Poll Watchers Claim Harassment And Intimidation At Houston, Texas Voting Places

libertypundits ^ | 10/20/10 | Melissa Clouthier

[American Dream 246]

Mediaite’s Tommy Christopher reports voter intimidation in Harris County, Texas (Houston) by volunteer poll watchers trained by King Street Patriots, a local non-partisan group who started the True The Vote campaign. Tommy leads with this inflammatory paragraph saying:

In a story that’s sure to draw comparisons to the New Black Panther Party member who brandished a nightstick at a Philadelphia polling place in 2008, a Tea Party group called the King Street Patriots has been accused of “1960s style” voter intimidation in primarily minority precincts on the first day of early voting in Texas. The group is being sued by the Texas Democratic Party, following the filing of 14 voter intimidation complaints with the county clerk, and another two dozen with the Texas Democratic Party chairman.

Catherine Engelbrecht, founder of King’s Street Patriots strongly denies the allegations and noted that it was absurd that “little old ladies” would be intimidating anyone. She says that one 65 year old woman poll watcher came back from poll watching, after being kicked out for simply being present–itself a violation of the law–in tears.

Engelbrecht also notes that King’s Street Patriots learned they were being sued by the Texas Democratic Party at 11 a.m. yesterday morning when not one poll watcher had yet been removed and not one complaint sent to the county about any untoward actions.

In one instance, three poll watchers were yelled at by a Democrat Harris County Commissioner El Franco Lee who said,”Why are you here? We have never had poll watchers here. Ya’ll need to get on out of here.”

Lee then demanded that the polling place judge give him information about the three poll watchers and the presiding judge complied–giving him their private information. The three poll watchers now fear for their safety and wonder what will be done with their personal information which included their phone numbers and home addresses.

Tommy Christopher, who, it should be noted is a White House correspondent and not a Texas native nor a Texas reporter, makes an outrageous linkage to the Philadelphia Black Panther case. In that case, Black Panther members were armed and preventing people from voting.

The alleged cases here in Houston are unsupported accusations with no documentation and no video or audio proof. Meanwhile, the poll watchers themselves report being yelled at and harassed, told to leave, and intimidated.

Catherine Engelbrecht expressed frustration about the situation–about being sued, about the constant barrage of negative national media and the misunderstanding around the purpose of True The Vote.

“We want everyone to have a free and fair election,” Englebrecht said. “That’s all we want. We are 100% innocent.”

Houston blogger Kevin Whited notes that it looks like the “Colorado Model” is being brought to Harris County, Texas. He goes on to explain:

Of course, Matt Angle features in The Blueprint, a fine piece of political journalism that describes how a handful of committed millionaire progressives managed to flip formerly reliably Republican Colorado to the Dems over a few election cycles, through strategic funding of down-ballot political races, creation of a loose network of “independent” news organizations and “ethics” groups to pound targeted opponents, and liberal use (no pun intended) of the legal system to tie up ostensibly conservative organizations. Angle all but promised to bring the Colorado Model to Texas, in the form of his Lone Star Project (and associated groups).

And if you begin to connect the dots locally — as Cory Crow also does — you can see elements of the Colorado Model at work, right here in Harris County. Now, There’s nothing illegal or unethical per se about the model. In many ways, The Blueprint is a great political novel that just happens to be true. However, given the state political media’s occasional interest in the influence of big money in politics (when it happens to be a donor like, say, Bob Perry), it would be nice to see that same interest extend to progressive big money and the machinations of nominally “independent” front groups.

Another local Houston blogger, Cory Crow does connect the dots:

It’s interesting to note that, on the same day the HCDP added KSP to their lawsuit the George Soros/Matt Angle backed Texans for Public Justice filed an ethics complaint against KSP based almost entirely on reporting found in another Colorado Model media outlet, The American Independent, which was then dutifully carried by another Colorado Model “news” outlet The Texas Tribune which conveniently forgot to disclose TPJ’s funding ties to Texas Democratic king-maker Matt Angle.*

So we have several (allegedly) Democratic partisan groups suing and filing ethics complaints against an (allegedly) Republican partisan group for (allegedly) performing the exact same actions they’re (allegedly) involved in.

Now, to connect the dots even further. Earlier today, I noted that The Texas Tribune just partnered with the New York Times who has just opened a Texas division. From Poynter Online there’s this:

In addition to Texas Tribune’s public policy reporting, the Times plans to publish some cultural and lifestyles coverage in the new regional pages. Evan Smith, who was a longtime editor of Texas Monthly before becoming editor of Texas Tribune, will commission and edit the additional content separately from his duties at the Tribune.

The Democrats seem to want to make Texas a battleground state–by any means necessary. The only sticking point has been a small grassroots organization simply wanting to make sure Harris County elections are free and fair.

No doubt, this is not the last we’ve heard on this story.

[Marty62]

Thanks for info.

[Allegra]

The complaints, he said, came from Kashmere Gardens, Moody Park, Sunnyside and other predominantly minority neighborhoods.

Oh, that says it all right there.

And that's exactly where we need to have poll-watchers.

Let these slimebags know we aren't going to put up with their fraud anymore.

[darth]

In Texas, you can only place a Republican Presiding Judge in a Republican majority precinct. Almost all of the fraud is in the dim precincts with no Republicans to catch them.

The Poll Watchers are there to back up the Republican Alternate Judge.

For example, there is fraud at the Sign In Desk when the dim Clerks let someone vote without a Voter Registration Card, vote in the wrong precinct, or without ID when voting for the first time.

At the same instant, someone has to watch the dim Clerks running the Judge’s Ballot Computer. There have been cases where the Clerk will print out 5, 10, or 20 Access Codes for the ESlate voting machine. When his buddy, the dim activist, comes through the line HE HANDS HIM EXTRA ACCESS CODES. By voting straight ticket, it is possible for the scam artist to vote many times without being caught. Imagine how easy it is to slip your buddy enough access codes to vote multiple times!

I agree, we need more Republican Presiding Judges and Alternate Judges, but after filling those slots, we MUST back them up with Poll Watchers. One person cannot observe the entire polling place.

[DallasDeb]

Dirty Tricks! Nothing is beneath Democrats. In fact, they justify their lying, cheating, defrauding, etc. This is all bogus and done mainly to try to put it on par with the New Black Panther party intimidation in Florida. They lost ALL credibility when they brought up the NBP episode—it proves to me that this was all planned. Lying about little old ladies. What a bunch of low lifes.

[BuckeyeTexan]

Ping

Freepmail me or ping me from the original thread to get on/off the 2010 Texas Governor’s Race ping list.

My apologies upfront for the double pings.

[BuckeyeTexan]

Ping

Freepmail me or ping me from the original thread to get on/off the 2010 Texas Governor’s Race ping list.

My apologies upfront for the double pings.

[DallasDeb]

Hey, don’t disparage TEXAS WOMEN! We can be tough, too! My grandmother was always a poll watcher whenever her down had elections (in coastal Mississippi). I grew up thinking that was cool.

[DallasDeb]

Sorry. “down” = “town”

[myself6]

"80% of the people at True the Vote training were men.

The toughest guys are going to the toughest parts of time. I spoke to an elderlly jarhead that they WILL NOT intimidate. Affable fellow, but huge.

BTW, don’t diss Texas women. I met a lot of them that El Franco Lee could not intimidate."

;^)

oh.. I know all about Texas women... I was raised by one (two if you count the neighbor lady who kept telling my mom about all the stupid things she saw me do).

No finer way to raise the hackles of a Texan that to question his manhood. Glad to see it still works, it means that there is still some fight left.

[The Comedian]

We all have, I think. This is our only chance. If they steal it, America and everything it ever stood for dies.

We won't go down alone.

I'll be taking a lot of progressives with me.

Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.

[Think free or die]

"Are you able to call for hands outside your area? I’d be willing to travel and I’m sure there’s more than just me."

My suggestion to anyone who would like to volunteer to poll watch outside of their area is this: Pick a key area or key race that you want to support. Then contact the county level GOP for that location and ask how you can get involved. Here in Pennsylvania, you must have credentials to be at the polls, so it has to be done in advance. If you think of it at the last minute, there are surely still places to help with phone banking or driving people to polls, etc. Another avenue is to contact the campaign offices of key candidates and ask them for local guidance.

Anyone who would be willing to go poll watch in Philadelphia would be doing us a great service, but I wouldn't suggest any little ladies go it alone. (That's speaking as a woman of small stature.)

[nutmeg]

Have you seen this article? I guarantee we’re going to see a LOT more stories like this as we get closer to Election Day...

[darth]

Never noted a pattern.

However, I have noted that Freepers seem spring loaded to criticize others and sometimes resort to name-calling.

We really need to be more civil. After all, we are in this fight together.

[servantboy777]

You go makin a dumb @ss comment like that.

Obviously you’ve gotta problem controlling your mouth.

[conservonator]

This is critical, and far more potent than Alinsky

It works on the national level as well, just think Soros in place of Angle.

[deport]

Top 15 counties early voting totals....

Early Voting - October 19, 2010

November 2, 2010
Early Voting
Cumulative Totals
Thru Close of Business
October 19, 2010

County	Reg Voters	# In Person On 10/19/2010	Cumulative In-Person Voters	Cumulative % In-Person	Cumulative By Mail Voters	Cumulative In-Person And Mail Voters	Cumulative Percent Early Voting
Harris	1,937,850	27,445	53,496	2.76%	25,725	79,221	4.09%
Dallas	1,145,427	15,412	30,233	2.64%	12,598	42,831	3.74%
Tarrant*	936,735	10,715	20,489	2.19%	10,499	30,988	3.31%
Bexar	905,859	14,925	29,597	3.27%	5,747	35,344	3.90%
Travis	604,374	10,050	20,119	3.33%	6,538	26,657	4.41%
Collin	424,672	6,106	11,417	2.69%	1,419	12,836	3.02%
El Paso	379,727	3,662	6,504	1.71%	780	7,284	1.92%
Denton	364,593	4,718	8,802	2.41%	640	9,442	2.59%
Fort Bend	309,026	5,318	10,638	3.44%	4,621	15,259	4.94%
Hidalgo	296,510	5,033	11,240	3.79%	833	12,073	4.07%
Montgomery	249,954	4,589	9,222	3.69%	1,510	10,732	4.29%
Williamson	237,763	4,243	8,708	3.66%	857	9,565	4.02%
Nueces	189,554	2,983	5,914	3.12%	1,017	6,931	3.66%
Galveston	182,802	3,977	8,170	4.47%	3,775	11,945	6.53%
Cameron	174,188	2,219	4,616	2.65%	193	4,809	2.76%
Total	8,339,034	121,395	239,165	2.87%	76,752	315,917	3.79%

[ExTexasRedhead]

Take video cameras and tape “everything” for prosecution. Cameras should be in plain view so the perpetrators know they’re TOAST.

Retired law enforcement and retired military volunteers would be very helpful to ensure the RAT fraud is shut down by ensuring that there is documented evidence of the fraud with photos to ensure prosecution.

[myself6]

"You go makin a dumb @ss comment like that.

Obviously you’ve gotta problem controlling your mouth.

As far as the "dumb ass comment" goes... Maybe, Im stuck in liberal hell and it taints my view of things a bit. Makes me more cynical.

Yeah, Ive never been one to control my mouth. Blame my upbringing I guess, but most of the guys I knew growing up just north of Houston in spring Texas were just as loud mouth as me, and didnt put up with even half the crap that it seems folks put up with now.

However, instead of getting mad at me... Go punch a liberal in the mouth. Their ass kicking is well overdue.

[Biggirl]

IMHO, what the Dems are doing is NOT GOING to be tolerated any more. The voting fraud will just get those who want the Dems OUT and any RINOS out in full force to vote.

[Irish Eyes]

Please everyone send this to everyone at Fox News, Rush and others to get this news out.