October 15, 2004
Repug registration tricks
Sounds kinda silly, changing someone’s party registration, and it’s not like they’re gonna be turned away from the polls in the general election, but all these little annoyances add up - they’re like a false fire alarm - keeping the elections supervisors busy with unnecessary crap while an arsonist does some real damage to the election elsewhere.
Also, look for the Rupugs to use examples like these to call for “reform” of voter registration - they hate the fact that it is so easy to register and to vote.
University of Florida students in Alachua County may have had their voter registration switched to the Republican Party without knowing it. In Leon County, voters are receiving calls in an apparent attempt to mislead them.Those are two of the newer voter registration issues elections officers are wrestling with across the state.
The Alachua County Supervisor of Elections Office is sorting through 1,200 forms gathered at UF and Sante Fe Community College seeking to switch voters' party to Republican. The sorting began after officials discovered that some of the people listed didn't want their parties changed, and others hadn't previously been registered.
It's similar to a situation in Leon County, where the elections office received 3,000 photocopied voter registration forms all checked Republican. When the office began calling people, it was told by most that they didn't intend to register Republican.
Now there's even more questionable activity in Leon County, said Elections Supervisor Ion Sancho. A voter called saying she was contacted by the office earlier in the week and told she could vote by mail. She asked if her husband could do the same.
The only problem is, the elections office made no such call.
Another voter told the office he received a call from someone offering to pick up his absentee ballot and deliver it to the elections office. Yet another caller was told they could vote by checking off the sample ballot being mailed by the elections office and sending it back, which isn't a legal form of voting.
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference has asked the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights to look into the Leon County reports, saying that blacks appear to be targeted in an effort to confuse them and suppress their votes.
Krugman weighs in, touching on some of the more infamous recent incidents. It’s worth reading the whole thing, but here’s his conclusion:
The important point to realize is that these abuses aren't aberrations. They're the inevitable result of a Republican Party culture in which dirty tricks that distort the vote are rewarded, not punished. It's a culture that will persist until voters - whose will still does count, if expressed strongly enough - hold that party accountable.Posted by Norwood at October 15, 2004 07:22 AM
AND THEY KEEP ON AT IT!
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Call the VOTE by MAIL hotline at 1-800-946-3504 to express concern
about the Hillsborough mail ballot with its conflicting information about
using pencil or pen. Ballot instructions confuse voters
Absentee ballots came with two sets of instructions about how to mark
a vote. But they contradicted one another on which writing tool to
use.
By JEFF TESTERMAN, Times Staff Writer
Published October 16, 2004.
TAMPA - Kelley Moore opened up his absentee ballot Friday and began
reading the instructions. When it came to marking the ballot, the more he
read the more confusing it became. The official printed ballot was clear
enough. It said to mark choices with a No. 2 pencil. But a mimeographed
instruction sheet provided by the office of Hillsborough Supervisor of
Elections Buddy Johnson cast doubt on that. The sheet said to use black or
blue ink or a dark pencil. "I thought about it awhile and I decided to
call and ask," said Moore, 59, a retired salesman who lives on Davis
Islands. "They (at Johnson's office) said the information about the No. 2
pencil was incorrect. I was told to use a dark pen. "But then I thought,
what if I use a pen and I don't follow the instructions on the ballot -
will they throw it out?" Edith Schrier was in a similar quandary Friday.
Schrier, 46, a Forest Hills resident who runs her own coin and jewelry
company, also read both sets of instructions, also called Johnson's office
and also was told: disregard the ballot and use a dark pen. Schrier wasn't
satisfied. She called local Democratic officials. They advised her to do
what the ballot said: use a pencil. "But then I thought, what if someone
erases it," said Schrier "They could still tamper with it." Since the
disputed presidential election of 2000, when hanging chad, butterfly
ballots and aborted recounts raised the consciousness - and paranoia level
- of Florida voters, suspicions about ballot-marking instructions can't be
dismissed. Friday afternoon, Johnson said he had great sympathy for voters
confused by dual instructions. He also said absentee voters can use a dark
pencil or a blue or black pen and have confidence their votes will be
recorded. "I understand completely," said Johnson. "I think the
instructions could be clearer. In an effort to be helpful, we added the
second set of instructions. Perhaps next time, we'll try to make it more
consistent." Johnson pointed out that the printed sheet of instructions
cautioned voters not to use red ink, which is not easily read by optical
scanners. Alfie Charles, spokesman for Sequoia Voting Systems, which this
year printed nearly 56,000 absentee ballots for Hillsborough, said Friday
that optical scan devices "will read black ink, blue ink or dark pencil
equally well." Charles was also sympathetic about local voters' concerns.
"People in Florida were told they weren't following directions in the 2000
election, and I think they're trying to make sure they do this year," he
said. "There's an increased level of awareness now. People are just trying
to do the right thing." But Moore said his effort to get it right just
made him angry. "The voters in Florida look pretty dumb to the rest of the
U.S.," he said. "You'd think we could at least get this straight." Jeff
Testerman can be reached at 813 226-3422 or by e-mail at
testerman@sptimes.com
© Copyright 2003 St. Petersburg Times.All rights reserved
---"W" is for WRONG.
http://www.johnkerry.com/rapidresponse/w_wrong.html
