Election Theft Round-Up

AlterNet. Posted November 7, 2006.

The Raw Story reports widespread problems with the vote, "especially in states where close or 'bellwether' elections are taking place." In Colorado, "Latino voters report receiving racially charged, intimidating phone calls warning them that, based on ethnicity, they are inelligible to vote." In Pennsylvania, more complaints were phoned into a voter hotline than in any other state. And in Virginia, calls from a fictitious "Virginia Elections Commision" threatened voters with arrest if they appear at polling places to vote. Raw Story adds: "Voters are advised that, because of their out of state registrations, voting in Virginia is illegal. However, many of the voters who've been harassed have been registered instate for years."
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More violence, this time in Idaho. According to the Associated Press (via TPMmuckraker), an Idaho man was charged with aggravated assault after he pulled a knife and threatened to stab a co-worker while the two were arguing over politics. The assailant, a Republican, pulled the knife after telling his colleague that "Democrats cheat and lie." Apparently he wasn't pleased with the response: "All politicians lie and cheat."
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More robo-calls, this time in Nebraska: TPMmuckraker reports voters in Nebraska's 3rd District are getting robo-calls that purport to be from Democratic candidate Scott Kleeb. Kleeb's campaign manager told the local paper that the recordings are of extremely low quality, leading them to believe that they're recordings of earlier, legitimate Kleeb campaign calls. Who's behind the robo-calling? Writes Paul Kiel, "Last week, the NRCC paid GOP political firm Direct Strategies for approximately $3,500 for phone banking in Kleeb's district, according to FEC filings."
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Latino voters in Colorado threatened with arrest: Colorado Latinos are receiving both automated and live calls warning them that they are ineligble to vote and will be arrested if they try to do so. Voters who receive the calls were first asked to identify their party affiliation, and those who said they were Democrats or independents were told they risked arrest if they tried to vote. One of the callers told 24-year-old Oralia Ramirez, "'You're Hispanic, so you can't vote. You aren’t even registered to vote, so don't waste your time. Just by looking in my records you can't vote.'"
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GOP distributes false ballots in Maryland: The Washington Post reports Maryland Republicans are bussing in homeless people, recruited at shelters in nearby states, to hand out inaccurate sample ballots in Prince Georges County. Handed out at four polling sites, the fake ballots identified the Republican candidates as Democrats.
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MoveOn offers reward for voter fraud whistleblowers: The progresive group is offering $250,000 for material evidence leading to a felony conviction of an "organized effort of partisan voter suppression or electronic voting fraud." Send evidence to votingfraud@moveon.org.
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Ohio voting sites will stay open later: A Cuyahoga County judge has ruled that 16 voting sites will remain open until 10 p.m. because of long lines that have prevented people from casting ballots. A judge in Denver, however, denied a similar request there.
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Conservative radio host asks listeners to jam voter protection hotline: ThinkProgress and Firedoglake report that right-wing talk radio host Laura Ingraham is enouraging her listeners to dial into a voter protection hotline en masse in an attempt to jam the line. She reportedly said on the air, "Tell me if you think I’m crazy. This is what I’m thinking. I think we all need to call 1 888 DEM VOTE all at the same time."
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Did FoxNews canvass for Joe Lieberman?: Ned Lamont's campaign blog reports, "Just heard this story that came from one of our volunteers in Milford [Ct.]… apparently, he was the only person from any campaign pollstanding at a polling place in Milford earlier this morning. All of a sudden, two or three out-of-state vans (accompanied by a Fox News crew) pull up and unload a bunch of Lieberman lawn signs, placed right in front of the Lamont signs that had already been planted. And, what do you know, after a few more minutes, who shows up but Joe himself, ready for the cameras."

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Latino voters harrassed in Arizona: (from TalkingPointsMemo) Justin Rood reports, "I just spoke with a Latino election monitor in Arizona who said that a trio of men, one with a handgun visible, is harrassing Latino voters as they go to the polls in Tucson, Ariz.

"Nina Perales, a senior poll-watcher for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF), said that three men are approaching Latino voters and videotaping them on their way to vote at a polling place in Tucson's Iglesia Bautista precinct."

And Paul Kiel reports more Latino harrassment in Colorado.
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Utah town's stuffed election rolls: The AP reports, "Daggett County has registered 947 voters for Tuesday's election. According to the most recent Census figures, that's four more than the county's population in 2005.

"A spokesman for Attorney General Mark Shurtleff says complaints of vote-stuffing in the county are being investigated. Democrats suspect County Clerk Vickie McKee is letting outsiders swell the Daggett County registration rolls to give Republicans an advantage. The Democrats also say the father of a Republican deputy running for sheriff has 14 adults registered at his household. McKee hasn't responded to messages from The Associated Press."
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Tobacco and oil pay for phony voter guide in Ca.: From ABC News --

[A voter] guide titled "Voter Information for Democrats" features a smiling Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) on its cover and urges voters to vote "No" on two ballot propositions that Feinstein and other Democrats actually support. One proposition would increase the tax on cigarettes while the other would create new taxes for the oil industry.

Front groups for corporations, including R.J. Reynolds, Philip Morris, Chevron Corporation, Occidental Oil & Gas and Aera Energy, helped pay for the mailing, according to campaign finance filings.

"In an apparent violation of FCC rules, conservative talk radio station KFBK 1530 AM in Sacramento transmitted a paid political advertisement to an unknown number of other stations in the area, using the Federal Emergency Alert System (EAS), thus automatically forcing the ad onto the stations' airwaves. This is according to a press release issued today by KDVS-FM, a non-commercial community station in Davis that received and inadvertently aired the transmission.

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