Sec. of VA State Board of Elections Finds Widespread Incidents of Voter Suppression

[JMDEM]

Newswire Services
November 6, 2006
Threats of Incarceration, Changed Polling Locations, and Fliers to “Skip the Election.”

Over the past several days, voters throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia have filed complaints of incidents aimed at suppressing voter turn out in heavily Democratic and African American neighborhoods. Today, the Secretary of the Virginia State Board of Elections Jean Jensen concluded that the incidents appear widespread and deliberate.


“There are now credible reports from multiple jurisdictions around the Commonwealth that establish a pattern of dirty tricks being employed to confuse and frustrate Virginia's voters from exercising their right to vote tomorrow. In addition to reports that have been received by the Democratic Party of Virginia, these local election officials have been receiving reports from concerned voters,” said Jack Young, co-chair of Promote the Vote.

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=16105

[Glimmer of Hope]

1. What the hell! Who is doing this? They need to be exposed and arrested.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

14. "Who is doing this?"

Let me think.

[David Dunham]

2. Gov. Kaine should take action to stop these calls and go after those at fault.

[maryallen]

22. Yep, if the National Guard could be used to integrate schools,

it seems as though it could be used to assure fair voting procedures.

Oh, wait ... the Guard is no longer called up at the discretion of state governors; that privilege has been usurped by the President.

Well, that'll never happen ...

You're on your own voters:
At the mercy of hackable machines, plagued by purged voting rolls, long lines, and questionable identification measures. You're assaulted by dirty tricksters, hounded by robo-calls, and threatened with arrest for being registered in two locales. Your voting precincts are moved in the dead of night and new registrations are lost in the mail.

Nevertheless, go out there and give it your best shot: TRY TO VOTE!

[JMDEM]

3. Similar story at DailyKos

There is a similar story at DailyKos:

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/6/161948/452

[JMDEM]

4. Even Tucker Carlson is discussing it

According to Tucker Carlson just now on MSNBC, it appears that the GOP is falling back on that golden chestnut voter suppression to pull out the high-stakes Virginia senate race. Flyers are being distributed in heavily Democratic and African-American neighborhoods claiming that the election is off. The flyers say "paid for by the RNC."

There also appear to be widespread reports of calls saying that voting will lead to arrest, or that polling places have changed, as well as problems with Webb's name on various state ballots.

Said Tucker's guest, GOP strategist Frank Donatelli: "I am very confident that the RNC would not do anything associated with voter suppression."

http://www.firedoglake.com/

[David Dunham]

5. The Dems should have hearings on this after winning the House

The Dems will have subpeona power as the majority party in the House and Senate too.

[JMDEM]

6. Too late then for Webb if he is ripped off

Have you ever heard of an election being overturned because of dirty tricks? This needs to be stopped NOW!

Outside of Tucker's piece, the MSM is ignoring this stuff. It needs to get on the news TONIGHT.

[maryallen]

24. In '04, it was too late for John Kerry ...

In '02, it was too late for Max Cleland ...

In 2000, it was too late for Al Gore ...

Where does it all end?

When does the Democratic party draw the line in the sand?

When do the American people ...?

[superconnected]

39. Thats where you have to make a choice - to believe that

many dem politicians 1. are blind and dumb, 2. have no backbone, or 3. are BOUGHT.

I think the most likely factor is number 3 and that's why some dem politicans don't stand up against the corruption. Like a prize fighter being paid to go down. They're part of it.

[meuniermr]

40. Star Wars says it all...

<>

[Ezlivin]

12. If the vote is suppressed and the Democrats DON'T WIN what then?

If the RNC can do voter suppression and voting machine tampering, the "opposition" party may never come into power or sufficient power to do anything.

And the scary thing is that many people in this country would not find it odd that the Republicans stay in power; they would be convinced that most people think as they do and vote accordingly.

[SnowGoose]

7. Does it strike anyone else as odd that the flyers say "paid for by RNC"?

It's not that I don't think they're actively trying to suppress voter turnout by every means at their disposal, from slimy and barely legal to outright felonious.

It's that these kind of tricks are usually orchestrated through some intermediate group, like the swiftboat asswipes.

When I hear that these blatantly wrong fliers actually say "paid for by the RNC", my suspicion is tweaked. Suspicion of what, I'm not sure, but I can't see why they would be so upfront about it ~ forthrightness is not exactly their style.

[JMDEM]

8. Hmmm... this is odd

Unless whoever printed the flyers had a Dem printing them!

[ldf]

21. unless the rnc

wants the fliers out there to stir things up, scare those who may be scared by that tactic, and wants to make it look like the DEMS did it.

they realize it would look absolutely foolish to print them themselves with "printed by the rnc" on them, UNLESS they WANTED everyone to think that the DEMS did it as a trick to make the repubs look bad.

it is right up rove's ass, i mean alley.

they will do absolutely anything to stay in power.

our job is not allow it.

:grr:

[Borgnine]

37. This reminds me of something...

"But it's so simple. All I have to do is divine from what I know of you: are you the sort of man who would put the poison into his own goblet or his enemy's? Now, a clever man would put the poison into his own goblet, because he would know that only a great fool would reach for what he was given. I am not a great fool, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you. But you must have known I was not a great fool, you would have counted on it, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me."

[Erechtheides]

11. yeah

that doesn't smell right, somehow.

[PermanentRevolution]

17. Good way to hide their guilt...

They can point to it and say "Hey! If we were trying to illegally supress votes, would we print that we were responsible at the bottom of the flier?" And everyone will go "Hmm, of course not. It must've been the Democrats trying to frame the GOP for it!" And suddenly, we're having to defend ourselves against allegations that are impossible to prove or disprove. Again.

[LiberalFighter]

19. Need to do some investigating to determine the printing company involved

I know that there are high end color laser printers that print an almost invisible code to help law enforcement determine who is counterfeiting money.

I know some printing companies print a logo indicating the type of trade doing the work. For those that don't print this logo what other way is there to determine the printing company involved in the production?

[Kolesar]

42. Odd in every respect. eom

[Laelth]

30. Yeah, right.

I am very confident that Frank Donatelli is a liar!

:mad:

-Laelth

[JMDEM]

9. Can we crank up some sort of media alert on this?

If this could get to the news before tomorrow it would be nice -- if the MSM would even touch it.

[spooky3]

10. link didn't work for me

[dipsydoodle]

27. I tried this morning at 10am GMT

sometimes it works and sometimes it don't - it's worth persisting.

[Gman]

13. The calls are from out of state

so they can't be prosecuted in VA.

[LostinVA]

16. I was told this evening they could be prosecuted in VA

I had one earlier today.

[MGD]

15. I was thinking that Pelosi was right to take impeachment off the table but if they're going

to keep pulling this shit, I for one am fully on board with putting it back on the table. We need to send a powerful message to those who illegaly disenfranchise others and those who allow it via hearings and prison sentences. What's more, I think in states that require picture ID for voting, a state ID should be free of charge to anyone who wants one because they are disenfranchising poor/homeless people with this requirement.

[humbled_opinion]

20. You can get an Amen on that one brother.

[marions ghost]

28. they do this

all the time. It's nothing new, and it continues because nobody cares enough to try to stop it.

Obviously it's a favorite Republican practice. In my experience watching elections, I have yet to see a Democratic attempt to suppress votes in this way.

There really is a big difference between the 2 parties as far as ethics and morality. Republicans will stop at nothing to win. They take pride in successful implementation of illegal tactics and have no problem sleeping at night.

[MGD]

29. Well, if we're going to be 100% honest

we have to remember that between 1865 and 1965ish, the Democratic party was the party perpetrating the worst cases of election fraud in America's history. And, as long as we're being honest, my research leads me to believe that prior to 1865 (the Emancipation Proclamation), there were at least as many elections tainted with fraud as not (and women were still disenfranchised until 1920ish). Our first "real" election was tainted by fraud when Hamilton tried to rig the elections against Aaron Burr. The second election was the same. To be honest, our model of Democracy sucks.

[marions ghost]

36. My experience doesn't go back that far...

I am saying that in the last 20 years I have seen significant vote suppression tactics such as this perpetrated by Repugs, while I have never heard of or seen the same by Dems.

I think you have to separate the "stuffing the ballot box" prevalent in the period you're talking about with these really grisly suppression tactics that have appeared ever since minorities were given the right to vote.

All of it sucks, on that we agree.

[MagickMuffin]

18. I posted info on the robo-calls: Conquest Communications Group

is the responsible party for robos. More info @ link

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2595876

[FernBell]

23. k&r

[demo dutch]

25. Sick sick sick!!!

[williesgirl]

26. K&R

[olddad56]

31. It surprises me that any of this surprises anyone any longer.

[RussBLib]

32. Republicans cannot win fair and square

So they resort to this crap.

How very "Christian" of these people.

[Eurobabe]

33. Oh you mean this?

from White House.org, the Jemima poster.

http://www.whitehouse.org/initiatives/posters/jemima.asp

[LostinVA]

34. That's a parody/satire site

[Eurobabe]

35. Yes, I know -- but the poster about says it all

GOP being racist against AA voters.

[NorthernSpy]

38. That's the last straw. I hate these people.

They cheat.

We can't change course, because we can't get rid of them through the electoral process. And we can't get rid of them through the electoral process, because they cheat.

No matter how much the American people want change, they can't have it, because the Republicans will not allow themselves to be voted out of power. They feel entitled to run the show, even if most of the country wants them gone.

So they cheat. And most of the time, they get away with it.

[Midlodemocrat]

41. Breaking News on ABCnews.com. The FBI is looking into widespread

accustions of voter intimidation.

http://abcnews.go.com/


Those fuckers.