The
New York Times is reporting that Jeb Bush's police are already breaking into the homes of elderly and black voters throughout Florida, roughing them up, frightening and intimidating them in an effort to keep them away from the polls. Other reports have indicated that Republican henchmen are distributing flyers in heavily black neighborhoods advertising the incorrect date of the election in an attempt to disenfranchise as many Democratic voters as possible.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/16/opinion/16herbert.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/20/opinion/20herbert.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/23/opinion/23herbert.htmlhttp://www.iht.com/articles/534364.htmlBut these Republican attempts at stealing the election are by no means limited to Florida. Consider Ohio and Maryland, for instance, both of which will utilize the easily rigged, easily hacked Diebold Electronic Voting Systems this Fall. These machines make it unbelievably simple for a few well-connected folks to execute voter fraud. There is absolutely no paper trail, so it is impossible to have any type of recount. To make matters worse, Diebold is an avowed supporter of George W. Bush. The CEO of Diebold has, in fact, publicly declared that he plans to "deliver" Bush the election in battleground states. The corruption extends even further, most likely to your local polling station. New voters who register as Democrats are surprised to see their voter registration cards coming back to them instead with the party affiliation marked as Republican. Particularly in rural, heavily conservative areas, Republican hoodlums - even those manning the voting booths - heckle and intimidate would-be Democratic voters on Election Day.
It has to stop now, and if anyone is going to stop it, it has to be us.So here are my suggestions about how folks on Democratic Underground can spearhead local, grassroots efforts to ensure every vote in counted this Election Day:
(1) If you live in a state that will utilize the Diebold Electronic Voting systems this Fall, cast your vote by
absentee ballot, and encourage all the other Kerry supporters you know to do so as well. It is the only way to establish a paper trail and ensure that your vote will be counted. If you are a poll watcher for Kerry-Edwards in a Diebold state, get to the polling place as soon as it opens and ensure that nobody is tampering with the voting machines. If you see anything suspicious, call out a lawyer or campaign official immediately.
(2) Call your local election office a few weeks before the election and
confirm that you are on the voter registration rolls for your polling place. There have been unconfirmed reports of Republicans acquiring the names of registered Democrats and filing mass numbers of change-of-address cards, so when you go to the polls to vote, you find out that you're not registered there. Better safe then sorry.
(3) Confirm that
every single polling place you know of will have at least one Kerry-Edwards poll watcher on Election Day. This applies especially to rural, heavily conservative areas where local hoodlums may try to intimidate the few Democrats who show up at the polls. I am personally aware that this took place in my area during the 2000 election.
(4) Have Kerry-loyal lawyers on standby at every single polling place, no matter how rabidly Democratic or how hopelessly Republican the area is.
Every vote must be counted, there must be
no voter fraud. It only takes one person to tamper with a voting machine, and it only takes one vote to win an election.
(5) Conduct exit polling at every single polling place. This is especially important in states where Diebold machines are being used. Since there is no paper trail, we will have to make one ourselves. Ensure that
every single voter is exit polled as they leave the building. Have a lawyer or notary public there to validate the results. If there are any discrepancies between the Diebold results and the exit polling, you will have a legal basis on which to claim voter fraud.
(6) Use
absentee ballots to our advantage. There is a list of states which begin accepting absentee ballots as early as September. Call up every single registered Democrat you know, even if they haven't voted since FDR was president, and tell them to request an absentee ballot and get it in early. A few hundred absentee ballots can turn the election in our favor. Many of the people who don't regularly vote are elderly or disabled, or live in very rural areas with no way to get to the polls. Often, they are unaware that they can send their ballot in by mail. You can provide them assistance so long as it's indicated on the ballot. Again, a paper trail is essential.
(7) For poll watchers: don't trust anyone but yourself and your own judgement. Even election officials and poll workers are prone to fraud. Any suspicious activity should immediately be reported. Every law should be followed to the letter. There's too much on the line for us to take even one vote for granted.
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