Massive voter suppression in South Carolina election today?

[IndyOp]

From DUer ChinaCat - who went to vote today and says in this thread

I wasn't allowed to vote. Was told that new voter registration cards had been sent out and they won't accept an old one (even with 3 pieces of ID...2 of them photo). I never got anything; the local paper and news outlets (including online) somehow managed to miss the fact that the cards were changing. About half the line while I was there had the same problem.

Q: Did you get a provisional?

I wasn't even allowed to ask for anything. 'You don't have the proper card, please move out of the way'. I saw at least 15 other people told the same thing and was approached by a cop for just sitting there watching....

It really upsets me. SC doesn't require you to declare a party when you register, so I didn't, believing that that would be a safer alternative...I'm not immediately identifiable as a Dem.

Maybe I shouldn't be surprised. I've been keeping track and in over a month of heavy political ads on TV, there has been only ONE shown here for a Democratic candidate. All the rest have been trying to outrepublican each other.

I checked with a neighbor (a right-winger I have little to do with). He received the new card and showed it to me. On it is printed: "Please check this card for accuracy. For any questions, call your Voter Registration office. YOU MUST (emphasis here is mine) present your voter registration notification, a valid South Carolina License or a photo ID that has been issued by the Department of Public Safety when you go to vote. You may request a duplicate notification card from your local Voter Registration Office if your original is lost or stolen. If you move within this county, follow directions on back of notification card. If you move to another county, you must register in your new county of residence." He got his about 3 weeks ago....

The first time I registered in this county was in 1974. We've lived at this same address since 1979.

....I was not allowed to vote in 94...was refused because my registration was revoked. Reason given was that I hadn't voted in 2 previous local elections. Was bullshit and a friend who works a differing precinct at the polls was able to help me get it straightened out. Too late to vote, but fixed.

I voted in 2000. In 2004 I needed an absentee ballot. I first applied for one in March of 2004. In June I emailed them to find out why I'd received no acknowledgement...was told they never received the ap. Reapplied end of June. In August I called to find out why I hadn't gotten mine yet. Was told it was mailed out to me and if I didn't receive it by Sept. 1 to call again. Called again Sept. 2, was told that my address didn't exist and was threatened with legal action for trying to perpetrate a fraud. Sept. 15, sent registered ap for absentee ballot with copy of non-driver's ID, registration card and header from electric bill in my name showing that my address DOES exist. Oct. 15, called to find out where my absentee ballot was. Told that it was too late to apply for one and if I couldn't get to my polling place that I'd just have to forego voting. I didn't vote...no way to get there from where I was.

....I received no notification of needing a new registration 'notification' (as they are terming it now) and no new card. And there was nothing in the local media about it...print, broadcast or online. My neighbor, his son and grandson all received theirs....

....I fall into 3 of the 4 categories of people least likely to be allowed to vote (or wanted at the polls). I'm 60, female and disabled. It would be a grand slam if I were also black but I missed that one.

It may very well have to do with my campaign against the Diebold machines used here for the first time.

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"What can you say when you are watching your nation descend, sleep walking, into something like the lower circles of hell in Dante's Inferno?"

[robinlynne]

1. Jesus. Do you want me to find a phone number for a voter complaint?

[IndyOp]

3. Click on the thread - China_cat is pretty well hooked into the system and

sounds like they will make calls. If you could find some reports about this in newspapers or on TV -- then perhaps WE ALL would have reason to call SC.

[nolies32fouettes]

2. Exactly the point! It's not just about paper trails.

The suppression and civil right's violations as well as the machines need to be addressed.

[Catbird]

4. Voted with old ID in Columbia, SC

I voted today in Richland County, SC, with no hassle. I presented the voter registration card I got years ago; it was fine. Usually I show my driver's license. I haven't heard anything about new cards, and our local newspaper (The State) didn't mention them in any of its election coverage. The card doesn't show party affiliation, and I wasn't asked which primary I was voting in until after the identification had been accepted. We need to find out where people in SC are having problems with IDs.

I was encouraged that at least one of the poll workers was quite familiar with the counting problems in Iowa using similar machines. However, it took her longer to set up the machine for me to vote than it would have taken me to mark a paper ballot. I foresee LONG lines in the general election. Also,I could not help but feel that I was sending my ballot off into cyberlimbo.

:argh: :argh: :argh:

[IndyOp]

5. It may be just one county in SC that had the problems re: IDs --

Sadly we have 13,000 election fiefdoms in the US run with some degree of independence one from another. In Indiana we have a new voter ID law - you have to have a photo ID with you at the poll to vote. In our county, our Supervisor of elections have interpreted the law liberally - it is not critical that your name on the photo ID and your name on the voter registration match exactly. In other counties in Indiana - if your photo ID is "Ron" and your voter registration is "Ronald" you are SOL.

I posted this tonight because I am hoping that people will keep their eyes and ears open for newspaper, radio, TV stories -- so we get a sense of whether this was widespread.

Post anything you hear about...

:hi:

[Kip Humphrey]

6. Simple. You're not a card-carrying member of the Republican Party!

I'm willing to bet the 1/2 in line with the same problem weren't registered Republicans - Registered with the SC Republican Party - either!

[w4rma]

7. That was probably a Democratically leaning district. However the Repug

districts won't have these long lines and will be lax with the cards.

[struggle4progress]

8. What does the state Democratic party say?

In North Carolina, we usually have party lawyers available on election day.

My motto: always expect the worst, and be prepared.

[morningglory]

9. I am an old, out-of-shape woman, and if I even witnessed something like

that, I would have gone ballistic and started tearing the place up, if they wouldn't do something about that immediately. And I am not a violent person, but I have frikken had it with this crap! In year 2000, I was living in Bob Barr's district. Went to my lily white precinct to vote. They had another precinct located right around the corner. A black man came in and presented his registration card. The poll workers told him that he was in the wrong precinct. My mind just boiled up, thinking "this is it. This is what it looks like. I am NOT going to stand for this". I was prepared to show my tail like you wouldn't believe an old lady would do. When they told him he was registered in precinct 18 or whatever and this was prec. 17. He looked stunned. They told him very nicely to go around the corner. Then all the people in the line chipped in with directions. All was well. But I know I have it in me to go nuts should the occasion arise.

[PurgedVoter]

10. I was purged twice.

In a fairly solid republican stronghold. I think we need to keep a record of the individuals in charge of voting districts. When there are discrepancies and problems they should be trying hard to fix those problems. They should open their process to observation. Anything less needs to be remembered. Remembered as a traitorous direct assault on our democracy. Anything else is complicit aid to the hostile takeover of the United States of America. These people should not get to walk away free after depriving their fellow citizens of their rights.

[Heywood J]

11. God.

Sounds like the US needs to take a lesson from us (Canada) on so many levels. This is the kind of crap that having county-level election proceedings generates.

Maybe we should organize a drive for democracy or something and pay a visit south, like Carter does for African and Asian countries.

[McCamy Taylor]

12. This is just the primary. Wait til this fall. Get political now!