« previous | MUCK HOME | next »
Phony Virginia Flier Tells Dems To Vote November 5
A phony flier, purporting to be from the Virginia Board of Elections, is circulating in the African-American-heavy Hampton Roads region of the state, falsely informing people that, because of expected high turnout, Democrats should vote on November 5th.
The election is November 4th.
State election officials informed the local press of the flier, which was posted on the website of The Virginian-Pilot, and is designed to look like an official announcement. It even uses images of the state board logo and the state seal, both of which are available online.
It reads:
Due to the larger than expected voter turnout in this years [sic] electoral process, An [sic] emergency session of the General Assembly has adopted the following emergency regulations to ease the load on local electorial [sic] precincts and ensure a fair electorial [sic] process.All Democratic party supporters and independent voters supporting Democratic candidates shall vote on November 5th as adopted by emergency regulation of the Virginia General Assembly.
All Republican party supporters and independent voters supporting Republican candidates shall vote on November 4th as precribed [sic] by law.We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause but felt this was the only way to ensure fairness to the complete electorial [sic] process.
State police are looking into the flier's provenance, according to election officials. It can be a federal crime to attempt to obstruct someone from voting.
Virginia, where Barack Obama currently leads, is a crucial swing state in the election.
Josh
Zachary
Man, they're getting more & more desperate.
October 27, 2008 5:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
This one's an oldie but moldy. I think I've seen variations on it in every election I can remember. Other variations include telling people their polling place has changed, calling people up and telling them they can vote by phone, etc.
October 27, 2008 5:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
LOL different dates for different political parties. What will they come up with next?
Oh if you're a Democrat, submit your vote to the plastic Mickey Mouse statue in front of DisneyLand. Be sure to do this in order to get that vote counted!
Gah we know the GOP thinks the population is dumb. Their tactics scream it. But do they have to cheat so much? Get a real platform guys, or GTFO.
October 27, 2008 5:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wow, those guys are LAMFs!
October 27, 2008 6:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
And the ever-credulous WaPo "Virginia Politics" blog reports:
Yeah...
October 27, 2008 6:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
"but some Republicans suspect" sounds to me like a variation of "some say" on Faux. This is a dead give away that the words following the phrase are BS.
October 27, 2008 6:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
A simple solution would be to open the polls on Nov 5th if anyone comes to vote. Hang them with their own rope.
What puzzles me is that polls can limit the hours they are open. If we want everyone to vote, why are polls not to remain open until every last voter has been served?
We so need to change the voting laws in this country. Maybe the next election we will be able to vote on line, that would make a lot of difference and more convenient.
October 27, 2008 6:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Anyone on a precinct line at 7 PM in Virginia will be able to vote. The polls will stay open as long as necessary to serve those who came on time.
I do wish Virginia had early voting. We need to be physically unable to vote at our precinct in order to get an absentee ballot.
October 28, 2008 9:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
"It can be a federal crime to attempt to obstruct someone from voting"
Soo... does this mean that sometimes it is NOT a federal crime?
October 27, 2008 6:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
I would read that as saying it is not a federal crime if, ahem, the DOJ decides not to investigate it.
Y'know, because they're too busy foiling the election crime of the century by those islamofascistevilamericahaters at ACORN.
October 27, 2008 6:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
A simple solution would be to open the polls on Nov 5th if anyone comes to vote. Hang them with their own rope.
What puzzles me is that polls can limit the hours they are open. If we want everyone to vote, why are polls not to remain open until every last voter has been served?
We so need to change the voting laws in this country. Maybe the next election we will be able to vote on line, that would make a lot of difference and more convenient.
We should encourage mail in voting too.
October 27, 2008 8:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Let me tell you, as an Obama volunteer in Richmond, VA who canvassed in an "African-American heavy" neighborhood on Sunday, I'm guessing the good people down in Hampton Roads are passing this thing around and laughing their collective rear-ends off! No one recognizes an attempt at disenfranchisement as quickly as those who have experienced it.
What this kind of effort demonstrates is the lack of respect these jerks have for the people they are targeting in assuming that they would ever fall for such shennanigans in the first place. Not gonna happen!
October 27, 2008 9:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
This pathetic attempt by radical right wing extremists, to me, proves their racial intolerance and low opinion of their fellow Americans. I'm stunned that they actually thought something so stupid would actually suppress any votes. People who are going to vote already know when the election is taking place, and those who aren't voting probably just threw it away on sight. Exactly who were they trying to fool?
Their stunning ignorance reminds of that old saying, "when you point your finger at someone, 3 fingers are pointing back at you".
I sincerely hope that they find a way to trace this ridiculous bs to the ones who perpetuated it and not only prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law, but publicly expose them. This country needs to put a face on these cowardly tactics and hold people to account for their actions.
October 27, 2008 10:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
No worries, anyone dumb enough to fall for this is voting McCain anyway.
October 27, 2008 10:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Of course they have to have hours for voting, or people would plan on showing up at 11:45 pm
I have seen several instances where they extend voting hours because of problems. Essentially, if you are in line at poll closing time, they let you vote.
I bet you see a lot of that in Florida, they ahve waiting lines now for early voting.
This is a pathetic attempt by a moron, hardly worth reporting on.
This does seem to be a classic republican habit, like posting 'warnings" in black areas that you "need to get any warrants cleaned up" before you go to the polls.
Not that there won't be any stupid, moronic things done by Obama supporters.
My question about the whole voting process is, if we can put ATMs all over the place and track and make sure you can't get a $20 bill that does not belong to you, why can't we do voting machines? When was the last time you heard of an ATM mistake? Do banks worry about the ATM counts being off? Or traceablitity of where their money went if it did? No, you can bet the farm that if the machine gave you an extra $20, they would figure out where it went.
October 28, 2008 1:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
I agree with skeptic. Those ATM's rarely make a mistake and if they make one not in the bank's favor, you can be sure they're gonna track it down and get that 20$.
Of course it's Diebold that makes most ATM's and also makes some of the most-hackable and "buggy" voting machines. You'd think they'd apply the same standards to the voting machines as they do the ATM's. Gee, I wonder why they don't?
October 28, 2008 11:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
I grew up in Australia where voting is compulsory. Everybody votes. Federal law covers all of the registration rules and the conduct of the vote for Federal elections through a well funded independent agency called the Australian Electoral Commission. The vote is conducted in a consistent and homogeneous manner across the vast nation. Voting is held on a Saturday. Postal voting is allowed and many people take that option. All votes are counted equally and there is no such thing as a provisional ballot. Paper ballots work very well for all concerned. The rate of spoiled ballots is extremely low. I have been a poll party scrutineer, and the votes are physically counted and monitored quickly and efficiently. This simple system works.
The American equivalent is ridiculously politicized, hopelessly fragmented, too complicated and anti-democratic. It should be a high priority for the next administration to try to improve the system.
October 28, 2008 8:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
Ozziny,
the problem is that since the 2000 mess, the Republicans have been mostly in power, and for obvious reasons they have ZERO interst in fixing this problem (or else WHY do you think it hasn't been fixed?) I personally am convinced Republicans rely on suppression of the Democratic vote to win tight races... let's hope if Obama wins that he and the Democrats in Congress will fix this mess once and for all.. we need a new Voting Rights Act in this country, that's for sure...
PS: I've been in Australia, I love it!! :)
October 28, 2008 9:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
We can certainly compromise between paper ballots and quick results. Computerized optical scanners are by far the best solution for voting by sighted people.
1. The associated computer can reject ballots that are improperly filled out, and the voter given a fresh ballot (with some instructions to be more careful?). We have this system in some precincts in Virginia (like mine). Computerized checking can be extended to include warnings about incomplete voting.
2. The results are immediately available.
3. What ought to happen is that after results are posted and when there is no time pressure, voting officials ought to count every single ballot as a check on the initial results. Only then should the votes be officially certified. Meanwhile we will know election night how a state voted, with the realization that the results might change.
October 28, 2008 9:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
Surely we learned from 2000 and 2004 that the more technology you introduce into the process, the more opportunity you provide for not counting every vote, whether by fraud or mistakenly.
What's the obsession with instant results? How "instant" were the results in 2000? Sacrificing an hour or two or five on availability of results would be more than compensated by the benefits of adopting one single and very basic national voting methodology.
Paper ballots that are openly counted still provides the most reliable safeguard against fraud. I do acknowledge that complex ballots in the USA, including House, Senate, local and ballot measures can present a challenge. The way that this problem is solved in Australia is with multiple pieces of paper - color them differently and stuff everything into the same sealed ballot box.
Compare this simple system to the absurdly confusing butterfly ballot and hanging chads or to touch-screen systems with no paper trail and the answer is obvious. Even optical scanners can malfunction. It would be my guess that if voting were a commercial activity, most of the methods in the USA would not pass the scrutiny of Sarbanes-Oxley rules. How silly.
October 28, 2008 10:24 AM | Reply | Permalink