GOP Says They'll Continue Racist Voter Supression Tactics

[babylonsister]

GOP Says They'll Continue Racist Voter Supression Tactics

By Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet. Posted September 27, 2007.

The Republican Party plans to continue a legal tactic that targets the right to vote of likely Democrats -- often minorities.


In 2004, Republicans used a Jim Crow-era tactic to target the voter registrations of a half-million likely Democratic voters -- often minorities -- for Election Day challenges in nine states, a national voting rights group has charged in a new report.

"The intended effect of voter caging operations is to suppress minority votes," Project Vote said in its report, "Caging: A Fifty-Year History of Partisan Challenges to Minority Voters. "Several court decisions and occasional public comment by Republican officials lend support to this conclusion."

But Republicans say Project Vote's report is biased because it excludes Democratic examples of filing fraudulent voter registrations to pad voter rolls and because it ignores Democratic efforts to "knock" opponents off the ballot, such as Ralph Nader in 2004, after identifying fraudulent signatures on his nominating petitions.

"When you send out a letter to people who have registered recently and the letter comes back as an address of an empty lot or is undeliverable, you tell me is that fraud or not?" said Heather Heidelbaugh, Republican National Lawyers Association vice president for Election Education. "When people say to me there is no such thing as evidence to commit voter fraud, it is false. I've seen it. I've witnessed it. I've lived through it."

Project Vote's report is likely to draw more congressional scrutiny of tactics that may continue in the upcoming presidential election. Since 2004, three battleground states -- Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania -- have "made it easier for private individuals to challenge a voter's eligibility," the report said, while two states, Washington and Minnesota, have passed laws "making it harder."

While the report -- like many Democrats -- says the GOP is relying on voter suppression methods developed in once-segregated South, Republicans like Heidelbaugh say mass registration drives intended to bring in new Democratic voters often are rife with errors that can be used to pad vote totals. She defended the GOP's use of mailings to identify voters to be challenged on Election Day as a legitimate tool to ensure fair elections.

more...

http://alternet.org/rights/63574/

[riqster]

1. If even Reep US Attorneys can't prove 'voter fraud'

...it probably isn't anything we need to worry about.

Election Fraud, on the other hand, is documented, proven and is a real problem.

[fasttense]

2. This is their only chance of winning.

The GOP knows it will never win in a fair election. So they do their illegal caging lists and ensure Democratic voters are kept from the polls. And the Democratic leadership is perfectly happy to sit on their hands and let it happen.

[Tesha]

3. Well, and outright vote thievery. (NT)

[USA_1]

4. More Significantly, It's a Good Bet Dems Will Idly Sit By ...

... and do nothing about it.

Since 2000 they have had every opportunity to stop this racist nonsense. Instead of taking action, all they do is squawk. Therefore, you may count on another Republican victory in 2007 and in 2008.

Kiss America good bye!!

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[USA_1]

10. Better to take action...

... rather than apathy.

[bobbolink]

16. that was exactly my thought..... Dems will let it all keep happening.

No big concern.

They're only (mostly) poor people, anyway.

:nuke:

[BridgeTheGap]

5. They've been acting invincable for awhile now

Even after 2006, they're still acting that way. Go figure.

[Solly Mack]

6. of course they will

who's going to stop them?

[ck4829]

7. "I've lived through it" - Give me a break

She probably participated in it too I bet.

[NavyDavy]

9. no doudt about it....

[LiberalFighter]

14. Just like Rehnquist

[LiberalFighter]

11. Hey everyone I challange Heidelbaugh's statement

When people say to me there is no such thing as evidence to commit voter fraud, it is false. I've seen it. I've witnessed it. I've lived through it."

Heather Heidelbaugh


She has witnessed it? Seen it? She can't see anything past her pointed nose.

Republicans like Heidelbaugh say mass registration drives intended to bring in new Democratic voters often are rife with errors that can be used to pad vote totals.

How exactly are voter registrations rife with errors? If there is a problem then it is with the local election board not doing their job. And it may also be the problem of counties not providing the funding needed to ensure proper registrations.

And if Republicans believe that there are illegal voters then they should provide the names and addresses to the local election board and let them determine their status. If they want to be fair about it. Yes, there may be vacant lots and therefore no one could possibly be registered to vote there. Then report the status of that address to the local election board. I bet in reality ALL the homes of all Republican County Chairs are vacant 100% of the time.

[riqster]

12. Read their exact words

"Republicans like Heidelbaugh say mass registration drives intended to bring in new Democratic voters often are rife with errors that can be used to pad vote totals."
Notice the vagueness and lack of quantification in all of the bolded words.

Too, the implication is that a drive intended to bring in Reeps would be perfect.

Again, the Reep gets a free pass to blather away without having to provide any concrete evidence. And the Democratic Party does very little to change that paradigm.

[LiberalFighter]

13. Well then the paradigm for Republican registrations is easy

Too many of the Republican voter registrations are youth minister pedophiles, drunk drivers, incest breeders, money launderers, gay bashing homosexuals (Craig), and other despicable so called humans.

[GreenTea]

15. And Dems think they are just going to cruise into office...as usual...

Republicans have lead Dems into believing that the Dems have the presidency all wrapped up (just make Hillary your nominee) these same television news show watchers believe every word....as the Dems get fat, lazy and over confident.

[riqster]

17. The Democratic party tiptoes around Election Fraud

...for no reason that I can understand. That's one reason poeple like me get so pissed off so often, because we are getting hind tit at best from the big boys.