Voter fraud, voter suppression

October 27, 2004

*Now* the right wing is concerned with ballot-box stuffing — since the democrats have been registering significant numbers of people. So they’ve decided they’re going to hold up the voting process by challenging the registrations of voters at the polls.

Now, honestly. If I’m standing in line to vote and I look over and see my good friend Nate in line as well, I think I should have the right to challenge his vote in my precinct. That’s because Nate is a Maryland resident, and I’m a Virginia resident, and I know he’s not supposed to be there. I have personal knowledge. And I *would* protest, even though I’m (reasonably) sure both Nate and I would vote the same way — because I believe the voting process is the only legitimately state-sponsored sacred rite in a democratic society.

But partisans carrying lists of people they _think_ might be illegally registered? That sounds like obstruction. That sounds like people trying to make it difficult for _anyone_ to vote.

It’s especially hard to take the Republicans seriously on this issue when they’ve pooh-poohed the concerns of ballot-box stuffing in electronic voting machines. Both method and motivation have been demonstrated — and considering the degree of political involvement of companies like Diebold, there are some genuine concerns that there’s actually _intent_ to defraud the election as well.

Considering the sneering resistance we’ve had from the Elephant Crowd on this issue — except, of course, for the “Elephants who think they’ve been robbed”:http://www.thudfactor.com/textpattern/index.php?id=654 — it’s genuinely hard for me to sympathize much with Republican “ringer” concerns.

Of course, the strategy serves a dual purpose: if you manage to supress enough votes, then your guy might win. If you don’t, you can say “See?! We told you massive voter fraud would throw the election.”

Other reading on this issue:

* “Harold Meyerson at _The Washington Post_”:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A707-2004Oct26.html calls GOP tactics a “shameful strategy.”
* “James Wolcott”:http://jameswolcott.com/archives/2004/10/premature_ejacu.php on the early Republican spin war on the election. If John Kerry wins, do you suppose the Elephants will “just get over it”? I don’t think so.
* “The New Donkey”:http://www.newdonkey.com/2004/10/gops-november-surprise.html wonders how attempts to suppress the black vote will actually play out in practice.
* Speaking of bogus registrations, funny things are happening to the legitimate ones, too. “Rob at WAWBII?”:http://whyareweback.blogspot.com/2004/10/disenfranchisement-of-new-york-city.html is still waiting for his corrected voter registration paperwork — showing he registered in time to vote in _this_ election.
* “58,000 absentee ballots have gone missing”:http://www.prospect.org/weblog/archives/2004/10/index.html in Broward County.
* Let’s also not forget the “illegal destruction of voter registration forms”:http://www.thudfactor.com/textpattern/index.php?id=972.

You have attempts to prevent registrations, attempts to invalidate existing registrations on technicalities, attempts to misdirect voters to different locations, attempts to slow down voting, and (in case all that fails) early propaganda attempts to de-legitimize a Kerry win, I think it’s apparent that the current batch of Republicans that are less dedicated to the notion of freedom and democracy than they let on.

Again, there is good reason Bush likes Putin so much — Bush prefers the Soviet model of democracy to the real thing.

Posted in Politics