Yahoo/AP: Tough ID laws could block thousands of 2012 votes

[skinsmarydu]

It is a sneaky way of attempting to rig an election and spits in the face of what a democracy is supposed to stand for. Reminds of the saying "be wary of those who pray loudest," though in this case it's "be wary of those who claim to be real Americans the loudest."

Trust me, my family is praying the loudest, and they're NUTS. They have done everything they can to make sure my neices never see a black person unless it's absolutely necessary, even paying for private schooling and all that. What friggin' job do you think benefits them in Winchester? (Sorry, didn't mean for that to come off as crass, but I grew up there, graduated there, and couldn't count on my future eing there, as much as I would LOVE it now.)

[BRAVEONAWARPATH]

Click on the link to read the rest.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/1...p_ref=politics

True The Vote Barred From Ohio Polling Stations


The right-wing group True The Vote has been prohibited from monitoring elections in voting stations around Columbus, Ohio, and may soon find itself under investigation for fraud, the Columbus Dispatch reported Tuesday.

The Houston-based group, which is dedicated to challenging the legitimacy of voters it considers suspect, had its status as an official vote monitor denied in Franklin County, after the necessary number of candidates to assign poll observers withdrew their support for the group, according to the Dispatch.

Elections officials in Franklin County told the paper that some of application forms requesting observer status for the group's Ohio branch, the Voter Integrity Project, appeared to have supporting names that were falsified or forged.

True The Vote President Catherine Engelbrecht denied the charges in a strongly worded statement and warned the group would be taking legal action.

"This is a final, desperate attempt to deny citizens their right to observe elections," said Engelbrecht. "The Ohio Democratic Party has projected paranoia on an international scale by promoting the idea that concerned citizens would dare observe elections to ensure a fair process. If the Ohio Democratic Party thinks True the Vote-trained poll watchers are legion, wait until it meets our lawyers.”

True The Vote has come under fire lately for appearing to focus its energies largely on minority voters. Last week, ABC News reported that True The Vote had been taking minority voters in Cincinnati to court to force them to prove the validity of their registration, and had plans to send observers to minority-heavy polling areas to confront voters on Election Day.

[Larry]

Seems really late to be making these decisions.

I'm certainly not a fan of targeted disenfranchisement efforts. But it seems reasonable, to me, to require these things be done a long time prior to the election.

[BRAVEONAWARPATH]

Click on the link to read the rest.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/11/0...qYNL4.facebook

NAACP accuses Mississippi country clerk of failing to process thousands of voter registrations


Mississippi NAACP President Derrick Johnson announced at a press conference Tuesday morning that an unknown number of voter registrations have gone missing in Hinds County, Mississippi, and urged voters to cast what is known as an affidavit ballot if they arrive at the polls and find that they are not listed. According to the Jackson Free Press, Johnson made the announcement at a press event promoting the NAACP’s Mississippi voter help line, a service designed to help voters fight irregularities and suspected wrongdoing at the polls.

Recently, the NAACP held a massive voter registration drive, which added some 10,000 new voters to Hinds County registers, but as of Friday, many of the names were not yet listed in the voter registration database.

Hinds County Circuit Clerk Barbara Dunn told the Free Press, “We worked until 5 o’clock Saturday (Oct. 6),” the deadline for voter registrations in Jackson and Hinds County, and that voters whose registrations were not been processed on time do not have any recourse through her office.


The NAACP’s Johnson insisted that his group turned in the registration forms before Oct. 6 and that they should have been processed. The organization has received multiple calls, he said, from voters whose registrations had not been completed.

Dunn has been in office as the county’s Circuit Clerk for 28 years and within the last four years has received three sanctions from the Mississippi Supreme Court. In 2008, she was cited and fined for “failure to comply with the requirements of the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure.

[Larry]

Edited. Need to keep reminding myself that allegations are not necessarily facts.

(Despite the fact that I don't find the allegations completely unbelievable.)

---------- Post added November-6th-2012 at 02:51 PM ----------

Recall reading that, supposedly, after the 2000 Florida election, somebody printed up a bunch of stickers that said "I Think I Voted"

[brandymac27]

Per MSNBC: People in Pinellas County, Florida are getting calls saying the election is tomorrow

[Larry]

Per MSNBC: People in Pinellas County, Florida are getting calls saying the election is tomorrow

It's a common claim.

I wonder if it's true.

(Really ticks me that I'm not sure that it isn't true.)

[mikered30]

Got ID check at poll here in PA.

[skinsmarydu]

It's a common claim.

I wonder if it's true.

(Really ticks me that I'm not sure that it isn't true.)

Hubby told me this about 5 minutes ago, his screen looked like Drudge.

[Larry]

Yahoo: Ex-Republicans claim Fla. GOP suppressed Democratic vote

Former Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer has been claiming for months that state party members engineered a new law to suppress voter turnout, falsely touting voter fraud concerns to advance their mission. Now, other former Republicans and consultants are backing Greer up, The Palm Beach Post reports.

Greer, who is under indictment and accused of funneling campaign funds from the Republican Party, has been claiming that state Republicans supported a law (HB 1355)—which, in part, curtailed early voting—simply as a means to stymie the Democratic vote.

Staff and consultants "never came in to see me and tell me we had a (voter) fraud issue," Greer told the newspaper. "It's all a marketing ploy."

Former Republican Gov. Charlie Crist, GOP consultant Wayne Bertsch and one unnamed consultant now tell the newspaper that state Republicans and consultants were actively seeking ways to suppress Democratic turnout following the 2008 election.

More at link. (Including the usual disclaimers.)

The article Yahoo is pointing at:

Former Florida GOP leaders say voter suppression was reason they pushed new election law
Former GOP chair, governor - both on outs with party - say voter fraud wasn’t a concern, but reducing Democratic votes was.

A new Florida law that contributed to long voter lines and caused some to abandon voting altogether was intentionally designed by Florida GOP staff and consultants to inhibit Democratic voters, former GOP officials and current GOP consultants have told The Palm Beach Post.

Republican leaders said in proposing the law that it was meant to save money and fight voter fraud. But a former GOP chairman and former Gov. Charlie Crist, both of whom have been ousted from the party, now say that fraud concerns were advanced only as subterfuge for the law’s main purpose: GOP victory.

Former Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer says he attended various meetings, beginning in 2009, at which party staffers and consultants pushed for reductions in early voting days and hours.

“The Republican Party, the strategists, the consultants, they firmly believe that early voting is bad for Republican Party candidates,” Greer told The Post. “It’s done for one reason and one reason only. … ‘We’ve got to cut down on early voting because early voting is not good for us,’ ” Greer said he was told by those staffers and consultants.

“They never came in to see me and tell me we had a (voter) fraud issue,” Greer said. “It’s all a marketing ploy.”

Greer is now under indictment, accused of stealing $200,000 from the party through a phony campaign fundraising operation. He, in turn, has sued the party, saying GOP leaders knew what he was doing and voiced no objection.

“Jim Greer has been accused of criminal acts against this organization and anything he says has to be considered in that light,” says Brian Burgess, Florida GOP spokesman since September.

But Greer’s statements about the motivations for the party’s legislative efforts, implemented by a GOP-majority House and Senate in Tallahassee in 2011, are backed by Crist — also now on the outs with the party — and two veteran GOP campaign consultants.

More (much more) at that link, too.

[Hubbs]

So I was reminded of something relevant today, when an appraiser came to take a look at my car, which suffered some damage after being run into in a parking lot. Luckily, I was there and got the other person's information, so his insurance is covering it. The guy arranged to come to my place when it was convenient for me and take a look at the damage for the initial estimate. It seems to me that if we wanted to make sure that getting some form of acceptable photo ID was truly possible for anyone, then some combination of DMV/post offices that were open 24 hours a day (not making all of them stay open for those hours, but at least one in every region of acceptable size within a state) and state officials who would actually go to peoples' listed primary residence and verify their identification information when requested (within a reasonable period of time) would provide everyone with an acceptable way to get a valid ID so long as a basic certified card that grants no other privileges (like driving on public roads) would be provided for free, right?

I know that's not necessarily what these laws were geared toward. I'm not even really making an argument here, just spitballing a possible way to reconcile all of the legitimate desires both camps are offering in this debate. Is there anything that something along the lines I just described would miss?

[FanboyOf91]

Is there anything that something along the lines I just described would miss?

It fails to adequately suppress the minority vote.

(And it costs too much money and resources. But that's not really relevant...)

[Hubbs]

It fails to adequately suppress the minority vote.

(And it costs too much money and resources. But that's not really relevant...)

Costs too much money? Come on. Our unsustainable pension systems cost too much money. The entire health care complex costs too much money. Saying that this would "cost too much money" is like saying that California is going bankrupt because those tourism ads featuring all of the celebrities are just too damn expensive.

[Jumbo]

Saw that one, Larry, and wondered if someone would post it. Kinda quiet in here these days now that the dems have stolen another election with their shady cheating tactics.

[FanboyOf91]

Costs too much money? Come on. Our unsustainable pension systems cost too much money. The entire health care complex costs too much money. Saying that this would "cost too much money" is like saying that California is going bankrupt because those tourism ads featuring all of the celebrities are just too damn expensive.

Look at this big-spender here.

You still haven't explained how it will adequately suppress the minority vote.