DRUDGE SIREN: KERRY/EDWARDS ELECTION DIRECTIVE: CHARGE VOTER INTIMIDATION, EVEN IF NONE EXISTS!

Jul 2, 2004

DNC and Voting Rights Institute Call on RNC to Honor Commitment of Fairness in 2004 Electoral Process

Washington, D.C. — Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Terry McAuliffe and the Voting Rights Institute Chair Donna Brazile sent the following letter today to Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie:

Dear Chairman Gillespie:
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the Voting Rights Institute (VRI) applaud your commitment to openness and fairness in the electoral process for 2004 and beyond; the citizens of this country deserve nothing less. We also agree that eligible voters should be able to exercise their right to vote without fear of harassment or intimidation, and we strongly oppose any fraudulent behavior or activity at polling places.
As you know, Congress passed the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) in response to the tremendous voting irregularities that occurred in 2000 - most memorably in Florida. Its goal is to help ensure the very openness and fairness that we all agree is fundamental to the credibility of the electoral process. This is to be done, in part, by allocating funds to states to improve their election systems and by establishing uniform standards that should be employed by those systems, to ensure that money is being spent wisely and affectively.
Deforest "Buster" Soaries, Jr., Chair of the bi-partisan Election Assistance Commission (EAC) that has been charged with the immense task of implementing HAVA, has said that the Commission lacks the funding to ensure that these standards - which are so crucial to the success of bringing more openness to our electoral process - are developed and implemented. Further undermining the EAC's efforts; is the fact that President Bush has requested a $10 million budget cut for this fiscally strapped Commission in FY2005, under the unsupportable assumption that there will somehow be unobligated balances in this amount carried over from FY2004. We ask therefore, that you and the RNC join us in calling on Congress to appropriate the funds needed to fulfill the promise of HAVA.
Funding alone, of course, is not the solution to the problems so many voters have faced in attempting to vote. Systemic changes that address these issues should be encouraged and supported. The League of Women Voters, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and other leading civil rights organizations, have identified the top five risks to eligible voters in 2004: voter registration problems, erroneous purging, problems with the new ID requirement, difficulties with the new electronic voting systems and failure to count provisional ballots.
To deal with some of the problems facing voters this fall, the League of Women Voters have recommended the following steps be implemented to ensure that no eligible citizen is disenfranchised. We agree with many of their conclusions and would encourage the RNC to support the implementation of these procedures:

Ensure that voter registration applications or forms are processed in a timely fashion prior to Election Day. State and local election officials should be encouraged to update their voter registration lists and to maintain open lines of communication between polling sites and the registrar's central office.
Provide timely notice to any citizen who has been purged from a state felon list so he or she may register to vote prior to Election Day if they are eligible. The list should be made public to ensure that these citizens are notified prior to the statewide deadline for voter registration. We also encourage state and local officials to cut off or stop any purging after August 1, 2004.
Every citizen should be educated on what form, if any, of ID they may be required to produce at their polling place and this information should be widely published prior to Election Day.
Educate citizens on the new voting systems that will be used in their local jurisdiction this fall. We also encourage that security standards be set to maintain the integrity of our voting systems.
Every polling site in America should have provisional ballots available to citizens who may show up at the wrong site. We also encourage a non-discriminatory process for issuing and counting these provisional ballots.

We believe it is necessary to remove every barrier that impedes or denies an eligible vote. The RNC and its allies should work with its state parties and affiliates to encourage campaign and election workers to help protect and promote the rights of all citizens to have a voice in their democracy. And the Republican Party should stand firmly and publicly against any group, whether or not affiliated, that devises schemes to impede lawful registration and access to the polls.
We are also calling on the RNC to urge the Department of Justice to follow up on existing voting rights violation cases that have not been adequately addressed. The Justice Department has been given the task of implementing some important HAVA provisions. We encourage the Department to not only vigorously enforce the Voting Rights Act, as amended, but to safeguard the electoral process by working with state and local officials to ensure no one is harassed or intimidated while attempting to participate in the electoral process.
Forty years ago this summer, activists from across America converged in Mississippi to help educate and register tens of thousands of previously disenfranchised American citizens. In the spirit of their leadership and determination to expand the franchise, the DNC calls upon the RNC to do its part in ensuring no American citizen is denied the right to participate in the electoral process.
We appreciate your suggestion of novel means of achieving this goal, which you envision in part as a joint initiative in targeted jurisdictions by the two political parties. But what matters is not a public relations gambit by the two political parties, but rather a commitment equally shared by both that the laws will be enforced by those federal and state agencies charged with protecting the constitutional and statutory rights of all our citizens. We look forward to your embrace of this fundamental proposition, and your active support for its fulfillment in practice at all levels of the Republican Party and among its allies.
Yours truly,
Terence R. McAuliffe
Chairman
Democratic National Committee
Donna Brazile
Chair
Voting Rights Institute
Printer-friendly version from Democrats.org

Do you have a link to the page?

Beats having to filter through the whole website to find the letter.

Someone posted the news at DU, and the thread was locked after a handful of replies.

This is, after all, just an attempt by Drudge to smear the Democrats. (Come on, Drudge. Let us see the whole thing.)

Anyone notice the "there" instead of "their" error in the document? Seems to me that Kerry would have made some headway if he had pointed to his own party as proof that No Child Left Behind isn't working.

http://www.democrats.org/wvc/weekinreview/200409030011.html

There They Go Again: Gop Tries To Intimidate Florida Voters. Troubling reports this week state that police officers have gone into the homes of elderly African American voters in Orlando, FL. The State police officers interrogated them as part of an "investigation" that has frightened voters and intimidated elderly volunteers.

This is the second report of voter fraud in Florida this year. Previously, the Florida Secretary of State's office tried to strike two thousand voters who had criminal convictions on their records from elections rolls, the majority of whom were registered Democrats and African Americans. These were voters who had served time for their felonies and already had their voting rights restored by the state of Florida.

DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe and Voting Rights Institute Chair Donna Brazile joined Florida's Senate Democrats in calling on Governor Jeb Bush and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to immediately put an end to the intimidation of elderly African American voters in Florida.

"In no state should one select group of people become the exclusive target of state police," said Donna Brazile. "We call on Ed Gillespie and the RNC to urge Gov. Bush to put an immediate stop to the disturbing tactics of this investigation. The investigation of elderly Orlando voters during the Florida state primary and a few months before the presidential election continues the perception that voting in Florida is neither free nor fair."

"Politics and crime, there's no difference."

Michael Corleone
Godfather, Part III

... totally applicable to the crime machine - the Democratic Party.

[demlosers]
> Rats, launch your BS attack now because there is not
> going to be any voter intimidation.

Well... to be accurate, there already *has* been... albeit by Democrats. (*thinking of Wisconsin, etc., break-ins by Dems who want to scare Republican voters away from election info, etc.*)

I'm sorry, I understand that this is a reality, however, I haven't seen anything to verify that THIS is a legitimate DNC document and not a set-up to embarass Drudge and the RNC.

I know this is incredibly ironic, but all the Dems have to do is say it's fake. Drudge needs to give up the "top DNC official" if they do.

Rush just brought it up....this better be real!

I am not letting this stand. Here is the email going out to my lists:

This is a new, vile low in politics. Although I have voted for Democrats in the past, I never will again. I will not support anyone who would stay a part of this party.--they have just sunk too low, and do not represent anything our country is about.

First of all, here is an outrages ad from the Tenn. Democratic party:

[the photo inserted]

The flyer is being distributed in the Kerry-Edwards campaign office in Ripley, Tennessee. The office also supports local democratic candidates for office. This is absolutely true. It is not some "vast right wing conspiracy".

Here are some clips of the response from the National Special Olympics:

From the office of Timothy P. Shriver

Chairman and CEO, Special Olympics

We at Special Olympics are astounded and appalled by a political flyer being distributed in Tennessee, showing the head of President Bush superimposed on the body of a Special Olympics athlete, saying, "Even if you win, you're still retarded." ...."Sadly, this type of ignorance and bigotry is not uncommon."...."There is no reasonable and legitimate defense of this hateful material. We would expect those responsible to make an abject public apology and a sincere, determined effort to clear the public domain of this offensive material."
http://www.specialolympics.org/Special+Olympics+Public+Website/English/Press_Room/Global_news/Statement+regarding+political+flier.htm

Here, former Montana Governor, who is now chairman of the Bush Campaign, sent a letter to a democratic party operative, the union, AFL-CIO. Notice the terror tactics this organisation has used against Republican party supporters:

Mr. John Sweeney
President
AFL-CIO
815 16th Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20006
October 11, 2004

Dear Mr. Sweeney:

Over the past several weeks, acts of violence and vandalism have occurred at Republican and Bush-Cheney campaign headquarters across the country. In addition to the injuries, property damage and disruption associated with these acts, these events have created a threatening and intimidating atmosphere abhorrent to our democratic process.

On October 5th, according to news reports, witnesses, police reports and admissions of your members, the AFL-CIO, as part of a national strategy, protested at more than a dozen of our campaign and party headquarters across the country. In many locations, the protestors attempted to enter, or entered, campaign or party facilities. As one protestor said, "Actually, we're storming into an office." In Orlando, Florida, injuries and damage were sustained. Protestors forced their way into the facility, fracturing the arm of one staffer, and vandalized the office. In Michigan, protestors entered a headquarters and engaged in activities apparently intended to disrupt volunteers trying to make phone calls.

Protests by your organization come on the heels of several other incidents at Bush-Cheney '04 offices around the country, including a break-in at our Seattle office where laptop computers were stolen from the Washington State Bush-Cheney ’04 executive director and the state Republican Party 72-hour director. Just last night in Canton, Ohio, a Bush-Cheney '04 staffer was forced to lock herself in an office while another break-in was in progress. The facility was seriously damaged and property was stolen. Additionally, gun shots have been fired into Bush-Cheney '04 offices in West Virginia, Florida and Tennessee, windows broken in West Virginia and campaign staffers threatened. In Wisconsin, a supporter of the President had a swastika burned into his front yard simply because he had a Bush-Cheney '04 lawn sign. We urge your support in helping us ensure the safety of all individuals working on our campaign and others as we are making every effort to secure the safety of all participants in the political process.

I hope you will put an end to protest activities that have led to injuries, property damage, vandalism and voter intimidation. We will hold you and your organization accountable for the actions of your members and urge you to immediately discontinue any coordinated protest efforts that result in damage to our facilities, or injury to people who may hold different political views than your members, but who share an equal right to be involved in the political process without suffering violence, intimidation and threats.

Respectfully,

Gov. Marc Racicot, Bush-Cheney '04 Campaign Chairman

And now a 66 page "mobilization plan" to be issued by the Colorado Kerry/Edwards campaign and the Democratic National Committee are advising election operatives to declare voter intimidation -- even if none exists!

Quote "If no signs of intimidation techniques have emerged yet, launch a 'pre-emptive strike.'"

click here to read an actual copy of the document:

http://www.drudgereport.com/dnc.pdf

These are tactics used by maxist/communists in third world countries!

Also, the constant gratuitous mention of Vice President Cheney's gay daughter, by supposedly unbigoted, and "tolerant" Kerry and Edwards, is a low down, filthy political trick.

Has this been reported by anyone else?

Not one word on any of the cable networks...(as expected)

Sounds like Rush is going to possibly go into it in the next segment.

What was the line Bush used last night about the media not being a credible source? I thought it was brilliant.

The DNC memo looks like it was typed with proportional spacing on an old IBM Selectric.

And well it should. The DNC just dusted off one of their staple ''off the shelf'' war plans.

Yeah methinks Bob didn't care for that one too much.

For about the 7000th time I am going to explain that the President CANNOT fire civil servants because they are Clinton sympathizers. IT IS AGAINST THE LAW. It is the Civil Service act that protects career emplyees.

Those people can only be fired if you catch them doing something illegal. Just because they are democrats is not a legal reason for firing them.

Do you remember Linda Tripp? Why do you think she was working in the White House? Because she was a career employee, not a political appointee.

Democrat Party of Thugs

Siren came down............did anyone notice the word "there"........should it not be "their"...?

Yup. Noticed it. Small warning flag, but it's a frequent mistake not picked up by spell-check.

This is driving me NUTS! This needs to break one way or the other. PLEEEEEEEEZE Drudge show us the whole book!!

I have only one comment! The Democrat Party is nothing but low life vermin and traitor scum. How any clear thinking American can support these RATS is well beyond me. They will stop at nothing! We must be strong and united. Get everyone to the polss on Tuesday, November 2nd. Let us work together to destroy this political party that will surrender and give away our freedom and security!!!