Bush official blames black voters for creating own lines in 2004 election

[kpete]

Uproar after Justice Department official says black voters caused their own lines in Ohio 2004 vote John Byrne
Published: Friday October 12, 2007


Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) rebuked a Justice Department voting official Friday night who said Ohio's African American voters faced long lines in the 2004 presidential election because blacks tend to vote at night.

Justice Department Voting Section Chief John Tanner's "investigation of the 2004 election in Ohio concluded that long lines and late voting precincts were due to the fact that white voters tend to cast ballots in the morning (i.e., before work) and black voters cast ballots in the afternoon (i.e., after work)," Conyers said in a release.

............

Voters in black counties faced far longer lines than those in the more white Ohio suburbs. Investigations showed that Ohio officials had deliberately placed fewer voting machines in some areas and in some instances even kept voting machines out of service. The resulting lines generally resulted in less individuals voting because the lines were so long.

"I am concerned about the extreme lengths Mr. Tanner went to in order to justify the reasons African-Americans were not treated equally in the 2004 Ohio election," Conyers said. "The committee needs to consider this matter. I am aware of no precedent for the Department acting in this capacity in the past."


more at:
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Conyers_rebukes_Voting_Rights_official_over_1012.html

[liberal N proud]

1. Too bad so many of them wanted to vote when the got off work

If this is the case that because they HAD to wait until night to vote, maybe bu$h could do something about it and push for a national holiday on Election Day.

DUH!

[struggle4progress]

30. "The New York Times reported on Oct. 23 (2004) that the Republican Party intends to place thousands

of lawyers and other GOP faithfuls inside the polls to challenge voters. Republican insiders confide here that the key goal is to jam lines and frustrate new voters. The GOP apparently figures many voters in key Democratic precincts won't wait in line more than 15 minutes to vote. This is certain to be a major tactic in Cleveland's Cayahoga County and other Democratic strongholds. The GOP is not planning to challenge voters in Republican districts."

Twelve Ways Bush is Now Stealing the Ohio Vote
Published on Wednesday, October 27, 2004 by The Free Press (Columbus, Ohio)
by Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1027-29.htm

[liberal N proud]

31. I was there

I worked as voter protection in the 04 election. The republican judge tried to keep me from observing the process. When she would try to keep someone from voting I would step in ask if I needed to call a lawyer.
By late afternoon she knew that if I stood up she had better just let the voter proceed.

[struggle4progress]

32. I'm glad I wasn't there cuz when I read this back in 2004, I wanted to take a baseball bat to

the polls and clobber any Republican @$$4013 who tried to keep people from voting

[Beetwasher]

2. Of Course! Cuz Everyone Knows

Them darkies are too lazy to get up early. :eyes: :sarcasm:

What a fucking bufoon. I swear I hope I never meet any of these pricks because I might get into trouble.

[Mnemosyne]

7. Nor to come in outta' da' rain!

:crazy::sarcasm:

I absolutely detest, no, make that, HATE these fucking buffoons.:grr:

[Botany]

3. When will these bastards stop

I live in Columbus, OH and worked 11/2/04 (election day)

The lines were part of the plan.

[EFerrari]

12. They will never stop until they're behind bars. n/t

[Botany]

14. The "Christian" women who was a Republican Challenger

Balked @ letting an 80 + year old lady on a walker come in out of the rain
and get to the start of the line.

I pray I live to see these bastards in jail.

[EFerrari]

17. Starting with this @sshole. We'll have a party, Botany

and send Mr. Blackheart a few more pennies.

[atreides1]

18. I Guess I'm not as nice as you

If we put them in jail the taxpayers will have to support them!

[aquart]

4. But how could that be?

Aren't they all supposed to be on welfare?

If you know a large population shows up to vote at night, HAVE ENOUGH MACHINES THERE! Please, please, please don't let them get away with this. No wrist slaps. No going back to work. JAIL.

[Rex]

5. So black people like to vote at night?

Well, extend the time to vote! Heaven FORBID we allow everyone enough time to VOTE! Oh no! Not that I actually believe that, sounds too much like what a Repuke would think is true.

[Jade Fox]

27. In other countries.....

election days are either national holidays, or election "day" is actually a whole week.

When you think about how we do elections, it's ridiculous. We give everyone in the country a twelve hour window to vote, regardless of work, weather, illness, car breakdowns, long lines, or whatever. And naturally the GOP has figured out ways to exploit that.

[L. Coyote]

6. MORE same story: Conyers: Why Did DoJer Justify Bad Ohio Vote?

babylonsister Fri Oct-12-07 05:07 PM
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2034962


Conyers: Why Did DoJer Justify Bad Ohio Vote?

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004452.php

Conyers Has More Questions For DOJ's Tanner
By David Kurtz - October 12, 2007, 5:54PM

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers has issued a statement in in response to Paul Kiel's reporting earlier today on the unprecedented written public assurance that DOJ voting rights chief John Tanner gave to election officials in Ohio that the Justice Department had found no evidence of intentional African-American voter disenfranchisement in the 2004 election. ............

[bullimiami]

8. dirty lying sons of bitches. there were people in ohio, democrats,

who spent hours and hours and hours trying to cast a vote and got screwed over by that dirty scumbag that was running georges election there.
there were no republicans in hours long lines.

[TahitiNut]

9. Well, everyone knows lines can't form in the daylight, right?

I find it remarkable that "they" work when it's convenient to say "they" work and when it's more convenient to say "they" don't work then "they" don't. It must take a LOT of taxpayer dollars to pay for investigations like this.
:puke:

[EFerrari]

10. OMFG. I hope Mr. Conyers has him for dinner.

[Rex]

13. Sometimes I wonder what fucking planet I live on.

I still, to THIS DAY, get shocked by things that roll out of Repuke mouths! Do people THINK before they SPEAK? Series!!!!111

[EFerrari]

16. I'm torn between the horror of what they say and the satisfaction

of how they out themselves at every turn. :shrug:

[RavensChick]

11. That is the dumbest thing I ever heard!

Good for Rep. Conyers calling this idiot to task. What Tanner needs is a reality check on the black community so he can see firsthand why the lines were long. Then again, look at where he works--the Department of INjustice! What a jerk!

[madmom]

15. You mean they actually have jobs????

:sarcasm: (I really wish that wasn't necessary)

[NorthernSpy]

19. Yes, the blacks have taken all of our jobs via affirmative action. Also, they're all unemployed...

... and on welfare. And they prefer to vote after work, rather than before work, so you can see that they don't take voting or getting to work on time seriously, like we white folks do, so they shouldn't complain.

Me, I butted into this whole conversation late, and I don't even know what "it" is that they're complaining about, but whatever it is, I'm sure it's the blacks' own fault.


/Limbaugh /sarcasm



:argh:


And yes, that really is how much of the the right thinks and talks. Relentlessly hostile, dismissive, and unjust when it comes to blacks -- no matter what the issue at hand.

White grievances, however, are a different story. No white gripe is ever so petty or unfair that someone on the right won't try to make hay of it anyway.

[The Backlash Cometh]

36. Seems that they'll say whatever puts them in a good light. But, they

are not paying attention to the contradictions they create for themselves.

This is reposted:

Do you know what blacks in Ohio and Republicans in Central Florida have in common?

They must both like to vote after work -- at night.

Every election I have participated in, in this Red county, I have come home to watch something peculiar happen with the vote counting. At around 8:30, the numbers noticeably get bumped up for Republicans and/or incumbents. If there is a Democratic front runner, you can actually see the numbers flip.

That's about 13 years of watching elections in this county. And you know what they use as an excuse? That Republicans work during the day and come to vote at night.

So now they're saying in Ohio that blacks created their own bottleneck in Ohio by voting at night? Why do they have enough machines for Republicans in a Republican county? But not for black Americans in Ohio?


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=2040464&mesg_id=2040464

[ellacott]

20. What a jerk

If that's the case why didn't this ever happen in other years? They purposely put fewer machines and let broken mahcines go unserviced.

Also, it wasn't just black precincts. There was a college campus(in Amish country) where they waited 8 hours to vote.

[flashl]

21. Absolutely right!

And, there were MANY other stories from Ohio about LONG waits in lines.

[ourbluenation]

22. I will say this...election day should be a national day off. n/t

[Lochloosa]

33. Or a Saturday

[dkofos]

23. Just another LAME excuse, in a long line of LAME EXCUSES.

If it were paper and pen and a box, it would be more difficult to
suppress the vote.

But I'm sure they would try.

[MissWaverly]

24. what about the students who waited for hours as well

What's the excuse for that, I waited for 2 hours to vote in Baltimore, Maryland in 2004 and I voted in the middle of the day. I am surprised they have not put up the zodiac or sun spots as an excuse.

[Richard Steele]

25. Lying assholes. recommended

[DeepModem Mom]

26. K&R

[Ellipsis]

28. Damschroder deliberately withheld voting machines from predominantly black Dem. wards in Columbus

He was the dude driving around in a truck with like what... 60 plus machines never dispensed.

What utter bullshit.


http://freepress.org/departments/display/19/2004/972

Damschroder is the former Executive Director of the Franklin County Republican Party. Sources close to the Board of Elections told the Free Press that Damschroder and Ohio’s Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell met with President George W. Bush in Columbus on Election Day.

[Coexist]

29. I can't even think of something to say about this.

He is disgusting.

[hayu_lol]

34. One of the problems I have with Kucinich is that...

Cleveland is his home base. He represents these people. Over the 7 years of Bushco...Dennis has done nothing to wipe out Diebold(Ohio plant)and nothing about the myriad voting problems in Ohio.

Where's Dennis? Ummmm...missing when needed.

[Imagevision]

35. Because blacks tend to vote at night is a misleading comment to begin with, there

simply was NOT enough voting machines -->NOT ENOUGH VOTING MACHINE!!! What part of that don't you understand?

[Marr]

37. These types of tricks really need to be treated as serious crimes.

Because they are-- they rip at the fabric of society as surely as any violent crime does.

[Swamp Rat]

38. Victimizing the victims

:eyes: