Home
Archive
Newsletters
Video
Blogs
Discuss
About
Search
Donate
Advertise
  • AlterNetYour turn

Support AlterNet
Do you value the information you're getting from AlterNet? Please show your support with a tax-deductible donation.


Feedback
Tell us how we're doing.

Advertisement
Advertisement

Not This Time: ACORN Stands Up to GOP's Voter Suppression and Intimidation Tactics

Posted by ZP Heller, Brave New Films at 11:23 AM on October 29, 2008.


Call McCain today and tell him "Not This Time!"

Share and save this post:

      

      

Share on Facebook       

AlterNet Social Networks:
follow us on twitter
find us on Facebook

Got a tip for a post?:
Email us | Anonymous form

Get Video in your
mailbox!

 


The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) has released its first-ever TV ad, urging John McCain and the GOP to end their voter suppression tactics.  If there's any chance of stopping one of the most widespread voter suppression efforts in our nation's history, please call McCain's office at (202) 224-2235 and tell him "Not this time."


According to ACORN, the GOP has resorted to all manner of voter suppression strategies recently.  Here are just a few examples from their press release:

  • In Philadelphia, fliers were distributed in a predominantly African American neighborhood which suggested that people with legal troubles or unpaid traffic violations will be arrested by undercover cops when they show up to vote.
  • In Hamilton County, Ohio, Prosecutor Joe Deters – who is also the local chair of the McCain-Palin campaign – requested via subpoena personal information for 40% of voters who participated in same-day registration.
  • In California, a joint committee of the McCain-Palin campaign, the RNC and the California Republican Party, hired Lincoln Strategy in June for the purpose of ‘registering voters.’  The managing partner of Lincoln Strategy, Nathan Sproul, is a renowned GOP operative who has been investigated on multiple occasions for trying to suppress Democratic voter turnout.
  • In Montgomery County, Virginia, a registrar issued a memo giving incorrect and intimidating information to students at Virginia Tech University about the consequences of registering to vote, including possible loss of financial aid and tax dependence status.
  • In Ontario, California, the owner of a firm that the California Republican Party hired to register tens of thousands of voters was arrested on suspicion of voter registration fraud after dozens of voters reported that the firm tricked them into registering with the GOP by asking them to sign a petition they believed to be aimed at toughening penalties against child molesters.

For more, watch Brave New Films' video: Help Spread the Truth About ACORN.  And then check out the article by Robert Kennedy, Jr. and Greg Palast about how the press has been too distracted by the GOP's cries over voter fraud to cover the real voter suppression that's happening.

Digg!

Tagged as: republicans, gop, voting, john mccain, voter suppression, 2008 election, acorn

ZP Heller is the editorial director of Brave New Films. He has written for The American Prospect, AlterNet, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and The Huffington Post, covering everything from politics to pop culture.


GOP Senator Lindsey Graham Breaks Ranks, Admits "The Green Economy Is Coming"
Finally, one member of the GOP has a slice of reality pie.
Post by Staff. November 5, 2009.
Iowa Wingnut Steve King Lauds Lobbyists as American Heros for Bussing in Health Reform Protesters
Astroturfing earns praise from the GOP rep.
Post by Lee Fang. November 4, 2009.
GOP Loon Goes Off the Rails: Health Reform Greater Threat than Terrorism
The government's trying to put you to death, don't you know.
Post by Faiz Shakir. November 2, 2009.
Advertisement
Comments Turn comments off sitewide Give us feedback »
Comments closed.
The comments for this story have been closed. Thank you to everyone who participated.
View:
I'm intimidated, also. It's a pain in the butt...
Posted by: ABetterFuture on Oct 29, 2008 12:20 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
...to read a registration form, fill it out, hand it in, and then go to my polling place on election day. I'm just glad I don't have to risk my life doing it*, like out newly "liberated" Iraqi friends.

Can I haz a wee movie, too? I can't hardly take the inconvenience**, anymore, either.

*If you've been subjected to voter fraud or harassment, or have credible evidence that voter fraud has occurred, please contact your local district attorney, the FEC (federal elections commission), and your state's attorney general, as these are serious violations of your civil rights.

**Not to belittle the challenges certain folks faced during the sixties, only to point out that the sixties were fifty years ago, for those that can't draw temporal distinctions.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

The FIX is In! He who counts the Votes steals the ELECTION!
Posted by: Ottomatic on Oct 30, 2008 4:29 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Black Box Voting
Memory cards,
Uniquely American!
After installing Puppet Dictatorships around the World
What did you expect them to do here?
What goes around,
Comes around.
Let me put it another way,
The Chickens have come home to Roost!
Someone is planning a INTERVENTION.

McCain Guarantees another Stolen ELECTION!

First they came for:
Your Job,
Then your House,
Then your Savings,

Now he wants to steal your VOTE,
Next your FREEDOM
And
Then your COUNTRY!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Don't Ask.....Prosecute
Posted by: Purple Girl on Oct 30, 2008 5:49 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
What higher crime can there possibly be in a Democratic society than Voter intimidation, misinformation and Theft????
This has been going on For Decades it has only become painfully apparent since W stole the '00 election.this is not Political Hijinxs this is Fundmentally Treason. By participating in such transgressions AGAINST the US, thes epeople have Changed the course of our future- they are Just as Respsonsilbe for 2 Wars, Economic Meltdown, and Numerous Other High crimes aimed at undermining Our Other Constitutional rights.They Should be Proescuted AS Such! No more slaps on the hand, No more 'naughty You'....Prosecute and Punish to the fullest extent of the law.
How is it a black man who was convicted for murdering a cop on little or no evidence is facing the Death Sentence and Rove is still walking Free? I'm not an advocate for Capital Punishment but in the Case of Undermining Our Democracy,the Punishment is Justifiable because it meets the depth & breadth of the Crime.How many people Died to give US this Right, how many around the world would still be oppressed had they Not or had failed.What Right Defined US as Unique...Granted US the title 'Beacon on the Hill', 'the Great Experiment'....'For the People and BY the people'.so such things as telling people they can't vote due to foreclosure, or parking tickets, or that the day for voting has changed is an Intentional attack upon our Free Democracy- The Highest of High Crimes.
ACORN ONLY gets the Registrations it is up to the Sec of States, Country/city Clerks to ACCEPT the registration. So Who is at fault for any Voter fraud... the Public servants responsible for Accepting THE APPLICATION. FYI an Appplication to Vote is Exactly like any other Application- can be accepted Or DENIED.
So get off ACORNS ass and Go after the ones Committing TREASON, aka The Neo Con Repugs and their surrogates in Propaganda.
In fact to finally end these 'negative' camapign tactics..any statement by a candidate which is a Lie about their opponent should be considered Slander & defamation of Character, thus a Crime and a disqualifiying offense to hold Public Office.Deseminating Lies effects the ability of the voter to make an Informed decision, thus has an adverse effect on the Democratic process- certianly another way to undermine the Process.
These politico's are not just trying to destroy an Opponent, they are attempting to destroy the American Peoples abiltiy to Govern themselves as Informed citizens. Again Worthy of a High Crime designation
Let's stop dicking around with this crap, Our Country and our Future rely on Free, Legitmate Elections anyone who tries to derail that should be Hung!

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

YES, YES AND YES
Posted by: wellaware lec on Nov 1, 2008 5:15 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
HOW is it that there are never any arrests pertaining to election slander, fraud, nonworking machines purchased by states, voter intimidation, etc.????? I simply do not understand how this has been allowed to be the MO in this country. Utterly shameful.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I was raised in Hamilton County, Ohio
Posted by: catmandoo on Nov 1, 2008 5:17 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
specifically in Cincinnati. I lived behind Deters real estate. Father Deters baptized me. It's sad to read that Joe Deters, from the same family, is so ready to take the rights of people away--but not surprising. Dollars to donuts, the 40% of voters challenged by Deters are blacks and poor whites. Disgusting.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

GOPers despise actual democracy
Posted by: bouyant on Nov 1, 2008 6:41 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Why do they hate us? They hate us for our VOTES!!!! If only it were just the rich voting...

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]