The sleeper vote and other election anomalies
Focusing on obscure details prior to an election sometimes points to a classic Rove maneuver.
On October 16, 2012, The Washington Post reported the Supreme Court Justices ruled on Ohio early voting, mentioning why it could be “a very big deal”:
“So the U.S. Supreme Court has refused the Ohio GOP’s request to overturn an appeals court decision to reinstate early voting on the weekend and Monday before the election. This is a big, big victory for the Obama campaign, and it could arguably make a difference to the outcome in the critical state of Ohio.
“Remember, this is something the Romney campaign opposed. As you may recall, the Obama campaign this summer sued to restore in-person early voting for all Ohio voters, and not just members of the military. The Romney campaign falsely claimed this was an effort to “undermine” military voting rights, when in fact it was an effort to expand voting rights, not limit them.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/why-ohio-early-voting-decision-could-be-a-big-deal/2012/10/16/a8c7d232-17bc-11e2-a55c-39408fbe6a4b_blog.html
Apparently, Mitt Romney’s campaign team agreed it was a very big deal. One might think it chances of stuffing the ballot box with exclusively absentee military votes had evaporated.
On October 16, 2012, (quite coincidentally I am sure) Mitt Romney’s campaign sued Wisconsin over absentee military ballots. Can’t get what you want in Ohio, look for the next best thing. Try to get Wisconsin and perhaps Colorado.*
“WASHINGTON -- Mitt Romney's campaign is stepping up its efforts to ensure that U.S. service members overseas are able to get their votes counted in the November elections, filing suit in Wisconsin Friday to get a five-day extension for absentee and military voters.
"At issue is a federal law -- the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voter Act (UOCAVA) -- that requires election officials to send absentee ballots to military voters at least 45 days before a federal election. All absentee ballots must be returned by Nov. 9, which is three days after the election; the Romney campaign wants Wisconsin's Government Accountability Board, which oversees elections in the state, to push that date back to Nov. 14.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/16/mitt-romney-wisconsin-absentee-ballots-military_n_1970418.html?utm_hp_ref=elections-2012
So what are the lowest common denominators here? Both Ohio and Wisconsin are swing states. But there is a lot of Koch money in Wisconsin, so I believe financing the ground game election night simply would not be a problem. Additionally, both Ohio and Wisconsin have recently experienced voting, shall we say, anomalies? Both states have Republican Governors and Republican Secretaries of State (always very handy to the GOP during election years). I am sure you remember Governor John Kasich in Ohio, and Secretary of State Jon Husted with his nefarious maneuvers on early voting. Regarding Wisconsin, I am sure there is nothing about Scott Walker I can tell you you do not already know. It does appear the Secretary of State Doug La Follette just might be a good guy, so I have nothing negative about him except to say perhaps someone on Romney’s team didn’t do their homework….
Is this maneuver starting to ring any distant bells? Well, yes!
Ann Richards commenting on Larry King’s show during the 2000 election night made this statement:
*Doesn’t Colorado have one of those Bain-associated voting machines? Take a look:
http://www.boreme.com/posting.php?id=34823#.UICHjGfKFfQ
Sam
