.S. attorney firings was just a part. The civil rights division, particularly the voting rights section, was thoroughly politicized. Von Spakovsky was one of the key players in that effort, along with Bradley Schlozman. It was Schlozman who later replaced the ousted U.S. attorney in Kansas City and filed federal charges against ACORN workers there on the eve of the 2006 elections. And so we come full circle.
Last time we checked in with Von Spakovsky, he was being hired by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights where he was to help oversee a report the Commission will produce on the Justice Department's monitoring of this year's election. Here's Von Spakovsky this afternoon on Fox:
Read More >>
TPM - 10.14.08
Since last Friday, Fox News has mentioned ACORN 342 times, according to Media Matters. It's all ACORN all the time over there (which by itself should tell you a little bit about the credibility of the allegations of widespread voter fraud).
But I wanted to draw your attention to one of the so-called voting experts Fox has been using lately. Everyone remembers Hans Von Spakovsky, right? He's the former official in the Bush Justice Department who got a recess appointment to the FEC but whose nomination failed to get through the Senate because he's made a career of finding ways to restrict access to the polls.
The politicization of DOJ was wide and deep, and the U.S. attorney firings was just a part. The civil rights division, particularly the voting rights section, was thoroughly politicized. Von Spakovsky was one of the key players in that effort, along with Bradley Schlozman. It was Schlozman who later replaced the ousted U.S. attorney in Kansas City and filed federal charges against ACORN workers there on the eve of the 2006 elections. And so we come full circle.
Last time we checked in with Von Spakovsky, he was being hired by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights where he was to help oversee a report the Commission will produce on the Justice Department's monitoring of this year's election. Here's Von Spakovsky this afternoon on Fox:
Read More >>
More on the Acorn Scam
Josh Marshall - Talkiing Points Memo
If you have any question what this ACORN/vote fraud con-job is about. Here's an episode of TPMtv from April 2007. It includes video from a speech Karl Rove gave in April 2006 about claims of election fraud. Rove reels off what he calls the "hot spots". And surprise, surprise: half of them are cases where the US Attorneys ended up getting fired, or were slated to be fired. It's all a scam. Take a look.
Josh Marshall - Talkiing Points Memo
If you have any question what this ACORN/vote fraud con-job is about. Here's an episode of TPMtv from April 2007. It includes video from a speech Karl Rove gave in April 2006 about claims of election fraud. Rove reels off what he calls the "hot spots". And surprise, surprise: half of them are cases where the US Attorneys ended up getting fired, or were slated to be fired. It's all a scam. Take a look.
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