Greg Palast: "Where Are All The Votes?"

[kpete]

WHERE ARE ALL THE VOTES?
Obama Doesn't Sweat. He should.
by Greg Palast
In swing-state Colorado, the Republican Secretary of State conducted the biggest purge of voters in history, dumping a fifth of all registrations. Guess their color.

In swing-state Florida, the state is refusing to accept about 85,000 new registrations from voter drives – overwhelming Black voters.

In swing state New Mexico, HALF of the Democrats of Mora, a dirt poor and overwhelmingly Hispanic county, found their registrations disappeared this year, courtesy of a Republican voting contractor.

In swing states Ohio and Nevada, new federal law is knocking out tens of thousands of voters who lost their homes to foreclosure.


My investigations partner spoke directly to Barack Obama about it. (When your partner is Robert F. Kennedy Jr., candidates take your phone call.) The cool, cool Senator Obama told Kennedy he was “concerned” about the integrity of the vote in the Southwest in particular.

He’s concerned. I’m sweating.

more at:
http://www.gregpalast.com/obama-doesn%E2%80%99t-sweat-he-should/

[helderheid]

1. Here we go again. K&R

[robinlynne]

2. Exactly. Concerned hasn't been working for the past 8 years!

[nc4bo]

3. Ok - I get the we're concerned and we're sweating....

What I want to know is what in the name of hell and high water are we going to do about it?????

geez........they are starting EARLY!

[pansypoo53219]

4. please.

the never stopped. this is why dean is working on DOWN TICKET lower offices.

[polichick]

13. That's right - this has been going on for years. Every which way they can steal, they will.

[seafan]

5. Changes in address due to foreclosures, magically enlarges Republicans' voter challenge lists.

Prepare for November.

Efforts by the GOP to disenfranchise voters will be more vicious than we've ever seen.



Are the ballooning home foreclosure lists *the new caging lists* in voter disenfranchisement?


Will Foreclosures Affect Voting Rolls?, July 6, 2008

(AP) Election officials worry that the state's home foreclosure problem will pose a problem this November for voters still registered at their former address, a newspaper reported Sunday.

Voters in pivotal Ohio with outdated addresses face possible pre-election challenges and trips to multiple polling places. They also are more likely to cast provisional ballots that might not be counted.

"It's a real issue," said Daniel Tokaji, an Ohio State University law professor who specializes in elections. He wonders whether foreclosures might explain the increasing percentages of provisional votes cast between 2004 and Ohio's latest election, the presidential primary in March.

.....

In 2004, the Ohio Republican Party challenged more than 31,000 newly registered voters statewide after letters it mailed out came back as undeliverable. The challenges failed, but Brunner said a new state law requiring counties to mail their own notices to all registered voters could lead to another round of pre-election challenges.

Columbus ranked 32nd among U.S. cities in the number of foreclosure filings during the first quarter of 2008, according to RealtyTrac, a Web site that lists homes on the market in most cities. Cleveland, Dayton, Akron, Toledo and Cincinnati also were among the top 50, and Ohio was ninth among states during May, with one filing for every 410 homes.

Other battleground states rank high in foreclosure filings as well: Nevada led the nation in May with one filing for every 118 homes, while Florida was fourth, Michigan fifth, Georgia sixth, Colorado seventh and New Jersey 10th.

Franklin County GOP Chairman Doug Preisse didn't rule out challenges before Nov. 4. He said his party wants "clean, accurate voter lists."

.....

No, the GOP wants to knock off as many people from the voter lists as they can get away with, because large numbers of those voters don't vote for Republicans. That much of this is illegal is immaterial.


This GOP is devoid of conscience and morality.



And with Mukasey squatting as attorney general, we are truly on our own.

[Rainbowreflect]

6. So this is why the repubs are not interested in stopping the

foreclosures.

[tbyg52]

7. One of the reasons. The other is they don't give a @#$% nt

[Rainbowreflect]

8. Good point!

[Sancho]

9. I think that the GOP is putting LOTS of effort into registration manipulation...

they won't get away with hacking the voting machines this next time. I'm really surprised that
this has not been more of a topic.

[EFerrari]

11. I've been saying for months that this will be a major focus. n/t

[EFerrari]

10. CO, NM, FL, Oh. I want to add MI and VA.

We need to make a core list and start adopting election protection groups. And soon.

[polichick]

12. Obama's concerned? Is the DNC dealing with it??