Unreal!

You've gotta read this...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12514-2004Oct30.html

Mailings telling people that due to a high number of voters this year, election day has been extended until Wednesday the 3rd -- Republicans are to vote Tuesday, Democrats to vote Wednesday! Unreal!

Mailings claiming to be from the NAACP, telling blacks to not vote if they have outstanding parking tickets or child support, because they'll be arrested. Unreal!

These are just a few of the many, many things that people are doing to try and help Bush. I love how the Republicans quoted in the article all point fingers at the Democrats, claiming that the Democrats are trying to frame the Republicans. Puh-leeze.

Bleh, they want me to register.

They want you to register, Eggy?

http://www.bugmenot.com

That should do it

Sorry about that, worked fine yesterday. Here's the article in all its glory.


By Jo Becker and David Finkel
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, October 31, 2004; Page A22

As if things weren't complicated enough, here comes the dirt.

Registered voters who have been somehow unregistered. Democrats who suddenly find they've been re-registered as Republicans. A flier announcing that Election Day has been extended through Wednesday.

Dirty tricks are a staple of campaigns, but election officials say this year's could achieve new highs in numbers and new lows in scope, especially in key battleground states such as Florida and Ohio, where special-interest groups have poured in to influence the neck-and-neck race between President Bush and Sen. John F. Kerry.

"In my 16 years as an election administrator, I've never seen anything like this," said Ion Sancho, supervisor of elections in Leon County, Fla. "I see it as an expression of a political culture that has evolved in the United States of win at any cost. It's not partisan, but it's just lie, cheat and steal, and ethics be damned."

The problem in Leon County: Students at Florida State and Florida A&M universities, some of whom signed petitions to legalize medical marijuana or impose stiffer penalties for child molesters, unknowingly had their party registration switched to Republican and their addresses changed.

Officials say students at the University of Florida in Alachua County have made similar complaints and that about 4,000 potential voters in all have been affected. Local papers have traced some of the problems to a group hired by the Florida Republican Party, which has denounced the shenanigans. Switching voters' party affiliations does not affect their ability to vote, but changing addresses does, because when voters shows up at their proper polling places, they will not be registered there.

The college scam has also made an appearance in Pennsylvania, along with a separate scam last week in Allegheny County, where election officials received a flurry of phone calls about fliers handed out at a Pittsburgh area mall and mailed to an unknown number of homes. The flier, distributed on bogus but official-looking stationery with a county letterhead, told voters that "due to immense voter turnout expected on Tuesday," the election had been extended. Republicans should vote Tuesday, Nov. 2, it said -- and Democrats on Wednesday. A criminal investigation has been launched.

Authorities in several states also are investigating claims, by former employees of groups paid by both the Republican Party and Democratic-leaning interest groups, that they destroyed or did not turn in new registrations by voters of the opposite party.

Clouding investigations are claims and counterclaims not only about tricks, but double dirty tricks.

In Wisconsin, a flier is circulating in Milwaukee's black neighborhoods that purports to be from the "Milwaukee Black Voters League." "If you've already voted in any election this year, you can't vote in the presidential election," the flier reads. "If you violate any of these laws, you can get ten years in prison and your children will get taken away from you."

Chris Lato, a spokesman for the Wisconsin Republican Party, called the fliers "appalling" but wondered whether Democratic interest groups might be to blame. He said circulators falsely claiming to represent the Republican Party might be trying to gin up turnout among black voters.

"First of all, the claim was false, and it seems a little obvious," he said. "We have a lot of these shadowy Democratic groups here in Wisconsin, and I wouldn't put it past 'em to do something like this to muck up the works."

Meanwhile, in Lake County, Ohio, some voters received a memo on bogus Board of Elections letterhead informing voters who registered through Democratic and NACCP drives that they could not vote. Election officials referred the matter to the sheriff.

Lawyers for the Ohio GOP, who have charged Democratic groups with registering fictitious characters such as Mary Poppins, said Friday that they condemned election fraud and misinformation campaigns of any kind. But some local Lake County Republicans have adopted the double-dirty-trick explanation, saying the Democrats are out to make the GOP look bad.

Whatever the motive, election officials say that voters are genuinely confused by the misinformation. In the Cleveland area, election officials said they received a spate of complaints after voters began receiving phone calls incorrectly informing them that their polling place had changed. In addition, unknown volunteers began showing up at voters' doors illegally offering to collect and deliver completed absentee ballots to the election office.

Jane Platten, a spokeswoman for the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, said officials have not identified who is behind the tricks. "We've never seen anything like this before, where there seems to be a concerted effort to to give voters misinformation," she said.

In South Carolina, Charleston County election officials warned voters Friday to ignore a fake letter that purports to be from the NAACP. The letter threatens voters who have outstanding parking tickets or have failed to pay child support with arrest.

"Thankfully, we got this in time to do something about it," said the Rev. Joe Darby, first vice president of the South Carolina state conference of the NAACP, who learned about the letter his organization supposedly had written when it showed up in his own mailbox. "This isn't new -- it's the South Carolina politics of ignorance. And it's not surprising, because this is one of those every-vote-counts elections. But I don't think people will be fooled."

This is insane. Whatever happened to "Land of the free" and "Leader of the free world" etc?
Your parties disgust me. Both of them. America needs to be liberated from them =)

I don't understand how all of that business regarding party change for the Florida students could've even happened if they would've read what they were signing. If there's one thing I learned at a very early age it's never put your John Hancock on anything you don't understand or haven't read the fine print on.
Regardless, I think the majority of this has to do with lack of education on the voting process. I live in the Sunshine State as well, and have come across tons of info on the correct procedure. It's a matter of reading your mail and doing a little research on your own.
I can say for one, that I have received tons of help in SL on this as well. I always refused to vote in the past because I felt I was being lied to from all directions of both parties; but the fiasco of the last election has put a fire under my rear, as well as many others'. All of the opposing opinions and vague details set forth by both parties is confusing, so I want to pass on a bit of good advice I received in SL. If the mass of issues is too confusing for you, pick the ONE issue that matters most to you and do a little digging. Researching every issue can be a bit overwhelming. Anyway, good luck at the polls everyone and lets' hope this doesn't turn into another huge mess.

Well... God forbid that I suggest that anyone vote for Bush, but if you live in FL, I'd suggest you vote Republican. I hear that if you vote Democrat, they don't always count your vote down there.



- Ace

m-m-m-m-muiltkill!

Comon, with a title like 'Unreal!' im surprised I was the first to post that.

OMG Ryen that brings back memories. Must... install... UT...!
GODLIKE!

No eggy, go out and buy UT2004 and play onslaught!

Technically it's not a 2 party system - but because of the setup it's not gonna change, although it seems they're working very very hard to make it a 1 party system

In a nutshell - when your voting you're not casting it for the candidate - you're casting it for someone to cast a vote for your candidate (the electoral college) - so the popular vote in the state determines who goes and casts the states votes..

State votes are an all-or-nothing affair.. So when you stop and think about it, the chances of a third party ever winning an election are very very very slim.

Disclaimer - I'm not American, I only live here, so tell me if I ballsed that up.

Siggy.

You didn't. Local elections are democratic, but it's a stretch to call the United States of America a "national democracy" in any idealistic sense of the word. The major impediments are a constitution that was written to control "mob psychology" and demagoguery, and a two-party system that has monopolized procedures and constitutional interpretation to control elections.

I would like to see Democratic and Republican 'bots in my copy of Unreal Tournament 2004. Give me a Redeemer, and then -- "Holy Shit!"

Canada's too. No more blood for oil! Vote Marijuanna Party. Heh like 2% of america is going to vote against killing innocent people for cheap oil.. sick.