If you only do ONE THING today to safeguard our 2008 election, do this:

[EFerrari]

The Republican "Help America Vote Act" (isn't that scary all by itself?) mandated voter data bases. As we predicted, these data bases are being used to suppress the vote. Because Republicans can't win national elections, they HAVE to steal it. Suppressing the vote is a way to disallow votes for Democrats. It's a numbers game.

Check out the USA Today report below. Who didn't see THIS coming?

PLEASE send this link to any media outlet you can, to any political group you belong to, to your friends, to anyone at your paper that may be interested. Send it to the campaign you are working with. Send it to your kid or your mom or your friend at work and ask, are you SURE you are registered to vote?

Can we just refuse to be caught flat footed AGAIN?





Legal voters thrown off rolls
Database woes could be 'sleeper issue of 2008'

By Richard Wolf
USA TODAY

Five years after passage of a federal law to create electronic registration databases to deter voter fraud, the new technology is posing hurdles that could disenfranchise thousands of legal voters, a USA TODAY examination finds.

From Florida to Washington, voters have been challenged because names or numbers on their registration forms did not exactly match other government databases, such as Social Security and motor vehicle agencies. "We know that eligible people have been thrown off the rolls," says Justin Levitt, a lawyer with the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law.

The databases are only as good as the information fed into them by applicants and election officials. That can lead to human errors as well as variations from state to state. Colorado, for instance, knocked nearly 20% of its voters off the rolls between the 2004 and 2006 elections. Arkansas purged 3%, according to Election Assistance Commission data.

Voters who have problems at the polls can cast "provisional" ballots. Election officials rule later whether those votes were properly cast and should be counted. But even that backup system varies greatly from state to state.

http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20080102/1a_lede02.art.htm

[truedelphi]

1. I think your OP and this one

http://tinyurl.com/yrhm9h

Should be cross referenced.

After witnessing not one but two botched elections, we enter the 2008 arena with the exact same problems on board. (Except for a few jurisdicitons wherein things are different, for instance, New Mexico having paper ballots as the law of the land.)

We still can have collusion and no oversight on conflict of interest affairs like Blackwell being the Republican Party Chairman for a state and also the Secretary of State. Ohio is temporarily cleaned up, but it could happen elsewhere.

There are no real penalties for stealing an election. Steal an election and the punishment is your right to occupy the Oval Office for the next four years.

And yes, voter suppression will continue. After witnessing voter intimidation carried out by a Marin County, Republican Party Member in 2004, and the FBI remaining as distant as possible from my reporting this felony, I can only conclude that the "fix is in".

This Republican Party Member was on the County of Marin Elections Office payroll at the time! She bragged about her oversight of 28 different precincts.

[EFerrari]

2. Per truedelphi's suggestion: "One more look at Ohio"

Thanks, good call! :hi:

"Just so we don't forget in all the hullaballoo...Ohio was rigged just as it's predecessor Florida was.
If the country was divided after the fiasco in Florida and Ohio...it is the fault of the PEOPLE. Not the Democratic candidates.After all the dust settled, Gore SHOULD have been our President in 2000 and Kerry should have been our President in 2004.
The question remains...(and I don't want to hear rhetoric from candidates that THEY will fight the corruption AFTER the election is stolen...because as we can see, it doesn't do any good)...is HOW it will be attempted THIS time?
These criminals have NOT amassed all of this power just to hand it over to someone else, so, we have to be diligent.
ANYTHING could happen to circumvent the election process."


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=3928036&mesg_id=3928036

[GreenTea]

3. Expect the republicans to rig the Dem vote in Iowa & NH so they can get the Dem candidate they want.

Why not the machines are easily hackable....Do you think the republicans are above distorting the vote to get the candidate they want to run against?
So expect Hillary to win....unfortunately!

[EFerrari]

4. There are no machines in Iowa, it's a body count. n/t

[intheflow]

7. True.

But Republicans can change their registration to Dem on the way to the polls, so this is a real concern, imo.

[EFerrari]

9. I don't put ANYTHING past these criminals. n/t

[mojowork_n]

5. DONE. Along with the USA T link, I added another link in my e-mail

to the upcoming Supreme Court decision to uphold or disallow the State of Indiana's requirement for a driver's license I.D., to vote:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/12/25/politics/washingtonpost/main3646005.shtml

One more way to keep low-income, elderly, very young, urban voters from exercising the franchise.

[EFerrari]

10. Thank you! I just sent it to everyone in my address book

that might be receptive.

:toast:

[intheflow]

6. Can't believe this is in USA Today!

It's usually such a conservative piece of fluff. Of course if the election is stolen again, they'll go back to saying anyone who thinks it was stolen are conspiracy theorists. :eyes: But thanks for posting, anyway! :hi:

[EFerrari]

11. They can't take it back now, it's too late!

lol

I was surprised, too.

[NashVegas]

8. And This Story Doesn't Even Take Into Account the Nashville Voter Data Theft of Last Week

337,000 voters have had their information security compromised by the theft of two laptops last week, one of which contained not only names, addresses, and party affiliations but also SS numbers.

Candidates can purchase the databases. But imagine if an unofficial, non-affiliated group got their hands on the information contained in those databases. They could pull everything from voter caging to fraud.

[EFerrari]

Exactly. I have a creepy story.

When our interim REPUBLICAN SOS was implementing the voter reg database, I called his office and asked who the vendor was. The receptionist took a message.

The main Communications guy called me back personally -- even though I'd clearly said I wasn't press or a member of any org.

When I asked again, who is the vendor, he very carefully didn't answer me.

Now, why in the world would he call me back just to weave and bob? :shrug:

/ack

[truedelphi]

22. Well, when you have a story that the

"real" reporters are not covering sufficiently, and an unknown person calls the Sec of State's office, it probably means you (ie the unknown person) are an activist.

And in the matter of the voting reform situation, it is we the people (ie activists) who have a lot of power.

So they have to bury our power by weaving and bobbing, I would think

[EFerrari]

25. They can try.

:evilgrin:

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[EFerrari]

19. They ARE in full swing. And if we don't get busy

we'll be singing "Hail to the Mitt" or worse.

AZ is a swing state.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

23. I've got my rope! n/t

[annabanana]

13. This is a particular nightmare for women.. We may have our SSN#

in our maiden name, our diver's licence in our married name and our voter registration hyphenated!

I know that I'm alphabetized differently in each data base!

[EFerrari]

14. It's a shell game.

Please help me alert people that their reg may have been voided!

[countryjake]

30. Now is the time to get discrepancies like that updated & corrected...

if your name is not legally hyphenated, then it's not your legal name. Send off for new social security cards to agree with your current status. Just make sure that the signatures on all three documents are the same and if they're not, get busy seeing that the corrections are taken care of and people are current on their legal ids. Lots of women never even think about how their name-changes might affect other aspects of their lives, so if you know of someone recently divorced or married, just ask them to check on such things.

[mod mom]

15. Richard Wolf is a regular on Countdown, I tried to email KO this story this am but

it got bounced back. This is weird:

Delivery to the following recipients failed.

[e-mail]



Reporting-MTA: dns;RKFMLVEM03.e2k.ad.ge.com
Received-From-MTA: dns;rkfmlef01.e2k.ad.ge.com
Arrival-Date: Wed, 2 Jan 2008 10:33:14 -0500

Final-Recipient: rfc822;[e-mail]
Action: failed
Status: 5.2.2
X-Display-Name: Countdown @ MSNBC


From: XXXXXXXX
Date: January 2, 2008 10:33:09 AM EST
To: [e-mail]

the address chaanged. Anyone else have this problem?
To: [e-mail],

[EFerrari]

18. Try this:

[e-mail]

:hi:

[mod mom]

20. that's what I used but for the last couple times it gets changed (see lower in my post)

I'm wondering if they cut me off because I send them so much election related material.

[EFerrari]

21. I don't think they'd do that. Maybe a server problem.

I'll keep trying, too.

[mogster]

16. Uha, I don't like the look of that guy

'Help USA vote Republican', most likely? ;-)

[EFerrari]

17. I really suck at submitting graciously, mogster.

:rofl:

[mogster]

24. He looks like he's gonna say: - Let's bomb Iran!

Then Syria, Egypt, et cetera et cetera.

Spooky look. Oh, and a :kick:

[EFerrari]

26. Kick

[countryjake]

27. After helping a bunch of felons regain their voting rights for the last one...

I definitely plan to make sure they get out and re-register this year, in case they are targeted as "frauds" in this presidential election. It cost good money to get court hearings and go thru the process of seeing these disenfranchised people become "voting citizens" for the first time in their lives. I know they were suspect during the 2006 election, some were challenged but carried their "rights" papers with them to drop off their ballots and proudly showed them to the little old ladies at the ballot boxes, (I even suggested that they laminate, if they were going to flag them around like that), the challenges came thru the mail, later, and I still don't know if their votes were counted.

Thanks to you, sfexpat2000, for jumping on this now, before it's too late. I had Andy to thank for spurring me on to actually do what I could to see that everyone who wanted to vote went about regaining that right. Seeing all legitimate votes counted is simply Part II of the problem for so many here. We are a Vote-by-Mail county so that makes it especially difficult for transient types and homeless folk and very easy for the rethugs to shove such people out of the voting process entirely.

[EFerrari]

28. We must stay out ahead of this.

Otherwise, this whole cycle is a sham -- AGAIN.

[Kurovski]

29. Kick. (nt)

[Kurovski]

31. Kick. (nt)

[EFerrari]

35. Thank you, Maestro!

:hi:

[Kurovski]

37. Here's an encore...

:kick:

:hi:

[EFerrari]

40. I get no KICK from champagne -

[Kurovski]

49. Now you're playing me like a fiddle.

:kick:

[Time for change]

32. This is sickening -- and what's even worse about it is that it seems doubtful that anyone will be

prosecuted for it -- even if a Democrat wins the presidency.

You're right, purging of legal voters made the difference in Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004. Without that there would be no Bush presidency and the world would be a much better place today :(

[EFerrari]

34. First things first.

My friend in HelLA just sent it out to her progressive list of 3k. Every bit helps.

Happy New Year, TFC. :hug:

[Time for change]

39. Yes, every little bit helps

Happy New Year sfexpat :hug:

[Didereaux]

33. If it is to be stopped it HAS to be fought at the County level.

Elections are covered by County(and sometimes cities) budgets, so the decisions are LOCAL. Do not wxpwct your nat'l level or even state lecel legislators to bring satisfaction...it is LOCAL! Although the elections are mandated by certain federal and state laws and regulations, the local entities can 'enhance' these, in the past that has been used for bad things, but they can also be made to be good.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

36. we fought and won at the state legislature, Fl won in Court

The counties are governed by the state laws regarding voter registration databases.

NC eliminated the "no match no vote" rule through legislation. It was signed into law in August of this year.

Florida, thanks to the Brennan Center for Justice and Project Vote - beat the No Match No Vote
law in court, just a few weeks ago.

Only a few states have the "no match no vote", but there is also the caging issue, and that also can be addressed by lawsuits and legislation.

They are statewide issues, policy is not set by the counties.

see www.brennancenter.org and also www.projectvote.org

[Didereaux]

38. locals can however force the issue, my point was ....

that INDIVIDUALS needed ot put the pressure on LOCAL officials, where they do hve some 'juice' then the local politicos can push the upper levels. Unless you are rich or are fronting a well heeled organization. Just trying to show how us 'little' guys can still do something when unable to throw potfulls of money at organizations and such.

[robbedvoter]

41. IT'S THE ONLY ISSUE - really. Without it - everything else is hopeless.

[EFerrari]

42. We have a witness!

:loveya:

[scarletwoman]

43. KICK!

and recommended, of course!

sw

[EFerrari]

45. Look at that lovely leg!

Lol!

:hug:

[liberalla]

44. This is so important. Thank you!

We need to have a massive voter self-verification campaign. Or, maybe just a Register to Vote campaign for EVERYONE. Stressing that even existing voters need to verify and make sure their info is accurate.

It'd be great if their was an online database that people could check their voting status.

:kick:

[EFerrari]

46. I'm going to try to stop obsessing about other things and focus on this

for the duration.

We really do need to mind the election. Let's get moving. :)

[snot]

47. Does anyone have reliable info re- how reliable canivote.org is?

what makes me a bit nervous is that last I checked, it's a cooperative effort by State Secs. of State.

[EFerrari]

48. Kicking for an answer.

[Kurovski]

50. Kick.(nt)

[Missy Vixen]

51. My voting registration was challenged in 2004

by an official of the King County Republican Party, along with 1900+ others. I've been legally voting in Washington State since 1978. The reason for the challenge? Their stated "reason" was that people were registering with PO Boxes and nonexistent residences. I'm sure this came as quite a shock to the mortgage lender who loaned us the money to buy our house.

The real reason was probably the fact that there is a woman in our small town with the same first name and my married surname. We have different addresses. She's lived here a shorter amount of time. Interestingly enough, I'm registered with my first name, middle initial, maiden and married name -- in other words, this was deliberate, and I would LOVE to know how many on that challenge list are registered Democrats and/or contributed to Democratic candidates during that cycle. The woman who signed the challenges, Lori Sotelo, should have been charged with 1900+ counts of perjury as a result. She was not. The King County prosecutor was a Republican.

I might also mention that my voting registration was checked in person at King County Elections less than two years before. I was filing to run for elected office at the time, and one's registration is verified on the spot during that process.

If my voting registration is challenged again by King County Republicans, I will sue the Republican Party for harassment.

Julie

[EFerrari]

53. I remember King County that year.

That was really something! Do you expect the Republicans to put on another circus this time out, Julie?

[Missy Vixen]

54. In a word: YES

They will continue doing it until they are stopped in a court of law, and that may not stop them, truthfully. The chairman of the King County Republicans has repeatedly said in the press that they will continue their purging efforts.

Julie

[EFerrari]

55. Do they have a website? I'm thinking they might be a good model

for us to use when we're looking for purging efforts. The bastidges.

[bonito]

52. Kick

[DangerDave921]

56. question

how do we know whether it's Repubs or Dems who are being kicked off the registry?

[Kurovski]

57. Kick. (nt)

[Kurovski]

58. Kick.

:kick:

[Kurovski]

59. Kick. (nt)