So I am going to be honest; I never really paid that much attention to those rumors about voter Fraud and the "caging" that happened in Ohio in 2004. I figured Kerry did a great job of losing the election on his own accord (if only the John Kerry who spoke at the DNC convention last week showed up 4 years ago).
Well I just found an interesting article that may pique the interest of conspiracy theorists and common-sense folk alike.
It seems that there is a possibility a big chunk of Ohio votes (most democratic votes mind you) that will be cast in this year's election could get thrown out. . .could be as many as 200,000 votes - and that's for just 5 counties in Ohio.
And its not just in Ohio. . .
I am guessing that this story is a microcosm of what is happening in other parts of the country like New Mexico.
So the article written by David Rosenfeld begins innocently enough when election officials in Ohio sent out info mailers with a bunch of voting information about 6 months ago. Well, about 600,000 of those mailers were "return to sender, address unknown. . ." (ya'll can hum along with me. . .no? alright then.). Now these 600,000 mailers are being re-sent to the same registered voters (using the same addresses) as we speak.
Most likely the election officals will see them returned once again.
This is where it kinda gets interesting.
Now, you can't vote unless your address and other personal info is up-to-date and correct. . .Well according to the National Voter Registration Act, as long as a person's name is on the voting rolls within 90 days of the election, that person's vote must count as long as his or her voter information can be verified (if not then the vote gets thrown out the window).
This is where caging - a purly shitty and unethical form of voter suppression - comes in.
I suppose Rosenfeld helps explain it better then I just did. . .
The law doesn’t, however, preclude mass partisan challenges on or shortly before Election Day — known as voter caging — based on the same returned envelopes from state-sponsored mailers like the ones in Ohio and others going out across the country.
According to the David Rosenfeld article (same link from the intro), its republicans who are imfamous for these "caging" antics on or right before election day.
Here's a bit of history on this lovely political art-form.
In 2004, the year the national election hinged on results from Ohio, the Ohio Republican Party challenged 35,000 voters based on returned mail from the GOP's own friendly reminder notices. From 2004 to 2006, Republicans challenged 77,000 voters this way nationwide. A consent decree issued in 1982 and amended in 1987 enjoins the GOP from instituting "ballot security programs" that focus on minority voters.
Are you nervous yet?? Don't be because the Franklin County Election Director and County GOP Chairman (I know right??) assuades our fears. . .and we can trust republicans right?
No evidence so far suggests Republicans — vote caging is essentially a GOP sport — have mounted a caging campaign this year. Yet, in July, Franklin County Election Director and County GOP Chairman Doug Preisse told reporters he didn’t rule out challenges before November, particularly because of increased home foreclosures, which would make failures to change address on voter registration records more common.
Don't worry fellow citizens, we are only going after those whose homes were taken away because of our greed-fueled fuck-ups!
Now this is where the article begins to scare the ever-loving shit out of me.
A challenged voter will likely cast a provisional ballot, which often requires voters to return to election divisions to prove their identity and address. Nearly a third of all 1.6 million provisional ballots cast in 2004 were thrown out (and watch out it's a PDF) .
Now part of it is the fault of the voter (lazyness) and part of it is bullshit - dirty, rotten bullshit.
Rosenfeld goes onto claim that voter fraud is very rare but there have been cases like a group calling themselves ACORN that have been accused of filing false registration forms. . .but that's pretty much it!
Oh yeah, and there is this as well.
Unrelated to ACORN, the Web site GOP.com cites two voting-fraud court cases in Ohio, both focused on individuals casting a second ballot intentionally.
So that's it? That's all they could fucking find?? We are going to throw away more then 500,000 votes (like we did in 2004) for two morons who wanted to see that fancy light-up voting screen again??
I mean seriously, the GOP can come up with two - count 'em two - voting fraud cases and neither have anything to do with a flipping address!
Rosenfeld digs a bit and throws us some raw numbers.
Following a statewide mailer similar to the one going out today, before the Ohio primary in March, the Advancement Project obtained the lists of returned notices through simple public records requests. The organization requested records from five urban Ohio counties — Cuyahoga, Franklin, Hamilton, Lucas and Summit.
The total came to 600,000 names out of 3 million voters, amounting to 19.7 percent of all registered voters.
In Franklin County, the March mailer went to all registered voters as well. Out of 780,000, more than 150,000 notices were returned. Those voters are now excluded from receiving another notice this week, said Ben Piscitelli, spokesman for the Franklin County Board of Elections. The only public records request for the list so far came from the Obama campaign, Piscitelli said.
Now remember Rosenfeld said that this was an almost exclusivly GOP sport. . .by simple deduction this means they are trying screw us over.
So 700,000 registered voters in six counties in Ohio will most likely have to use a provisional ballot. Now I am sure there are some pretty damn big cities within these counties and I hate hypotheticals but let's do the math anyway.
Let's say instead of a third of those ballots being thrown out (like in '04), let's low-ball and go with a quarter getting tossed out the window: Thats 175,000 votes that will have been considered toilet paper.
175,000 votes.
Now, in most cases, provisional ballots lean democratic.
Let's say they lean 65% to 35% democrat. . .
That is a 52,500 vote net loss for the Democrats.
Now you have to ask yourself this:
How close will Ohio be this year??
What about Virginia?
And Nevada?
And Colorado?
Al Gore lost Florida by less then 1000 votes.
Be sure to have all your information updated and ready to go! There are a ton of diaries out there that tell of Grandparents and Friends and Mothers and Fathers who haven't voted in a really long time and are ready to pull that lever for Barack:
Make sure they are still registered! Have they moved?? Ask them if they have updated their address! If they have moved to a different county make sure they have done all the paper work properly, etc. . .
We can't afford to get this election stolen from us. . .The harder for them to cage Democratic voters, the less votes we lose. . .It's as easy as that.
I hope ya'll liked my first dairy. . .I am really hoping for some feedback, tips, pointers, etc. . .
Cheers!
Let's all make sure their votes don't get thrown out.