http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/3/5/102844/5197The three most egregious categories are (Dallas County mentioned):
1) Irregularities: Prematurely Taking Precinct Convention Packets by Obama Campaign
Numerous calls have shown that Obama supporters prematurely removed convention packets from polling places. Packets may not legally given out until 7:15 PM or when the last voter has cast a ballot in the primary. The Texas State Party warned the Obama campaign in writing that they may not take these packets early or remove them from the polling locations. The Party directed that these irregularities be reported to law enforcement "since they amount to criminal violations." The Party stated "removing convention packets . . . will not be tolerated."
>>>snip
2) Voter Intimidation: Lock-out of Clinton caucus goers by Obama Campaign
Numerous calls have been received that the Obama campaign has taken over caucus sites and locked the doors, excluding Clinton campaign supporters from participating in the caucus. The Clinton supporters have been unable to enter the premises to caucus. In at least one instance, law enforcement was called and forcibly opened the caucus site.
>>>snip
3. There are numerous instances of Obama supporters filing out precinct convention sign-in sheets during the day and submitting them as completed vote totals at caucus. This is expressly against the rules. The sign-in sheets were copied by the Obama campaign from the Texas Democratic Party website and taken by supporters to various polling places to sign-up caucus goers prior to the start of the caucuses
http://www.herald-democrat.com/articles/2008/03/10/local_news/doc47cf0aebaafe4184776760.txtHunt County:
I am a Hunt County Texas resident who returned to the poll where I vote for the Texas two step voting process. I was denied my right to vote my other 1/3 vote. Myself and approximately 40 other people stood in line at precinct 218 for over an hour in the cold tonight without being able to cast our second vote. The individuals who worked the polls called the Hunt County Sheriff's Department on us because there were numerous elderly people standing in line who were tired and cold and wanted to go in and sit down. People were knocking on the doors and the election workers would not answer the door. In fact they called the Sheriff's Dept on us.
We were told by the Hunt County Sheriff's Dept. that the Democratic Party failed to send a person to chair the caucus at Precinct 218. We were advised by the Hunt County Sheriff's Office to disperse and go home. Our voices were not heard. We were denied our right to vote in the Texas two step process. Is Hunt County pulling for one individual in the Democratic party and they are trying to control the votes by not allowing all precincts the right to be heard? I cannot believe that I live in the United States of America, went to vote and Precinct 218 officials called the Sheriff's Dept. on us. Then we tried to be heard by calling local news channels and no one cared there either. I was denied my right to my second vote at Precinct 218.
Denton County:
I am a new Texas resident and I was appalled at the caucus practices of Little Elm (Denton County) TX... and I have the pictures to prove it. There were too many people for such a small town hall to be the voting location for so many precincts. With temperatures hovering in the low 50s, people were made to cast their caucus votes in the parking lot of the town hall. With no bullhorns, workers were forced to yell out instructions to in excess of 3,000 people. The handicap, the elderly and mothers with infants were forced to wait in the cold and herded around the parking lot like cattle in soggy wet grass with no seating and utter disarray. With the recent growth of Little Elm, clearly this was NOT thought through. Are we in the stone age people? Don't believe me? In this era of the camera phone, I have the pictures to prove it. Picture of an elderly wheelchair bound handicap woman waiting for instructions in the cold... pictures of an elderly man with no jacket waiting in the cold. WE HAVE GOT TO DO BETTER DENTON COUNTY!!!!
http://www.oprah.com/community/thread/32593;jsessionid=ac11067e30d8a7d6e0321f434a68b8d9de9e36d0492e.e3qNbhyLc3iNe3uLb3uRbxyPc40?start=0&tstart=0According to CNN buried in the bottom of an article (but still there)...Clinton says that it may challenge the state's caucus results. Well that is not a surprise considering what happened. There were according to CNN and the Democratic National Party hundreds of complaints of mischief (they call it mischief) caused by the Obama campaign at caucuses across the state of Texas. The Associated Press has sent out an official story. Clinton officials cite evidence according to the hundreds of reports filed that Obama supporters illegally obtained caucus packets in several precincts throughout the state. They stole the caucus packets for the precincts. What happens then is that under caucus rules whomever has the packet is placed in charge of the caucus. Now that is illegal and no campaign supporter (only a neutral selected party should have been in charge). The Associated Press and CNN said that Obama supporters locked Clinton voters out of caucuses throughout the state. They locked them out of the location. And in the cities they were climbing on the tables and yelling at the top of their lungs that this is the way it was going to be. Bizarre, illegal and in violation of voting rights laws; never mind if the Democratic National Party does nothing again. Hillary needs to stand up.
>>>snip
You are right! On Tuesday night, March 4, 2008, I attended my precinct's, precinct 63's convention. It was held in the cafeteria of Hughston elementary school. Precinct 32's convention was held in the same cafeteria. I observed a young man come in with a folder from the Obama campaign who secured the election packet for Precinct 32 and proceeded to run Precinct 32's convention. As we were collecting signatures for Precinct 63, the same young man came over to me as I was serving as convention secretary for Precinct 63. He showed his voter registration card and photo id and signed in to Precinct 63 as a supporter of Senator Obama. He was clearly, by the voter records, a member of Precinct 63. He then proceeded
back to Precinct 32, where he continued to run their convention. Several people came over from Precinct 32 to ask me questions as they had concerns with how their precinct was collecting signatures. They said the young man was telling
people who had not brought their voter registration cards or receipts from early voting, to just sign in anyway because the names would be checked later for validity. I informed them that that wasn't how we were running our convention-- we were validating voters via the voter record and photo id if they forgot their voter card. I know for a fact that it wasn't until late in the evening, after they had allocated and selected delegates, that the same young man went and got the Voter Record books from the elections judge. Plus when we were collecting our signature pages, one page had gone missing with 4 Clinton signatures on it. Fortunately, the people had waited while we double-checked everything and they got to sign in. Two of these people were quite eldery, and the wife was disabled. Shame on whatever Obama supporter tried to disenfranchise these people.I have reported the fraud to both the Democratic Party and the Clinton campaign. I have several witnesses besides myself.
You can be an Obama supporter or a Clinton supporter and be the convention chair or secretary. What is absolutely required is that you have to have voted in that precinct! No outsiders!
http://tylerpaper.com/forum_message/2354t591232g92897i/comments was also a participant in the Precinct 30 convention in Whitehouse. Being new to Texas, I have never attended one of these events before and am not sure I would want to do it again. The behavior I witnessed from other precinct participants left a bad taste in my mouth, to say the least. After voting in the chairman and secretary, the group went about voting for the candidates. Then, while the chairman was reading the results, a precinct member accused the chairman of holding an "unfair" process, which resulted in the chairman announcing his departure to the group. At which point we were left with no chairman and hardly an idea how to regroup. After a lengthy amount of time we voted for a new chairman and resumed our process of nominating the delegates.
There seemed to be a very divisive nature to the proceedings; and that resulted in alot of frustration and bad feelings. I can only hope that the next time this precinct meets again, they remember that they are privileged to partake in such an American process, and leave behind the bad behavior.