Repub telling people *at the poll site*: do straight party vote AND check Obama's name

[rainbow4321]

Which we know now in some states will cancel out the Obama vote. Done in Austin, TX of all places, the bluest spot in TX. One more reason to have poll greeters/watchers. The watchers may not catch this kind of stuff since they are inside the places where the voting is going on but the greeters are out where the lines are..where this guy was pulling this shit.

http://www.kvue.com/news/top/stories/102008kvue-voting_misinformation-mw.131c64a72.html


Prosser went to the polling place at Randall's near Ben White and Manchaca in South Austin. She says a nicely dressed man in his 30's, clipboard in hand, was stopping people on the way in asking if they support Barack Obama. He then gave erroneous voting instructions.

"He was clearly letting younger people walk by him and he was pulling aside older women," Prosser said. Prosser says the man was telling people to select both a straight party ballot, and vote for Obama.

"The instructions he's giving them will cancel their vote for their candidate and he's deliberately giving misinformation," Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir said.


After an election judge confronted him the man left in an older model red Chevy Impala that witnesses say was covered in republican stickers.

[FLyellowdog]

1. Report to Obama campaign.

[quiet.american]

2. K&R nt What a sleazebag. It would have been great if someone had taken down his license number.

Good on the election judge, though.

[rainbow4321]

7. I know in my part of TX at least and I'm sure other places, we've been given a local hotline

to call to report stuff we see as greeters and watchers that may interfere with the voting process.
The first day there was stuff called in like "slow machines" in one part of town and some voters at that site had to/chose to do provisional voting, another site was having voter ID issues. Otherwise, things reportedly went smoothly for the first day.
If anyone here does poll watching/greeting, make sure you check with your county Dem office to see if they have such a number to call.Ours said to call and it will be decided if they need to get someone to the site ASAP to get the problem resolved.

[thoughtcrime1984]

3. It's prison time for those who perpetrate vote fraud

Throw these assholes in for 10-15 years.

[Blaze Diem]

4. Anyone get his license plate number?

He should be arrested.

[anonymous171]

5. Finally, a use for the death penalty.

[cliffordu]

6. Heh. I used to live within oh, 10 blocks from there.......

[quakerboy]

8. and herein lies the problem with cable news

Because one state you have to check president. Another you Cannot. Yet our news comes to us nationaly. I love confusion so much.

[Diamonique]

10. Well there's always local news.

That will give specifics for your state.

Or try the state's web site.

Also, my state sent out a voter information pamphlet to everyone. All the info we need is in there.

[quakerboy]

29. I know

but when it comes to my trust in peoples abilities to figure out simple things... I don't have any.

[rainbow4321]

15. There is a huge push by the Dallas Morning News telling people to not do straight party

voting because it will not let people vote for stuff like a bond for our new county hospital. Maybe it is because the DMN is a right wing rag but I just don't trust what information they put out.

[TwilightGardener]

9. My husband sent in his PA absentee ballot with the Obama/Biden ticket bubble filled in

and also the "all Democratic candidates" bubble--will his vote be rejected, does anyone know?

[Jersey Devil]

13. There was a post yesterday on this in one of the states

I can't find it but as I recall it is the complete opposite of the OP here, that in some states (can't remember which state the post was about) according to the post. If you check to vote a straight Dem ticket but do not check the Obama/Biden box then there would not be a vote for Obama.

Everyone should be getting sample ballots in the mail before an election that explain this and if not then they should ask a Democratic poll worker at the polls or, if voting absentee, call the local Obama campaign.

[TwilightGardener]

14. Thanks--my husband didn't even think about it until he read this, and now he's worried--

gonna look up a sample ballot from PA and maybe call them tomorrow.

[EC]

19. It's that way here in WI

it even has it stated on top of the ballot...Straight party vote applies only to local and state, Pres. vote is independent and must be filled in separately....


Directions should be on top of every ballot, because I've found that the poll workers don't know...

[TrogL]

31. There appears to be a bug (feature) in the software

that if you vote straight Dem ticket it flips the Presidential box to McCain.

[WinkyDink]

34. In NC, but where else? Also, here's a reply from another forum, about NC:

the ballot has President first and then the party ticket, so you have to skip over the presidential choice to vote straight ticket. More people are going to vote for President and skip the straight ticket selection than the other way around.

[creeksneakers2]

30. I'm sorry. The vote will be thrown out.

Perhaps he can get it back. I voted for years by straight ticket and filling out all the names from my party. I was informed at the polls that my vote, and all the votes I made for years were thrown out. Its an awful anomaly, since voter intent is so obvious.

I forget how many votes for Gore were thrown out because of this.

[TwilightGardener]

38. See post #37--apparently his vote for Obama will count, which is really all

he cares about, being that we haven't been PA residents in a long, long time and he is not even a Democrat (he's an Indie). He just thought he'd help out the Dems across the board in this election.

[WinkyDink]

33. Why did he want to be redundant?

[TwilightGardener]

37. LOL! I think he thought you had to vote for Prez separately, and then

he filled in his down-ticket stuff as the straight-ticket bubble. He said the layout was very weird and confusing--on one side was the Presidential choices, in the middle was a bubble for "all Democratic", and on the other side was the down-ticket stuff. We just heard back from his county election lady, she said his Presidential vote would count, but not the other offices down-ticket (apparently making a choice of a specific candidate overrides the straight-ticket choice). So he'll be satisfied with that, I guess.

[high density]

35. It depends

In some places, the straight ticket selection does not include president.

I think we should make a law that forbids a straight ticket option. If you want to vote straight ticket, take the thirty seconds to complete the ballot to indicate as such.

[Mariana]

11. An election judge confronted him

but did anyone call the POLICE??? If not WHY NOT???

[The Wielding Truth]

16. I hope he is found and prosecuted! Is this the 3rd world?

[DrToast]

12. WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE!?!?!

Christ, isn't this a democracy? What kind of scumbag actively tries to get votes thrown out? Ugh!

I hate Republicans, but I wouldn't try to do anything to suppress their right to vote.

[raventattoo]

17. Someone tell me why...

this selection would cancel out Obama????

[stillcool]

27. it's the ballot they have there...

From what I've read Texas is one of the few places where a straight ticket includes the Presidential race.

[WinkyDink]

36. Really? PA has ALWAYS been everything. I ALWAYS just pulled the "D" lever.

[stillcool]

39. It's all in the ballot design...

like the butterfly ballot in Florida. I don't think I've ever voted straight ticket. We connect the dots all the way down.

[elkston]

18. Ironically, that's how its *supposed* to work in NC.

You vote for the President separately. THEN, you can choose to do straight party Democratic or Republican.

[ObamanationYes1]

20. That IS how it works in NC

We vote for President independently of all other votes. Then we can vote straight ticket. One could vote for Obama for President followed by a straight Republican ticket. It WILL not cancel the Obama vote. We are fortunate to have this option in NC.

[elkston]

21. Yeah, I know. I voted last Friday here in Durham!!!

...and the poll worker explained exactly how things are supposed to work. I had been online to verify it before that and he gave accurate info.

[Spiffarino]

22. Same in Buncombe. Poll workers have been very helpful.

The poll workers at the BoE in Asheville are telling every voter to be sure to fill the Presidential election bubble, and THEN you may vote straight-party in downticket races.

I've noticed that many of this year's poll workers are younger people. In years past most were in their 70s and 80s. It's good to see so many young people interested in the process, and I'm sure Republicana blame Barack Obama and his confounded hope!

[elkston]

23. Its so funny that their whole strategy is based around getting people NOT to vote

And they claim to be the party of Patriots! Whatever!!!

[ObamanationYes1]

24. The strategy of this method in voting in NC is very favorable to Democrats

n/t

[ncgrits]

41. How so? (I hope so!)

I've been working as a dem greeter at the polls and our main focus is pointing out to folks that they have to actively vote for prez. I'm worried that there will be an undervote for president again this year, so any reassurance about this ballot favoring dems would go a long way to making me feel better!

[Born_A_Truman]

25. Why can't we get some sort of standards in elections?

It shouldn't be complicated to vote in an election.

[stillcool]

28. I think the State Governments need to ..

be held accountable for the election systems they are providing for their state. The Federal Government is not trustworthy to legislate.

[Spiffarino]

43. Exactly.

In fact, there should be a concerted effort to get rid of partisans in positions that affect elections. Even without that protection, there should be multi-party commissions that make the final decisions over how elections are conducted.

The frauds of 2000 and 2004 were set up by a national partisan apparatus - headed by Karl Rove - that focused on key swing states. A non-partisan or multi-party commission in Florida could have changed the outcome of the 2000 election by properly keeping thousands of voters on the rolls. Instead, the actions of a corrupt and partisan SoS in a single state destroyed our economy, sent us into an unnecessary war and broke the government. No single state - and no partisan hack - should be able to decide who runs our country.

[rainbow4321]

42. I'm thinking that this year may be better..lots of Poll Watchers down here

They're finding some stuff in my county...one poll site official tried to prevent at least one voter from voting during our EARLY election because their voter registration card said it was good starting Nov 4th, 2008. Ummmmmm, what is wrong with THAT picture?? In the end it was brought to the attention of the county's election office and this was ruled WRONG (ya think?). A few other glitches: Computers were "being synchronized" and the poll officials couldn't get access to the voter database to look voters up, they told the voters come back tomorrow or vote provisionally. Ahhh, let's get THAT fixed before actual election day, OK, cuz there is no "tomorrow" option on Nov 4th.
One interesting thing I overheard a while back from a lady who attended a class people can take to work the polls (learn election/voting laws), she went: "ya know, those ladies at my poll site haven't been following the rules at all" SO, it is probably a good thing that so many people have taken an interest in working the polls..up til now it's always been the same small group of people who have been doing their own thing, knowing that a very, very small number of people have gotten involved, taken the class/know the rules.

[stillcool]

26. GRRRRR..

:nuke: Christ. We need lots and lots and lots of voters!

[WinkyDink]

32. WHO is telling voters ANYTHING, and WHY?? Do they stand there and speak only to DEMOCRATS? WTH is

going ON, that no Party REp is there to STOP THIS??

[Pacifist Patriot]

40. The election judge should have quietly called the police and had the man arrested.