Heads up! Vote suppression for 2006 elections starting NOW!

[eridani]

One of our local Democracy for Washington group members has gotten two such calls. Needless to say, she has been a registered voter at her address for quite some time.

From the National Lawyers Council

If you hear that this is occurring in your County or Legislative District please send an e-mail immediately to Anna Martinez, Director, National Lawyers Council at martineza {at} dnc.org


We have reports from two states, Nebraska and Washington, that the RNC has put out robo calls with a voter registration alert saying that the voter may not be properly registered at their address.

We are extremely concerned that this may constitute a voter suppression tactic possibly aimed at senior citizens who are strong Democrats. We are not sure how wide their scope is, but the incidents we have on record are coming from that demographic. We really need to track this in order to have the ammunition to take action. We should try to get as much information as possible, including voter's full name, address, party affiliation on the books, whether they have moved recently, etc.

Below is a transcription of the calls.

"This is the Republican National Committee with an important alert. Our records show that you may not be properly registered to vote in your district. These elections are very important.

You have the opportunity to vote for republicans who will stand up for your values or liberals who will fight for their own special interests.

Please take a moment to look into whether or not you are properly registered to vote, and if you are not, please take the time to fill out the form and send it in."

They apparently are sending registration packets after these pre-calls.

Anna Martinez
Director, National Lawyers Council
martineza {at} dnc.org

And what do you want to bet that packets from Dem-leaning districts are discarded?

[DoYouEverWonder]

1. The Repugs are in high gear to steal another election

and once again the DEMS seem totally unprepared. It seems the system is rigged and neither party has the will or desire to fix it.

[marmar]

2. True. They do a lot of talking about "making every vote count."

... but sit around and do nothing about it. People are going to have to take this into their own hands - waiting for the Democratic Party is an exercise in futility.

[eridani]

7. Not true everywhere

Local activists have actually gotten a response from the WA State Dems, and we are planning on raising holy hell if we get a few documented cases where people are willing to go public.

[no_hypocrisy]

3. A remedy would be for more citizens who happen to be democratic to

volunteer on Election Day at their local election precincts if there is any "funny business".

[Tigress DEM]

12. On Air America Radio, one person suggested printing out your registration

and taking it with on voting day. She said, that in her county there should be record of your registration. People could help those in the neighborhood ahead of time have this in hand.

I found a listing of my precinct:

http://pollfinder.sos.state.mn.us

For Your Next Scheduled Election, you vote at:
EL MILAGRO LUTHERAN CHURCH
3751 17TH AVE S
MINNEAPOLIS MN 55407

Precinct Name:
MINNEAPOLIS W-9 P-07

Precinct Code:
1780

This precinct's districts:
US House: 05
MN Senate: 61
MN House: 61B
County Commissioner: 04
Judicial District: 04
School District: 001
School Subdistrict: 00
County: Hennepin


Your School District Polling Place may differ. Contact your County or School District Office for more information.
• MAP to voting address

Note on Map Accuracy:
The SOS is not responsible for the accuracy of this map.
Your polling place is located in or near the precinct where you live. If this map does not appear right for your precinct, contact your county auditor for polling place location information.

[Frustratedlady]

4. How safe are absentee ballots?

I told my kids to request absentee ballots, but then got to thinking that "they" could toss them in the circular file and we'd never know it. How safe are they? Should we suggest that everyone vote that way? It would show we don't trust the machines and, if we had a confirmation the ballot had been sent, they would have to produce it. Besides, several million absentee ballots would give them a headache they wouldn't soon forget...like the headache we've had these past 5 years.

[Gman]

5. I don't think its vote suppression

as much as it is a twisted kind of voter registration drive.

[eridani]

6. I think we need more data

By sheerest coincidence, the only member of our DFW group to have received these calls happens to be a black woman. DNC is thinking they are going for the elderly. We'll have to collect more reports to be sure of the pattern.

[Tigress DEM]

13. It's misleading and makes it harder (not easier) to vote.

Like Ken Blackwell and the "thickness" of voter registration forms - "80# paper required, no wait a minute, no it isn't, no - yes it is. Ah, you figure it out."

[banana republican]

8. Links Please ~ Thanks

[eridani]

9. It was an email from the WA state Democratic Party n/t

[cally]

10. We have to fight this

so K & R so more folks are see this.

[Tigress DEM]

11. "properly registered" = registered rethuglican. nft

[Crazy Guggenheim]

14. First thing is make sure you are properly registered to vote. Then

if they send you the form, fill it out as you are registered, copy it, send it as Registered mail. Then from there you can later see what they did if you were a Democrat. Compare that against the Republicans they filed. It might be a case for a law suit.

:popcorn: :popcorn:

[EC]

15. In these states do they have to choose a party when they

register? Pushing up Republican registrations so they can fix the vote to match? (cause I'll bet there is a bar code of something on those packets to turn Democratic registrations into Republican.