Sunday, October 19, 2008

Voter Fraud - Nobody Wins!

This entry was originally posted a week ago and today some very disturbing news was reported about 50,000 registered voters being purged from the rolls in Georgia. With all the fuss about ACORN, those phony voters registered are minor and will not be able to vote come election day, but there are lawsuits in Colorado, and many other concerns about voters being secretly and possibly illegally purged from voter rolls in many states just DAYS before the election.

Here is one thing we can ALL agree on: Democracy means nothing if our elections are not free and fair, and open to all. Every citizen has the right to vote, and that right should be fiercely guarded by all of us, or soon we may find that it is our rights being trampled.

America has been a watchdog for free and fair elections around the world, and a huge proponent of democracy, and yet our own elections have been suspect over the past several years. Voter suppression, intimidation tactics, suspect voting machines without a paper trail, long lines caused by not enough or non-functional voting machines in certain precincts, random voter purges from election rolls, intentional misinformation campaigns and other nefarious tactics have been used to disenfranchise voters.

This website details voter suppression tactics being carried out RIGHT NOW in different parts of the country, such as misinformation campaigns targeted at college students in Pennsylvania, Virginia and Colorado – curiously, all swing states in the upcoming election, poll location changes without voter notification, and problems with registrations and absentee ballot applications in several states. One of the most disappointing reports concerns the possible denial of voting rights to those who have had their homes foreclosed in Michigan because they can’t prove their current address. Talk about insult to injury.

When we no longer have government “of the people, by the people, and for the people,” as Abraham Lincoln proclaimed in the Gettysburg Address, this nation is headed for a fall. The Declaration of the Independence declares, “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” What are the chances that black voters in Cleveland will show up to vote this time after standing in the rain for 8-9 hours in 2004 – many giving up and leaving. How likely are those who have lost their homes to foreclosure to show up at the polls to be further humiliated and possibly turned away? How many Colorado voters will show up on Nov. 4th after having waited in impossibly long lines in 2004?

Rolling Stone recently published a lengthy story asking if the 2004 election was stolen. It cites numerous sources, and was written by Robert Kennedy, Jr. and BBC Reporter Greg Palist. Wikipedia also dedicates a fair amount of information on this subject with well-documented sources.

However, whatever bitterness still remains about the 2000 and 2004 elections is NOT the point. The point is that we cannot allow our electoral system to be compromised in the future. Who really wins if the results of an election are tainted? Not “we the people,” not democracy.

Some sources for information about voter suppression and fraud:

Free For All - trailer

Free For All - full movie

http://www.stealbackyourvote.org/

www.gregpalist.com

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