Last edited Mon Oct 22, 2012, 03:34 PM - Edit history (1)
Greg Palast's Billionaires & Ballot Bandits (How to Steal an Election in 9 Easy Steps), on page 17, sez:
"In the 2008 election, 488,000 absentee ballots were mailed in but never counted."
That's a big enough number that Palast made it RULE NUMBER ONE of the "7 Ways to Beat Ballot Bandits" at the back of the book:
Don't Go Postal and request a mail-in absentee ballot. "When they don't count, you don't even know it," says Palast.
BUT
....Rule NUMBER TWO is --
VOTE EARLY. In person, at your municipal (city, not county) clerk's office.
The m-f'n J-S article "early voting starts today" conflates the two options. I'm not giving them the benefit of the
doubt that it's an honest mistake:
http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/inperson-early-voting-in-wisconsin-begins-today-t879srk-175166871.html
I'd say USE MR. GOOGLE and your telephone, to call and confirm ahead of time you're heading out to the right place to vote.
But don't rely on the postman, under any circumstances. (This morning on Bill Press on Current, Palast was on and said there are 'pimply faced guys with clip boards, making check marks when mailed-in ballots come in. They'll reject your vote if you're on the wrong list on the clip board. For having an envelope the wrong color. No middle initial on the return address. Anything they can think of.') That's how they eliminated almost half a million absentee ballots in 2008.
Edit Afterthought:
A disclaimer -- The BBC's crack investigative reporter, Palast, wasn't specifically addressing the situation in the City of Milwaukee, or anyplace in Wisconsin, when he made that crack about the geeks with the clip boards. But nation-wide, wherever digital Jim Crow (dual set of rules, one for R's and another for Dem's) has replaced the rule of law, that's what's been happening.
= new reply since forum marked as read
