GOP Prepares To Scale Back Aggressive Anti-Voter Fraud Campaigns

[brooklynite]

Source: The Atlantic

John McCain's election strategists plan to tone down the Republicans' traditionally aggressive and public campaign against potential voter fraud, several Republicans familiar with the situation say.

The strategists and consultants all would speak only on the condition that their names and affiliations not be used because they were not permitted to divulge the information, they did not want to disclose internal deliberations, and because the issue is still being discussed within the party.

Sources with direct knowledge of the coordinated Republican effort this year say that high-ranking Republicans, including some within McCain's campaign, are convinced that GOP efforts in 2004 were damaging.

"Spreading 10,000 lawyers around the country and announcing a challenge to 40,000 new registrants in Ohio was counterproductive," a Republican familiar with the situation said. The Republican said that many within the party believed that then-Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell's efforts to tighten provisional ballot rules ahead of the 2004 may have increased Democratic turnout because it convinced Democrats that Republicans were trying to disenfranchise voters.

Read more: http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/06/gop_prepares_to_scale_back_agg_1.php

[spotbird]

1. Read:

The cheaters were primarily Republican, so the effort hurt them.

[Diane R]

2. So, it doesn't matter that voter fraud is immoral, it only matters if it's damaging to them?

[thereismore]

3. Smack! nt

[Xipe Totec]

8. Sex with extraterrestrials is also immoral,

and a lot more frequent than voter fraud.

So far, the only documented case I know of, in both situations, is Ann Coulter.

[pattmarty]

4. Why start now?? That's the ONLY way they will win in November.

:sarcasm:

[Tempest]

5. Having nuns turned away in Indiana created a big backlash

Several states and judges have thrown out voter-ID laws after that happened a few months ago.

[chknltl]

6. OK so what about 'election' fraud and voter caging????

Gonna scale back on THOSE things too Senator-mCflip-flopper???? Pardon my skepticism!

[gratuitous]

7. In addition to a solution in search of a problem

It turned out that most of the shenanigans uncovered by the Republicans was perpetrated by Republicans. In a very large country with millions of eligible voters, the United States has a miniscule problem related to individual voters perpetrating "fraud" either by voting more than once or voting despite being ineligible to vote.

The Republicans are finally getting a bit of backlash for their efforts to manipulate voter rolls and eliminate blocks of voters presumed to vote Democratic. And it's about frikkin' time, too.

[stubtoe]

11. They always overplay their hand. And when they do it bites them in the butt.

Just like back in Newt's day when they shut down the government. That worked real well for them, too.

[Demeter]

9. They Probably Can't Afford It, Either!

Little dribbles of good news are coming out like the first crocus--could a political Spring be on its way?

[salin]

10. Bingo!

that was my first thought as well... it is about economic realities - and if there is now limited money (I just read that even here in "red" Indiana - much more money has been donated to Obama and Clinton (more to each candidate - and significantly more when combined) than to McCain. When money is short - choices have to be made. I read this as a recognition that spending that much money on lawyers was a "luxury" of a sort.

[Doctor_J]

12. Election fraud will carry on as before, however

Who are you going to vote for? Ask Diebold.

[David__77]

13. McCain's a Bob Dole-style wimp and will go down in flames.

Only racism could possibly save him. He doesn't have the will to seize power and maintain it. We should take his campaign seriously tactically, but we should also be aware that he's no bogeyman like the Bush/Rove machine.