Mo' voter intimidation/supression
Kos' Column from last week in the Guardian: "Ohio
The Republican secretary of state, J Kenneth Blackwell, attempted to destroy thousands of new voter registrations because - he claimed - they were not printed in the proper card stock (a heavy 80-pound stock). Registration forms had been photocopied on regular paper and even printed in local newspapers. After intense public pressure Blackwell backed off.
Meanwhile, voters in heavily Democratic Cleveland have been receiving mysterious pre-recorded calls telling them their voting location has been changed. Local election officials are investigating the malicious calls. The so-called 'robocall', in fact, is now a staple of dirty campaigning."
The Republican secretary of state, J Kenneth Blackwell, attempted to destroy thousands of new voter registrations because - he claimed - they were not printed in the proper card stock (a heavy 80-pound stock). Registration forms had been photocopied on regular paper and even printed in local newspapers. After intense public pressure Blackwell backed off.
Meanwhile, voters in heavily Democratic Cleveland have been receiving mysterious pre-recorded calls telling them their voting location has been changed. Local election officials are investigating the malicious calls. The so-called 'robocall', in fact, is now a staple of dirty campaigning."
2 Comments:
But don't you see, with the Ohio thing how incredibly shady that is? People turning in *photocopied* registration forms. That says right there that something illegal could be afoot. If the rules says it has to be an official registertion form, it has to be an official registration form. The Democratic proclivity to bending established rules just addles my mind. Are there no legal standards for voting anymore? Not enforcing the rules of democracy is the bigger crime here, as it's opening the way for anarchy.
You realize of course that they said registration FORMS had been photocopied. Not the filled out versions, just the forms. What's wrong with that? If a station is running out of forms and has more people who want to register, isn't it in the best interest of Democracy to allow them to photocopy the forms and let people fill those out?
I fail to see why a libertarian leaning guy like you would be so in love with beaureaucratic red tape that disenfranchises voters.
Frankly I'm a spirit of the law kind of guy. The letter of the law is often arbitrary, and sometimes following it is no great mark of honor (see: Abu Ghraib, various legal workarounds to justify torture at Gitmo, etc). Following the spirit of the law is far more important.
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