Between Barack and a Hard Place: Ultimate US Elections 2012 Thread

[the4thpip]

I'd like to say I'm surprised, but I'm not. It seems to me that Republicans/Conservatives/Tea Party are much more active than Democrats/Liberals in working social media etc.

Doesn't seem to be true for Twitter today. I checked the US trends a few time, and while I saw #teamobama, #voteobama and even Roseanne Barr trending, I did not see Romney trend in any way.

[7thangel]

REPORT: ‘Voter Fraud’ Protection Group Submitted Forged Documents To Ohio Election Officials

Volunteers with True the Vote, a Tea Party group that claims it is trying to fight voter fraud by challenging the right of voters to vote, may have committed fraud themselves. Plunderbund, an Ohio-based political blog, reported Monday that members of the group attempted to sign up as poll observers in African American-heavy precincts in central Ohio, but may have forged signatures to do so.

While local candidates officials had authorized members of the group to serve as designated observers on forms filed in October, five of the six Franklin County candidates had withdrawn permission to use their signatures prior to the submission of this week’s forms. According to one candidate, the True the Vote volunteers simply “forged” her name onto the document — possibly a 5th degree felony.

According to the report:

The forms have been rejected unanimously by all members (Rs and Ds) on the board. True the Vote observers will not be allowed in Franklin County polling locations tomorrow. Poll monitoring organizations expect they may still be stationed outside of polling locations. Board member Zachary Manifold told us he was ”amazed that a group that goes to such extreme lengths to claim voting fraud in Ohio would knowingly forge or misuse signatures to try to gain access to Franklin County polling locations.”

The U.S. Department of Justice is monitoring Franklin County — home to Columbus, Ohio — to enforce federal voting rights laws and “protect the rights of all citizens to access the ballot on Election Day.”

Numerous studies have shown in-person voter fraud is virtually non-existent in the United States. But attempts to suppress the vote by intimidation and challenges to legitimate voters by groups like True the Vote are a serious threat to what President Ronald Reagan called “the crown jewel of American liberties” — the right to vote.

Update

The Columbus Dispatch reports that Franklin County Elections Director William A. Anthony Jr. “said the group may be investigated for possibly falsifying documents after today’s election.” True the Vote President Catherine Engelbrecht denied the allegations, saying “The facts are simple: no citizen volunteer — including…anyone else trained by True the Vote — took any action that was either illegal or unethical, particularly as it pertains to the placement of poll watchers.”

Tea Party poll-watching group shut out in key Ohio county

True the Vote, a controversial Tea Party-backed poll-watching group, will not be operating in pivotal Ohio’s second largest county on Election Day, after it was found by election officials to have submitted irregular signatures in a bid to gain access to the polls.

“True the Vote doesn’t have any observers in Franklin County today,” Zachary Manifold, a member of the county’s Board of Elections told MSNBC.com Tuesday morning.

In a statement, True the Vote denied doing anything “illegal or unethical.”

True the Vote’s absence from polls in Franklin County could allow voting to proceed more smoothly there. In 2008, Barack Obama netted over 116,000 votes there, more than in all but one Ohio county.

Manifold said the board made the decision—signed off on by members from both parties—after determining at a meeting Monday night that True the Vote had improperly used candidates’ signatures to gain access to the polls. He added that the board will conduct a fuller investigation after the election, and said deliberate falsification constitutes a fifth degree felony.

Under Ohio law, independent poll observers must get signatures from five candidates in order to monitor the polls. Terri Jamison, a Democratic candidate for judge, told MSNBC.com she was approached by Jan Loar, a local True the Vote leader, who asked her to sign the group’s application to monitor early voting.

“She said they were a nonpartisan group that just wanted to observe the polls and be sure that people’s right to vote was protected,” Jamison said. “So not knowing anything about them, I signed.”

But Jamison said she soon learned that that description was misleading. True the Vote, which emerged in 2010 out of a Texas-based Tea Party group, aims to root out what it sees as voter fraud, and has been criticized for poll-watching tactics that some have called intimidating. A leader of the group told a conference that the intention is to make voting “like driving and seeing the police following you.”

On October 1, Jamison said, she wrote to the board of elections asking for her name to be withdrawn. Jamison said she also called Loar and conveyed that same message. But over three weeks later, according to Manifold, True the Vote submitted a new application, to poll-watch on Election Day, which also contained Jamison’s signature.

Manifold said a second candidate, Jan Gorniak, the county coroner, told the board that her name, too, was used improperly.

It’s not clear how True the Vote got the signatures onto the new application. “We’re not sure if they forged them or copied them from an earlier signature,” Manifold said. “But they definitely misused them.” Manifold said the law requires that new applications require new original signatures.

[...]

[Slam_Bradley]

Oregon election worker fired for altering ballots to Republican straight ticket

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/11/0...XLBf8.facebook

[Mr. Holmes]

Thank god this country actually looks out for this kind of crap.

[Michael P]

Oregon election worker fired for altering ballots to Republican straight ticket

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/11/0...XLBf8.facebook

I like how she says it was "only" two ballots.

[Gryphon]

Well, we have the first claims of Democrats Stealing The Election.


Mentions of Republican Vote Monitors in Florida and the like are thin on the ground... save for snark about keeping people from voting twice.

ETA: In all fairness, if this is as reported it is both immoral and idiotic unless the expelled officials have been caught red handed trashing ballots.

Oregon election worker fired for altering ballots to Republican straight ticket

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/11/0...XLBf8.facebook

So both parties are pulling crap.

[Dreadstar]

So both parties are pulling crap.

Well, you just made yourself a target. Good luck with that.

[Gryphon]

Well, you just made yourself a target. Good luck with that.

Im already trolling everyone on facebook.

[Slam_Bradley]

Well, you just made yourself a target. Good luck with that.

I'll withhold judgement until I see something from a little more credible source than Faux News. I'm not saying it's not true...it's Philadelphia. But given the source I'm taking it with a large grain of salt.

[7thangel]

i was skeptical when i first saw this video, but apparently NBC has confirmed that this voting machine has been put offline due to what you see in the video



http://tv.msnbc.com/2012/11/06/machi...ne-for-romney/

have to wait for more info

[mikekerrIII]

Drone strikes are not missile strikes, if that's what you're referring to through the bats*** filter. I'd report the actual foreign news services' numbers of children killed in those strikes the past four years, but I'm not about to suffer fools.

Drone strikes ARE missile strikes since the drones only weapons are Hellfire anti-tank Missiles

[Dreadstar]

i was skeptical when i first saw this video, but apparently NBC has confirmed that this voting machine has been put offline due to what you see in the video

Before that gets too much into the conspiracy theory territory, I'm betting it's just a glitch. Could have happened either way. The reason I say that is WHY in god's name would you "fix" a voting machine to FULLY DISPLAY your voting fraud?

By the way, that is the kind of machine I vote on and for every button you push, a printout ON PAPER mirrors the selection made. So you can double-check the selection as you go.

[bringthenoise]

There's a reason most places have stuck to paper and pen ballots...

[7thangel]

I'll withhold judgement until I see something from a little more credible source than Faux News. I'm not saying it's not true...it's Philadelphia. But given the source I'm taking it with a large grain of salt.

the article quotes someone saying it's typical Philly shenanigans. there are also unconfirmed reports of minority voting inspectors being barred from their polling places. the states attorney office is looking into the allegations.

the mural is just typical wingnut foolishness

and here is that black panther intimidating voters

[Kid Kamikaze10]

Drone strikes ARE missile strikes since the drones only weapons are Hellfire anti-tank Missiles

Yup. The drone stuff is a double edge sword that leaves plenty of blood on the President's hands.

But.. Romney also agreed with it's use. So either way, it's going to be used for the next four years.