It is a fact that Republican’s have always tried to suppress turn-out, while Democrats have tried to increase it. This time around they (McCain and Co.) do not have the resources with which to carry out “voter intimidation” — hence the cry of FRAUD.

The systematic efforts to suppress the minority vote (especially black), and Republican election rigging is legendary.

The most recent being the theft of Florida in broad daylight, in 2000, for George Bush, when his Florida campaign manager, Republican Secretary of State Kathleen Harris and Governor Jeb Bush, the president’s brother, illegally removed 57,700 voters from the rolls, 90% of who were Democratic.

How Bush Stole Florida – Part 1 0f 2

How Bush Stole Florida – Part 2 0f 2

According to Lori Minnite, a professor of political science at Barnard College, who has spent the last eight years studying the role of fraud in U.S. elections, the Republican crusade against voter fraud is a strategic ruse. Rather than protecting the election process from voter fraud — a problem that barely exists — Minnite says the true aim of Republican efforts appears to be voter suppression across the partisan divide. According to Minnite, investigating voter fraud has become a Republican cottage industry over the last 20 years because it justifies questioning the eligibility of thousands of would-be voters — often targeting poor and minority citizens in urban areas that lean Democratic. Playing the role of vigilant watchdog gives GOP bureaucrats a pretext for obstructing the path of marginalized and first-time voters headed for the polls…..[MORE]

As I write this post, there are plenty of ‘Jim Crawford’ Republicans working overtime to keep blacks, new voters and other minorities from voting.

The GOP relies on voter suppression methods developed in once-segregated South, and perfected for 2008. These include:

• Intimidating and mis-leading black voters through phone calls

• Making ballots in heavily Democratic neighborhoods ambiguous and hard to read. Some, especially the poorly educated end up voting for the wrong candidate. In 2000, because of the confusing layout of the ballot papers, thousands of Al Gore supporters across the state of Florida, ended up voting for Reform Party candidate Patrick Buchanan, a Racist White Nationalist. Buchanan is currently peddling his Nativist Views at MSNBC News.

• Physically tampering with voting machines. This includes statewide computer database manipulation

• Sudden equipment shortages — causing long lines, confusion and thousands fail to vote

• Burdensome residency requirements and periodic registration

• Literacy or understanding requirements with stringent dis-qualification provisions

• Over aggressive voter roll purges

• Giving the power to challenge to private poll watchers — in some instances the police have been used to intimidate minority voters — The current Florida statute on voter challenges permits poll watchers to challenge a voter merely by signing an oath that states they have “reason to believe” that the voter is ineligible to vote and stating the reasons for the challenge.

• Voter Caging — a practice of sending mass direct mailings to registered voters by non-forwardable mail, then compiling lists of voters, called ‘caging lists,‘ from the returned mail in order to formally challenge their right to vote on that basis alone….[MORE]

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   [Cartoon By Gary Varvel]

ACORN — The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, which registers low-income and minority voters who tend to favor Democrats, is under siege for allegedly falsifying voter registrations, and Republicans have sought to taint Obama with the allegations.

ACORN Grassroots Democracy Campaign

| ACORN Responds to Senator McCain’s Desperate Attack |

Obama Explains Ties With ACORN

According to Politico: Obama in the 1990s represented the group in a lawsuit, and on Tuesday, he said that ‘as an elected official, I’ve had interactions with’ the Chicago branch of the group, which he said has ‘been active,‘ according to a pool report.

‘But they are not advising our campaign,‘ stressed Obama, who himself worked as a community organizer in Chicago before attending law school.

Nevada authorities last week raided ACORN’s state headquarters after the branch submitted voter registrations with the names of celebrities including Dallas Cowboy stars Tony Romo and Terrell Owens, and other voters came forward alleging they were asked by ACORN employees to submit multiple registration forms.

Smelling blood, a malicious John McCain pounced on the controversy, releasing a statement last week asserting that given ‘ACORN’s recent efforts to engage in voter fraud and to disrupt our political system, Obama’s affiliation with this group raises serious questions about his judgment and ability to lead this nation.’ …[MORE]

It is important to note that ACORN pays its “Paid Volunteers” on a quota basis, therefore it is reasonable to expect a few bad apples who will concoct several fake registrations to earn some extra bucks. Yglesias wrote last week about the problem with “paying people based on the number of names they bring in — it creates an incentive for people to pad their lists.”

Registration FRAUD is not Voting FRAUD, and it is pretty obvious why McCain and the GOP are running so scared. This time around, they so overwhelmed by the millions of new Democratic registrations — they can’t stop the flood that is coming their way. A flood that will probably sweep McCain and the GOP filth away into permanent purgatory.

After all, a voter still has to present state issued documents before voting. So, a fake “Tony Romo” registered in Nevada will definitely not surface somewhere in Ohio to vote!

Fox News and affiliated barbarian “Hate News” outlets, have been all over this issue, vomiting huge quantities of lies on top of humongous falsehoods — and conveniently forgetting that McCain had no trouble fraternizing with ACORN in 2006, as the Key-Note speaker [see video below], when their political interests coincided with his. Now, his campaign is writing e-mails in his name bashing ACORN as a tool of the Obama machine.

Feb. 20, 2006 — McCain Praises ACORN

Olbermann Special Comment: McCain Suspend Your Campaign

Two days ago Obama had this to say: We’ve got the best voter registration and turnout and volunteer operation in politics right now, and we don’t need ACORN’s help,’ he told reporters in Toledo, Ohio while preparing for Wednesday’s debate. “We don’t need ACORN’s help.”

So, desperate McCain — Please SHUT UP! You are losing, and this time there is no THIEVING WAY AROUND IT!

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References:

Inciting The Mob

McCain Exaggerates Rally Attendance

1. Election FRAUD Alert: Republicans Are Preparing To RIG ’08 Elections
2. ACORN Rallies Its Troops
3. Sen. McCain Stood With ACORN Rally In 2006
4. 08 Campaign Held Hostage By McCain’s ‘Stealth Weapon’ — RACISM
5. Behind the GOP’s voter fraud hysteria — As Republicans warn of catastrophe at the polls, an expert on election fraud explains the real partisan hoax — the suppression of Democratic votes.
6. Brunner loses lawsuit to GOP — Let county boards check new voters’ names, judge says