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Houston Poll Watcher Says NAACP ‘Ringleader’ Was Accused of Touching Voting Machine
The Blaze ^ | 11/4/12 | Madeleine Morgenstern

Posted on 11/04/2012 6:29:38 PM PST by markomalley

The poll watcher who said individuals in NAACP T-shirts took over a Houston polling site told TheBlaze Sunday that the “ringleader” of the group was also accused of touching an electronic voting machine that a voter was using.

Eve Rockford said the woman in the NAACP attire first screamed at the poll supervisor and demanded that a clerk be removed during the Friday incident.

“She starts screaming at [poll supervisor Rose Cochran] and she says ‘get this clerk out of here, get him out of here I’ve had enough of him,” Rockford, 51, told TheBlaze. “He starts calmly, using his voice, ‘she’s touching the machines, she’s touching the machines, she’s not acting appropriately, she’s touching the machines.’”

Rockford said Cochran did nothing about the outburst and that another poll watcher came up and asked the woman for her name. The woman demanded to know the poll watcher’s name instead and after a few moments left the voting machine area and went and sat down.

Rockford said the woman had been escorting voters up to the machines to vote, but said she didn’t actually see herself whether the woman had touched a machine.

“It was like she was moving these people to the machines, you have to go up and put your finger on it and dial the machine,” Rockford said. “[The clerk] was trying to say she was getting too close to the machine…that she was actually helping them cast their ballot.”

A representative from the NAACP’s Houston branch could not be reached for comment Sunday.

As TheBlaze previously reported, Rockford said the three people wearing NAACP attire showed up at the polling site and were handing out water to people in line, then “stirred up the crowd” and mentioned flying people out to Ohio to promote President Barack Obama.

“The NAACP basically ran this poll location and the judges did nothing about it,” Rockford said in her report of the incident.

Assistant Harris County Attorney Douglas Ray told the Houston Chronicle that Rockford’s account was wrong.

“It wasn’t like they were taking control of the place. It wasn’t like we did nothing about it. That’s just not true at all,” Ray said.

Rockford was volunteering as a poll watcher on behalf of judicial candidate Don Self but was trained by True the Vote, a nonpartisan election integrity group. True the Vote spokesman Logan Churchwell told TheBlaze that poll watchers like Rockford are crucial in exposing incidents of potential fraud.

“None of this would have made news of any kind had we not had poll watchers in the first place,” Churchwell said. “This is exactly what they’re there for.”


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Politics/Elections; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: dnccorruption; dncrico; dncvsamerica; doj4corruption; doj4votefraud; doj4voterfraud; holdercorruption; holderspeople; holdervsaneruca; houston; obama4voterfraud; obamaspeople; obamathecheater; obamavsamerica; texas; tx; typicaldncfraud; tyrantobama; voterfraud; voterintimidation
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1 posted on 11/04/2012 6:29:38 PM PST by markomalley
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To: markomalley

And the MSM has had dozens of reports saying poll watching is racist and horrible.

In other words, let them cheat all they want.

Was a hit piece on this specific watchdog group tonight on ABC.


2 posted on 11/04/2012 6:35:53 PM PST by TigerClaws
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To: markomalley

And not one person there had a cell phone camera. Call me skeptical.


3 posted on 11/04/2012 6:40:36 PM PST by pabianice (washington, dc ..)
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To: markomalley

Someone is worried they won’t be able to cheat like they normally do.


4 posted on 11/04/2012 6:43:24 PM PST by smokingfrog ( sleep with one eye open (<o> ---)
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To: markomalley

It is ONLY voter fraud if republicans do it...


5 posted on 11/04/2012 6:44:28 PM PST by 2banana (My common ground with terrorists - they want to die for islam and we want to kill them)
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To: pabianice

I believe it’s illegal to video record within 100 ft. from a polling place.


6 posted on 11/04/2012 6:51:09 PM PST by smokingfrog ( sleep with one eye open (<o> ---)
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To: pabianice

“And not one person there had a cell phone camera. Call me skeptical.”

Watchers are not allowed to have cell phones/cameras or any recording device in a pooling place. Only the judge can make a phone call.


7 posted on 11/04/2012 6:53:32 PM PST by Marcella (Republican Conservatism is Dead. PREPARE)
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To: markomalley
"judges did nothing about it"

Why would they? They are government pukes. It's the people's responsibility to maintain liberty.

Isn't there a Tea Party organization in TX? Why didn't they protect the sanctity of the polls? Why didn't they take over the polling site? Some think saluting the flag as the enemy sets it afire is patriotism. It's really not.


8 posted on 11/04/2012 7:03:04 PM PST by I see my hands (They should have prepared.)
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To: markomalley

Poll watchers need to wear go-pro cameras on their heads.


9 posted on 11/04/2012 7:11:15 PM PST by Defiant (If there are infinite parallel universes, why Lord, am I living in the one with Obama as President?)
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To: FlyingEagle; basil
Houston Chronicle (from above hyperlink)
Assistant County Attorney Doug Ray disputed that account. "It wasn't like they were taking control of the place. It wasn't like we did nothing about it. That's just not true at all," Ray said.

Some NAACP representatives at the polling place were being disruptive, Ray said, voicing their displeasure with the long waiting times for disabled voters and arranging for some of these voters to be moved to the front of the line.

County Clerk Stan Stanart said his understanding was that the only potential legal violations Friday would have been line-jumping or the presence of people inside the polling place who were not poll workers, poll watchers or voters.

What's this "we"? Was Ray there as a poll watcher or was he actually an official poll worker (as a private citizen on his own time)?

I would submit that if the situation did not change -- ie, that these law-breaking NAACP members were not escorted immediately from the premises -- that a) nothing was done about the situation and b) they were indeed taking control of the place.

10 posted on 11/04/2012 7:36:39 PM PST by cyn (Benghazi. That says it all.)
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To: I see my hands

That’s a good point about people from our side needing to watch the polls, no point in ceding it to them, and they’re certainly not trustworthy. Just look at what the NBP are willing to get up to even when they know there are cameras on them. It’s as if they know whose side the government is on, and they do. Things are being arranged so that the law-abiding are at a disadvantage, always.


11 posted on 11/04/2012 7:58:10 PM PST by mrsmel (One Who Can See)
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To: mrsmel
Yes Ma'am.

12 posted on 11/04/2012 8:05:19 PM PST by I see my hands (They should have prepared.)
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To: mrsmel

There’s no law against taking out a cell phone and taking a video of this stuff, is there? Several of us have camera phones.


13 posted on 11/04/2012 8:06:15 PM PST by keats5 (Not all of us are hypnotized.)
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To: keats5
There’s no law against taking out a cell phone and taking a video of this stuff, is there? Several of us have camera phones.

I believe it is illegal in SC, they claim that it could be a form of voter intimidation. I've often thought that it would be great to get video of the same vans dropping off the same voters at multiple polling places.

14 posted on 11/04/2012 8:26:02 PM PST by SC Swamp Fox (Aim small, miss small.)
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To: pabianice

It’s my understanding that in many states, filming or taking photographs inside of a polling place is illegal.

Watch groups are cautioned that you cannot film inside the polling place or you could end up being the one arrested. They further instruct how to take down a written report.


15 posted on 11/04/2012 8:44:42 PM PST by Bshaw (A nefarious deceit is upon us all!)
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To: SC Swamp Fox

It sounds like maybe we should be having poll watchers both inside and outside of polling locations.


16 posted on 11/04/2012 9:00:34 PM PST by Nevadan
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To: Bshaw

No cell phone or cameras with 100 ft in TX.

http://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/laws/advisory2012-16.shtml


17 posted on 11/04/2012 9:57:21 PM PST by az_gila
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To: Bshaw

Audio recordings?


18 posted on 11/04/2012 10:54:48 PM PST by Jack Black ( Whatever is left of American patriotism is now identical with counter-revolution.)
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To: pabianice

In Texas, it’s illegal to use any camera or recording device in a polling location. It’s also illegal to an electronic communications device within 100 fee.


19 posted on 11/05/2012 3:41:04 AM PST by Paleo Conservative
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To: keats5
There’s no law against taking out a cell phone and taking a video of this stuff, is there? Several of us have camera phones.

Yes there is a law! You can't take pictures inside the polling place. You can't use your phone in the polling place.

I don't know about filming from 100 feet away.

I do know that if I was standing outside the polling place and a bus drove up, I would film everyone getting off and going in the polling place. Especially the driver and the organizer. Then find out if there are others who have filmed a bus at a different place and compare. Maybe evidence to copy to the local DA.

20 posted on 11/05/2012 5:18:16 AM PST by The Bat Lady (Be an election worker to prevent voter fraud Nov 2012.)
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