| Author
|
Post |
 
|
|
terrybankert
F L I N T O I D
|
Republicans plan to steal the election they cannot win!
I will be part of the program to stop the Republicans on election day from Mt Tabor Church. My plan is to take my lap top and report the day from there.- Terry Bankert attorneybankert@yaho.com
“Voter Protection Program,'' with 1,000 trained lawyers and volunteers to act as challengers. “
Partisan mistrust breeds lots of poll watchers
Thursday, November 02, 2006
By Judy PutnamLansing Bureau
http://www.mlive.com/news/statewide/index.ssf?/base/news-8/1162422602267340.xml&coll=1#continue
LANSING -- If it seems a little crowded in your polling location Tuesday, it may be the extra bodies the Republicans and Democrats are sending to watch the election -- and each other.
Republicans say they plan to deploy some 2,000 poll challengers statewide to check for voter fraud. And Democrats say they'll send 1,000 challengers and hundreds more observers to make sure Republican challengers aren't harassing people, particularly minority voters.
Republicans say they plan to cover about half of the 4,300 polling places with their "Republicans Safeguarding Voter Rights Program.''
"What they basically do is check to make sure a voter is registered and make sure they're in the right precinct," said Sarah Anderson, spokeswoman for the Michigan Republican Party.
A poll challenger is generally appointed by the political parties. Under state law, each party may have two challengers per polling location to watch over the shoulders of election workers. In addition, anyone can observe an election, but they may be restricted to the public areas of the polling location.
Challengers can raise a question with a poll official if they have evidence that a voter isn't registered in that jurisdiction, isn't a U.S. citizen, isn't at least 18 or didn't register in time.
Anderson cited several news reports of possible fraud in 2004, mostly in Detroit, although it was unclear if cases of votes being cast in the name of dead voters were a result of fraud or clerical errors. State officials say there were no documented cases of fraud in that election.
"We've had dead people coming to vote. We've had dogs. We had George W. Bush vote in Flint and his address was an abandoned building, to give one of the more brazen examples,'' Anderson said.
But Democrats say the GOP plan is to intimidate voters, especially in Democratic-leaning urban areas. They cite 2004 news reports about voters who said poll challengers inappropriately asked them for photo identification and told people in line they were in the wrong place.
Democrats have created their own "Voter Protection Program,'' with 1,000 trained lawyers and volunteers to act as challengers.
Terry Bankert
11/3/06 |
|
|
Fri Nov 03, 2006 5:58 am |
|
|
TRB
Guest
|
Voter Suppression Tactics Could Mar 2006 Election, New Publication Finds
11/3/2006 7:00:00 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: National Desk
Contact: Timothy Rusch, 212-389-1407 or trusch@demos.org
NEW YORK, Nov. 3 /U.S. Newswire/ -- In communities across the country, voters could be subject to intimidation and a variety of suppressive tactics meant to keep them from casting a ballot. Demos, a national, non-partisan public policy center, published the details of these potential challenges to voting rights in a new briefing paper this week.
The Voter Intimidation and Vote Suppression briefing paper, part of Demos' Challenges to Fair Elections series highlighting trouble spots and voting rights problems in the '06 election, shows how campaigns to suppress voter turnout take a variety of forms, are often mounted in communities of color, and that many go unnoticed or unchallenged until after it is too late. Even after many documented cases of vote suppression/voter intimidation came to light in the last several elections, few states have enacted clear and effective prohibitions against these abuses.
"It's unfortunate that, in 2006, we need to be so concerned with potential threats to an individual's right to vote from partisan operatives," said Steven Carbo, senior director of the Democracy Program at Demos. "But with so many documented cases of suppression and intimidation in 2004, and recorded abuses already this year in primary elections, we must be as vigilant as ever."
---
The Facts:
Organized misinformation campaigns often target minority communities in the run-up to Election Day.
14,000 Latino residents in Orange Co., California, received a letter in October 2006 warning that it was a crime for immigrants to vote and cautioning that they could be jailed or deported if they went to the polls in November. These are naturalized citizens eligible to vote, as guaranteed by law.
A fictitious "Milwaukee Black Voters League" distributed fliers intended to suppress black voters in largely African- American neighborhoods in 2004. The fliers claimed that voters could not cast a ballot if they had already voted that year or if any family member had been found guilty of a crime. "If you violate any of these laws, you can get ten years in prison and your children will be taken away from you," the flier warned.
A memo on bogus letterhead of the Lake Co., Ohio, Board of Elections was sent to local residents in 2004, stating that registrations submitted through the Democratic Party and the NAACP were invalid.
A bogus advisory purported to be from the Franklin Co., Ohio, Board of Elections in 2004 advised that Democrats were being asked to vote on the day after the November election at their regular polling places, due to heavy voter registration. Republicans would vote on the actual election date. The targeted area, Columbus' near east side, is predominantly African American.
Many states allow partisan operatives to selectively challenge voters at the polls - sometimes resulting in challenges based on voters' race, ethnicity or English-language skills.
Nearly 50 Asian Americans were selectively challenged at the polls as ineligible to vote in a majority-white, Alabama village in August 2004. A Vietnamese American was running for office there. According to his Anglo opponent, "we figured if they couldn't speak good English, they possibly weren't American citizens."
Native American voters were prevented from voting in South Dakota's June 2004 primary after they were asked to provide photo IDs, which were not required under state or federal law.
Voters in African-American neighborhoods in Philadelphia were systematically challenged in 2004 by men carrying clipboards and driving sedans with magnetic signs designed to look like law enforcement insignia.
Partisans in Atkinson County, Georgia obtained a list of Latino registered voters in 2004, and then used it to challenge 95 of the 121 people listed.
The Ohio Republican party challenged approximately 35,000 registered voters from predominantly urban and minority areas in late October 2004.
Widespread challenges to voters' credentials in a current, razor-thin Westchester Co., NY senate race have prompted allegations that communities of color are being targeted.
Partisan operatives often resort to "dirty tricks" in order to depress the votes of the opposing party.
Over 4,000 potential voters in Florida's Leon Co., all students at Florida State and Florida A & M universities, discovered that their party registrations had been switched to Republican and their addresses changed in 2004.
Kerry-Edwards campaign workers in Marion Co., Ohio were accused of making misleading phone calls in five Ohio counties in 2004, directing voters to cast ballots at the wrong polling place.
State agencies have been known to abuse their authority in ways that can suppress the votes of identifiable communities.
Florida was forced to abandon a purge of potential felons from its voter rolls in 2004 after a news report revealed that the removal list included thousands of eligible, primarily African- American voters.
Students at Prairie View A & M University in Texas, a predominantly African-American school, were erroneously challenged as ineligible to vote in local elections by the Waller County district attorney in 2004.
---
The Remedy:
Ongoing voter intimidation and vote suppression reflect the inadequacy of current legal standards and enforcement. States and the federal government must adopt vigorous policies and procedures for preventing these abuses.
1. Arizona, Wisconsin and Missouri have embraced model policies that can help outlaw voter intimidation and vote suppression. They variously prohibit attempts to intimidate voters, the spreading of false information about elections, and efforts to deceive people about the time, place, or manner of elections or voter qualifications. MN and WA also regulate challenges to peoples' voter eligibility.
2. Legislation introduced in 2005 by U.S. Senator Barak Obama (D-Ill.), the Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act, would enhance the investigation of deceptive practices, establish harsh penalties for those found to have perpetrated them, and establish a process for providing full and accurate information to misinformed and intimidated voters.
"States can take several clear steps to ensure that all eligible voters are afforded fair and full access to the voting booth, and they can start by imposing meaningful penalties on those who would suppress and intimidate the electorate," said Brenda Wright, Managing Attorney at the National Voting Rights Institute, an affiliate of Demos. "We need to get tough on those who attempt to abridge the voting rights of their fellow citizens."
To find out more about the voter intimidation and vote suppression or other election-related issues, visit http://www.demos.org to download the 2006 Challenges to Fair Elections briefing paper series or Demos' Election Reform Agenda from the 2006-2007 policy briefing book, Fulfilling America's Promise.
(Previously published briefing papers in this series have examined issues that include: voter ID/ proof of citizenship requirements/fraud allegations; provisional ballots; ballot access for disabled and language-minority voters; felony disfranchisement laws; poll worker training; and the National Voter Registration Act. Upcoming publications will examine: name matching and voter registration databases; campaign finance; and Election Day registration.)
---
Members of the press: to schedule an interview with Miles Rapoport, President of Demos and former Secretary of the State of Connecticut, Steven Carbó, senior director of the Democracy Program at Demos, or Brenda Wright, managing attorney at Demos affiliate the National Voting Rights Institute, please contact Tim Rusch at trusch@demos.org 212-389-1407.
http://www.usnewswire.com/
-0-
U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/ |
|
|
|
Fri Nov 03, 2006 8:41 am |
|
|
TRB
Guest
|
Voter Suppression Tactics Could Mar 2006 Election, New Publication Finds
11/3/2006 7:00:00 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To: National Desk
Contact: Timothy Rusch, 212-389-1407 or trusch@demos.org
NEW YORK, Nov. 3 /U.S. Newswire/ -- In communities across the country, voters could be subject to intimidation and a variety of suppressive tactics meant to keep them from casting a ballot. Demos, a national, non-partisan public policy center, published the details of these potential challenges to voting rights in a new briefing paper this week.
The Voter Intimidation and Vote Suppression briefing paper, part of Demos' Challenges to Fair Elections series highlighting trouble spots and voting rights problems in the '06 election, shows how campaigns to suppress voter turnout take a variety of forms, are often mounted in communities of color, and that many go unnoticed or unchallenged until after it is too late. Even after many documented cases of vote suppression/voter intimidation came to light in the last several elections, few states have enacted clear and effective prohibitions against these abuses.
"It's unfortunate that, in 2006, we need to be so concerned with potential threats to an individual's right to vote from partisan operatives," said Steven Carbo, senior director of the Democracy Program at Demos. "But with so many documented cases of suppression and intimidation in 2004, and recorded abuses already this year in primary elections, we must be as vigilant as ever."
---
The Facts:
Organized misinformation campaigns often target minority communities in the run-up to Election Day.
14,000 Latino residents in Orange Co., California, received a letter in October 2006 warning that it was a crime for immigrants to vote and cautioning that they could be jailed or deported if they went to the polls in November. These are naturalized citizens eligible to vote, as guaranteed by law.
A fictitious "Milwaukee Black Voters League" distributed fliers intended to suppress black voters in largely African- American neighborhoods in 2004. The fliers claimed that voters could not cast a ballot if they had already voted that year or if any family member had been found guilty of a crime. "If you violate any of these laws, you can get ten years in prison and your children will be taken away from you," the flier warned.
A memo on bogus letterhead of the Lake Co., Ohio, Board of Elections was sent to local residents in 2004, stating that registrations submitted through the Democratic Party and the NAACP were invalid.
A bogus advisory purported to be from the Franklin Co., Ohio, Board of Elections in 2004 advised that Democrats were being asked to vote on the day after the November election at their regular polling places, due to heavy voter registration. Republicans would vote on the actual election date. The targeted area, Columbus' near east side, is predominantly African American.
Many states allow partisan operatives to selectively challenge voters at the polls - sometimes resulting in challenges based on voters' race, ethnicity or English-language skills.
Nearly 50 Asian Americans were selectively challenged at the polls as ineligible to vote in a majority-white, Alabama village in August 2004. A Vietnamese American was running for office there. According to his Anglo opponent, "we figured if they couldn't speak good English, they possibly weren't American citizens."
Native American voters were prevented from voting in South Dakota's June 2004 primary after they were asked to provide photo IDs, which were not required under state or federal law.
Voters in African-American neighborhoods in Philadelphia were systematically challenged in 2004 by men carrying clipboards and driving sedans with magnetic signs designed to look like law enforcement insignia.
Partisans in Atkinson County, Georgia obtained a list of Latino registered voters in 2004, and then used it to challenge 95 of the 121 people listed.
The Ohio Republican party challenged approximately 35,000 registered voters from predominantly urban and minority areas in late October 2004.
Widespread challenges to voters' credentials in a current, razor-thin Westchester Co., NY senate race have prompted allegations that communities of color are being targeted.
Partisan operatives often resort to "dirty tricks" in order to depress the votes of the opposing party.
Over 4,000 potential voters in Florida's Leon Co., all students at Florida State and Florida A & M universities, discovered that their party registrations had been switched to Republican and their addresses changed in 2004.
Kerry-Edwards campaign workers in Marion Co., Ohio were accused of making misleading phone calls in five Ohio counties in 2004, directing voters to cast ballots at the wrong polling place.
State agencies have been known to abuse their authority in ways that can suppress the votes of identifiable communities.
Florida was forced to abandon a purge of potential felons from its voter rolls in 2004 after a news report revealed that the removal list included thousands of eligible, primarily African- American voters.
Students at Prairie View A & M University in Texas, a predominantly African-American school, were erroneously challenged as ineligible to vote in local elections by the Waller County district attorney in 2004.
---
The Remedy:
Ongoing voter intimidation and vote suppression reflect the inadequacy of current legal standards and enforcement. States and the federal government must adopt vigorous policies and procedures for preventing these abuses.
1. Arizona, Wisconsin and Missouri have embraced model policies that can help outlaw voter intimidation and vote suppression. They variously prohibit attempts to intimidate voters, the spreading of false information about elections, and efforts to deceive people about the time, place, or manner of elections or voter qualifications. MN and WA also regulate challenges to peoples' voter eligibility.
2. Legislation introduced in 2005 by U.S. Senator Barak Obama (D-Ill.), the Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act, would enhance the investigation of deceptive practices, establish harsh penalties for those found to have perpetrated them, and establish a process for providing full and accurate information to misinformed and intimidated voters.
"States can take several clear steps to ensure that all eligible voters are afforded fair and full access to the voting booth, and they can start by imposing meaningful penalties on those who would suppress and intimidate the electorate," said Brenda Wright, Managing Attorney at the National Voting Rights Institute, an affiliate of Demos. "We need to get tough on those who attempt to abridge the voting rights of their fellow citizens."
To find out more about the voter intimidation and vote suppression or other election-related issues, visit http://www.demos.org to download the 2006 Challenges to Fair Elections briefing paper series or Demos' Election Reform Agenda from the 2006-2007 policy briefing book, Fulfilling America's Promise.
(Previously published briefing papers in this series have examined issues that include: voter ID/ proof of citizenship requirements/fraud allegations; provisional ballots; ballot access for disabled and language-minority voters; felony disfranchisement laws; poll worker training; and the National Voter Registration Act. Upcoming publications will examine: name matching and voter registration databases; campaign finance; and Election Day registration.)
---
Members of the press: to schedule an interview with Miles Rapoport, President of Demos and former Secretary of the State of Connecticut, Steven Carbó, senior director of the Democracy Program at Demos, or Brenda Wright, managing attorney at Demos affiliate the National Voting Rights Institute, please contact Tim Rusch at trusch@demos.org 212-389-1407.
http://www.usnewswire.com/
-0-
U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/ |
|
|
|
Fri Nov 03, 2006 8:41 am |
|
|
Biggie9
F L I N T O I D
|
Thanks, we got it the first time.
From my perspective, there have ALWAYS been election day shenanigans by BOTH sides...study political history.
BOTH SIDES.
My take on it is, one party prefers to challenge the legality of voters, the other party prefers to "create" voters.
Frankly, i think having a valid picture ID ought to be the standard and can't understand how/why people think that is unreasonable. You need it for many other purposes [writing a check, renting a movie, etc].
Voting is a responsibility and a right for CITIZENS. REGISTERED CITIZENS. its a simple safeguard, the first line against voting fraud. Why would you anyone support tainted votes?
Glad both sides are sending eyes and ears into the polling places. Hope they are effective and civil in discharging their responsibilities. |
_________________
Biggie |
|
|
Fri Nov 03, 2006 10:15 am |
|
|
Adam Ford
F L I N T O I D
|
| Terry do you think we should just bring all our dead Republicans to the polls like they have dead Democrats vote in Detroit and maybe even Flint? I know the Republican party has some corruption at the national level but at the local level I don't see Republicans using dead people to sway an election. |
|
|
|
Fri Nov 03, 2006 10:19 am |
|
|
TRB
Guest
|
quote:
Adam Ford schreef:
Terry do you think we should just bring all our dead Republicans to the polls like they have dead Democrats vote in Detroit and maybe even Flint? I know the Republican party has some corruption at the national level but at the local level I don't see Republicans using dead people to sway an election.
Didn't mean to double post. Drivers licesne should do the trick, I agree. The challenger intimidation process only worked the first time. The problem is that Lansing will empty out of young republican staffers who intentionally or unintentionally make the voting process a bad expierence for inner city people and their comments to friends may keep those people from the polls. We will log staffers names and see if they were on the public payroll when they work for the republican party.
The real problem nationally are these electronic voting machines. I agree with the phd on hardball last night that there should be a paper print out to the voter to double check and then kept in a secure box for purpose of recount when, and there will be electronic failures.
Dead people voting, not in the last decade. The problem is spoiled ballots, electronic failures and people not voting. Voting is a privilage. Politics should be fun and rewarding I hope it is for you and everyone should vote.
Right now I am just having too much fun.
Terry Bankert |
|
|
|
Fri Nov 03, 2006 10:56 am |
|
|
TRB
Guest
|
quote:
Adam Ford schreef:
Terry do you think we should just bring all our dead Republicans to the polls like they have dead Democrats vote in Detroit and maybe even Flint? I know the Republican party has some corruption at the national level but at the local level I don't see Republicans using dead people to sway an election.
Didn't mean to double post. Drivers licesne should do the trick, I agree. The challenger intimidation process only worked the first time. The problem is that Lansing will empty out of young republican staffers who intentionally or unintentionally make the voting process a bad expierence for inner city people and their comments to friends may keep those people from the polls. We will log staffers names and see if they were on the public payroll when they work for the republican party.
The real problem nationally are these electronic voting machines. I agree with the phd on hardball last night that there should be a paper print out to the voter to double check and then kept in a secure box for purpose of recount when, and there will be electronic failures.
Dead people voting, not in the last decade. The problem is spoiled ballots, electronic failures and people not voting. Voting is a privilage. Politics should be fun and rewarding I hope it is for you and everyone should vote.
Right now I am just having too much fun.
Terry Bankert |
|
|
|
Fri Nov 03, 2006 10:57 am |
|
|
Biggie9
F L I N T O I D
|
quote:
TRB schreef:
quote:
Adam Ford schreef:
Terry do you think we should just bring all our dead Republicans to the polls like they have dead Democrats vote in Detroit and maybe even Flint? I know the Republican party has some corruption at the national level but at the local level I don't see Republicans using dead people to sway an election.
Didn't mean to double post. Drivers licesne should do the trick, I agree. The challenger intimidation process only worked the first time. The problem is that Lansing will empty out of young republican staffers who intentionally or unintentionally make the voting process a bad expierence for inner city people and their comments to friends may keep those people from the polls. We will log staffers names and see if they were on the public payroll when they work for the republican party.
The real problem nationally are these electronic voting machines. I agree with the phd on hardball last night that there should be a paper print out to the voter to double check and then kept in a secure box for purpose of recount when, and there will be electronic failures.
Dead people voting, not in the last decade. The problem is spoiled ballots, electronic failures and people not voting. Voting is a privilage. Politics should be fun and rewarding I hope it is for you and everyone should vote.
Right now I am just having too much fun.
Terry Bankert
Terry,
Is there an echo where you post from, lol.
Can't agree that dead people haven't voted in the past decade. i think the last election in Detroit, and current voter registration scandal in Kansas City, MO disproves that. The dead do indeed still find a way to rise and register, even when their residence turns out to be a vacant lot or abandoned commercial building.
Guess if one side feels the other side is sneaking in illegals, non-registered and zombies [living dead] they might feel justified to keep a close eye on who shows up. Still, people who feel "intimidated' is in the eye of the beholder and a matter of interpretation. I am sure some people will take offense at the slightest challenge and cry "wolf".
Frankly, I wouldn't mind at all if someone asked me for my license, or voter registration card. Just like I don't mind when a merchant asks to see my license when I use a credit card...they are doing it for my and their protection....to verify the person with my credit card is indeed me.
I'll have more fun when all the crap both sides are slinging on TV, radio, phone calls and the mail cease next week. |
_________________
Biggie |
|
|
Fri Nov 03, 2006 2:39 pm |
|
|
vote 11/7
Guest
|
| It is important to vote 11/7/06. Tell your friends this weekend |
|
|
|
Fri Nov 03, 2006 6:05 pm |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Register
Profile
FlintTalk.com Forum Index
> Political Talk
