Republican dirty tricks and voter suppression (Part 9)

Rachel Maddow has gotten a lot of attention and praise lately (the latest from this week's New York magazine), but this is what I hope gets a lot of attention: Her invocation against what she's identified as "the new poll tax."

Maddow rightly notes the long wait times at early voting stations — and worries not only about what that bodes for election day, but about who is getting disenfranchised because of it:

This is a poll tax. How much do you get paid for an hour of work? Do you have the kind of job that would be delighted to give you an hour, a half-day, a whole day off work because you were waiting in line at your precinct? Even if it won't cost you your job, can you afford to not work those hours? Are you elderly or disabled, do you not have the physical stamina for this kind of exertion? This is a poll tax... Who is not in those lines — because they can't afford to be?

On Friday, she foreshadowed the piece, writing on MSNBC.com's NewsVine: "What does it cost you to wait eight hours? Is this the way our democracy works now? We're a country where only people who can afford to give up 20 percent of a week's pay are allowed to vote?"

Never mind that there are forces at work trying to deliberately disenfranchise voters — "Democrats vote on November 5th" anyone? — but the fact that this is still going on after the horror shows of 2000 and 2004 says a lot about just how far the election-day process in this country hasn't come
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/03/rachel-maddow-decries-lon_n_140455.html
Another tactic is removing American citizens from the voter registries for dubious reasons. Here in Colorado, for example, as reported by the New York Times, more than 37,000 names were purged from the registration database by the Republican Secretary of State Mike Coffman, who critics contend should have resigned his post from the conflict-of-interest when he won the Republican nomination to run for congress. The Colorado court of appeals on October 30 ordered these voter registrations restored, fortunately.

Also here in Colorado, as another example, Republicans last month told students at liberal Colorado College (in conservative Colorado Springs) that students could not register to vote if their parents live out of state, which as untrue.

And right here in predominantly Democratic Denver, Republican-owned Sequoia voting systems company failed to deliver to the post office more than 10,000 mail-in ballots while telling city election officials that all of the expected 21,000 ballots had been mailed. (This incident represents only one of the required mailings.) Sequoia now admits they made a "technical" error, and the ballots have been mailed to waiting voters.

Elsewhere around the country, as you can learn with a simple Web search, we're seeing Republican voting officials being accused of disenfranchising voters in Democratic districts by not printing enough paper ballots, not assigning enough voting machines, or even reducing the number of polling places.

If Republicans can prevent enough Democrats from casting ballots, McCain could win the election. Going further, those votes that Democrats actually do cast many not be properly counted.

As reported in The Brad Blog and other investigative websites, many of the touch-screen voting machines, like the Sequoia Edge and ES&S iVotronic, tend to malfunction after heavy use. The machines do not record votes properly or at all, in some cases.

The key, of course, is for Democrats to vote in such overwhelming numbers that even voter suppression and vote fraud will not be enough to resist the wave of support for Barack Obama. Regardless of what the polls might say, unless Democrats take steps to ensure that every vote is duly counted, Republicans may retain the White House. The risk is real.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/judah-freed/obama-could-lose-election_b_139547....

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[ZoneTelevision]

@newyorkeastside Fluoride

[makilgore06]

I don't want uneducated idiots voting. Voting isn't a fad, it isn't a fashion statement, and it's not something to do because everybody else is doing it. You should vote with conviction, knowledge, and understanding of what you're asking for. Obama was a mistake, as was Bush, both voted in by ignorant people who were too dumb to pay attention.

[newyorkeastside]

Rachel MADCOW say congratulations to

SENATOR SCOTT BROWN!!!!!!!!!!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA

YOU LOST AGAIN!!!!!

[newyorkeastside]

Rachel Madcow is an assclown.........that is why her ratings suck..........how is this ugly bitch still on the air?

gross

[slayerkendra]

rachel madcow needs to shut up she attacks trigg palin

[buttermobile]

Get over it we Republicans won in VA and NJ fair and square and now the commie liberal Dems are mad as hell because the people rejected them again! LOL!

[sogairborne]

Everyone should be informed & then vote. Know the issuses & why they are voting for the person. Not just show up and vote.

[usagill]

I really can't stand this dike.

[nilesriver2]

MSNBC (M-ostly S-tuff N-obody C-ares A-bout)

[kittenshateyou]

bah.