Crock the Vote

UPDATED 10/31/08 6:30 AM - WITH NEW INFORMATION ON MD, VA, NH & IN.

So…we are the world’s greatest democracy? Then I sure as hell feel sorry for the folks in Lebanon, Georgia, the Ukraine and Iraq. In America, the so-called “world’s greatest democracy,” the populace is supposed to wield supreme power through the electoral process. Riiiiight. And if you believe that, you probably also believe that Barack Obama is a Muslim…and Kay Hagan is an atheist (but more on that later).

For those of you keeping score…and you should ALL be keeping score, I will provide information and links to stories of voter suppression, election shenanigans and other methods employed by our revered political parties to defraud Americans of their power and rights.

By the way - if you want to add to this list, or learn of something I've missed (and I'm sure there is a lot out there) feel free send me a note or leave a comment.

North Carolina
We start in North Carolina, home of Senator Elizabeth Dole. Lizzy is currently running an ad that would make Lee Atwater blush. In it, she accuses her opponent, Kay Hagan, of being a godless atheist (isn’t that redundant?). It is one of the ugliest ads I’ve seen…and, as you probably expect, completely off base. Hagan, as it turns out, is an elder at her Presbyterian church, in addition to being a Sunday school teacher. Liz Dole should be ashamed.

As for the election, some are predicting that as many as 100,000 voters in NC can expect to be disenfranchised due to confusing ballots…and legal maneuvering by the RNC. If you vote for a straight party line, your ballot automatically precludes you from choosing a president. That must me done separately. Unfortunately for the elderly, poor and new voters…this information is not being widely publicized. And instead of making it easy for Americans to vote…North Carolina is doing their best to exclude citizens from the process. The problem also occurred in 2004…so this is not some new development. It just happened to work in the Republican’s favor then…and they hope that it will again this year.

Colorado
In Colorado, more than 30,000 voters have been illegally purged by republican Secretary of State Mike Coffman. A suit was filed against Coffman that claims voters have been removed from the rolls based on a faulty system for identifying illegitimate voters, and within 90 days of the election -- both of which violate the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

Florida
Republican secretary of state Kurt Browning has enacted a scheme to reject voter registration applications that failed to pass an overly rigid computer match test. The system disqualifies voters based on nothing more than a missing middle initial on their voter form. In EARLY VOTING alone, more than 12,000 voters have been prevented from casting a ballot.

A man in Florida is posing as a Democratic volunteer for a congressional candidate, in reality he is a consultant of the republican incumbent, he is taking ballots from Democrats and promising to deliver them. Guess what? Those ballots are now harder to find than Jimmy Hoffa.

Indiana
The state GOP sued to shut down early voting centers in predominantly black cities in the northern part of the state.

Furthermore, the republican mayor's office in Indianapolis has moved 31 voting locations after learning that Obama had a clear lead in local polling. He has made no effort to notify citizens about the changes.

Maryland
The Washington Post obtained instructions from the GOP on how to intimidate both voters and election officials:

"A recently distributed guide for Republican poll watchers in Maryland spells out how to aggressively challenge the credentials of voters and urges these volunteers to tell election judges they could face jail time if a challenge is ignored."

Just let them try to challenge my vote.

Michigan
Ever heard of voter caging? Neither had I, until this election. But in Michigan it turns out that republicans are going after victims of the housing crisis and a horrible economy…trying to purge them from voter rolls.

Montana
Republicans challenged the eligibility of 6,000 people in democratic-leaning counties, based on discrepancies in their addresses. After it emerged that one of the challenged voters was a World War II veteran and another a member of the Army Reserve about to ship out to Kuwait, the move was condemned by Montana republicans. The challenge was ultimately withdrawn and the man behind, it, Jacob Eaton, the GOP’s executive director, quit.

New Hampshire
I may just have to move to New Hampshire! They have made it a Class B felony to suppress votes. I guess they mean it when they say "Live free, or die!"

New Mexico
New Mexico republicans held a press conference to release the names of ten voters it alleged to have voted fraudulently in the June Democratic primary. ACORN helped establish that the voters, almost all Hispanic, were in fact legitimate. As it turns out, GOP lawyer Pat Rogers hired a private investigator who intimidated some of the voters by going to their homes to question them about their voting status. Rogers, the private investigator and the state party are now being sued for voter intimidation by several voting-rights groups.

Let us not forget that New Mexico is the home of David Iglesias, the republican states attorney who lost his job for not following republican mandates to bring baseless charges of voter fraud in 2004. It is well documented in his book, In Justice. Here’s more about Pat Rogers and his role in the firing of Iglesias.

Ohio
Well documented by Robert F. Kennedy and others for the nefarious actions of the RNC in 2004, Ohio will certainly be a battleground state in more than one sense. Republicans are already mobilizing to challenge the legitimacy of Democratic voters. Hopefully this time around the Democrats will be better prepared.

Pennsylvania
More legal shenanigans. The state GOP is suing to throw out more than 140,000 registrations collected by ACORN. You might remember them from John McCain’s sober warning that they might represent the greatest threat ever known to democracy? Yeah, right. Lest we all forget…it’s only VOTER fraud when someone actually tries to vote illegally. And it is well documented that this is an infinitesimal proportion of votes actually cast. The republicans’ hope to through out hundreds of thousands of legitimate registrations…in order to catch the one or two that might sneak through.

Virginia
This one would be funny…if there weren’t so many gullible people in America. A flier is being circulated advising Democrats to vote on November 5th. All those pesky new registrants have created such havoc, that election officials have decided that Republicans will vote, as planned, on the 4th…but Democrats will have the luxury of an added day. Oddly enough, I got several e-mails to this effect in both of the last two elections. I guess they confused enough people that Republicans decided to try it again this year.

On a more serious note, the NY Times is reporting that GOP election officials are trying to intimidate students from voting in Virginia (where they are attending college). The GOP release warned that students could no longer be claimed as dependents on their parents’ tax returns, a statement the Internal Revenue Service says is incorrect, and could lose scholarships or coverage under their parents’ car and health insurance. Neither claim is true - but that isn't stopping the GOP from trying to suppress votes in a State that is seen as crucial to a McCain victory.

Here is an article from 2006 on republican tactics in the old dominion, lest you think these shenanigans are restricted solely to this election.

West Virginia
This is the one that keeps me up at night. Electronic voting that can be easily manipulated by most computer geeks with a GED and an axe to grind. In WV, voters selected Barack Obama, only to have their vote flipped to John McCain. Pollsters comforted them by saying, “don’t worry…I’m sure your vote was counted.” But that is cold comfort for someone already burned in 2000 (Florida) and 2004 (Ohio). This is one on which to keep an eye…because the power isn’t in how many votes are cast, but who counts them (and how).

Wisconsin
After failing in an attempt to purge new voter registrations, republican attorney general J.B. Van Hollen announced the formation of a "voter fraud task force" which involves stationing 50 state prosecutors and other law-enforcement agents at the polls on election day. This is clearly a move to intimidate voters. Is that what our democracy is all about???

Believe me, this is just the tip of the iceberg. This doesn’t even include the restrictive voter ID laws and other tactics employed by the ironically named “American center for voting rights.” It doesn't include Diebold - whose machines (and political leanings) are still very much in play EIGHT years after they helped to steal the election in Florida.

I’ll update this as more news trickles in…but there is SO much out there already…it could turn into a full time job. And frankly, the more it piles up, the more depressed I get. And the more sure I am that Republicans will stoop to anything to maintain power. Even if it means putting our democracy into a meat grinder.

Other articles of note:
From the Brennan Center for Justice, a paper on voter caging.
From the Minneapolis Star Tribune, an article on voter suppression.
From the Daily Nation another article on voter suppression.