November62012
The GOP doesn't want you to vote
If you are able to vote, then please do so. Particularly if you are in one of the states being targeted by Republicans trying to steal the 2012 election (emphasis mine):The early-voting debacle in the Sunshine State is deliberate….Florida Republicans designed the system to work this way.
For Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) and GOP policymakers in the state, this is a feature, not a bug. Republicans cut the number of early-voting days in half, on purpose. They prevented early voting on the Sunday before the election, on purpose. Scott, unlike the previous two Republican governors, ignored calls to expand voting hours, on purpose.
GOP policymakers want long lines; they want to make it very difficult for voters to participate in their own democracy; they want Americans to get discouraged and walk away. As one Republican state lawmaker argued after the 2010 election, “I want the people in the State of Florida to want to vote as bad as that person in Africa who is willing to walk 200 miles for that opportunity he’s never had before in his life. This should not be easy.”
(via recall-all-republicans)
12PM
Quickie: FBI, DoJ to investigate AZ GOP Senate candidate Jeff Flake over robocall | The Political Carnival
The FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice are preparing to open an investigation into Republican U.S. Senate candidate Jeff Flake after a robocall paid for by his campaign directed some Democrats to the wrong polling locations.
Earlier post with video about this here.
November42012
Virginia voter fraud probe into GOP firm may include up to 40 voter registration employees | The Raw Story
Virginia state officials are expanding an investigation to probe the Republican consulting firm Strategic Allied Consulting after canceling a grand jury hearing scheduled for Tuesday for Colin Small, who faces 13 counts of voter fraud for throwing voter registration forms in the recycling bin.
Two sources told the Washington Post on Friday that officials are investigating whether the firm told Small or up to 40 other employees to ask about political leanings while registering voters. This is a violation of election law.
KDVR’s Josh Bernstein confirmed on Thursday that the company’s Nathan Sproul has been interviewed by the FBI (transcript here) over election irregularities and confirmed that Sproul’s name did not appear on the articles of incorporation for Strategic Allied Consulting.
Sproul told to Bernstein that his name didn’t appear on the firm’s documents because “if you look at what the liberal blogs write about me, it makes it very difficult to operate.”
The Virginia investigation is compounded by an additional investigation into voter registration irregularities nine counties reported in Florida, all supplied by Strategic Allied Consulting. The forms, which KDVR published here, contained false and invalid information.
Democrats have urged the Department of Justice to open an investigation into the firm’s alleged voter fraud. The Republican National Committee paid the firm $2.9 million to the firm to register voters in Florida, Virginia, Colorado, North Carolina and Nevada. Though the RNC cut ties with the firm after allegations of voter fraud surfaced in Florida, the Virginia Republican party re-hired the firm.
(Source: sarahlee310, via mommapolitico)
October262012
Clear Channel claims they are taking down these billboards. We should be asking why they ever went up. Voter Suppression is the electoral fraud that is rampant in our democracy right now.
(via oldenough2burmom)
October242012
![other-stuff:
paxamericana:
Maricopa County Puts Out ANOTHER Spanish-Language Flyer With Wrong Election DateThe general election is Nov. 6, but Spanish-speakers in Maricopa County, Ariz., are being told otherwise, with now two documents from the county’s elections department stating the date — in Spanish — as Nov. 8.They are direct translations of English-language documents, except for the date — which in both cases is listed correctly in English, but not in Spanish.The latest — a bookmark distributed by the elections department — was passed along to HuffPost on Tuesday by minority advocacy group Campaign for Community Change. (View the bookmark below.) It says, “Register today! Exercise your right to V-O-T-E!” and goes on to list important dates. Yvonne Reed, spokesperson for the Maricopa County Department of Elections, told HuffPost that some of the Spanish-language notices were incorrect because the department used the election date from last year, but that they are no longer being distributed.The county had to apologize last week for a similar mistake on documents attached to updated voter registration cards. Those papers also listed the general Election Day as Nov. 8 in the Spanish version, even though the English-language version has the correct date.Reed told ABC News last week that the incorrect documents went out to relatively few people and the mistake was quickly fixed.“It’s an honest mistake,” she told ABC News. “Between the time the voter [who caught the mistake] came in to our front counter to get her card and we were notified of the error, the mistake had been corrected.”Reed pointed out Tuesday that the election date is listed correctly in Spanish on the department’s website and in material from the candidates, and said officials will do what they can to fix the confusion.Maricopa County has a somewhat bad reputation with Latinos, particularly because of its sheriff, Joe Arpaio — who is unrelated to the elections department — and his controversial raids to net undocumented immigrants.Latinos make up 30 percent of the population in the county.Campaign for Community Change criticized Maricopa County Recorder Helen Purcell, who oversees the elections office, for the repeated Spanish-language form mistakes.“That’s three strikes for Purcell, and she knows it,” Rudy Lopez, national political director for the Campaign for Community Change, said in a statement Tuesday. “No reasonable person can believe that these are all honest mistakes. Purcell has made it hard not to suspect an obvious attempt at the County Recorder’s office to suppress Latino voters.”
An apology does not even come close to what is needed.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mcdhnystP21qzeo2zo1_500.jpg)
Maricopa County Puts Out ANOTHER Spanish-Language Flyer With Wrong Election Date
The general election is Nov. 6, but Spanish-speakers in Maricopa County, Ariz., are being told otherwise, with now two documents from the county’s elections department stating the date — in Spanish — as Nov. 8.
They are direct translations of English-language documents, except for the date — which in both cases is listed correctly in English, but not in Spanish.
The latest — a bookmark distributed by the elections department — was passed along to HuffPost on Tuesday by minority advocacy group Campaign for Community Change. (View the bookmark below.) It says, “Register today! Exercise your right to V-O-T-E!” and goes on to list important dates. Yvonne Reed, spokesperson for the Maricopa County Department of Elections, told HuffPost that some of the Spanish-language notices were incorrect because the department used the election date from last year, but that they are no longer being distributed.
The county had to apologize last week for a similar mistake on documents attached to updated voter registration cards. Those papers also listed the general Election Day as Nov. 8 in the Spanish version, even though the English-language version has the correct date.
Reed told ABC News last week that the incorrect documents went out to relatively few people and the mistake was quickly fixed.
“It’s an honest mistake,” she told ABC News. “Between the time the voter [who caught the mistake] came in to our front counter to get her card and we were notified of the error, the mistake had been corrected.”
Reed pointed out Tuesday that the election date is listed correctly in Spanish on the department’s website and in material from the candidates, and said officials will do what they can to fix the confusion.
Maricopa County has a somewhat bad reputation with Latinos, particularly because of its sheriff, Joe Arpaio — who is unrelated to the elections department — and his controversial raids to net undocumented immigrants.
Latinos make up 30 percent of the population in the county.
Campaign for Community Change criticized Maricopa County Recorder Helen Purcell, who oversees the elections office, for the repeated Spanish-language form mistakes.
“That’s three strikes for Purcell, and she knows it,” Rudy Lopez, national political director for the Campaign for Community Change, said in a statement Tuesday. “No reasonable person can believe that these are all honest mistakes. Purcell has made it hard not to suspect an obvious attempt at the County Recorder’s office to suppress Latino voters.”An apology does not even come close to what is needed.
11AM
Conservatives Panic Over ‘U.N.-Affiliated’ Election Monitors
Conservative blogs and news media are all buzzing about a team of international election monitors coming to observe the presidential elections in November. The observers are arriving at the invitation of the State Department and the behest of a number of civil rights organizations, including the NAACP, ACLU, and others.
The latter groups’ call for an international team to keep an eye on the U.S. elections focuses particularly on states that have enacted strict voter I.D. laws and other curtailing of voting rights. An NAACP delegation visited the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland in September to bring attention to the issue. The NAACP’s move, and the idea of foreign presence in the U.S. to observe elections, has infuriated many on the right.
The response at the state-level is varying. Alabama Speaker of the House Mike Hubbard is, in protest of the monitors’ presence preparing legislation to have all poll watchers in Alabama hold U.S. citizenship. “It’s bad enough that Alabama remains trapped under the provisions of the Voting Rights Act,” Hubbard said “So we certainly don’t need anyone from the United Nations coming into our state and meddling in our elections, as well.”
Catherine Engelbrecht of True the Vote appeared on Fox News on Monday claiming that the monitors’ presence was actually intended to prevent and discourage U.S. voters from exercising their rights. Fox’s Megyn Kelly readily agreed, stressing the left-leaning nature of the civil rights groups, seemingly unaware of the State Department’s role in inviting the monitors. It’s worth mentioning that True the Vote, itself a Tea Party group voter suppression effort, is currently under investigation for possible criminal conspiracy.
What none of these commentators mention is that this is neither an unprecedented event nor particularly worrisome. The Organization for Security and Cooperation (OSCE) is a group of over fifty countries in North America, Europe, and Central Asia committed to security and strengthening democracy. Counter to many of the exclamatory statements by the right-wing, the OSCE is not a part of the United Nations, but instead is loosely affiliated with the global organization.
Also, counter to conservatives, the monitors have no mandate to interfere in the elections.
10AM
Florida Officials Investigate Fake Voter Eligibility Letters : It's All Politics : NPR
It’s a sign that Election Day is getting closer: increasing reports of efforts to intimidate or mislead voters. Florida officials say they’re now investigating fake letters that have been sent to voters in at least 20 counties questioning their citizenship and eligibility to vote. The letters look official, with an eagle and flag logo at the top. They appear to be signed by the local supervisor of elections, although they’re not.
(Source: likethedew)
October152012
Koch Brothers Among U.S. Billionaires Pressuring Thousands of Employees to Vote GOP on Election Day
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In These Times’ Mike Elk on Democracy Now talking about his new story on how corporations like Koch Industries are now legally allowed to pressure their workers to adopt their political views at the ballot box because of the Citizens United Supreme Court decision.
(Hat Tip to — mister-kiwi)
(Source: inthesetimes.com)
10AM
Koch Industries, the Wichita, Kan.-based company run by the billionaire Koch brothers, sent a voter information packet to 45,000 employees of its Georgia Pacific subsidiary earlier this month.
In it was a letter, dated Oct. 1, from Koch Industries president Dave Robertson implicitly warning that “many of our more than 50,000 U.S. employees and contractors may suffer the consequences” of voting for President Obama and other Democrats in the 2012 elections, a list of conservative candidates the company’s political action committee endorses and a pair of editorials: one, by David Koch, supporting Mitt Romney, and the other, by Charles Koch, condemning Obama.
“While we are typically told before each Presidential election that it is important and historic, I believe the upcoming election will determine what kind of America future generations will inherit,” Robertson’s letter—first published by InTheseTimes.com—begins. “If we elect candidates who want to spend hundreds of billions in borrowed money on costly new subsidies for a few favored cronies, put unprecedented regulatory burdens on businesses, prevent or delay important new construction projects, and excessively hinder free trade, then many of our more than 50,000 U.S. employees and contractors may suffer the consequences, including higher gasoline prices, runaway inflation, and other ills. This is true regardless of what your political affiliation might be.”
It’s not the first time Koch Industries has sent employees political packets. Just before the 2010 midterm elections, Koch sent staffers an urgent mailer that The Nation said was “full of alarmist right-wing propaganda.”
Siegel and the Koch brothers are not alone in issuing anti-Obama missives to employees.
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