A lot of people are going to vote in ten days. Many already have, either at early-voting precincts or by absentee ballot. Some people aren’t going to. Many because they do not consider their choices appealing enough. Some because they do not feel their votes will account for much. Some unknown number will, however, show up to the polls and not actually vote. Vote suppression, caging, registration purges, broken polling equipment, and uncounted provisional ballots may yet steal the franchise of thousands of citizens this year, just like in 2004. This is essentially the last remaining path to victory for the John McCain campaign, which is trying desperately to put up a fight in Pennsylvania, Colorado, and Virginia.
If they do it again, if Ohio voters in predominantly minority and urban areas have to queue up for hours in the rain, if thousands of registered voters are turned away at the polls due to a typo in some database, if contested voters are forced to use provisional ballots in Colorado, Indiana, and Florida that will then be re-contested after the voter has left, and the election is stolen, what happens next? Some pretty broad-scale election fraud is already under way, so what do we do about it?
Keep an eye on the news November 4th. Election fraud is a hard story for the nightly news to cover, as it involved actually getting reporters out on the streets to interview poll workers, voters, and election officials. It takes more than two seconds to explain what “caging” means, so the producers on the 24-hour news networks are reluctant to tie up air time with it.
Get your buddies together and plan yourself a party. A celebration of freedom, democracy, and the rule of the people. Don’t have it at your house, have it at your town square. Have it on the lawn in front of your city hall. Bake some pies, bring some drinks. Invite everybody. Plan on having a grand old time, like 4th of July on the 5th of November. See if you can get the local campaign HQ of your presidential candidate of choice in on the act. Make up lemonade for their campaign volunteers and have a big shindig. If things go sour on election day, you may be able to have a few hundred people already set to hit the streets.
tl;dr – the power to govern comes from the consent of the people, even by way of apathy. Don’t give it and they don’t have it.
The guy you linked quotes Karl Rove ““If I try to cash a check at a grocery store, I have to show an ID. Why not for voting?”” ,that was always my question. For all intents and purposes everyone in this country including illegals has some form of ID. I am too lazy to search but I remember reading that free assistance (i.e. free ride to the DMV) is offered to people who need to obtain an ID. For some things you need TWO forms of ID. I was just carded at the liquor store today. I was carded yesterday at Costco, I am not a minority. If you set aside all the bullshit about how it’s been done and for how long, how can you possibly say that requiring an ID is somehow voter suppression. The only reason for insisting on voting without ID is voter fraud. I firmly believe that both sides are guilty but I blame the democrats for insisting on voting without ID. Show ID and no one would be able to question you. However, expired drivers license is still an ID, you just can’t drive with it, so in this case the voter was wronged.
Meesha, I love how you focus in on the stupidest part of some third party’s argument.
First, I have no idea why Karl Rove would cash a check at a grocery store. I’m pretty sure that dude has a bank account.
Second, there are a lot of people that just plain don’t have photo ID. You can get a California ID for twelve bucks, last I checked, and last I checked, we don’t have poll taxes. Also, I don’t know what DMV offices are like where you’re from, but choking them further with a bunch of people that don’t drive isn’t what I’d call a good idea. According to the Indiana law specifically, the ID has to be current. If you’re some old coot in Indiana that hasn’t been on the road for eight years and you show up at the polls in ten days, you may be in for a nasty surprise.
Anyhow, it’s a way to get people that have been voting legally for years away from the ballot box. They wave a bogeyman “voter fraud” threat around while committing massive election fraud. I have no particular problem with ID laws (provided that getting those IDs is actually a reasonable procedure for somebody that otherwise has no need for one), but the inappropriate/illegal registration purges, provisional ballot nonsense, and the privatization of our voting system (particularly when there are so many indications that the accuracy of most of these electronic systems is highly suspect) is just not acceptable.
Maybe next time we can get some UN observers in to make sure we run a clean election?
Well, maybe I am thinking that way because in the state of KS where I live everyone is driving, and I don’t think I have ever met anyone without said ID.
1. I don’t give a crap about Karl Rove. And I don’t like this argument “is Karl Rove doesn’t cash checks, why does he care”, this kind of argument was tried on me by the union clowns before. Lets say I wanted to know, not Karl Rove.
2. To address poll taxes I looked up Indiana If you do not possess an ID that is acceptable for voting purposes, Public Law 109-2005 requires the BMV to issue an Indiana State ID Card free“
3.If you concede bullshit non-existent poll tax issue I’ll give you election fraud because I watched some HBO special on the subject where they had a voting machine spit out any results on demand.
4.In the olden days there were not 20 million illegals hanging around trying to vote. If it was me I would ask for a proof of citizenship instead of ID. Why not?
5.Election fraud is not new, i.e. Kennedy/Nixon. In the event of Obama’s loss election fraud would immediately be brought up.
6.My only point is: if there is a question -why not remove any point of contention when it’s so easy to do. Let’s say 30% of the citizens do not have ID’s. You have 4 years to do it. No big deal. The same thing with other concerns. There is some clown who is filing lawsuits that Obama is not a natural-born citizen. Why wouldn’t Obama produce all the documents and have this guy examine them live on national TV, then no one would ever be able to say otherwise. If simple questions were answered half of the conspiracy theories would have no basis.
Just saw a video on the subject
Oh, I totally concede that the ID laws are the weakest part of Palast’s assortment of voter suppression and election fraud allegations. That’s why I applauded your focusing in on the stupidest of his premises. I specifically mentioned the California ID fee only because that’s the only non-driver’s license ID I’m familiar with. Nice to see that Indiana isn’t being a total douche about this. I only mentioned Karl’s checking habits because you did, and meant to be dismissive of the notion that his opinion mattered.
Regarding that Obama stuff, the documentation has been provided and the crackpots are exactly that: crackpots. Just like the nonsense about McCain being ineligible for being born in the Canal Zone, not in the United States.
As for the video, I’m not even suggesting that you vote. Vote or don’t vote as you please. Maybe there’s some local issue you have an opinion on that you’d like to weigh in on, but I understand that your interest in voting for anybody for president fails to rise even to “unenthusiastic” or “reluctant.”
I only focus on ID because it never made sense to me, not in relation to current election. I also read about Obama’s birth certificate, I agree about a crackpot, but he has a lawsuit going and if his (crackpot) demands are met, one conspiracy thing will be off the table.
And the video was just a coincidence. Registration deadline in KS has passed and I didn’t register. I thought about it long and hard,and decided not to register. I don’t like both candidates AND people who stand behind them. And on top of all, state of KS sells voter registration lists to telemarketers or whoever want to pay. That really finalized my decision.
Here’s a better example of what actually concerns me: http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/26/voter.suppression/index.html