Florida Democrats file lawsuit against GOP to keep them from purging voters.

[madfloridian]

There's not much info in this article, looking for more. GOP chair, Jim Greer, is said to be "jeering".

It appears to have been filed by residents of Glades and Duval counties, and the Florida Democratic Party has joined the suit.

Democrats join lawsuit to block GOP challenges to Florida voters

The Florida Democratic Party on Thursday joined in a lawsuit aimed at the Republican Party of Florida and the Republican National Committee to prevent an excess of voter challenges during the presidential election.

Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Karen Thurman applauded Gov. Charlie Crist for extending early voting hours and urged him to warn his fellow Republicans against abusing their rights to challenge voters who, for instance, may not be voting at correct polling place.

"I call on the Governor, the Republican Party and voters of all parties across the Sunshine State to disavow these dishonest tactics so that we can rebuild Florida's electoral integrity and maintain the rights of our citizens to vote in a fair and open election," Thurman said.

The lawsuit was filed by residents of Glades and Duval counties. The Glades resident was targetted for a challenge by Republican in advance of the election.

Something about fliers, so I will have to find more.

This mail piece has nothing to do with a voter's registration status -- it is a fundraiser that has been sent to Republicans from the RNC for over a decade," she said in a statement. "If it is mistakenly sent to a Democrat, they are removed from future RNC mailings. None of the other allegations involve the RNC at all. The Democrats are clearly attempting to confuse voters in the key battleground state of Florida."

Here is the Republican reaction to the lawsuit. Like a bully sneering to show they are not afraid.

Greer jeers Dem lawsuit

State GOP leader Jim Greer says the lawsuit filed by Democrats to avert the possibility of massive voter challenges on election day is hogwash.

“The facts are clear and we have already addressed them thoroughly: the mailer in question is not a Republican Party of Florida mail piece, plain and simple. It is a Republican National Committee fundraising mailer to which the Republican Party of Florida has absolutely no connection. Moreover, the Republican Party of Florida has no intention of challenging any voter on the basis of foreclosure or this mail piece. As we have said before, the word ‘foreclosure’ is not in our vocabulary,” Greer said in a statement released late this evening.

“In regards to the challenges filed in Glades County, we are in the same boat as everyone else-—we know only what we have read in the newspapers. Simply put, the RPOF did not file these challenges,” the statement reads.

Okie dokie then, Jim, find out who did. Surely you have some ideas.

[Xipe Totec]

1. The RIPOFF did not file these challenges?

My, my, how aptly named.

[madfloridian]

2. Here is more about it.

Dems file lawsuit

Lawyers for the Florida Democratic Party filed the lawsuit against the Republican Party of Florida and the Republican National Committee in Leon County circuit court late this evening asking the judge to lay out what constitutes “frivolous” challenges to prevent an anticipated slew of challenges to voters, including those whose homes have been foreclosed on.
State law allows anyone to challenge a voter who must then vote by provisional ballot. Provisional ballots have a much higher chance of being tossed than regular ballots, studies have found, alarming Democrats because of reports that Republicans plan to use the challenge mechanism against Democratic voters.

The anticipated mass challenges are unprecedented in Florida elections history. The lawsuit in part relates to an unknown number of mailers sent to voters, including Democrats, that included a “party affiliation voter registration card” with the recipients’ name, address, congressional district, party affiliation and alleged voter identification number. A letter from GOP presidential candidate John McCain included in the mailer asked voters to donate to his campaign and to update the enclosed card.

The Florida Democratic Party filed the suit on behalf of a life-long registered Democrat in Leon County who received one of the mailings and a voter in Glades County who was on a list of about 300 other voters challenged by a Republican candidate for sheriff. That list was invalid because it was included in a single challenge; state law requires that a separate challenge oath be given for each voter.

The lawsuit alleges that the list was in part compiled by information from the mailings. RPOF officials have said the mailer was a typical fundraising letter and that Democrats were accidentally included in it.

[madfloridian]

3. More from the Sentinel blog, more details. Glad to see this. GOP claims total innocence.

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/2008/10/florida-democra.html

"The Florida Democratic Party is joining in a legal challenge filed this week by two Glades and Duval county voters to pre-emptively block Republicans from using a "gimmick" fundraising letter to try and challenge voters at the polls next week. Democrats filed the lawsuit in response to an unknown number of official-looking "party affiliation voter registration cards" sent out by the Republican National Committee to Democratic voters asking them to re-register to vote.

The RNC's top lawyer has said the letter was a fundraising "gimmick," but Democrats have accused them of trying to engage in what's called "voter caging" -- where they get evidence a voter has moved through a "return to sender" notice on a returned envelope and then try to use it as evidence to challenge the voter when they show up at the polls.

"We believe all Floridians who want to vote and are eligible to vote should have their voices heard, and their votes counted promptly," FDP Chair Karen Thurman said in a statement Thursday evening.

Complaint is here: PDF amended complaint by Democrats

UPDATE: RNC spokeswoman Amber Wilkerson calls the complaint "another unfortunate example of Democrats going straight out of their playbook and launching a baseless ‘pre-emptive’ lawsuit to garner media attention less than a week before Election Day."

"This mail piece has nothing to do with a voter’s registration status – it is a fundraiser that has been sent to Republicans from the RNC for over a decade," she writes us. "If it is mistakenly sent to a Democrat, they are removed from future RNC mailings. None of the other allegations involve the RNC at all. The Democrats are clearly attempting to confuse voters in the key battleground state of Florida."

Florida Republican Party spokeswoman Erin VanSickle said her shop was equally blameless.

“This is a bogus lawsuit and an attempt to distract voters from the real issues by throwing in everything but the kitchen sink six days out from Election Day," she writes us."

[madfloridian]

4. Gee, madfloridian, why aren't the Democrats doing anything?

:shrug:

I mean, gee, who cares they filed a lawsuit. That doesn't mean anyone is paying attention. Don't be silly, mf, we are going to lose Florida, you know cause our TV is saying so.

Pay no attention to this lawsuit....it means nothing. :shrug:

[madfloridian]

5. One last kick cause a voting lawsuit can't compete with Rachel stuff here.

Already on page 2, and I think it is important. Last kick, no more.

[madfloridian]

6. Colorado purge overturned. Maybe fighting back matters.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/10/30/215929/45/373/647458

[Sophree]

7. kick

Who, exactly, did send out the mailers? And how did the candidate for Sherriff get the list?

Ugh, I hate to ruin my wonderful day, on which I early voted, by facing these FL repug dirty tricks and caging, but, this is Florida, after all. And I must face reality...

:kick:

[madfloridian]

8. It was apparently the GOP.

I think it has been ongoing.

[Sophree]

10. ongoing

Meaning, the GOP is still sending out the "donation" requests?

[madfloridian]

13. Not sure, the info just came out about the lawsuit tonight.

So there are gaps in what I know so far.

[madfloridian]

9. DOJ coming to monitor.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x7676882

[AtomicKitten]

11. Colorado is allowing 30,000 purged voters to vote on provisional ballots

which is something, although provisional ballots are the least best way to vote.

I hope this is resolved beforehand. I don't think I could take a 2000 Florida Redux. Oy.

[madfloridian]

12. I think they have made strict conditiions

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/10/30/215929/45/373/647458

"DENVER — Tens of thousands of Coloradans who had been removed from the state’s voter rolls will be allowed to vote in next week’s election and given extra protections so their ballots are counted, under an agreement reached late Wednesday in federal court here.
The voters’ names had been removed by Mike Coffman, the Colorado secretary of state, who said he did so because the voters had moved out of state or were listed more than once on the rolls. But Mr. Coffman was sued by a coalition of voting rights and other groups who said such purges were generally prohibited by federal law within 90 days of an election.

Under the agreement, voters removed from the rolls will be permitted to cast provisional ballots, and those ballots will be counted unless election officials can prove the voters were not eligible. To strike such ballots, county election officials must conduct an extensive records review on each one, a decision that must then be reviewed by Mr. Coffman’s office.

"This is unprecedented," said Elizabeth Westfall, a lawyer for the Advancement Project, a civil rights group that helped file the lawsuit. "We are really thrilled that there will be this degree of unprecedented scrutiny and protection for these purged voters when they cast their provisional ballots."

[AtomicKitten]

14. I am glad this avenue of election fraud has been exposed nationally.

Obama will win by shear numbers which will stymie the GOP efforts to screw with the process, but we need to begin an overhaul of the election system starting 1/21/09.

[Life Long Dem]

19. And turn the cheek over election fraud because we don't need it?

I have to say that's the wrong move. Repubs will look back and say, well why didn't you do something about it when it really matter last Nov. 4th 2008? It wasn't that important?

[AtomicKitten]

20. I not only didn't say that but never even suggested "turning the cheek."

I remain puzzled as to why virtually nothing has been done to stop election fraud since the epic fiasco of 2000. I worked with Rush Holt's office on HR2239 a while back which Rep. Ney made it his business to block and which died a slow death in the House.

When asked how he would deal with election fraud last year, Obama said he intended to win BIG. How you construed that to mean I am advocating "turning the cheek" is beyond me.

[Life Long Dem]

24. I know you didn't say, do nothing about election fraud.

I wasn't saying that. I was referring to the ones who started the lawsuit(s) in Florida, and didn't think they should wait till after the election.

Now if you were "not" referring to the lawsuit when you mentioned going after election fraud after the election, then I apologize.

I don't know what Obama winning big has to do with election fraud. I'm defending the ones who filed the lawsuits in Florida over election fraud.

[AtomicKitten]

26. I support ANY intervention to stop voter suppression.

I'm on overload right now and apologize if I didn't make myself clear. I was happy when the Colorado courts ruled that the purged voters may vote, however, as BradBlog often points out, a provisional ballot is the absolute last choice if one wants their vote counted. Voter purging/suppression is epidemic and I absolutely support any intervention to combat that.

Obama has plotted several paths to victory on the electoral map, and winning BIG renders the partisan dirty tricks impotent.

Election fraud/suppression is manifested in a number of ways from start to finish in the election process and, as I said in my original post, I hope Obama revamps the entire system when he takes office in January.

On edit: Waiting hours in line to vote is also epic bullshit and another form of voter suppression. Here in SF, I walk around the corner to vote. No waiting. Ever.

[cliffordu]

15. There should be SEVERE penalties for this kind of vote killing activity.....

like evisceration.

[Cha]

16. Rec'd!

:kick:

[machI]

17. Kick

[machI]

18. Vote NO on Florida 2

[seafan]

21. GOP challenging foreclosure victims in Volusia Co., FL (Daytona area)

Volusia Co., FL Elections supervisor: GOP challenging votes of foreclosure victims, October 10, 2008


Will likely see lawsuits filed there as well.


The GOP is despicable and anti-American. And they have now been exposed for all to see.
99 percent of solving a problem is knowing the origin of it. Never has it been clearer.



Florida GOP leader Jim Greer jeers Democratic lawsuit

October 30, 2008, Glades and Duval Counties:

".....the Republican Party of Florida has no intention of challenging any voter on the basis of foreclosure or this mail piece. As we have said before, the word ‘foreclosure’ is not in our vocabulary,” Greer said in a statement released late this evening.

.....

[madfloridian]

22. Volusia, wouldn't be surprised. Also she at first refused to extend hours

as Crist said to do.

[seafan]

23. I read that as well. McFall is a typical Republican.

.....

Both supervisors and lawmakers have questioned whether it was appropriate for Crist to call a "state of emergency" to override the state's election law.

"If there wasn't an emergency, the governor exceeded his authority," said Volusia County Elections Supervisor Ann McFall, a Republican. "I did not see an emergency in Volusia County."

.....

link

[madfloridian]

25. I wasn't sure if she was or not.

I sort of suspected.