PURGES: Democratic Party must check registration status

[mod mom]

I just received this in an election reform e-mail:

We have noticed that Reform Ohio Now (RON) initiatives had more than 532,000 signatures. But Ohio Secretary of State Blackwell only cleared 353,094 signatures as qualifying. 178,906 signatures (approximately one-third) were disqualified because "not registered or other reasons".http://www.ohiocitizen.org/moneypolitics/ron/ron.htm 500,000 signatures would not have been enough! It is not known what the specific causes of so many signatures being disqualified are, but Ohio SOS Blackwell eliminated many registered voters in Ohio in 2004 primarily for the statutory reason that they had not voted in the last two federal elections. Another problem with disqualification of signatures is that they have to match the signatures on the initiative with the signatures on the registration cards. Depending on how stringent they are about this, they could drop 178,906 signatures.

Republican SOSs (don't assume this is limited to Blackwell in Ohio-he went down to Florida for training in 2000) are using purges to eliminate democratic voters. The democratic party must make a concerted effort to check the status of their base, especially in low income neighborhoods where voters may not have access to web sites for checking. THIS IS A SERIOUS PROBLEM!

In Ohio we had break-ins to the Lucas county Dem HQ as well as the Ohio Democratic Party HQ and although it has been suggested that it was punks, valuable items were left behind while sensitvie data was not. Even if they don't break-in, however, historic democratic precincts can be targeted.

[LittleClarkie]

1. Can it be proven that they are targetting Dems more than Republican

districts?

[SoFlaJet]

4. duh........

with a republican operative as Sec of St.?Come on that's a question you already KNOW the answer to Clarkie.I'm not being a dick here but I AM a person from Florida whose name WAS purged off the 2000 rolls,so I sorta know the deal.

[LittleClarkie]

7. I didn't ask if it was happening. I asked if it could be PROVEN.

Something you could point to and say THERE IT IS. Something to have in hand. Is the data out there somewhere?

KNOWING it's happening means nothing if you can't prove it. That's what I was getting at.

[mod mom]

8. In OH we have a repuke Attorney General who had the audacity

to place sanctions on the 4 attorneys who contested the election because he said it was frivolous, as well as a repuke supreme court, governor, state senate, state legislature etc. enough said.

Look at this info:

-October 4, 2004 was filing deadline for new voter registrations. At that point there were approximately 20,000 unprocessed voter registration applications with less than a month before the election. One mail tray containing 4,500-7,000 (estimates vary) unprocessed “Project Voter” registrations were discovered on or about October 18,2004.
SOURCE: SOS Lucas County Investigation pg 10 *NOTE: this Lucas County Investigative Report was featured on the OH SOS website for a few months, but has been removed. PM me if you are interested in receiving it.

***Of interest here is information obtained from the SOS website entitled ElectionsVoter/results 2003 and 2004 which show the # of registered voters number change from ‘03-’04 was 11,947 in Lucas County: reg voters 2003 in Lucas=288,190 ; registered voter in 2004=300,137.

so... where did all the new registrations go? Only a change of 11,947. The answer is purges.

[LittleClarkie]

9. Thanks. That's kinda what I was looking for. We're getting ready to purge

here in Wisconsin. Federally mandated lists of voters, but we have a Dem Gov and a Dem AG. So though that kinda have to do it, I think they'll be more careful than the Repubs would be, and than the State Repubs want them to be.

The State Repubs have embarrassed themselves here by showing up at the door of some poor shmuck they though had committed voter fraud. It was a publicity stunt. Turned out that most of the "fraud" they pointed to was simple clerical error.

[SoFlaJet]

11. Clarkie

you should listen to Randi-she was here-I AM here and during the 2000 election debacle it was so weird,but there were operatives in the polling places who said they'd make a call to fix my voter registration-"oh it's still busy".It was creepy like knowing something is going on right under your nose and you KNOW it.What Jeb did was hire a TEXAS company to do the purging(they were paid over a million bux for their "service" up from the 30,000 spent prior)and ONLY democrats were purged-of which I was one.Even now-last November I STILL got this funny feeling in my guts that my vote was being electronically diverted(Diebold).Sometimes we just know things as huma beings-we just KNOW.

[LittleClarkie]

12. I know. Accenture is doing our list. After all they've done to FL and OH

you'd think there had to be someone else who could do the job. I have a bad feeling. But I can only hope the Dem Gov will keep his eye out.

[SoFlaJet]

13. yea

if you have a dem gov-there's still hope-unless of course he's another Bill McBride(Jeb opponent who lost)and a plant-another suspicion I have.

[mod mom]

14. In OH the Secretary of State handles elections and hence purges.

You might want to check the party of the SOS. I hope the Dems in every state do a registration check, especially in low income, high Dem precincts just prior to elections. If a voter does not check, is purged there is nothing that can be done.

[hughee99]

10. Looking at it this way...

If you wanted to honestly purge (and I'm not saying that they're honest) voters (those who have died or moved away), you will probably get more "bang for your buck" by starting in larger populations centers since there are more people, and therefore likely more voters to be purged. Larger cities tend to vote more heavily democratic than less populated areas.

[Maine Mary]

2. Thats disturbing

I hope somebody gets to the bottom of this long before the next election.

I don't think I have to worry in my town. There are only 808 people and about 550 registered voters. I'll come in and say my name (even though ballot clerks already know all our names) then I'll be handed a paper ballot.

New Residents can sign up on election day.

[skids]

3. Recommended.

It's getting to be about that time when all Dems should do a check on their registration nationwide. Too many sleep through the primary and don't realize they have been booted.

Voting in the primary, even if just to excercise the system and ensure you are completely registered, should be a national, well funded, highly organized campaign. Please tell me one of the voter protection groups has plans in motion. If not, we are toast. Let's get as many Dems (and Independents where there are open primaries) to the primary as we can possibly cajole.

[Neil Lisst]

5. Purges are the latest pub tool

Is there another thread about this same thing?

I could have sworn I responded to it less than an hour ago.

This is the latest move by Pubs to eliminate likely Dem voters, who tend to move more frequently than Pub voters.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

6. We have a Repuke County Clerk

for the first time since I've lived in my county (been here a dozen years). He sent out cards where we had to verify our addresses and then give directions to our houses. Sure, we don't have 911, but the mailboxes are right there on the highway. I still think it was a scam to discourage people from re-registering. The cards were sent out at the end of August, when a lot of folks were on vacation, and there was a small window of opportunity to get the cards in. My husband and I personally took in our cards, insisted in talking with the clerk himself, and made sure we'd dotted our i's and crossed our t's. I assured him that we vote often, and I'd be right there if there was any problem with me voting. We just had a school board election, and we were both on the rolls. But I got to thinking-I fear that the reason we WERE on the polls because the bozo knew we meant business. I'm wondering how many people will be written off by this guy and won't realize it until they go to vote in '06.