(no subject)

[mangosteen]

Voter Registrations Possibly Trashed

A private voter registration organization was registering people to vote, then throwing ones away that didn't check off "Republican".
It turns out they were funded by the GOP.

Right now, the emotion I'm working on is "disgusted".

Beyond that, an open letter to whoever made the decision to selectively trash registrations:

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Dear Sir/Madam,
Precisely what were you thinking when you were comitting election fraud? Was it that you were going to win one for them team at all costs? Was it that you hoped to be rewarded later? What were you thinking when you willfully and knowingly committed a felony? Was it your belief in this country? Its people? It's electoral system? I'm presuming that's not the case, else why you would keep the citizens of this country from voting? Then again, maybe you were one of those kids who was taught early on that winning is the only goal, and fairness is for people who don't win. Maybe you were the goon on the soccer team whose only goal was to take people out, even if it meant you got red-carded. You see, I used to be that goon, but then I got out of high school. I was tired of being the pawn used to beat up other people for the "glory" of my team. I got tired of only ten minutes of play, the bruising, suspension from the game, and threats from other kids. In short, I grew up. I don't know what righteous fantasy you think you're living out now by rigging an election for "your team", but the red-card is jail time, and you don't get to play for 1-4 years¹. In short, I pity you. Have a nice life.

Sincerely,
Elias K. Mangosteen

¹ Nevada Revised Statutes, section 293.5045

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Comments

[obra.livejournal.com]

Forwarded to the liberal mainstream media in oregon.

[nisaa.livejournal.com]

I helped register people to vote last night. While I was happy to see that all two of them were registering as Democrats, I was just glad they were registering, regardless of their party choice. I also made sure that I personally mailed the registration cards since I had to sign my name and give my address for their receipt in case it gets lost or something. It was possibly one of the most responsible and important things I've ever done. I was slightly terrified up until I dropped them in the mailbox this afternoon.

[jim-p.livejournal.com]

The Republicans discovered, even as early as the 2000 elections, one important fact: the elections aren't the Olympics. They don't strip you of your medals after the fact. If you make it across the goal line before the referee blows the whistle, you've won. It doesn't matter how many fouls you committed along the way. The trick is to keep the referee distracted enough (i.e. keep cases like this out of court or tie them up in twisted legal proceedings) long enough to get across the goal line (i.e. have the election and the votes counted). Once you're sworn in, tough noogies for the opponent; you're IN.

I'm surprised few others seems to have figured this out yet.

[kalimar.livejournal.com]

Actually they discovered that the worst that happens tot hem for committing various election-related crimes (intimidation, outright fraud, etc) is that they get fined some minimal amount of money. And they discovered it well before the 2000 elections. In predominantly non-white areas they discovered a long time ago that having people walking around in suit with clipboards and warning people that "they can be arrested at the polls" if they are remotely on the gray side of the law (outstanding tickets, etc) and that they need to bring various forms of identification in order to vote was effective at keeping the residents of those areas from going to the polls.

What really needs to happen is that when a party (any party) is found to be guilty of election-related meddling (intimidation, fraud, etc) candidates of that party should be banned outright from the next election.

[ceo]

Problem with that is, it's incredibly hard to prove that the party itself was involved, and it's vulnerable to even nastier abuses. You KNOW that the Republicans would then proceed to engage in all sorts of election fraud on behalf of the Democrats in an attempt to get them banned from the next election.

I think there need to be two reforms:

• Get everything related to elections out of the hands of elected or otherwise partisan officials. I couldn't BELIEVE it was legal for Katherine Harris to be Bush's FL campaign chair and also be in charge of the election.
  
• MAJOR JAIL TIME for people convicted of election fraud. Some of Tom Delay's cronies in TX are facing possible life sentences for their shenanigans.

One of the biggest problems is that a lot of people, even after 2000, still have it in their heads that electoral fraud is something that just doesn't happen here.

[vatine]

Is there any reason why one has to flag a "party affiliation" on registering to vote? I mean, any *good* erason? The only thing I can see is getting a rough idea of expected voter turn-out (sort of a "free idea of whee the weather is") so the relevant patries can concentrate on swing districts.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

in most states, you have to declare a party affiliation so you can vote in that party's primary elections.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

check out the printing error in http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mlafler/ballot.jpg

think you're voting for kerry? or are you voting for bush?

[mangosteen]

Yeah. Saw that one.
Now, It might just be a honest printing error, and new ballots have been sent out since then. There are two other possibilities, though.

1) The GOP is desperate enough to get really ham-fisted about how they manipulate the election.

2) The GOP is arrogant enough to think/know they can get away with it.

[bedfull-o-books.livejournal.com]

I vote for number 2.... Fuckers. They are all fuckers.

[fes42.livejournal.com]

And people wonder why the US senators asked the UN election observers to come in and watch. Now if we could only have them in EVERY state.

[sethg]

It's not just in Nevada.