"The Most Brazen Attempt at Voter Suppression Yet"

[applegrove]

The Most Brazen Attempt at Voter Suppression Yet

By Jamelle Bouie at Slate

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2014/10/al_jazeera_america_s_reveals_massive_gop_voter_suppression_effort_millions.html

"SNIP...................

According to a six-month-long investigation conducted by Greg Palast for Al Jazeera, “voting officials in 27 states, almost all of them Republicans, have launched what is threatening to become a massive purge of black, Hispanic, and Asian-American voters. Already, tens of thousands have been removed from voter rolls in battleground states, and the numbers are set to climb.”

Specifically, officials have a master list of 6.9 million suspected “potential double voters.” And in Virginia, Georgia, and Washington the lists are “heavily over-weighted with names such as Jackson, Garcia, Patel, and Kim,” all common to Democratic-leaning minority groups.

The process for checking those names, a computer program called Crosscheck—touted by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a vocal supporter for voter identification—is incredibly inaccurate. “The actual lists,” notes Al Jazeera America, “show that not only are middle names mismatched, and suffix discrepancies ignored, even conflicting birthdates are disregarded. Moreover, Crosscheck deliberately ignores any Social Security mismatches, in the few instances when the numbers are even collected.”

Given the tight races in Georgia and other battleground states, even a small number of false positives could turn the tide of an election, giving a strong advantage to Republican candidates for statewide and congressional offices.



.....................SNIP"

[JEB]

1. Fucking desperate criminal activity that needs to be stopped

with aggressive prosecution and severe penalties. Turn the GOP generated concern for voter fraud to the real crime of election fraud or cede any semblance of democracy.

[99th_Monkey]

44. And just WHO, pray tell, is going to do that?

Apparenty not our "Democratic" WH or the DOJ ...
nor is the presumably "democratic" FEC lifting a finger.

I find that exceedingly odd.

Yet these treasonous rat-bastards get to commit massive election fraud, while
whining about "voter fraud" when what they are doing is 10,000 worse than ANY
actual known "voter fraud".

[sulphurdunn]

48. The feds will do nothing

to prosecute the state dismantling of universal suffrage in a post democratic America. Once they take care of the minority vote, they'll proceed to render yours meaningless. Count on it.

[hobbit709]

2. The Republican way, if you can't win fair, then cheat, and then cheat again.

[hopemountain]

45. & lie & deny.

[KeepItReal]

3. This is second only to NSA bulk data collection in blatant lawlessness

The use of these bullshit-based databases of "potential double voters" (which in and of itself has no basis, since in-person voter fraud almost never happens - so where did they get the names?) combined with improper matching criteria leads to mass disenfrancisement of REGISTERED VOTERS.

If I have a list of "potential duplicate voters" with the name George Octavius Smith, Jr, but I only make my registered voter purge criteria = George Smith, I'm gonna kick out a lot more people than the one person the list should actually flag.

In other words, mass voter purge accomplished with extreme prejudice, and no consequences, except for all those George Smiths who think they are still registered to vote.

Here's part of the 4th Amendment of the US Constitution:

No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States

[Gothmog]

4. Greg Palast did a good job on this report

[jwirr]

5. Are we to believe that there is absolutely nothing that can be done about this? This is both

criminal and unpatriotic. Is no one ever working to stop it?

[99th_Monkey]

8. Apparently not.

I don't see ANY "heavy hitter" Democrats with their hair on fire about this shit, so
then WHO pray tell, is going to speak up?

Where is Eric Lame-duck Holder on this?

This disgusting buggering of the US institutions of democracy has been going on
since SCOTUS handed The Shrub the WH despite the clear will of the electorate.
Mr. Rove & Co have their ways, including manipulating all e-voting in red-leaning
states where there's a GOP Attorney General, like with Mr Blackwell in OH.

[HoosierCowboy]

6. Isn't Michelle Bachmann..

...registered to vote in 5 states? Looks to me like something Republicans would do more than Dems. Can't stop you anyway if you mailed in a absentee ballot which is anonymous.

[daleanime]

24. Does anyone have a list of republican voter forgeries?

Hasn't there been 3 or 4 the last year?

[SomeGuyInEagan]

34. If you are looking for R candidates committing fraud ...

... there is this, in Arkansas, just a month old:

http://www.salon.com/2014/10/03/gop_candidate_busted_for_potential_voter_fraud_the_story_of_leslie_rutledge/

[Blue Idaho]

7. Where oh where is the US Justice Department?

Citizens across the country are being intentionally denied their right to vote by paid political operatives at the direction of a hand full of wealthy influence peddlers and the federal government sits on its hands?

This is no way to run a democracy.

[blackspade]

9. The GOP are criminals.

and should be treated as such by Democratic candidates.
As a party we should be hanging this around the GOP like a loadstone.

Sadly the DLC wing of the party will say that doing so will undermine 'bipartisanship.'

[Takket]

10. why are we EVER purging voter rolls?

what does it hurt to have extra names on the voting rolls???

oh yeah... it is only about voter suppression, so I guess I should stop trying to think about this rationally.

[Enthusiast]

22. It was so effective at changing the outcome of the 2,000 election.

They thought, "Why not try that again?"

[jonjensen]

11. freedom to vote is not free!

All it would take is for the president to stop voter suppression is to send in federal troops to escort voters to the polls and bayonet anyone trying to stop voters from voting. But democrats would rather whine!

[Docross]

12. Holder's great

He's fighting it with everything he's got.
(But we want it NOW ...this instant!
what ELSE has he got to do?!... oh...yeah...)

Oct 14: ".....the soon-to-step-down Holder pointed to a federal judge's
ruling that Texas's voter ID law was designed with "discriminatory purpose"
and amounted to an unconstitutional "poll tax" on Lone Star State residents.

.. "We could NOT allow the states to interpret the Shelby County decision
as open season on the right of people to vote –"
.
...."the Obama administration may be able to use Section 3 of the Voting Rights Act
to "bail in" Texas under the requirement that states pre-approve any changes to their
voting laws with the Justice Department or a federal court"

(Since ...overturned by a Republican Court)

Holder wants to send a warning shot to any state or jurisdiction that
might consider restrictive voting laws:

"We will come after you"

[Enthusiast]

21. Somehow that is little comfort to me.

[ReRe]

13. Organized voter suppression =

organized voter fraud by the Republican Party.

[underpants]

14. What is the Voter Protection Hotline number?

Link?

National or by state.

The one I have saved appears to be inactive

[Enthusiast]

20. "The one I have saved appears to be inactive." Imagine that.

[Cha]

15. KICK! Mahalo apple!

[woo me with science]

16. K&R

[ZombieHorde]

17. There are no laws; only propaganda.

Voter suppression, torture, the institutional racism of the police, etc., etc. I know what I'm saying sounds crazy, but think about it. Bundy and his militias can openly oppose the US government. Why is this? Peaceful protestors are treated with violence. Why is this?

Anarchy is not the absence of government, it is a breakdown of propaganda.

[Enthusiast]

19. Yes, I agree. WTF!

The national media won't even report on this blatant voter suppression. No reporter will ask Roberts or Scalia why they couldn't have predicted such a scenario.

Remember this one? They don't even try to hide it now.

"The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it's profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater."

Frank Zappa

[Enthusiast]

18. The FAR RIGHT supreme court should have to answer for this debacle.

[URL=.html][IMG][/IMG][/URL]

[jtuck004]

23. Not a debacle. A strategy. These people don't lose, they just reassemble to plan another attack. n/t

[Enthusiast]

25. Right you are.

[JustAnotherGen]

26. Looks like the end game

Of the Reagan crowd is coming to a win . . .

They created the 'other' - and now they intend to inflict as much pain as possible on us.

[clayton72]

27. Verify your vote

I live in Washington State, we vote by mail. Each county processes their ballots and most offer online verification. Here are two websites from a couple of the most populous counties.

https://info.kingcounty.gov/elections/BallotTracker.aspx

http://www.snoco.org/elections/results/Returned-Ballot.html

If you didn't even get a ballot, talk to your county ASAP. There is still time to cast a provisional ballot.

[wandy]

28. An act of desperation that begs two questions..........

How long will voter suppression keep the GOP and their owners in power?
What actions will the GOP and their owners take when Jim Crow finally fails them?

[rhett o rick]

29. Doesn't this amount to depriving citizens of their civil rights? Why can't the Federal Government

step in?

[Spitfire of ATJ]

30. I'm expecting to hear they're purging female names.

[Hortensis]

39. Very good point given the Dem edge. Perhaps they are. Sex discrimination is often passed over.

[blkmusclmachine]

31. Too bad we don't have an Opposition Party to the 1%

The 1% signs the big fat paychecks to both the Republicans and the Democrats.


Oh, well, I guess we just keep "looking forward." Surely, there must be some medical marijuana patients to bust somewhere, or Occupy Wall Street group to spy on. Gotta have priorities, you know...

[clg311]

32. More proof that Republican policies don't work.

If they did work they wouldn't be so desperate to keep people from voting.

[W T F]

33. THIS IS FIRST DEGREE SEDITION. WHY IS THIS NOT NATIONAL HEADLINES????????

[Beowulf42]

35. What should we do?

The federal government, the DOJ, should arrest every state attorney general who sponsors and conducts these programs for sedition and violation of our basic Constitutional rights. Get it America? Republicans are stealing elections, practicing class warfare on the majority of us, and crushing our future. Please vote, and vote progressive.

[spanone]

36. this kind of criminal activity is the most egregious enemy of democracy

wake up justice dept!!!!!!

[samsingh]

38. this is a threat to democracy

more than gun control or most any other issue

[samsingh]

37. instead of raiding legal marijuana places the justice department

may want to put all their resources into fixing this

[pansypoo53219]

40. WHICH non GOP state? do NOT say both sides are doing it til you say WHO but GOP did it.

[jonjensen]

41. freedom to vote isn't free

So how many of you are demanding president obama send in federal troops to protect minority voting rights? How many of you are ready to blockade the highways into any state removing minority voters from voting lists? Liberal whining is NOT doing anything about it!

[guyfromla]

42. GOP Election Fraud

Lets call it what it is - GOP Election Fraud #GOPElectionFraud

[kairos12]

43. About the same scam was run in Florida in 2000.

[nikto]

46. Don't you just love the way...

1--The story is only covered by Slate, Al Jazeera and RT, while the rest of
our "Liberal Media" (including Maddow & MSNBC) is stone silent?

2--The entire Democratic Party is SILENT as a graveyard over this?







I will vote regardless, but I can't help thinking...

The Fix must be in already.

[Maineman]

47. Why do Republicans want to supress the vote? Because they do not believe in Democracy.

They are owned by the Kock brothers and fundamental religious groups. Neither of these wants Democracy. They want control.