Jackson Free Press

The voter-purge machine is kicking into overdrive this week. Down below, and in the comments, we will keep you apprised of stunts being pulled, so we can watch for them here on the homefront. Please add to the list as you see examples.

College senior Kyla Berry was looking forward to voting in her first presidential election, even carrying her voter registration card in her wallet. But about two weeks ago, Berry got disturbing news from local election officials. "This office has received notification from the state of Georgia indicating that you are not a citizen of the United States and therefore, not eligible to vote," a letter from the Fulton County Department of Registration and Elections said. But Berry is a U.S. citizen, born in Boston, Massachusetts. She has a passport and a birth certificate to prove it. Video Watch some of the concerns of voting experts The letter, which was dated October 2, gave her a week from the time it was dated to prove her citizenship. There was a problem, though -- the letter was postmarked October 9.

"It was the most bizarre thing. I immediately called my mother and asked her to send me my birth certificate, and then I was like, 'It's too late, apparently,' " Berry said. Berry is one of more than 50,000 registered Georgia voters who have been "flagged" because of a computer mismatch in their personal identification information. At least 4,500 of those people are having their citizenship questioned and the burden is on them to prove eligibility to vote.

Experts say lists of people with mismatches are often systematically cut, or "purged," from voter rolls. It's a scenario that's being repeated all across the country, with cases like Berry's raising fears of potential vote suppression in crucial swing states. [...]

The Brennan Center has also documented cases across the country of possible illegal purging, impediments to college student voting and difficulties accessing voter registration.

A lawsuit has been filed over Georgia's mismatch system, and the state is also under fire for requesting Social Security records for verification checks on about 2 million voters -- more requests than any other state.

One of the lawyers involved in the lawsuit says Georgia is violating a federal law that prohibits widespread voter purges within 90 days of the election, arguing that the letters were sent out too close to the election date.

"They are systematically using these lists and matching them and using those matches to send these letters out to voters," said McDonald, director of the ACLU Voting Rights Project in Georgia.

"It's not, you know, an individualized notion of people maybe not being citizens or not being residents. They're using a systematic purging procedure that's expressly prohibited by federal laws."

Previous Commentsshow

I know that we already have voting laws, but I think that Congress should enact a voting reform bill to cut out all these dirty tricks.

LatashaWillis

Oct 27 2008

UPDATE: The Department of Justice has stepped in to halt the suppression in Georgia, at least for the moment. I tell you, the Republicans are just going to keep us jumping all over the country this week, eh? Try is one place, get stopped, try it somewhere else. Betcha money they will try to suppress the vote in Mississippi. We must be diligent.

DonnaLadd

Oct 27 2008

I got my new voter registration card in the mail last week. It is currently in my wallet until I have safely voted next Tuesday. The one thing I worry about here is WHERE TO VOTE. My card still says Eudora Welty which is obviously out of commission. Where do I go? I'm going to have to call to find out. But, what if people don't KNOW about Eudora Welty. The Man's sister is a democratic poll watcher and "driver" for elderly voters in Florida. I'm very interested to hear about her experiences on Election Day.

Lori G

Oct 27 2008

Betcha money they will try to suppress the vote in Mississippi. We must be diligent. Is there a number that Mississippians can call just in case it happens?

LatashaWillis

Oct 27 2008

The one thing I worry about here is WHERE TO VOTE. My card still says Eudora Welty which is obviously out of commission. Where do I go? I’m going to have to call to find out. But, what if people don’t KNOW about Eudora Welty. Wow, that's a big deal. You should call Feedback 16 or 3 On Your Side to get the TV stations to report on the alternate polling place.

LatashaWillis

Oct 27 2008

It's open for voting. http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20081027/NEWS04/81027029

BubbaT

Oct 27 2008

Good. That saves me from wandering aimlessly downtown. :) Look, they actually have something USEFUL in the CL. I'll be sure to take a note of that!

Lori G

Oct 27 2008

Thanks, Bubba!

LatashaWillis

Oct 27 2008

Your welcome. Ahhh Lori? You're blonde aren't you?,ya'll wander aimlessly all the time anyway... :)

BubbaT

Oct 27 2008

Yes, Bubba, I am blonde. It's pretty amazing that I find my way to work every morning! :)

Lori G

Oct 27 2008

AP is reporting: Virginia elections officials say fliers are making the rounds in several Hampton Roads localities attempting to confuse voters. The fliers advise Republicans to vote on one day, and Democrats on another. [...] The bogus advisory features the logo of the State Board of Elections and states the two voting dates are intended to ease the load on local balloting officials. Someone should serve prison time for this stunt.

DonnaLadd

Oct 28 2008

The fliers advise Republicans to vote on one day, and Democrats on another. That sounds familiar. Didn't something like that happen before? I wonder what days were listed on the fliers.

LatashaWillis

Oct 28 2008

Who is "spose" to be doing all this cheating? Is it the same people who have distinguished themselves before. Get Catherine Harris out of here! The cheater can't be mostly republican because WMartin told me republican are good people. I don't reckon he would lie to me.

Walt

Oct 28 2008

Verbatim: Project Vote asks, What are Missouri Boards of Elections Hiding? Voters and Voting Rights Groups Want to Make Sure Every Vote Counts ST LOUIS, MO – Voting rights groups want to make sure every eligible Missourian gets on the voter rolls, but boards of elections may be preventing eligible voters from voting in next week's elections by hampering the efforts of groups to obtain lists of people who tried to register with the boards but whose applications were rejected. The Kansas City board maintains that it is illegal to provide the lists under Missouri law notwithstanding that the St. Louis County and St. Louis City boards have already provided their lists. The Jackson County board has agreed to provide the list but only if Project Vote, the DC-based organization requesting it, pays $11,490.20 for the 1500 pages, over $7.50 per page. The average cost of similar public records requests from election boards nationwide, given approximately 1500 forms to copy and redact, is approximately $100 to $300. "We are concerned that not all eligible Missourians have made it onto the voter rolls," stated Michael Slater, Executive Director of the voting rights advocacy group Project Vote. "We work to protect and promote the right to vote through assisting eligible Americans whose registration forms were disqualified, but we need the participation of elections boards to obtain records of disqualified applications and help people repair their voter standing." Project Vote uses records of disqualified applications to remind eligible citizens to correct their applications or file new ones with no omissions if they want to vote on Election Day. The Registration Repair program is intended to serve as a backup to the efforts by busy election boards to contact applicants whose applications were not acceptable as submitted. The program is operates in over 35 counties in a dozen states, reaching would be voters by phone and mail. This program has resulted in valuable trouble-shooting to protect the voter standing of eligible voters. Among the 1520 names on Jackson County's lists of disqualified applications are 905 that it says it entered into the county's registration system but then removed because the post office returned the notifications as undeliverable. Eliminating voters from the rolls based on returned mail disproportionately impacts voters in minority, low-income, and young populations, those who move more often and may live in dense urban areas with less reliable postal service. Two weeks ago, a federal court in Michigan* overturned a similar Michigan law on the grounds that it violated the National Voter Registration Act. Project Vote is considering bringing a similar lawsuit to compel the Jackson County board to reinstate the 905 individuals to the voter rolls. A lawsuit against Colorado on the same grounds was filed Friday by the Advancement Project, which was also involved in the Michigan case, and a variety of other election organizations. "There are still thousands of Americans who believe they have completed a voter registration application and are registered to vote, but in fact are not," said Brian Mellor, Senior Counsel at Project Vote, who explained that many registrations are rejected due to incomplete information, confusing application forms, or address problems. Many voters may not realize they are not on the rolls, waiting in a long line at their polling site only to discover that they are not registered. "In Jackson County, we have been working for over six weeks to get this information in order to help Missourians repair their registrations," said Jeff Ordower of Missouri ACORN. "Our democracy works best when every American participates. If we cannot reach out to those who did not make the rolls, their voices will not be heard on Election Day." # # # For more information: www.projectvote.org [http://www.projectvote.org/]

DonnaLadd

Oct 28 2008

OK, GOOD news in Florida: Gov. Charlie Crist has extended early voting hours, per the Miami Herald: It's not a political decision,'' Crist said moments after signing the order, which declares a state of emergency in Florida. "It's a people decision.'' I'm tellin' ya, McCain should have picked Crist as his running mate. Clearly, now, Crist is not ready to fall on a sword for McCain. He is no Katherine Harris. At least so far, and I doubt he will be.

DonnaLadd

Oct 28 2008

Good news in North Carolina, too: Thursday's first day of early voting drew record numbers across North Carolina, election officials said, as more than 100,000 people turned out.[...] Across the state, Democrats showed the most first-day enthusiasm. Of the nearly 114,000 first-day voters, 64 percent were Democrats, 21 percent Republicans and 15 percent unaffiliateds. African American turnout was up significantly. Black voters, who make up about 22 percent of registered voters, were 36 percent of Thursday's early voters. In 2004, blacks made up 18.6 percent of voters. Experts estimate that Barack Obama needs a black turnout in North Carolina of between 22 percent to 23 percent to carry the state. No Democratic presidential candidate has carried North Carolina since Jimmy Carter in 1976.

DonnaLadd

Oct 28 2008

It's remarkable. On the ACORN scare, look at this Miami Herald story from a couple days ago; it just shows that Republicans have given NO evidence of massive voter fraud, even as they are trying to suppress millions of voters across the country. It's horrifying: Republicans allege that the Association for Community Organizations for Reform Now is engaged in rampant voter fraud, but they've offered no proof of such a systematic effort. The GOP does have evidence that some of the group's 13,000 canvassers submitted fraudulent applications, but ACORN says it alerted authorities to most of the phony forms. Democrats counter that the GOP is trying to whip up fears of voter fraud so it can knock students and low-income minorities off the voter rolls to enhance McCain's chances of victory. On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled an attempt by Republicans to challenge the validity of 200,000 voter registrations in Ohio, saying that the party lacked the standing to sue.

DonnaLadd

Oct 28 2008

I'm sure that Bill Gates is laughing his butt off to think that there is not a computer program to automatically throw out two of the same names with the same addresses and D.O.B. The loser in this is the company (Acorn is not the only Co.) that hired some folks who did a lowsy job and got paid. The likelyhood of Mickey Mouse showing up to vote 90 times at different places in one city/state is too dumb to even consider. It won't happen. How many different sets of ears could he wear before someone discovers he is Mighty Mouse?

justjess

Oct 28 2008

Good Republican alert. I don't for one minute think all Republicans go along with this corrupt crap, by the way. Here's more from Politico on Crist doing the right thing, and the Republican reaction to it: This is a very big deal: Florida Governor Charlie Crist, to the shock and dismay of Florida Republicans, just moved to extend early voting hours, a move likely to widen the Democrats' lead under a program on which the Obama campaign has intensely focused. "He just blew Florida for John McCain," one plugged in Florida Republican just told me. The Buzz reports: "At a hastily arranged news conference, Crist said the right to vote is sacred and that "many have fought and died for this right." Lovin' him. Maybe HE will be the new McCain. Somebody's got to since the old one crossed over to the dark side.

DonnaLadd

Oct 28 2008

Ex Secretary of State, Catherine Harris, says she wish she had her legacy to look back on and learn from like governor Crist does. She went on to say that while she cheated for the republican party, she was shunned by the same party, now she's a lonely nobody suffering from schizophrenia.

Walt

Oct 28 2008

I've always liked Charlie Crist; remember he also refused to get involved in the Terri Schiavo case. I had hoped McCain would select him as a running mate but apparently he was more worried about winning Alaska than Florida. ;o)

Tom Head

Oct 28 2008

Crist definitely deserves props for his stance for extending early voting. He also recognized how many people fought and died for the right to vote, something that's sadly been lost on Republicans just so they can score cheap political points. This is a little old, but students at Drexel in Philadelphia are being targeted with threats of arrests by undercover officers executing warrants if they show up at the polls to vote. Also, students at Virginia Tech are being told that they would have to make their permanent residence in the Blacksburg/Montgomery County area in order to register to vote and by doing so, they could lose scholarships and other funding that was attached with their former residence, as well as their parents not being able to claim them as dependents on their taxes.

golden eagle

Oct 29 2008

Are you sure, Golden? WMartin told me republicans are good people. Good people don't lie, steal, cheat, threaten, hate, call people racial epithets, suppress the votes, et al. Perhaps he was wrong in his description.

Walt

Oct 29 2008

Not all Repubs are bad. I even like the ones who post here. Every now and then, a nationally-known Republican will step up and do the right thing.

golden eagle

Oct 29 2008

Agreed, Gold. Take Mr. Lancoln and Grant for instance.

Walt

Oct 29 2008