Republicans raise specter of dishonest election; Democrats prepare for voter suppression

by Jon Ralston Tue, 10/16/2012 - 17:06
Microsoft Office document icon PEWProjectBackground.doc

If the presidential and/or U.S. Senate race are close this year, welcome to my nightmare.

Republicans, as they did in 2010, already are laying the predicate for challenging voters, raising the specter of all of those new Democratic registrations not being kosher. And Democrats, fearing attempts to suppress their vote, are moving to counter these efforts.

And then you have the "newspaper," through its chief editorial writer and Sunday columnist Glenn Cook raising the specter of voter fraud.

Election officials in Nevada point out how difficult it would be for one voter to impersonate another and the number of felonies one would have to commit. As for the "aha" moment that a felon received a registration application amid a massive mailing or any extrapolation that many illegal voters are registered, that's simply not supported by the facts. You need a driver's license number (or other ID) and a Social Security number to register. And it's a felony if you don't. Are there masses of people willing to commit said felonies? I don't think so.

Ironically, Nevada was among a handful of states that participated in a Pew project designed to get more accurate voter rolls, as you can see from the guidlelines I have linked here, and that's where the supposedly controversial mailing came from. Look who was supposed to get these notices and note that they are not automatically registered. They are just told they "may" be able to vote. Also, in Nevada, except for limited circumstances, most ex-felons have automatically had their rights to vote restored. My understanding is that, as opposed to the red flags raised by Republicans and the "newspaper" here, none of the other states have had controversy over this Pew project.

As to the rate of flagged registrations -- about 2 percent -- I asked Clark County's highly regarded registrar, Larry Lomax, about that and the prospect of fraud. Here's what he told me:

"In 2008, our percentage of non-matching forms was 1.8%.  In determining that percentage, we did not include any of the forms of people who did not vote that were submitted by ACORN, as we suspected they were largely fraudulent.  The non-match percentage of those forms (submitted by ACORN but did not vote) was 47.7%. A mismatch rate of 2% (+.2%) doesn't seem that high to me...Maybe the the data error entry rate of the 20-30 temporary employees we brought on board to help enter the more than 150,000 applications received in the  last 10 weeks accounts for the difference.  Remember that a typo on our part causes a mismatch. With more than one million registered voters (active and inactive) in our data base, I am sure there are some folks in there who should not be there, but I still have seen no indication of coordinated, organized fraud.  Every now and then a questionable application, but that is it."

That won't quell the troublemakers or those who believe fraud caused a close result, if one occurs. Thus, you see the Republicans and Democrats preparing for the worst.

This alert went out today from the Republican Men's Club:

 

OUR REPUBLICAN PARTY NEEDS YOU TO HELP KEEP THE THE UPCOMING ELECTIONHONEST!! EARLY VOTING STARTS SOON AND YOUR PARTY AND CANDIDATES NEED VOLUNTEERS TO BE POLL WATCHERS SO THAT WE CAN ASSURE THE VOTERS OF ANHONEST ELECTION. PLEASE READ THE CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS BELOW AND HELP IF YOU POSSIBLY CAN!

 

With less than 30 days until election day, our Election Day Task Force is working to ensure a fair and open election here in Nevada. We need your help as a volunteer poll observer during the early voting period (Oct. 20 - Nov. 2) and on Election Day (Nov. 6). Your efforts will be extremely important to ensuring victory on November 6th. We cannot do it without you.

And this from the AFL-CIO:

 

 

AFL-CIO to Hold Press Call on Election Protection Plans in Battleground States
LCC Lawyers from Florida, Nevada and Pennsylvania to Participate

 

Washington, DC – The AFL-CIO will hold a press call on Thursday, October 18, 2012 at 11:00 a.m. ET to talk about plans to protect the vote leading up to the November 6th election.  Participating lawyers from the AFL-CIO the Lawyers Coordinating Committee will detail efforts so far to suppress the vote and the plans to monitor additional activity through the election. The Lawyers Coordinating Committee is a not-for-profit membership organization comprised of more than 2,000 union lawyers in law firms and union legal departments across the country.  Union lawyers are also volunteering on Election Day as poll monitors across the country and will have a rapid response operation to respond to issues at the polls as they arise.

----

So you can see what might be coming, folks. Fasten your seat belts; it's going to be a bumpy three weeks.

 

Comments: