Fox News doing their part to disenfranchise college voters (PLEASE READ)

[noahmijo]

In my email this morning from The Young Democrats:

Tucson voter registration target of harassment..


August 31, 2004, students in the Women's Studies honorary society
at the University of Arizona--in conjunction with the Feminist Majority
Foundation--were engaging in a bit of civic participation on the UA
lawn: registering voters. They called it "Suffrage 2004." In registering
voters, they were engaging in an activity in common with the Young
Republicans, the Young Democrats, and student government here in recent
weeks.

But this time it was different. The local Fox News affiliate
pulled up and, cameras rolling, accused feminist students of engaging in
felony voter fraud. The reporters claimed that Arizona law prohibits
students from out of state from registering here.

Our students were formidable. They, of course, had consulted with the
local registrar of voters on the law before they picked up voter
registration forms, and insisted that state law requires only that
someone live in Arizona for 29 days before the election. They called the
Secretary of State's office, our local state rep, Raul Grijalva, the
Feminist Majority Foundation, and others. The Secretary of State's
office, shamefully, refused to back them up.

They're a little scared they really will be charged with a felony.
I find this hard to imagine thing hard to imagine], as the law really is on their side--the
voter registration law says clearly that you only have to reside here for 29
days before the election. There's even a Supreme Court decision that
says students have the right to vote where they live (although, and this
may be apocryphal, one of our students reported that when she raised that
with the Secretary of State's office, she was told--but that's
the Supreme Court. That doesn't apply here. This is Arizona.) Anyway,
they have lots of lawyers working for them now.

But last night, a piece ran on the local Fox affiliatethat was quite
intimidating--it sounded like students would be arrested if they voted.
Kelly Krauss, UA WS student, held the line in the piece that this wasn't
true, but was contradicted by the secretary of state's office. (I'm
trying to get someone to upload the videotape, and can make copies on
request. Interestingly, Fox News/Channel 11 doesn't have the story
archived on their web site.)

So this is scary as hell. The NAACP/People for the American Way Report
that came out last month argues that intimidating people out of their
voting rights is a Republican Party strategy. So I'm trying to
understand what happened, and my mind reels. A memo? From people in the
Republican Party to Fox News stations in swing states like Arizona?
Telling them to halt voter registration drives by the Feminist Majority
Foundation? I can't even imagine.

Yet we know from a recent NAACP/People for the American Way report that
student voter intimidation has happened on other campuses--most notably,
Prarie View A & M, a predominantly African-American campus that has been
at the center of voting rights controversies before. This year, a
district attorney there, in Waller County, Texas, threatened in a letter
to the local newspaper to arrest any student who tried to vote who did
not have a "legal voting address."


It's no surprise that these crooked motherfuckers picked Tucson to do this. They know full well that college students tend to vote Democrat and Tucson is key for Kerry to win in Arizona.

I believe groups have already gone to the local media about this, so don't bother telling me to do it. We discussed this at last Thursday's meeting, but we were just gearing up to really make this public which is what we're doing now.

CROOKED MOTHERFUCKERS THAT'S ALL I CAN SAY CROOKED LOWLIFE SCUMBAG MOTHERFUCKERS HOPE THEY ROT IN HELL

[Lefty48197]

1. Yet another example of Republican lawbreaking

Michigan's right wingers passed a similar law trying to prevent students from voting where they live (during the school year). Apparently, the Republicans think it's ok to either force students to drive to their parents homes to vote. Scum.
Has anybody taken one of these laws to court to force the federal courts to rule?

[spotbird]

2. Did anyone copy the registration forms before they were submitted?

If so you may consider sending out a mailing to those who might be influenced by the lies.

If they weren't copied you may want to check with the local board of elections to find out whether they will give you copies or lists of recent registrants.

[noahmijo]

4. We're going to start a campaign soon I believe to let out of staters know

that if they have been Az residents for at least 29 days before election day, and if you are an out of stater and you have recently registered to call the recorder's office or register again.

These bastards will not get away with this I'm telling you we're not taking this shit we're through getting kicked around by these bastards.

[rniel]

3. This needs to be pushed out to the media everywhere...

that this is going on. We need coverage. What can we do.

Seeing the republicans being afraid of people voting is very revealing that they are not on the people's side and they know it.

[CarolynEC]

5. Reporters as stormtroopers now...

... not content merely to distort the public discourse, but now actually leaping out of vans and stamping out dissent.

Unreal. What planet are we on, anyway? What sort of bizzaro universe have we been launched into?

Time for JK to get in and appoint a real FCC that will rescind licenses when necessary.

Failing that, we gotta start throwing bricks through windows. Seriously, if JK doesn't win this thing, it's time for some good old-fashioned rioting.

[Philostopher]

6. Hey, isn't AZ where Rove got his start?

If I remember correctly, he made his nut with the Republicans by intimidating and harrassing minority voters at a big minority precinct in Tucson or Phoenix back in the sixties or early seventies.

Oh, but I'm sure Rove is above sending out Fox stormtroopers to make bogus threats against college kids who are registering voters, right?

Right?

Yeah, right.

And 100,000 of 180,000 new registrations in Cleveland, Ohio have been pitched by local voting officials for what they call 'clerical errors.'

Stealth, power and money -- that's how you win elections these days.

[City Lights]

9. Not rove. rehnquist. eom

[Philostopher]

11. That's right --

Rove's not that old. I knew it was one of those bottom-feeders.

[Slappy]

7. I bet the

evil government is behind this crap. Heads are going to roll I tell you. They are conspiring to conspire.

[Misunderestimator]

8. Yep, and who are you going to be next time?

:eyes:

[newyawker99]

20. Hi Slappy!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[OneTwentyoNine]

22. Your um,lets see,what was your name yesterday?

Thats what I thought....

[underseasurveyor]

10. FUCK YOU FOX NEWS! Yeah FU in your face!

People need to bring a shit-load of camcorders and cameras, tape recorders with them at all times. HELL - CALL or E-Mail MICHAEL MOORE he needs material for his next BLOCK BUSTER DOCUMENTARY or Greg Palast, he has worked this voter fraud issue for YEARS. Then everybody go straight to the SOS office and raise some Holy Fucking Hell there.
Somebody has to tape these lowlife motherfuckers engaging in this ILLEGAL and traitorous activity.
Smells like neo-CONspiracy cuz it's stinks and it stinks BAD :nuke:

Just when I thought I knew how "Low" low is, these bastards never cease to amaze me at just how much lower and slimier they can go :mad:

NOoooooo, FUX NEWS doesn't shill for the republican party at all,
uh huh no way :eyes: :grr:

I'm so sick of these people, can ya tell ggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[TexasSissy]

12. I'm surprised the students hadn't done their homework.

This is an easy issue, one that should cause no alarm to the students, if they really knew whether they were w/in the law or not.

So I looked this up. Here's what I found in the Arizana Statutes, the Elections section:
16-101. Qualifications of registrant; definition
A. Every resident of the state is qualified to register to vote if he:
1. Is a citizen of the United States.
2. Will be eighteen years of age or more on or before the date of the regular general election next following his registration.
3. Will have been a resident of the state twenty-nine days next preceding the election, except as provided in section 16-126.
4. Is able to write his name or make his mark, unless prevented from so doing by physical disability.
5. Has not been convicted of treason or a felony, unless restored to civil rights.
6. Has not been adjudicated an incapacitated person as defined in section 14-5101.
B. For purposes of this title, "resident" means an individual who has actual physical presence in this state, or for purposes of a political subdivision actual physical presence in the political subdivision, combined with an intent to remain. A temporary absence does not result in a loss of residence if the individual has an intent to return following his absence. An individual has only one residence for purposes of this title.

So maybe some of the students are "residents," which would mean they intend to stay there. But maybe some are not. Of course, how would the state determine that? It would seem to me that it is up to each student to register and feel comfortable enough with the definition of "resident" that they can swear under oath to the government that they intend to remain in AZ as a resident.

Of course, the registration cards themselves may say this. But I doubt the students signing up are taking the time to read them. Someone tells them if they "live" here for 29 days, they can vote. So they sign up.

The students should've done their homework. This doesn't seem to pose a problem for any student who has registered, though. All they have to say is that they truly intended to stay. It's the ones signing them up who should be, and apparently are, worried. Could it be that they knew they weren't exactly being forthright, and that's why they're worried? It just seems like such an easy issue. Either you're a resident and can register, or you're not. It's easy. If they were asking the students about intent to stay, etc., then they have nothing to worry about. Nothing at all. They should chill and return to signing students up.

[noahmijo]

16. Maybe you should've actually read what I posted

You miss the entire point.

First off these students that I am referring to are from out of state. The first thing students from out of state do is not go look up voting laws. Maybe you never went to college so you don't understand the millions of priorities students from out of state have to tend to and they don't include trying to make sure that their votes don't get disenfranchised.

The whole point of this was showing how Fox News is going around and LYING to students and intimidating them not to vote obviously on behalf of the Republican Party.

Put two and two together here. College Students. Mostly Democrat. Tucson. Key to winning Arizona.

Fox News telling College Students from out of state that they could be convicted of a felony if they attempt to register to vote.


What part of this warrants the type of freeper like response that you gave?

[TexasSissy]

19. Didn't you say...

(by quoting the article) that Fox drove up and accused "our" "feminist" students of a felony, and that "our" students were worried about being accused of a crime & had called the Sec. of State, and so forth?

That implies it was the people doing the recruiting who were being accused, not the bypassers who would sign up.

But whether it was the former or the latter doesn't matter much. You either know what you're doing, or you don't.

Say you're standing there signing up students to register to vote. You know what you're doing. You've done your homework. You know the requirements in that state to vote, right? So some loony bird walks up and accuses you of committing a felony. So what? Tell him to call the police, 'cause you know you are not committing a felony. You are lawfully signing up students who are "residents" to register to vote. No big deal. It's done every day.

I'm confused about why they're calling the Sec. of State's office and such. It's pretty cut and dried. You are either a resident and capable of registering, or you aren't. I suspect that they were trying to sign up students who were from out of state and had bee allowed admittance to the university under "non-resident" status. If you declare to the college you are a non-resident, it wouldn't be quite legal to then register to vote as a resident. Maybe that's not what was going on. But I suspect that's what Fox thought, or that's what it looked like.

All I'm saying is...there was no apparent reason to get upset or scared over it, since presumably they had done their homework and they knew they were not breaking the law. It would've made Fox look foolish if they had simply responded, "Yeah, well, call the police, if you think I'm violating the law. I've done my homework. What I'm doing is a lawful activity." and then continue signing up students. It's just not a big deal.

[TexasSissy]

18. Well, the site wasn't working again. So I logged out, but

apparently it went ahead & entered my post several times! Sorry 'bout that.

[TexasSissy]

13. I'm surprised the students hadn't done their homework.

This is an easy issue, one that should cause no alarm to the students, if they really knew whether they were w/in the law or not.

So I looked this up. Here's what I found in the Arizana Statutes, the Elections section:
16-101. Qualifications of registrant; definition
A. Every resident of the state is qualified to register to vote if he:
1. Is a citizen of the United States.
2. Will be eighteen years of age or more on or before the date of the regular general election next following his registration.
3. Will have been a resident of the state twenty-nine days next preceding the election, except as provided in section 16-126.
4. Is able to write his name or make his mark, unless prevented from so doing by physical disability.
5. Has not been convicted of treason or a felony, unless restored to civil rights.
6. Has not been adjudicated an incapacitated person as defined in section 14-5101.
B. For purposes of this title, "resident" means an individual who has actual physical presence in this state, or for purposes of a political subdivision actual physical presence in the political subdivision, combined with an intent to remain. A temporary absence does not result in a loss of residence if the individual has an intent to return following his absence. An individual has only one residence for purposes of this title.

So maybe some of the students are "residents," which would mean they intend to stay there. But maybe some are not. Of course, how would the state determine that? It would seem to me that it is up to each student to register and feel comfortable enough with the definition of "resident" that they can swear under oath to the government that they intend to remain in AZ as a resident.

Of course, the registration cards themselves may say this. But I doubt the students signing up are taking the time to read them. Someone tells them if they "live" here for 29 days, they can vote. So they sign up.

The students should've done their homework. This doesn't seem to pose a problem for any student who has registered, though. All they have to say is that they truly intended to stay. It's the ones signing them up who should be, and apparently are, worried. Could it be that they knew they weren't exactly being forthright, and that's why they're worried? It just seems like such an easy issue. Either you're a resident and can register, or you're not. It's easy. If they were asking the students about intent to stay, etc., then they have nothing to worry about. Nothing at all. They should chill and return to signing students up.

[phylny]

21. Our daughter goes to a Virginia University

but we live in New York (just moved here in July). She registered to vote in New York, as it's her state of residency.

The thing is, she hasn't gotten her card, nor has she gotten info on an absentee ballot. She's really anxious because this is her first election and she's all excited to vote for Kerry.

I (registered democrat) received my voter's registration card, but my daughter (registered democrat) hasn't recieved hers. I'd think along the lines of conspiracy, but my husband (repub) hasn't received his, either.

I'm planning on calling tomorrow, but if they can't do a simple thing like properly register voters, it's a sorry state of affairs.

[Name removed]

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[depakid]

23. I predict that there will be violence against the media

if Bush retains the whitehouse. We saw the precursers of it in Portland the night the war started. Members of the media are for the most part blythely unaware of how deeply they are loathed by tens of millions of people. The folks at KATU were utterly stunned that they were jeered and attacked- completely clueless as to why.

Four more years of Republican policies, and sooner or later, someone or some group is going to crack and go after a camera crew or someone like O'Reilly. Mark my words.

[OneTwentyoNine]

24. Look George,Fair and Balanced FOX to the rescue....

fucking outrageous.....


David

[DebJ]

25. who is this Fox Stations competitor? Try contacting another

local channel, or ALL the local channels, and tell them you've got a scoop to show that their competitors are idiots.

Also, write a letter to the editor in the local paper. Most papers allow you to send this online.

[Nikia]

26. I was confused as a college student too

1996 was my first general election and it was also my first year of college. I assumed that I had to vote in the state where I was from since the student directory as living at the address where I had lived with my parents. Before I left for college, I applied for an absentee ballot. I had already registered and had voted in the primary in the spring. As it got closer to the general election, the College Democrats informed me that I could vote there. They encouraged me to do that especially since a recent alum was running for a state assembly position. I didn't know anyone else running locally though. My absentee ballot wasn't arriving so I decided that I would vote locally and register at the poll the same day, which is legal in Wisconsin. Then my absentee ballot arrived the day before the election. Ohio law states that the absentee ballot must be received before polls close on the day of the election. Since I have the ballot and they know that I have the ballot, I thought that it would be fraud if I voted locally. I wanted my vote to count though so I paid what seemed like a lot of money at the time for my ballot to be delivered overnight. I was so upset about it that I didn't vote for the rest of my time in college. What a way to start off my voting experience. The state should be encouraging students to vote, not discouraging it.

[bobbieinok]

27. in 2002 there was a story in AR abt student voting..maybe someone

could find it.....republicans wanted out of state students to register in AR

in OK religious right churches made very confusing statements seeming to say that students could vote BOTH in home state and in school state....also a claim that they had the info directly from the WH