Suppress the Vote? [Fla police intimidating elderly black absentee voters]

[truthisfreedom]

mods: i realize this piece is labeled "op/ed" but if you read it you'll see it's basically a series of facts and should really have been a story. i think it's important enough to bend the rules for this one, but make up your own mind.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/16/opinion/16herbert.html?hp

Suppress the Vote?
By BOB HERBERT

Published: August 16, 2004
<snip>

State police officers have gone into the homes of elderly black voters in Orlando and interrogated them as part of an odd "investigation" that has frightened many voters, intimidated elderly volunteers and thrown a chill over efforts to get out the black vote in November.

<snip>

The vile smell of voter suppression is all over this so-called investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Joseph Egan, an Orlando lawyer who represents Mr. Thomas, said: "The Voters League has workers who go into the community to do voter registration, drive people to the polls and help with absentee ballots. They are elderly women mostly. They get paid like $100 for four or five months' work, just to offset things like the cost of their gas. They see this political activity as an important contribution to their community. Some of the people in the community had never cast a ballot until the league came to their door and encouraged them to vote."

Now, said Mr. Egan, the fear generated by state police officers going into people's homes as part of an ongoing criminal investigation related to voting is threatening to undo much of the good work of the league. He said, "One woman asked me, 'Am I going to go to jail now because I voted by absentee ballot?' "

<snip>

[ParanoidPat]

1. Electile dysfunction! No wonder Florida is shaped that way.

Just when you think you've seen it all.....:mad:

:kick:

[4morewars]

2. I am alerting the Kerry people of this today

As soon as business hours begin, we need to call them and see if we can get their lawyers on this. This has got to be stopped.

[FreakinDJ]

5. I hope you do PLEASE

and while you are at it, please post the name and address of the UN/International monitoring committe that will be monitoring our elections.

I think I would like to write them a letter and tell the that piece of shit Jeb Bush is attempting to fix the election again for his fucking worthless brother

[4morewars]

6. Do it !!!

I'm calling my congress critters office as well. We can't let this ashole steal it AGAIN !!! This country can't take 4 more years of this nonsense.

[Tight_rope]

3. Those fucking scumbag pieces of shit need to leave law-abiding

citizens alone...Just like the useless FBI fucking with folks they "THINK" will be protesting in NYC. I'm really starting to hate this country and all it "CURRENTLY" stands for.

I swear the US is going "STRAIGHT TO HELL".

[DavidFL]

4. Wow, Florida is really as close to a third world country...

as you can get in the U.S. I've seen many signs indicating this since coming here, but this really helps to confirm it for me. Just what exactly is the FDLE supposed to do anyway when Jeb is not using it like a banana republic dictator would a secret police force?

Is there a politician in this State not embarassed enough by things like this to do something about it? I have quite a few friends who would like to move here because of the weather and cost of living, but when they hear about things like this, they refuse to come here until they see progress.

[4morewars]

7. Call your congress critter !!!!

Make noise. Tell all your friends. We can't let them get away with it.

[deacon]

8. It's an outrage-- Include this in your email to CNN this morning n/t

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Maddy McCall]

10. Wow! It only took 4 posts for you to completely out yourself.

You blame Clinton for "raping" the military.
You equate protesters to dopeheads.
Now you say that black Americans are the leading perpetrators of voter fraud.

You are wrong on all three points, but, especially on your last point, I would assert that, no, most of the people involved in voter fraud in the 2000 election were white, blue-blooded Republicans.

Tsk-tsk for you.

[tkmorris]

11. Bullhockey

These are outrageous claims you make, and you provide no evidence whatsoever. Show me evidence that any black community in Florida has ever registered more than 100% turnout.

The police are attempting to frighten black voters into not voting and you SUPPORT IT!?!? I imagine Rosa Parks put a whole hive full of bees in your bonnet didn't she?

[tom_paine]

12. Bushevik Voter Fraud = no investigation

Legal Democratic Activities = highly investigable

My Lord, Imperial Amerika is SUCH a Third World Country, albeit a wealthy one.

They are performing the same bullshit they did in 2000...and MORE.

[hippywife]

14. Such as this little trick

they tried to pull in Florida on unsuspecting immigrants at their naturalization ceremony.

http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=3616703


This only goes to prove that they have nothing going for them if they have to stoop to cheating to win. They know if the truth be known far and wide among ALL Americans, they not only would lose, they would be prosecuted. As it should be.

[tom_paine]

13. Kick

[iconoclastic cat]

15. Now is the perfect time to start screaming about this.

Think about it: Jeb is very visible, and he'll have cameras in his face. The Shrub is down there today, too isn't he?

Start making a lot of noise, and this crap may actually make the news along with the storm story.

[Nimrod]

16. Get yer tinfoil hats here!

Okay, is it me, or is Florida starting to look like a testing ground? The sheer amount of political flotsam burying that particular state is getting too large to be a coincidence.

"Mr (chuckle) President, our boys have come up with a bunch of new ideas on how to bring about the Bush World Order. Some of them seem pretty blatant though and we're not sure if the new Fourth Branch can properly spin this under the rug. Do you think Jeb could squeeze these into his testing schedule so we can get the bugs worked out in time for the nationwide implementation?"

[struggle4progress]

17. Looks like the now-classic Republican "huff'n'puff" play:

Mulvaney says he deserves a run-off election. But no evidence justifies his claim. So he files a lawsuit, complains to FDLE, has supporters drum up the noise level with accusations which are reported as fact, and gets the lawsuit put on hold during the FDLE "investigation." The noise conveniently hides the fact that FDLE officers are flashing side-arms at elderly voters and inappropriately threatening them with arrest for voter fraud.


NINTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT, ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA
CASE NO.: 48-2004-CA-2538-O

... Mulvaney contends that had the absentee ballots not been included in the total vote, he would have been entitled to a run-off election against Dyer. That is, with the inclusion of the absentee ballots, he claims that Dyer avoided a run-off election by a margin of 234 votes ...

http://www.ninja9.org/publications/Rulings/Mulvaney/Mulvaney%20Order.htm


South Florida Journal, June 1 2004
Vol 4 Number 22, page 5
... On Monday, Mulvaney and third-place finisher Lawanna Gelzer presented the FDLE with statements from voters alleging fraud. A subpoena then was served upon the elections office Thursday, Rodriguez said. "I'm hoping that the FDLE has more information than I got and possibly have enough information to make the claims I've made credible -- that there was some sort, which I believe, of voter fraud ," Mulvaney told Local 6 News ...
http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:wNujhE0l5ZsJ:www.southfloridajournal.com/Adobe%2520Pdf%2520Files/Vol%25204%2520Number%252022%2520%2520June%25201%2520%25202004...pdf+firefighters+Dyer+Mulvaney&hl=en&ie=UTF-8


Accusations of Voter Intimidation in Fla.
July 16, 2004 10:20 p.m. EST
By MIKE BRANOM, Associated Press Writer

... Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents revealed their sidearms while contacting people whose absentee ballots are under question, Voter Protection Coalition spokeswoman Alma Gonzalez said Friday ... The coalition is asking the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights to conduct a formal investigation, Gonzalez said ...
Mulvaney and another defeated candidate allege Dyer aide Ezzie Thomas and others filled out multiple absentee ballots on the black community's behalf and tampered with other ballots ... Their civil suit is on hold while the FDLE presents evidence to a grand jury.

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/cgi-bin/news/newsbrief.cgi?id=1090030887&fa=1


The election that won't die
http://www.orlandoweekly.com/news/story.asp?ID=4391

[steph_in_az]

18. You have got to be kidding!!!

This makes me want to get out and volunteer...

Thank GOD we have men like Howard Dean that know and are not afraid to speak up and say the only way to get our country back is to get back to the basics...The People! Remember, We The People...And he does it proudly and in the open, instead of this weak attempt committed by these right wing conservatives to bully people. I'm sorry to say, but Republicans as a whole are starting to make me sick. I feel Bush has given every run of the mill Republican a ticket to cheat, lie and steal..I remember Clinton doing the same thing with a blow job, but at least it was really about getting screwed, verses this backdoor approach!!!
Where is Kenneth Starr now!!!!

[faithnotgreed]

19. i emailed bob herbert last night to say thanks. hope others have

this is amazing that its even printed considering what were used to. heres my email to him fwiw


i could cry reading your op-ed article regarding the (repeated) suppression of african american votes in florida

i literally cannot believe this is happening. oh, i sadly believe that florida, and our government, is involved in many things with the "vile stench" of which you speak;
what i cannot believe is that i am actually reading about it in the mainstream press. i am not being dramatic when i say that this does not seem real, after all that has happened that goes unreported. every single day.

i truly wish i had words to thank you for writing this. and for the new york times for printing this.

we must break the chains that are being woven around our constitutional necks. and we must all stand together as americans to do our moral and national duty on november 2nd.

maya angelou told us, "let your light shine america. let it shine".

for all who have been and all who will be, we do this for you.

God bless you sir.

[jwirr]

22. Bob Herbert

This man is a real patriot. Unlike many of the regulars his op-ed columns have been telling it like it is from the start. I have been thanking him for ages now.

[jwirr]

20. Electronic voting!

Just wanted to ask, while we are hearing talk about this all the time, we never hear that anyone is doing anything to stop it. I know that the NAACP sued the state of Florida regarding the deletion of voters via their purge list but I do not know of any other specific actions. Also I understand that the same company that purged Florida's list in 2000 has been hired to do the same in other states - Pennsylvania, for one. We can only act if we know what is already being done. Ideas?

[Warren DeMontague]

21. Covered This on my Blog Today. Kick!!!!

http://impeachdubya.blogspot.com