Probable Voter Suppression in Houston

[man4allcats]

Many people, often first time voters, who are eligible for registration are having their registrations rejected. New voters in this predominantly Republican city are considered more likely to vote for Obama/Biden. This video http://www.khou.com/video/news-index.html?nvid=295693 from Houston's KHOU-TV tells the story.

[MarjorieG]

1. If legal voter, then it's supression and election fraud.

[FrenchieCat]

5. You should send this to the Obama campaign.....

just in case they missed it.

[elleng]

10. Send to

[email protected]

Not YOU, frenchie!

[genna]

2. What is the Democratic response to expelling registered voters in the state of Texas?

[Triana]

3. Voter suppression, not voter fraud. n/t

[Eric J in MN]

8. Yes, the title should be changed to "Voter Suppression." NT

NT

[FrenchieCat]

4. You should send this to the Obama campaign.....

just in case they missed it.

[RagAss]

6. Of course.

[LisaL]

7. I am not surprised at all.

[elleng]

9. NOT VOTER FRAUD!

rather, its 'election fraud.'

Words are VERY important, in these matters.

[man4allcats]

11. Thank you for the correction.

I have edited the subject line of my post accordingly.

[elleng]

13. THANKS!

Please send story to [email protected]

[man4allcats]

14. Thanks again!

I just sent the story to the email address you provided. Again, many thanks for your help with this post! :hi:

[man4allcats]

12. And edited once again based on comments from other posters.

Thanks to all for constructive criticism. It is appreciated.

[man4allcats]

15. A Request: Please keep this kicked.

I would like to see this publicized as much as possible. Thanks in advance. - AYD -

[bookman]

16. Welcome to my world

This is what happens in a community where people only watch Fox news.

[man4allcats]

17. Well actually, the news link in my OP refers to KHOU-TV,

the local CBS affiliate.

[Phoonzang]

18. Republican city? Uh...no.

As a Houstonian I can tell you it's a blue city. The outskirts and 'burbs on the other hand....

[man4allcats]

19. Some parts over by the Med Center are blue,

and it's true Mayor Bill White is a Democrat, but beyond that it looks pretty red to me. Culberson is my congressman, and of course we have Cornyn and Hutchison to contend with as U.S. senators from Texas. Add to that all the McCain/Palin yard signs and bumper stickers and enough local rednecks to fill the extras quota for a Chuck Norris epic. Everywhere I look around here I see red.

[man4allcats]

20. Kicking

:kick:

[rvablue]

21. K&R n/t

[man4allcats]

22. Thanks!

:hi:

[man4allcats]

23. This horse has a name, and its name is

Kick! If I could only get one more rec, I'd dismount and give this horse a rest. ;-)

:kick:

[man4allcats]

24. Maybe I should have named it Rec.

Poor horse!

[man4allcats]

25. Well, poor thing. I tried.

Looks like it's off to the digital glue factory of disappearing, under-rec'ed threads for this old horse. So long, Old Paint. See you at that great Thread Round-up in the sky.

[No Elephants]

26. Another Yellow Dog, did you report this to the Obama campaign?

[babylonsister]

27. I just did, and rec'd. nt

[man4allcats]

29. Many Thanks!

Gee, that was a rough one! Most times I don't push for the required five recs for The Greatest Page, but I just thought this was really important. :hi:

[man4allcats]

28. Yes, I did report it, and they replied.

DUer elleng was kind enough to supply me with an email address suitable to the purpose {[email protected] , see up-thread}. The reply was understandably rather generic; I'm sure they are being inundated right now. Nevertheless, they were most appreciative and encouraged me and anyone with whom I might be in contact to make extensive use of the address to report any and all smears, false attacks, etc. In fact, let me just paste the reply below since the Watchdog Team asked that the email be freely shared:

Dear Friend,

Thank you for joining the fight against the lies, false attacks, and smear campaigns targeting Barack Obama and designed to create fear and division at a time that calls for unity and solutions. No one of us can put an end to these attacks, but together we can set the record straight.

We’ve received the message you sent and will evaluate it to inform the campaign’s pushback strategy to this growing problem. Please continue to send us each smear you receive -- even if you receive the same one multiple times from different sources.

When possible, please forward messages just as they came to you, without changing the subject or sending the message as an attachment. And feel free to include your friends and family on the message you send us -- if we’ve developed a response already, we’ll send it to everyone you included.

If you haven't already, it's important that you provide the truth to whoever passed along the smear that you reported. Refer to http://www.FightTheSmears.com to get the facts you need in order to fight back on a wide variety of smears.

Meanwhile, here are a few facts about Barack that you may want to pass on:

* Barack Obama is working for middle class Americans. The Obama-Biden tax plan includes a tax cut of $1,000 for more than 150 million working Americans. The plan will also eliminate income taxes altogether for more than 7 million senior citizens who make less than $50,000 per year. Finally, Obama’s plan will provide an average of $500 to 10 million homeowners, the majority of whom earn less than $50,000 per year. http://www.barackobama.com/issues/economy/#tax-relief; http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?ID=411693

* Barack Obama will make healthcare affordable for your family. If you like your employer-offered healthcare, you can keep it -- at a reduced cost. If you don’t, or you don’t have health care, you will have a choice of new, affordable health insurance options. You will not be turned away -- regardless of preexisting conditions. Obama will help small businesses provide affordable health insurance to their employees with a Small Business Health Tax Credit. Read more about the Obama-Biden healthcare plan here: http://www.barackobama.com/issues/healthcare/

* Barack Obama knows that the problems we’re facing in this election are too serious to let the politics of manufactured controversy and fake outrage dominate. He wants to bring our troops home from Iraq, so we can focus on Afghanistan and track down the terrorists who attacked us. And he’s proposed a detailed plan for using alternative energy sources to relieve America’s dependence on foreign oil within 10 years and put millions of Americans to work. See more about Obama’s plan for change here: http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/planforchange_ad/

* Despite many email smears claiming something else, Barack Obama is a committed Christian and an American citizen. After being raised by a single mother and by his grandparents in a modest household in Hawaii, Barack studied hard and won scholarships and loans to attend Columbia University and later Harvard Law School, where he became president of the Harvard Law Review. After law school, he returned to Chicago to give back to society as a community organizer and later as a civil rights lawyer and law professor. http://www.barackobama.com/learn/meet_barack.php

Please forward this to anyone you know who has received a smear email about Barack. Together we can make sure these negative and divisive attacks don't affect this election.

Thanks for your help,
Obama-Biden Watchdog Team

- emphasis added -

[Honeycombe8]

30. This is shocking and disgusting. I don't believe for a second those were "mistakes."

I NEVER heard of scads of people being rejected to vote before the partisan politics of the Bush era. Harris County, being dark red,....well, it's suspicious at best.

[man4allcats]

31. I agree! I don't buy the "mistakes" line either,

and I'm pleased to say the local Dem leadership is all over these people about this. It is a running story on local KHOU-TV news (see OP). I will try to post updates as they become available.

[man4allcats]

32. As promised, here is

the latest video update on this story from KHOU-TV News in Houston. The title of the story is "Tempers rise as GOP, Dems argue over voter registration," and it's quite easy to see in the video how defensive and hot under the collar elected Republican Harris County tax collector and registrar Paul Bettencourt becomes as investigative reporter Mark Greenblatt pushes him with the tough questions.

[man4allcats]

34. I have just forwarded this second installment (10/23/08)

and currently most recent update of this story to < [email protected] >.

[Laelth]

33. Glad the title changed. Nice that the media is actually doing its job here.

Wonder how many election cycles have gone by with the same thing happening but without any media attention.

The United States is a LIBERAL Country.

:dem:

-Laelth