eclecticism

October 13th, 2004 |

You might want to double-check your voter registration if you live in the Las Vegas area (and possibly somewhere in Oregon, also), as one RNC-funded organization has been destroying Democratic voter registration applications.

Employees of a private voter registration company allege that hundreds, perhaps thousands of voters who may think they are registered will be rudely surprised on election day. The company claims hundreds of registration forms were thrown in the trash.
Anyone who has recently registered or re-registered to vote outside a mall or grocery store or even government building may be affected. The I-Team has obtained information about an alleged widespread pattern of potential registration fraud aimed at democrats. Thee focus of the story is a private registration company called Voters Outreach of America, AKA America Votes. […] Two former workers say they personally witnessed company supervisors rip up and trash registration forms signed by Democrats. “We caught her taking Democrats out of my pile, handed them to her assistant and he ripped them up right in front of us. I grabbed some of them out of the garbage and she tells her assisatnt to get those from me,” said Eric Russell, former Voters Outreach employee. Eric Russell managed to retrieve a pile of shredded paperwork including signed voter registration forms, all from Democrats. We took them to the Clark County Election Department and confirmed that they had not, in fact, been filed with the county as required by law. […] The company has been largely, if not entirely funded, by the Republican National Committee. Similar complaints have been received in Reno where the registrar has asked the FBI to investigate.

p>(via BOPNews)

« On smoke alarms | Kill Switch…Click »

7 Responses to “Registered to vote? Are you sure?”

Ryan Waddell Says:
October 13th, 2004 at 8:35 am

Yeah, I’m going to take that story with a GIGANTIC grain of salt… two FORMER employees saying shit about their old company? Hrmmmm….

Johan Svensson Says:
October 13th, 2004 at 10:49 am

As a European, I’m amazed that you actually need to register to be able to vote in the US. That’s asking for voter apathy.

I can’t speak for the rest of Europe, but here in Sweden you get a personal vote card in the mail a couple of weeks before the vote, if you’re eligible to vote.

You bring that and some form of ID, and you get to vote.

Michael Hanscom Says:
October 13th, 2004 at 11:45 am

That makes a lot more sense to me, Johan. Under our system, it’s a bit of a hassle (gotta get registered, wait for the card, make sure things are current when you move, etc.) — not a major hassle by any means, but for more casual voters, it could be enough that they wouldn’t bother. If it was automatic, more people might put it in the “well, I might as well” category rather than the “too much trouble” category.

Ryan Waddell Says:
October 13th, 2004 at 11:47 am

Likewise Canada… if you’re not on the voter list (ie you don’t get your voter card), you just show up with 2 pieces of ID at your polling station and you are allowed to vote.

Michael Hanscom Says:
October 13th, 2004 at 1:17 pm

Ryan — grain of salt or not (not that I blame you), it doesn’t look like this is an isolated event.

Just be glad all of you up there in Canadia just have to hear about all this crap, and don’t have to deal with it directly.

Joel Says:
October 13th, 2004 at 3:49 pm

There is crazy stuff going on all over! Did anybody else hear about the ballots in Milwaukee? I missed all the fun in 2000 (was out of the country) but I hope somebody (either guy) wins by a big enough margin so there aren’t any lingering questions.

Chas Redmond Says:
October 13th, 2004 at 4:30 pm

I guess what I don’t understand is how people can’t connect the dots and see the relationship between this Administration (and Republican Administrations all the way back to but not including Dwight Eisenhower) and the reduction or denial of civil rights. Are we:

a) really that stupid en masse? or b) really that naive and clueless en masse? or c) both of the above; or are d) the Ashcroft’s and J’edgah Hoovers really that conniving?