And the dirty elections continue

[unixronin]

Seems the Macomb County, Michigan Republican Party is gathering a list of foreclosed homes prior to the November election.

Why?

Apparently so that they can deny the foreclosed-upon their votes, since some of them are no longer technically residents of the precinct.  "Mean-spirited" is putting it mildly.

I've said it before, I'll say it again:  The people running the political machines are scum of the worst kind.

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Update:

It's been pointed out to me that this is far from an objective source.  I don't know anything about ACORN, which features prominently.  Biased source or not, I'm still disgusted by the dirty tricks that both [arties pull to either disqualify voters for the other party or invalidate their ballots by any means possible.  I clearly remember the 2000 campaign, and the Gore campaign lawyers distributing an inch-thick book to Democratic counting-room staff in Florida detailing all the possible ways to invalidate military absentee ballots on minor technicalities, because military absentee voters were expected to vote for Bush.

What the fuck happened to democracy and everyone being entitled to vote?  How do you get from that to "Use every dirty trick in the book to disenfranchise as many opposing voters as you possibly can"?

I personally won't be surprised if I wake up one day to find Congress has passed a new election law that, without actually saying so in so many words, makes it illegal to vote for any candidate who isn't either Democratic or Republican.  Call me cynical, but I suspect a major reason why it hasn't happened already is simply that they haven't figured out a way to get away with it.

Comments

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

OK, I'll freely admit unfamiliarity with ACORN, and I didn't go look at the front page of the paper. Nevertheless, just because you've received a foreclosure notice doesn't mean you're automatically not eligible to vote there. It doesn't even necessarily mean it's not still your legal residence.



I see US elections getting dirtier and dirtier. And it disgusts me, and makes me angry. I think 90% of the people in this country don't realize or appreciate what a priceless thing they have, or how they're pissing it away.

[unix-jedi.livejournal.com]

OK, I'll freely admit unfamiliarity with ACORN,

Don't look them up if you want to hope for "clean" elections. They're the worst of the worst. Google "ACORN election fraud".

and I didn't go look at the front page of the paper.

I did, because the way the article was written hit about 4 nerves from my newsdays that it was a hit piece. ACORN's quote was one of them. But that article was written very well - if you trust the media.

I don't. They're lying sumbitches, and often they're partisan political operatives. In the vast majority, that breaks to the same party that is so protective of fraudulent voting.

Nevertheless, just because you've received a foreclosure notice doesn't mean you're automatically not eligible to vote there. It doesn't even necessarily mean it's not still your legal residence.

Exactly. You're right, and I don't know what they'll be challenging on. But the mere fact that someone steps up when you go to vote and says "Hold on a second" doesn't mean you're disenfranchised. That article was in the same vein as those who told all sorts of stories about Florida in 2000. The Highway Patrol! On the road! Blocking the Black Vote!
Accidentally removing non-felons from the rolls! OMGWTFBBQ! (Nevermind no-one removed was not legally allowed to vote, and many did cast provisional ballots. Also they'd ignored 3 separate letters as to their voting status.
Which gets back to this a little bit, right now, the law specifies you've got to state your address, which determines where and possible when, you vote. If you don't keep your address current, then you're voting in some status of error.

I see US elections getting dirtier and dirtier. And it disgusts me, and makes me angry.

I totally agree with you. But my reaction is to play *by the rules*, not allow the rules to be so rubbery that they're meaningless.
Groups like ACORN have been illegally registering cartoon characters, felons, illegal immigrants - sometimes they get caught. I suspect nowhere near as often as they're breaking the law.

I want every vote counted. And everybody to vote. Once.

There's a lot of circumstantial evidence as to various bad practices, and I'd really suspect this is a result of a plan by some group to go in with faked utility bills or something, and vote for a registered voter who's house was foreclosed upon. Depending where they moved, they likely wouldn't have been removed from the rolls. In a close election, it could make a big difference. Check out what happened in Wisconsin in 04. They've got same-day-registration, requiring only a single registered voter to vouch for the new registee.

I agree with you. But this article is a large part of that "dirt". It was meant - and did! - rile you up and disgust you. Without telling you the real facts and the real story.

[beckyzoole.livejournal.com]

I worked for ACORN briefly about 20 years ago, and remember it as being an above board and idealistic organization.

I also remember there being very little training, though, for the minimum-wage employees who go door to door trying to get people to register to vote. Being an idealistic organization, a whole lot of those employees were barely-employable bums who "just needed a chance". I respected the office staff, but was very uncomfortable with my get-out-the-vote coworkers. I found a different job as soon as I could.

So I'm not surprised that they've had workers arrested for voter fraud. After all, it's a lot more comfortable to sit in the library and fill out fraudulent registrations than to pound the pavement in all sorts of weather and actually work.

But when I googled "ACORN election fraud", I also found follow-up articles like this one (http://www.commondreams.org/news2005/1214-09.htm) stating "Community Group ACORN Vindicated as Baseless Lawsuits, Investigations Collapse".

I'm thinking there's a lot more smoke than fire here. Yes, there probably are some people working for ACORN who have broken the law, whether through ignorance, illegal partisan zeal, or, probably, just plain laziness. But I think that the piling on, making ACORN out to be "the worst of the worst", is definitely excessive.

[unix-jedi.livejournal.com]

and remember it as being an above board and idealistic organization.
I can't, of course, speak to your recollections. And "Idealistic", I'll readily concede as likely.
Some of their problems come from the lack of training, paying people for registrations without checking, sure.
However, if you'll track what they've been up to in the last 10 years, it's by no means what I'd consider "Above board". This includes refusing to pay minimum wage - while in the middle of a campaign to force the minimum wage higher (http://www.janegalt.net/blog/archives/005713.html#61535).

The best overall expose of ACORN was by Stern: “The banks know they are being held up, but they are not going to fight over this. They look at it as a cost of doing business.” Some of ACORN’s fellow community activists are even blunter. “ACORN knows that corporate America has no starch in their shorts and, therefore, what they try to do is buy peace from groups that agitate against them,” (http://www.city-journal.org/html/13_2_acorns_nutty_regime.html)

ACORN replied to that article, of course.: Acorn-friendly reply to Stern entitled “Enraging the Right.” Written by academic/activists John Atlas and Peter Dreier, the reply’s avowed intent is to convince Acorn-friendly politicians, journalists, and funders not to desert the organization in the wake of Stern’s powerful critique. The stunning thing about this supposed rebuttal is that it confirms nearly everything Stern says. (http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NDZiMjkwMDczZWI5ODdjOWYxZTIzZGIyNzEyMjE0ODI=&w=MA==)

But I think that the piling on, making ACORN out to be "the worst of the worst", is definitely excessive.

Not if you're interested in clean elections. I am. There's a lot of fire there. Not just in voting registration. That's just what's drawn my attention.

The brother, Dale Rathke, embezzled nearly $1 million from Acorn and affiliated charitable organizations in 1999 and 2000, Acorn officials said, but a small group of executives decided to keep the information from almost all of the group’s board members and not to alert law enforcement.
Dale Rathke remained on Acorn’s payroll until a month ago, when disclosure of his theft by foundations and other donors forced the organization to dismiss him. (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/09/us/09embezzle.html)

I'm sorry, but ACORN getting a pass for any comment on election law or fairness is just utterly Bizarro World. But the media does give them a pass, because well, they're idealists, and they mostly agree, so surely it's just a few bad apples! (Or, err, bad acorns.) Look at the venom in this story against the Republicans. Notice the lack of mention of anything concerning ACORN's issues - they've been doing their level best to disenfranchise people and make the voting system defraudable. Acorn's practice of dumping thousands of registration forms in their lap on the submission deadline, even though the forms had been collected months earlier. "... what's the point of that, ... overwhelm the system ... phony registrations on the voter rolls,"... "These were Democratic officials saying that they felt their election system in Ohio was under assault by these kinds of efforts to game the system." (http://opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110009189)

You can say a lot of things about ACORN. Idealistic, sure. Above board - not anymore, at least.

[zaitcev.livejournal.com]

ACORN is the worst of the worst, no matter how it looked from a rank and file activist's perspective.

Here's a funny link:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003982533_acorn30m.html?syndication=rss

So, in 2004 they were squeaky clean and then only two years past enacted the biggest voter fraud ever, were prosecuted, admitted guilt, were sentenced -- in the same locale? It was known for years that ACORN was rotten to the core and simply speaking 2004 cases were poorly put together and gave ACORN the excuse to become even more eggregious later.

Googling for this is a lost cause.

[zaitcev.livejournal.com]

Right on cue
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2008/09/more_acorn_fraud_what_else_is.html