Houston Voter Suppression Effort Caught Using Doctored Photo

[sonias]

Huffington Post 9/6/10
Right-Wing Voter Suppression Effort Caught Using Doctored Photo (VIDEO, PHOTOS)

A right-wing group in Houston engaged in a systematic voter suppression and intimidation effort used a doctored photo in its showcase video. Tellingly, a hand-lettered sign carried by an African-American woman at a 2000 Florida, Gore-Lieberman recount rally was changed from, "Don't Mess With Our Vote," to read, "I Only Got to Vote Once."

Huffington Post editors first suspected the photoshopping after I posted "Possible Arson and the Right's Texas Voter Suppression Effort" regarding King Street Patriots' attacks on a nonprofit voter registration effort and the mysterious fire that destroyed all of Harris County's (Houston) voting machines.

In my regular Sunday FireDogLake column, I posted a follow-up piece, "Contempt for Democracy: Attacks on Voting Rights," that included a link to DigitalDupes.org, which had launched an effort to locate the original photo. Within hours, Newshounds found it.

Oh this is too good a story not to keep up with. Kudos to Glenn Smith for jumping on it. The woman whose doctored photo is being used to suppress votes should sue!

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[sonias]

1. “Voting Rights” Group Caught in Lie (Video, Audio)

KLRD News Radio 1080 9/7/10
"Voting Rights" Group Caught in Lie

A conservative group that claims to be interested in protecting your voting rights is using doctored photos in its campaign. The project of the "King Street Patriots" is called "True the Vote."

The audio interview with Glenn Smith is a very good listen. The video from King Street Patriots has now been taken private. Interesting.

[sonias]

2. What's Behind the Supposed Voter Fraud in Houston

Related story on why this group, King Street Patriots, is up to no good. They know if they lose Harris county and the vote really does pick up - they lose Texas forever!

Texas Observer 9/10/10
What's Behind the Supposed Voter Fraud in Houston
If Democrats ever hope to win a statewide race in Texas—which they haven’t done in 16 years—they will have to expand the electorate. Republicans have shown they will consistently win in Texas if the two parties continue to fight over the same sliver of persuadable voters.

There are plenty of new voters to be had for Democrats, especially in Houston. About 60 percent of eligible voters in Harris County are non-Anglo. So it follows that increasing the number of registered voters, especially Latinos—and getting those voters to the polls—will benefit Democrats.

Meanwhile, Republicans would like to see the electorate remain as it is. Keeping people off the voting rolls benefits the GOP.

That’s the larger context behind the recent controversy over supposed “voter fraud” in Harris County. (It’s not really voter fraud, but more on that in a minute.)

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