So here’s the deal. The Ohio GOP is actively coordinating to influence this election. The evidence is clear. First there was absolute hysteria over early voting and the registration overlap (same day voting). Next was the general Republican tactic this cycle of attacking ACORN. Call it a weapon of mass distraction. While the mainstream media is going on about the juicy ACORN story, the GOP in Ohio and elsewhere has been quietly trying to suppress voters from the political process. We’ve seen the attempts to toss out 200,000 new voters because they don’t match BMV records. This, while their own Jon Husted (Republican Speaker of the House) has a record that doesn’t match. Now they are even going one step further and looking to force 666,000 voters to vote provisionally because they have new or updated voting records.
The reason they want to do this is clear. Those new voters are typically NOT voting for their candidates. The effort is transparent. Their lawsuits against new voter registrations is the real battle here. The ACORN stuff is merely cover fire so the media will not look at what the other hand is doing. Their attempt to make over 600,000 people vote provisionally opens the door for them to challenge them later legally. This is Orwellian election tampering. One hand is attempting to affect the election by messing with our electoral process (which Republicans put in place during their “culture of corruption” reign in Ohio) while the other hand is pointing and shouting about ACORN.
It’s our job on the blogs to shine the light where the crooks are hiding. It’s what we do best and our contribution to the process. The mainstream media seems perfectly content to be focused on non-plumbers named Joe and fantastic stories about some guy who filled out 73 voter registration forms for ACORN. While they do, the fox is secretly raiding the hen house.
I’m hearing that the cover fire of the GOP shouting about ACORN is not only working to get wag the mainstream media, but is now actively affecting the work of the Secretary of State’s office. They are having to waste their time answering charges of bogus election fraud and being accused of stealing the election instead of working to see we have a smooth running election.
Republicans are behind and they are desperate. They have everything to gain by either mucking up the system to such a degree that they prevent voters from supporting their opponents, or making an attempt to at least cast some doubt on the eventual winners.
Don’t let them do it. If those they’ve duped into thinking there is massive fraud going on can call and bother those charged with running our elections and possibly prevent them from doing so by wasting their time with bogus charges of stealing the election, we can push back by asking those behind the effort to stop.
The actors are as follows along with their contact information:
Kevin Dewine – Ohio Republican Party Vice Chairman (937-760-1419)
Jason Mauk – Ohio Republican Party Executive Director (614-561-4994)
John McClelland – Ohio Republican Party Communications Director (614-394-3456)
A few thoughts. Be courteous. Be firm. Be persistent. Make them give you an answer as to why they are doing what they are doing. I’d ask them why they don’t support new voters and their ability to participate in the democratic process. If we are going to spend billions of dollars and the lives and blood of our sons and daughters in Iraq to “promote democracy”, the very LEAST we could do is support and promote it right here at home in Ohio.
Again, please do not act like a McCain rally attendee and call McCain a terrorist or say anything about killing anybody. Just let them know that their attempts to suppress new voters and disenfranchise those who have taken the very patriotic step to participate in the democratic process will not be tolerated.
Joe the Plumber, Chris himself, and Jon Husted all would not match and thus would be at risk were they new registrants. Why would we treat new registrants any different than those who have been on the rolls for some time as mismatched?
Because most of the new voters are Dems voting for Barack. Very simple.
Imagine an election where one of the participants calls foul. Investigations are launched or at least called for. Prosecutors raise the specter of charges, the U.S. attorney and FBI get involved. No voter fraud is ever actually found. But by the time that conclusion is reached, the myth has been solidified both to soothe the loser’s supporters and condemn the winner.
Sound familiar? Sound like the recent ACORN scandal?
Well, actually I’m talking about the 1960 election between John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon. That Nixon was cheated out of a win is the stuff of legend on the Right. The allegations say that Kennedy loyalists fixed the vote counts in Illinois and Texas–swinging 51 electoral votes and a majority in the Electoral College to Kennedy. In more hyperbolic versions there is alleged involvement by the mob, the Teamsters Union or legendary Chicago mayor Richard Daley.
The story goes on that Nixon, “for the good of the country,” conceded honorably and exited the scene. No matter that Nixon was later chased out of the White House for cheating in an election. The myth endures.
It’s also worth noting that similar allegations were made against ACORN in the last few election cycles, and several investigations were conducted, none of which found evidence of widespread voter fraud. Many of these were conducted by US attorneys, who were pressured by GOP political figures to investigate the issue, then fired after they failed to come up with sufficient evidence.
So as the GOP campaign to make an issue out of ACORN continues — and we’ll be keeping you posted as it does — remember that the number of fraudulent votes that will be cast in November as a result of the group’s voter-registration activities is close to zero. But the number of valid voters who could potentially have obstacles placed in their way of voting, as a result of the Republican campaign, is far larger.
Don’t expect to hear anything from the wingnuts in the Ohio blogosphere about Republican voter suppression. This is the kind of “fraud” they actually kinda like.
Today, September 30th is the first day of early voting for the November 4th election. A reader called to remind me of this. He also reminded me that you have until October 6th to register to vote. So between now and October 6th those who are not registered can do BOTH at the same time. Something that is driving the voter suppression Republicans batshit crazy.
The Obama campaign has a good resource at www.voteforchange.com (Be sure to use your legal name. I tripped it up by using Eric instead of my real first name). You can also call 877-OH-EARLY. Or you can text OH-EARLY to 62262.
No. No way. I can’t believe they would DO that! Tim at BI is all over this one – and will probably remain so.
It will be interesting to see and hear the fallout from this one. WVWV is already trying to stem the tide of outrage by apologizing.
Fun, fun. I’d hate to be Digby right about now…
Update: In case you forgot who “Lamont Williams” is, we had him call Ohio too. This is sounding like a widespread and coordinated voter suppression campaign put on by WVWV and Team Hillary. This is gonna get ugly…
