In 2000 and 2004, GOP activists misled voters with fake fliers that told democrats that they would vote on Wednesday rather than Tuesday. The fliers have appeared throughout Virginia and the culprit has been identified. However, the state officials have decided not to charge the person responsible.
State Board of Elections Secretary Nancy Rodrigues said Monday the flier bearing the Virginia seal and the elections board logo was simply a joke that got out of control. Officials have refused to release the name or to charge the individual.
I fail to understand how this act, which is a misdemeanor crime, falls under some joke exception with the state. It is hard to dismiss such an act as a joke when it was used for voter suppression in the last two elections. Is there now a laugh test for state officials. If a suppression device makes them giggle, no charges will be brought?
Given the growing failure of Rodrigues and her colleagues to guarantee sufficient staff and machines for this elections, it would be helpful to have more information on why criminal charges were not brought. The message of others is particularly bad: if you suppress votes as a joke, Virginia will give you a humor pass.
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Sally,
This isn’t urban legends. I live in Ohio and I’ve seen these things personally. A professor at the University of Michigan, Walter R. Mebane, Jr. does what he calls, “election forensics”. During 2004 in OH he found: “at least 357,000 voters-an overwhelming majority of them Democratic-were prevented from casting ballots or did not have their votes counted.” The machines really do switch from Democratic candidates to Republican. It’s nearly as miraculous as turning water into wine! See what you think of the site, Election Protection.
Patriot:: Sorry bud, but that sounds a bit like an urban legend.
Going back to the RICO question. Has there been any reports of a voter complaining about their vote for a Republican flipping to a Democrat? All counts that I have read going back to 2004 are about Dem votes flipping to Rep. Is this some crazy coincidence or could there be something much more devious going on over at Diebold? JT, I would love to here your opinion on this.
I’m sorry, but this is just funny. Did anyone hear about the guy who thought he could text message in his vote? What did he think he was voting for, American Idol or something?
None of the elderly people I know would have been foolish enough to fall for the flyer. And first time voters ought to know better if they paid any attention at all in their high school Government class. Everyone knows that you vote on the first Tuesday of November
I would hope that people would call the appropreiate persons in regards to any letters or flyers received regarding any political issues such as this.
Interesting article on DNC Counsel Robert Bauer’s take on ‘fraud’ vs ‘incompetence’…
Also noted, even Oprah’s vote got lost on a touch screen, apparently…
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6607
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I believe it. One of my sibs lives in Chesapeake.
Although I’m not sure there is a comparison, I had the same experience at my polling place in ‘Podunk’ Maine.
We have a Democrat Governor, two Democrat Congressmen – one of whom is running to replace an incumbent Senator’s seat, and presently two ‘bipartisan’ Republican, female Senators.
Also, my state, along with Nebraska, splits its electoral votes by the so called ‘Congressional District Method’.
Josh,
Slate magazine has a small article reporting on what busboy is talking about. I don’t really know much about that magazine, maybe others here do. If this is accurate there could be a problem for Obama, then what Gyges had to say comes into play. I don’t have time to get the link right now but will try to get it later.
Patty C:
I vote in the Lion’s Den–the West End of Richmond–which is staunchly Republican. When I got there this morning at 8:15 am there was no line. I walked right in and voted without any delay. The whole transaction took about 1 minute. If that doesn’t tell you something about the election nothing does.
I would suspect that your votes in earlier recent elections were tossed because of some cross-checking information that didn’t match your voter registration information -like a middle initial or an old address on an outdated driver’s license etc, thereby giving the appearance that you had not voted for a while.
I imagine all Secretaries of States offices have their individual requirements for ID verification listed-somewhere.
I suggest people take official state/city paperwork with accurate info, some recent federal government mailing-from the IRS, for instance, a picture ID, even if it’s expired, a recent utility bill, a bank statement, and possibly even a birth certificate, marriage certificate, or divorce decree.
Be prepared to challenge anyone who tries to give you a provisional ballot. Ask for a determination on the spot and document it.
What else can you do?
Come now JT it’s all in good fun. You might remember how we roared our way through desegregation with our riotous little “massive resistance” plan. Then we chuckled through the civil rights legislation with a little gala known as the filibuster. Even our good Judge Leon Bazile got into the act by judicially establishing that God himself was the omniscient cosmetologist in the sky who separated the races on that basis–though I ‘m not sure he was actually kidding. The comedy show just keeps rolling on year after year playing to packed houses of men in white sheets.
Busboy,
No. And, no. What are you talking about?
Busboy,
Is it your view is that it’s only cheating when the other team does it? If your charges are true, then the people who committed the crime should be held accountable. Just like the people who committed this crime. Or do you think that the ends justify the means?
I want to mention one other thing in Ohio. In the spring we received yellow cards saying we hadn’t voted in past elections and needed to update our info or vote in the small election coming up to stay on the roles. I called the Lucas County Board of Elections to see why we got this notice, given that we had not missed any elections. I was told this was part of HAVA and that they were processing about 90,000 of these cards at one time, more than had ever occurred before.
At that time I called my state rep. who is a Democrat, to tell her what was happening. She didn’t seem to understand why this was a problem (very frustrating conversation). I also called our Sect. of State. She seems to have been trying very hard to protect voters but I am quite concerned about the number of these cards sent out, just in my county. I had a long process to straighten out our records to vote and I don’t see either of our names on the list of eligible voters on the Sect. of State website, even though I have paperwork from the Board of Elections showing us as confirmed voters. I haven’t gone to the polls yet but I do wonder what will happen, both to us, and of course for many others.
And, the fliers are distributed in some areas (Democratic leaning) and not others. In 2004 OH they were distributed by race, meaning in areas with a high concentration of black voters. Voting machines were also allocated by race and party–suburban, Republican leaning counties had far more machines per voter. Well these things just happen–hilarious! Who could have known? Never seen that before and all…this is an outrage on voters.
Jill:
This is precisely why it is so baffling that the election officials would announce that they would not charge over the distribution of such a flyer. It sends an obvious message to other voter suppressors — just keep giggling and say that you never thought anyone would take it seriously.
Frankly, these flyers nailed the most clueless people. However, there are many first time voters, elderly and other voters who have fallen victim to this particular attack.
This happened in OH 2004 (as did the long lines JT talked about in VA). This is a pattern of action that magically occurs in the most contested states. Wasn’t there some talk of a RICO lawsuit?
Three words that will put Obama in jail inside two years: Campaign Finance Violations. Can you say foreign money flooding Obama’s campaign via the internet and credit cards?
Virginia : Bought and Purchased Outright by GOP Fascism
I go to the east coast on business from time to time. I’ll be bypassing Virginia from now on. Thomas Jefferson would be not only deeply ashamed and embarrassed, he’d be angry.
Proving, once again, that to Virginia GOP’ers, democracy itself is just a joke. Welcome to the very Old Dominion.