Posted on 10/22/2004 9:05:47 PM PDT by sheikdetailfeather
Is Organized Effort Under Way To Confuse Voters?
POSTED: 5:14 pm EDT October 22, 2004 UPDATED: 5:33 pm EDT October 22, 2004
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- State elections leaders worry there may be an organized effort to confuse or even disenfranchise voters, especially young adults.
University of South Florida student Megan Altman was a Democrat from Wisconsin, but not after she was pressured into signing what she thought was a petition last month, WESH NewsChannel 2 reported.
The petition-gatherers actually slipped her a voter registration form. She confronted them the next day when she learned what they were up to.
"I went up to them and said, 'You registered me as a Republican and you registered me to vote, and I wasn't going to vote in Florida. I was going to vote in Wisconsin.' They started calling me 'baby-killer' and they were going off on me," Altman said.
Leon County Election Supervisor Ion Sancho started making phone calls when he received 1,500 copies of apparently altered voter registrations.
"This has been done all across the state and this has the potential of confusing voters who are not regular voters. This may be the first time they have ever voted," Sancho said.
The shenanigans have been so bizarre that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is now involved.
"We have reports of one woman registering herself 15 or 20 times so there might be financial motivation rather than political motivation," said FDLE spokesman Tom Berlinger.
At least six different counties have reported strange activity. In some cases, authorities say people who don't exist may have signed petitions and dead people may have been registered to vote.
Early voters are even complaining of so-called "election observers" pushing them out of the way and casting their ballots. Officials are urging all voters to report any bizarre activity immediately, but it appears some voters may have already been disenfranchised.
Copyright 2004 by WESH.COM. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
yeah .......
if they can they will.....
It doesn't take much in certain counties in FLA.
A college student filled out a voter registration form and thought she was signing a petition??? Either she failed high school civics or her teacher failed her.
That's it, I've had it. It is time for each of us to tell our representatives that we need a federal law for federal elections that would require that anyone who wishes to vote must find their own way to an official registration point and that they must, on their own, determine their identity and prove it to some official and reasonable standard.
The states may conform to this law or set whatever standard that they choose for state and local elections.
It's time for all of this registration bull to end. There is no other activity in this country that is more important and yet we, as a nation, require more effort and identification to buy a bottle of beer or a pack of cigarettes than to cast our vote.
We need to quit being stupid! I fear that we are about to see our electoral process ripped to shreds. If so, there may be enough disgust to get a law such as this passed. Of course if the bad guys win because of their fraud, I suspect they won't support any changes.
I won't get into the point that voters should prove that they have the mental capacity and knowledge to make an informed, and therefore valuable to the republic, decision (but they should). That is a debate that can be held later.
Ok, I'm done.
amen
pass the ammo
AMEN.
On another note, did I read correctly that this was Republicans doing this?
Yes! It's called an election.
That's a crock, it's the Dems that paid ACORN and felons and the like to get registrations.
I don't believe that stupid girl for a minute.
Uh huh.
I thought this was a Libertarian or Constipation Party thread from the title.
Give me a break, that idiot signed a registration form when she thought she was signing a petition, and yet had the presence of mind to "go up to them" and confront them about it. She found the same perpetrators of blatant fraud again after the several weeks it would have taken to get her voter registration card in the mail to see that she was now a Republican? She also apparently doesn't realize that even if this complete and utter lie was true, just be cause she was "registered as a Republican" she can still vote for her beloved socialist buddy Kerry?
And we are supposed to buy this?
If we were even to force prosecution using *existing* laws, it would solve the problem.
The situation is the same as with gun laws - they won't enforce the ones they have. Think you can find a prosecutor who will send one of these poor darling dear little college stoonts off to *JAIL* for a couple of years and ruin its pathetic little life, in order to set an example for those to follow? But that's what's necessary...
If we don't force them to enforce the laws, it won't matter WHAT laws are passed.
She was registered to vote.
Her affiliation is irrelevant for the Nov. 2 election, she can vote for whomever she wants.
Methinks this is a setup.
Yes. I think this accomplishes several things all at the same time. Before election day it creates the impression that the Republicans are trying to steal the election or pull something on people, so the outraged people will vote for the Dems. Next, it takes the spotlight off of the real culprits and criminals (Dim Dems) while they pull even more, and finally, it furthermore creates the chaos required for swarms of lawyers to come down and help the "victims."
She must be the daughter of the Fla voter who went to vote the other day, then demanded to vote again. She said she accidentally voted for Pat Buchanan by mistake and meant to vote for Al Gore.
Good point and accurate. However, if you are allowing 3rd parties to "deliver" registration forms then I don't see how you can ever really enforce existing laws - unless they so openly screw up that it is obvious or someone "rats" them out.
I'm not in favor of more and more laws ... I think Congress should be part time and laws should be proven to be in compliance with the Constitution before passage.
But if a problem is proven to exist, then address it. In this case, if a person wants to vote, great. Let them then exercise the personal and accountable action to allow that - one person, one registration...carried further to one id and one vote.
You have a point...the story stinks!
As a Floridian, I can state that we have moved all the numbnuts to Palm Beach County where they'll be voting for Pat Buchanan.
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