Sanders Folks Upset About Registration Rules in NY

[Stand and Fight]

They're complaining that they're having problems with their voter registration. Supposedly, their party affiliation has been changed. I think the reality is that some independents and republicans are just now finding out that they can't vote in the closed primary unless they changed their affiliation back in October.

NY Election Boards Inundated With Calls From Voters "Pissed Off" About Registration Issues

Since shortly before the late deadline to register to vote in the April 19th presidential primary in New York, state Board of Elections spokesman Tom Connolly said his office has been fielding nearly 100 calls a day from voters who are "pissed off" about their registration status, for one reason or another. On social media, there are dozens of reports from voters who say they checked their registration online recently and found that their party affiliation had been switched, which is disqualifying because New York's primaries are closed, or that that their registration couldn't be found altogether.

We could not verify the details of the majority of those accounts, but the discoveries alarmed many would-be voters, most of them seemingly Bernie Sanders supporters. Sanders fans are already on tenterhooks over long lines at the polls in Arizona, which the Justice Department is now investigating, and polling place electioneering by former president Bill Clinton in Illinois and Massachusetts, which local election officials declared proper, among other factors that they argue have skewed the primary process for Hillary Clinton.

At the New York Board of Elections, Connolly said that his office looks into all complaints, and though the volume has been higher this year than his office has ever seen, "I've yet to come upon any example of any kind of mal-intent or inappropriate change of a voter's record."

Rather, he said, the increased call volume can be explained by heightened interest in this year's primary and New York's newfound relevance to the nomination. As for the complaints themselves, the circumstances vary, but he said there's a rational explanation for each instance of seeming irregularity. For one, he explained that the complaints are largely coming from Democrats—"a lot" of them Sanders supporters. (There have also, he noted, been some Donald Trump supporters who are angry that they missed the deadline to change their party to Republican.) Because many voters only turn out for presidential elections, and Democrats didn't have a primary in 2012, it has been eight years since many people thought about their registration, he said.

So, as the last underlined portion indicates, this jackass doesn't bother to vote in off year elections, and now he's mad because he's too flipping stupid to have checked before this year? Well, fuck him and the horse he road in on! He shouldn't need some pixie dust unicorn fart rfaux revolution to inspire him to get engaged. He'd be one of those who doesn't show up to vote in off year elections so we can win back Congress. Some of these people aren't low information voters, THEY'RE NO INFORMATION VOTERS!


MORE AT SOURCE: http://gothamist.com/2016/04/06/voter_confusion_primary_ny.php

[Cha]

1. This was so predicted.. thank you, SaF!

[Stand and Fight]

5. Yep. I don't remember exactly who said this would happen...

Yep. I don't remember exactly who said this would happen, but they were right and here it is... How do his supporters like the ones in this story not bother to look up the rules beforehand? This is like the people who speed and then cry foul when they get a ticket because they claim to have not seen the clearly posted speed limit.

[stopbush]

12. I was among the many who saw this coming months ago.

But I can't take credit for being the first.

[Stand and Fight]

19. The 19th can't get here soon enough.

I hope it's a decisive victory for Hillary. This primary needs to end so we can get ready for the general election.

[wysi]

2. Boo hoo

My heart just aches for them.

[Treant]

4. Should I call 9-1-1

for the chest pains you're clearing having?

[wysi]

24. I think someone might need the...

Whaaaambulance!

[IamMab]

47. Bwuhaha, you beat me to it! nt

[Treant]

63. Ha!

Yeah, you're in the same kind of mood I am. Let them cry all the way to the loser's circle.

[Treant]

3. Call me crazy

but here in PA, I used our Handy-Dandy Registration Checker a week before the deadline and again the day before, just to make sure nothing had gone wrong. Just like the past twenty years, nothing has.

It's online, easy to use, and gave me an answer in seconds (plus told me where I'm voting, which I already knew but is nice to have confirmed once again).

You know, efficiency. Knowing the deadline dates. Keeping an eye on things. That kind of stuff.

[Stand and Fight]

6. I'm sure they're going to complain in all the big states.

So, that means we'll hear the same gnashing of teeth in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and, of course, California. The problem with these people is they aren't voting because of an issue. They're voting because they're enraptured with a candidate when the reality is they should have been involved long before Bernard. If they had been, they could have had their shit together beforehand. I starting checking last year to make sure I was all set to go even though I vote in off year elections, I didn't want to miss my chance.

[Treant]

8. Of Course They Will

That's fairly typical in PA. Every Primary, there's always somebody in there filling out a provisional ballot because they swear--SWEAR--they were registered D or R and it Magically Changed.

I have asked and no, that's not ever a problem. It's that people feel entitled to vote in whatever election they want, it doesn't check against the on-file registration with signature, and it gets discarded.

[Stand and Fight]

20. Well, if people can't play by the rules...

Then they need to deal with the consequences. I haven't the slightest bit of sympathy for the people trying to game the system by acting contrary to the published and established rules.

[Cha]

29. Important stuff..

[Thinkingabout]

7. More attempts for voter fraud, the others has to follow the rules but some thinks they are not

included in following the rules.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

9. guess they need one of these.

[stopbush]

10. And of course, it's only Sanders followers who are affected.

Apply Occam's Razor: what's more likely, that the State of NY has found a way to target people who registered or reregistered as Ds in NY and switched their registration status to being not Democratic, *but only if they happen to be Sanders supporters,* OR,

these complainers are lying: they didn't know they had to reregister last year, they didn't bother to reregister and now that they're not allowed to vote, they find it easier to lie and blame their own stupidity on the faceless elections system?

I'll take Door #2 for the win, Monty!

[stopbush]

11. BTW - I replied to a FB post that warned CA voters

that they better check their registration because there's shenanigans afoot!

Well, I moved last June and had to change my address, which I did thru the DMV. When I reported to the FB alert that my registration was just fine, I was informed that election officials in CA were scouring the pages of FB to identify Sanders supporters and were then flipping their registration to Republican to keep them from voting in the D primary. Of course, my registration was OK because they know I'm not voting for Sanders!

I'm not making this up.

[NuclearDem]

14. Kind of a wasted effort on their part anyway, since California's practically an open primary.

[stopbush]

16. Yeah. You have to be registered as "non-affiliated" to cross over

and vote in the D or R primaries. If you're listed as an Independent, you can't vote in the CA primaries.

There are three CA primaries: D, R and American Independent Party. If you're "not affiliated," you can vote in any of the three. If you're registered as a D, R or American Independent, you must vote under your party of registration - you can't crossover.

It's a semi-closed primary.

[Stand and Fight]

21. These people... Some of the Sanders folks are nuttier than squirrel shit. n/t

[LiberalFighter]

54. Well.... Sanders has helped that process.

[NanceGreggs]

23. I've seen this claim, too ...

... about how "they" are scouring FB to find Bernie supporters in order to "flip" their registration.

Do you know how many Susie Smiths there are on FB? How do you determine which of them is the one whose registration needs "flipping"?

And exactly who are "they" - ya know, the ones who are spending countless hours on FB trying to figure out if F.B. Nobody is actually Frank B. Nobody (an HRC supporter) or F. Bennett Nobody (a Bernie supporter) before they tamper with their voter registration?

And exactly who is paying for the hours "they" are expending on this pointless endeavour?

The mind boggles at the lengths some will go to in order to convince their cohorts that because HRC is winning this race, without doubt "something fishy is going on".

They can't tell you who - they can't tell you why - they can't tell you how. But mark their words.

[wysi]

26. We discussed this FB scouring...

... at the last New World Order Meeting, but it was deemed impractical.

[stopbush]

28. Yes. This is delusion on the Sarandon Syndrome level.

There's no known cure. Most people afflicted with this mental disorder end up returning to their Playstations and X-boxes, often spending the better part of 4 years immersing themselves in a fantasy world of a different sort.

[Cha]

30. Speaking of the Sarandon Syndrome..

Susan Sarandon
✔ ??@SusanSarandon
"Bernie Sanders Accepts Pope Francis’s Invitation to Travel to the Vatican" http://nyti.ms/25Pmx4w via @NYTPolitics
5:06 AM - 8 Apr 2016

https://storify.com/Cajsa/sanders-and-the-vatican-story

[LuvLoogie]

77. Yu-Gi-Oh! For President!!

You other politicians don't inspire me.

And YOU! You sheep! You know nothing. I await a higher calling that you cannot understand. Go to your "jobs" and your "families." How trite.

[KittyWampus]

38. Nance, since they spend HOURS on FB and the internet posting anti-Hillary crap

and pro-Sanders fairytales… it's only natural they assume other engage in same obsessive wastes of time.

[lolly]

74. They also put an immense amount of effort into changing results of caucuses after the fact

Nevada, Iowa, Missouri--

They have tried to shut out Clinton delegates and then claim that Clinton didn't deserve the delegates she won because they weren't dedicated enough.

So, yeah, if they could figure out a way, they probably would try to suppress Clinton voters by messing with their registration.

[IamMab]

48. Classic projection from the side whose candidate spent something like $6 million on marketing online

If they suspect people are using Facebook to "target" people, it's only because they've been doing it first.

[wysi]

25. Time to buy stock in Reynolds Wrap

There's not enough tin foil in the world.

[sheshe2]

13. I sorry they are so ill informed.

Viva the Revolution~ or not.

[NuclearDem]

15. Do we all need to hold these people's hands or something?

Voting should be made as easy as possible, but for God's sake, the voter has some responsibility to this as well.

[KittyWampus]

39. REAL Democracy means having someone hold your hand, never being responsible

for your own actions and voting for a savior like Sanders who can magically make an agenda happen with a wave of his magic finger.

[brer cat]

57. I had a conversation with a young person

who was explaining that we need to make it really super easy and quick for millennials because of their short attention spans and because they had better things to do with their time. I guess in the future we will need one-day primaries with 10-second sound-bite platforms, instant online registration with immediate voting, and cartoon character avatars in place of candidate names on the ballots.

[Princess Turandot]

17. If an already registered voter changed their party affiliation after 10/9/2015....

they cannot vote in the Republican or Democratic primary on 4/19, as you said. And, according to the NYS Board of Elections website, the party affiliation for these already registered voters who missed the deadline is not changed in the actual voter roles until after the next General Election:

Change of Party Enrollment

The voter registration form should be used to change your party enrollment from one party to another or to enroll for the first time in a party. A change of enrollment received no later than 25 days before the general election shall be deposited in a sealed enrollment box and opened the first Tuesday following that general election and entered in the voter's registration record.

http://www.elections.ny.gov/VotingRegister.html#VoteRegChange

That makes sense, of course. But that may be the cause of some of these reports of 'problems'. People who changed parties in 1/2016 will not see that change on their web record because by law it has not yet gone into effect.

I found my registration to be perfectly correct! Of course, I've been a registered Democrat in NYC since I turned 18, quite some time ago. (My first vote was by absentee ballot, as I was away at school.)

[Tarheel_Dem]

18. They can find their way to an overflow rally, but not to their Board of Elections website? I...

don't understand why these "revolutionaries" require so much more hand holding and explanation of basic math. Don't most campaigns employ voter education personnel?

[Stand and Fight]

22. I think you answered your own question in your last question. n/t

[giftedgirl77]

34. Maybe someone should have pointed this out to them during

one of his monologs. Surely he could have deviated from his very scripted rant for 2 seconds to mention it. But then again his merry band of supporters were probably to busy voting in an online poll to catch it. Sanders & Trump campaigns are actually very similar. They both rely on handy little catch phrases rather than actually saying anything.of substance.

[IamMab]

52. One of the things I love about Clinton is that she generally has some kind of connection to local...

...officials wherever she goes, and when she mentions them in her speech, she's letting the crowd know who in their town or city they could reach out to for additional information if there's not necessarily an HRC campaign office nearby. Local officials are all about GOTV, on a constant basis, and so just a simple shout-out of a name or office and her supporters immediately know where to go to educate themselves.

Unlike Sanders, who name-drops nothing local, doesn't necessarily know anyone from the town, county, or district in which he's campaigning, and who deviates from his typical stump speech never.

[giftedgirl77]

61. Lol, it's called networking. Most professionals understand the importance

of these actions.

[Tarheel_Dem]

64. And both the Trump & BS campaigns are getting screwed in the delegate race. Hillary's team....

has shown us they are much more adept at the math. And on the Republican side, Cruz is proving to be genius at the delegate thing. Just goes to show that YUGE rallies are no substitute for smarts.

[giftedgirl77]

68. Math us hard for people that lack analytical skills which

is obvious by the constant conspiracy theories & temper tantrums that are constantly flowing.

[Satch59]

27. It's beyond anything I've ever witnessed...

Like a broken record...whine whine whine over EVERY vote that is cast for Hillary...and nothing is every fair...whaaaa... All their complaining and then there are reports of BS'rs trying to bully their way into state delegate elections so they can grab extra delegates...

And all the talk about the "big" consecutive wins...what about when Hillary won 5 of 5 BIG primaries in one night? She's not bragging...just fact...

These next wins can't come soon enough!

[Cha]

31. It is a broken record.. nothing new EVER!

OH you mean The Clean Sweep!



BB~http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1251&pid=1507100

[jmowreader]

32. Sorry guys...

...but after Bernie attempted to steal two elections in the last week, I don't care if his supporters are disenfranchised for the General.

[BlueMTexpat]

33. + a million! eom

[Trenzalore]

35. Bernie is going to encourage chaos again

His campaign will encourage people they know can't vote to go to the polls for the optics and to raise money off the fraud narrative.

[KittyWampus]

40. I think you boiled the whole thread down to its essence in one sentence.

[stopbush]

50. Agreed. It will be AZ again, where long lines were caused

primarily by Sanders' Independent voters who had no right to vote clogging up the process.

[workinclasszero]

66. You are so right!

[SharonClark]

71. Agree

It could be a campaign strategy.

[Trenzalore]

73. He will need to raise money after NY

That will be impossible if he accepts a Hillary win there and is gracious. I expect some real crazy accusations after NY to keep the small donations going.

[stone space]

36. Is insulting voters a productive way to gain votes?

So, as the last underlined portion indicates, this jackass doesn't bother to vote in off year elections, and now he's mad because he's too flipping stupid to have checked before this year? Well, fuck him and the horse he road in on! He shouldn't need some pixie dust unicorn fart rfaux revolution to inspire him to get engaged. He'd be one of those who doesn't show up to vote in off year elections so we can win back Congress. Some of these people aren't low information voters, THEY'RE NO INFORMATION VOTERS!

Here in Iowa, the Democratic Party has a closed caucus, but one which welcomes voters with open arms.

If a person is dissatisfied with how many delegates their precinct has, they can work to change that by helping to get out the vote in off-year elections.

I wish that my precinct had had 9 delegates to send up to the next level, rather than only 8.

As it was, we sent 4 delegates for Bernie and 4 for Hillary.

Had we had an extra delegate to send, we might have sent a delegate for O'Malley, as well.

But I do have the option of encouraging democratic turnout during the next off-year election, in order to help my precinct reach 9 delegates next time around.

Encouraging folks to vote in off-year elections seems more productive for a political party than attempting to insult voters into doing the same thing.

The voter who didn't show up in the last off-year election might very well show up in the next off-year election, given the proper incentives and encouragement to do so.

[still_one]

41. I want Democrats to select their parties nominee, thank-you. All they had to do was

register in the last election as a Democrat. This does NOT apply to new registrations, only existing ones.

Unlike Iowa, which has a caucus, In New York, you can request an absentee ballot. So there is very little excuse for not voting in the last election.

You talk about insulting voters to gain votes, well, the caucus does a pretty good job of only allowing those that are physically able to be present to vote. All others aren't welcome.

Anyone who has been a registered Democrat, Republican, or a brand new voter, will not have any issues. The only ones who have an issue with this, are those who previously choose not to be part of the political party they now want to have a say in determining that parties nominee.

[stone space]

45. Sorry...didn't notice which group I was posting in.

I have my own complaints on the Iowa Caucus. (The venues need more space for the realignment process to work smoothly, for example.)

But at least they didn't schedule it for Jan 3, in the middle of Christmas Vacation this time around. (That's another pet peeve of mine.)

But this is not really the place.

I can self-delete, if folks here want me to.

Otherwise, I think that I'll bow out for now, and we can pick the discussion up some other time in another forum.

[still_one]

51. As far as I am concerned, the view you brought up isn't an issue, and you are probably right, the OP

would have probably better be served if the rhetoric was toned done a bit, but hey, we are in the middle of an election

[still_one]

37. The rules for New York are to allow DEMOCRATS to choose their nominee, instead of independents and

republicans, who never were part of the Democratic party, and change party affiliation, not because they want to be Democrats, but to screw with an opposing party's primary results.

This does not affect new registrations, but only existing ones.

Those voters who are currently registered to vote in New York, requires those registered voters to change their party enrollment prior to the registration deadline for the general election in November the year before the primary.

This is to discourage "party raiding," where activists from one party change affiliation en masse to screw with an opposing party's primary results.

In 2000 the Supreme Court of the United States struck down California's blanket primary in California Democratic Party v. Jones. Similar systems used by Washington and Alaska were also struck down in subsequent Supreme Court cases.

he United States Supreme Court held that California's blanket primary violates a political party's First Amendment freedom of association.

The key line in the decision being that, "A single election in which the party nominee is selected by nonparty members could be enough to destroy the party"

"In a 7-2 opinion delivered by Justice Antonin Scalia, the Court held that California's blanket primary violates a political party's First Amendment right of association. "Proposition 198 forces political parties to associate with—to have their nominees, and hence their positions, determined by—those who, at best, have refused to affiliate with the party, and, at worst, have expressly affiliated with a rival," wrote Justice Antonin Scalia for the majority. "A single election in which the party nominee is selected by nonparty members could be enough to destroy the party." Justice Scalia went on to state for the Court that Proposition 198 takes away a party's "basic function" to choose its own leaders and is functionally "both severe and unnecessary."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Democratic_Party_v._Jones

While a blanket primary is not the same as an open primary, the open primary still allows for "party raiding", which is why New York in its wisdom choose not only a closed primary, but also added this additional safeguard

[Her Sister]

42. So good!

The key line in the decision being that, "A single election in which the party nominee is selected by nonparty members could be enough to destroy the party"

I double checked in person and am Registered and ready to go for the 19th! A DEMOCRAT my whole adult life! Voting for the Democrat!

AM HRC READY AND RARING TO GO!!!! RAH RAH RAH!!!

[still_one]

44. kick & rec!!!!!!!!

[mcar]

43. Of course they are

They are all members of the Church of Perpetual Victimhood.

[SharonClark]

70. LOL

[GusBob]

46. I think a better organized campaign will make a better presidency

This ain't a learning on the job type position

I think if ones campaign is poorly organized it would be an unorganized administration

This ain't Bert&Ernie Sesame Street time

[Kang Colby]

49. The drumbeat around this is going to get louder.

As many of them won't figure out they can't vote for Mr. Magoo until they are inside of the polling place. Look for keywords like "rigged", "voter suppression", and Diebold!!! on primary night.

I would gladly pay $1000 to be the guy that breaks the news to them that they aren't properly registered. Could you imagine? "But, but, but, I'm going to go get mom if you don't let me vote for Bernie!!!"

[liberal N proud]

53. Same old shit

From the same old victims.

[DemonGoddess]

55. This prompted me to recheck

status of all the eligible voters in my house. My son is the only one not registered, but he is now, because we checked. It's six days too late for him to vote in the primary, but like he said, as long as he gets to vote in NOVEMBER, that's more important.

[George II]

56. Pity - ignorance is bliss, until you realize you blew your chance of voting in the primary.

[Historic NY]

58. The biggest reason........ignorance.

Because many voters only turn out for presidential elections, and Democrats didn't have a primary in 2012, it has been eight years since many people thought about their registration, he said.

Next comes up to date address vs a post office box. NY requires you list an actual domicile. In 2008 I worked my county and that was the second major issue mostly due to people not even keeping a correct address with DMV one of the major sources for cross checking voter registration. License Renewals are on an 8yr cycle.

People ignore the cards sent by the BOE, people think that because they registered for one party or the other its ok it automatically changes when they vote for the other guy. It tells you all about changing party affiliation.

I would question the voters ok when did you vote last, school board, fire commissioner elections, ok maybe your local elections, did you show up for jury duty, nine out of ten times the answer was no.

The best one is people trying to vote in the location (District) they hadn't resided in more than 10 yrs, because that is the place they always went.

They wonder why they were purged. They would get a provisional ballot in the General Election.

There has been a move to make election day a national holiday......funny but people will only showup for the sales & not the voting booth.

[NurseJackie]

59. What a pity.

[Loki]

60. Oh boo fucking hoo.

Everything is a conspiracy to keep their votes from counting. Try learning about your state's primary system.

[DemonGoddess]

62. Exactly!

For example, I kept reminding my son to check on his registration, so he could vote in the primary. He procrastinated, and waited until today. In order to vote May 3, he would have to have been registered by April 4. He wasn't, so he can't. He blames HIMSELF for procrastinating.

[riversedge]

65. Bernie camp only reads headlines

[liberal N proud]

67. That was painfully obvious when they took a headline as something Hillary said.

[katmille]

69. This is so hard for me to understand.

I vote in every election. General, state, county, city. Believe it or not, I feel like it is my duty. But, what can I say, I'm old. And a proud Democrat!

[LannyDeVaney]

72. Sanders supporters think the voting is most likes on Instagram.

[DesertRat]

75. k&r

[nini]

76. They talk about this revolution thing

yet don't take the time to actually figure out securing their votes is part of it. I guess posting on the Internets non stop is how things get done these days? LOL

Oh the poor kids have so much to learn about how all this stuff works. Let's see if they continue posting after November about all the work they're doing at the local level since that's where real change starts.