And further proof that there are good guys and bad guys in all walks of life, and both sides of the political fence.
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ELECTION: MAKE SURE YOU’RE ON THE LIST
The election countdown is ticking. As we’re getting closer to D-Day, more and more allegations of planned, attempted, or successfully conducted election fraud are making headlines nationwide.
One of the more interesting schemes we’ve seen was discovered by KLAS, a Las Vegas TV station, two weeks ago. A private voter registration company named Voters Outreach of America, which presented itself as non-partisan group, set up volunteers in front of malls and government buildings, soliciting voters to register. But then, out of site of the newly registered, the organization allegedly picked through the registrations and tore up and trashed those for Democrats. Hundreds, and maybe thousands of registration forms we’re thus disposed of. Eric Russell, a former employee of Voters Outreach, spilled the beans, telling KLAS investigative reporter George Knapp that he witnessed his supervisors destroying forms. Even though Russell’s testimony was dismissed by the company as that of “a disgruntled ex-employee”, others have since come forward with similar stories.
Patricia Barker, who worked as a voter registrar directly for the Republican party, said she was explicitly instructed what to do with a Democratic registration form: “Dispose of it or bring it back here and we will dispose of it.”
The same gambit reportedly occurred in Oregon, with the incidents again connected to Voters Outreach and their parent company Sproul & Associates, which has received ‘consulting fees’ of $500,000 from the Republican party during this election cycle. Voters Outreach is said to have also set up registration drives in Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, and Florida (incidentally all swing states). Allegedly, they also have appeared under the name “America Votes!”
So if you’re leaning towards the left, live in one of the above states and have registered or re-registered to vote outside a mall, grocery store or government building, you may want to make sure that your registration hasn’t ended up in the round file.
If you are properly registered, you should receive a voter registration card that will indicate your polling place. If you haven’t received anything by election week, call your Town Clerk or local Voter Registrar Office. Some cities provide websites or special phone numbers to check on your voting status.
The state of Nevada has strongly advised newly registered voters to call the Clark County Election Department (455-VOTE) or check the county’s website to avoid nasty surprises on Election Day. Unfortunately, you will not be able to re-register if you’re a Clark County resident–a respective motion was denied by a district court judge last week.
All of this virtually assures that, if President Bush wins, there will be a tidal wave of class-action lawsuits from Democratic and/or civil rights groups after November 2.
In fact, the Democratic National Committee has already assembled an army of 10,000 lawyers waiting on the side lines to swarm out across the country on Election Day. Several post-election “SWAT teams” are also going to be deployed. And according to AlterNet, “a coalition of liberal, nonpartisan groups […] will be sending lawyers and law students to key precincts in unprecedented numbers - 2,000 in Florida alone. Their T-shirts and signs will bear the message ‘Having trouble voting? Call us.’ They will carry disposable cameras to record infractions.”
One savvy observer of our acquaintance predicts that instead of the Supreme Court having to rule on an election controversy in one state, this time around it might very well have to rule in four or more states… and that we won’t know who the next president is until after the New Year.
The sad reality is that we live in an age of extreme polarization, where people of principle and civility are almost entirely absent from the political process. The coming election will almost certainly not be America’s finest hour.
I hate to read stuff like this and really hope that it is somehow not true. This is a violation of every americans basic voting rights and in my opinion is a crime punishable by life in prison. You just do not screw with someones right to vote. This is the type of crap that makes governments look really bad and sours me to the point of wanting to do something just to spite them.
Vegita ~ Prince of all Sayajins