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More GOP vote suppression

SP Times:

It's not enough for new Florida voters to swear an oath that they are U.S. citizens, Secretary of State Glenda Hood says.

They also have to make sure they check a little box on their voter registration form.

Otherwise, they should be barred from voting Nov. 2, Hood says.

The result: Potentially hundreds of Floridians won't be able to vote because they failed to check the box even though they signed the form.

Hood's strict interpretation of state law drew the ire Monday of Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry's Florida campaign chairman and third-party groups that have registered thousands of voters in Florida.

"This is really in my opinion a technicality," said U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, D-Miami, Kerry's Florida campaign chairman. "If you sign the form, under the threat of prosecution if you lie, that should be good enough to allow them to vote."

Meek stopped short of accusing Hood, who was appointed by Republican Gov. Jeb Bush, of playing partisan politics.

"But this is the very same office that went out of its way to make sure Ralph Nader was on the ballot," Meek said. Democrats, who fear Nader will undermine Kerry's chances of winning, sued unsuccessfully last month to keep him off the ballot.

Hood said last week that thousands of people could be turned away from the polls Nov. 2 because their voter registration cards were rejected for technical reasons. Most registered through third-party groups that are not as careful as elections officials, Hood said.

But the head of one of those groups said Hood should err on the side of voters.

"All things being equal the secretary of state should be moving mountains to let people vote," said Brian Kettenring, head organizer for Florida ACORN, or Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, which announced Monday it had 212,317 new voters in Florida. "We believe the secretary of state should be giving voters every benefit of the doubt."

More, from Herald.com:

Broward County residents who skipped over a box on their voter registration form will be barred from voting in the presidential election, while Miami-Dade residents who made the same omission will be allowed to cast ballots.

Secretary of State Glenda Hood, who oversees elections statewide, said Monday that Broward was following her instructions in disqualifying those who failed to complete the form.

But she indicated that there was no way to force Dade to follow the same procedure. And Dade said it was sticking to its plan of not disqualifying voters for skipping the citizenship box if they affirmed elsewhere with their signatures that they are U.S. citizens.

So, is Jeb! appointee Buddy Johnson gonna reject forms from Hillsborough County residents based on a technicality? Well, so far, he’s only been able to find one form on which the only mistake made was the citizenship box, and he rejected it. He’s gleefully rejecting thousands of other forms for multiple little mistakes and other irregularities.(Back to SP Times)

Hillsborough Elections Supervisor Buddy Johnson said only one form was rejected because the citizenship box wasn't checked.

More than 6,600 other forms were rejected for a variety of reasons.

"It's very, very, very rare that that particular field is the only incomplete field," Johnson said.

And as these dedicated GOP public servants work to maintain the integrity of the election by disenfranchising thousands of hopeful first time voters, let’s not forget that sometimes it’s okay to fix an official election form - at least, it’s okay if you’re a Republican.

the Martin County absentee ballot case. In that lawsuit, local Democrats have been arguing that because Republican election officials allowed GOP volunteers to take home incomplete absentee ballot applications and correct them, every absentee ballot cast in that county was compromised. Their preferred solution is to throw out all of the approximately 10,000 absentee votes, which would give Gore a net gain of more than 2,000 votes.

Final arguments will be heard Thursday at 1 p.m. EST in the Seminole County case, a precursor to the Martin County suit. Hanging in the balance are that county's 15,000 absentee votes. Democrats allege that county election supervisor Sandra Goard illegally allowed Republicans to set up shop in her office and fix thousands of absentee ballot requests from Republicans.

In one of Wednesday's most charged moments, Democratic attorneys read aloud testimony from Goard, who has held the supervisor post in Seminole County for 23 years. She admitted to permitting two Republican Party representatives, including the party's regional director, Michael Leach, to add missing voter identification numbers to about 2,000 absentee ballot applications filed by Republican voters. Goard also acknowledged that Florida law did not permit her to take such an action and that she had not provided Democrats with the same opportunity.

Glenda E. Hood
Secretary of State
Florida Department of State
R. A. Gray Building
500 S. Bronough
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0250
Phone:850-245-6500

Contact individual county Supervisors of Elections and ask them if they plan to follow Glenda Hood’s advice to disenfranchise new voters.

Volunteer to help people who face obstacles voting on election day: Election Protection Volunteer