Oldest Trick in the Book: Flyer Sites Election Date as Nov. 5

Image from source, Think Progress

Good grief. All of this false hysteria from right-wingers about ACORN and nonexistent "voter fraud," and the real bad stuff is being done by Republicans. But of course you knew that.

The oldest trick to discourage opponents from showing up at the polls is to tell them their voting place has changed, or the voting date has changed. The latter is being tried again in Virginia.

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Phony board of elections flier tells Virginia Democrats to vote on November 5.

The Virginia Pilot reports today that a phony Virginia Board of Elections flier is being distributed in Hamption Roads, VA telling Democrats that they are now scheduled to vote on November 5. . .

Read more at: Think Progress

Block the Vote: GOP's Attempts to Prevent Democrats from Voting

Image from ACSLaw

I've heard people say that a black person in America has to work twice as hard to get half as far as a white person. The idea has been around as long as I can remember. And while things may not be all that bad anymore, Barack Obama may be facing a similar situation. But it may not have anything to do with race.

Democrats in this country currently outnumber Republicans by fairly large numbers. I've said here before that to win this election, all we Democrats need to do is show up. I still think that's true. But we've got to hope that margin exceeds the number of Democrats who are not allowed to vote, or whose votes are thrown out.

Does that sound paranoid? Then read this article, by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and get paranoid right along with me.

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Block the Vote
Will the GOP's campaign to deter new voters and discard Democratic ballots determine the next president?

. . .In state after state, Republican operatives — the party's elite commandos of bare-knuckle politics — are wielding new federal legislation to systematically disenfranchise Democrats. If this year's race is as close as the past two elections, the GOP's nationwide campaign could be large enough to determine the presidency in November. "I don't think the Democrats get it," says John Boyd, a voting-rights attorney in Albuquerque who has taken on the Republican Party for impeding access to the ballot. "All these new rules and games are turning voting into an obstacle course that could flip the vote to the GOP in half a dozen states. . ."

Read more at: Rolling Stone

Nevada Blocks GOP Vote Suppression Tactic

Image from source, TPM Muckraker

For all the talk of "voter fraud" trumpeted by the right, precious few actual cases have been brought to light. But the GOP's efforts to suppress the vote are legion. Thankfully, one of them here in Nevada has been thwarted. Good.

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Nevada Secretary of State Rebuffs Latest GOP Effort To Suppress Vote

Question: If a county clerk/registrar of voters determines that an application to register to vote is incomplete or incorrect, does Nevada law provide an opportunity for the applicant to submit a corrected application after the close of registration?

Answer: Yes. Nevada law provides the manner in which an in-person and mail-in applicant may update or correct the voter information, and may do so without losing his right to vote.

Read more at: TPM Muckraker

Latest Far-Right Bogeyman: ACORN

Photo from source, Fight the Smears

ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) is the latest "association" of Barack Obama's that the far-right is trying to weigh Obama down with. ACORN is a get-out-the-vote organization, and it is true that they've had a few issues with counterfeit names on their voter registration forms.

What I'd like to know is, do other such organizations have the same sorts of problems? I'm guessing that they do, since you're sending out an army of people with clipboards--your sure to get some untrustworthy types on one side of the clipboard or the other. But tell me, if ACORN registered the entire Disney roster from Mickey Mouse to Goofy, what are the odds that those "people" are going to show up to vote?

So what is the issue here? I believe that it is a smokescreen by the right to distract from the very real, and very enormous voter suppression movement by Republicans. Particularly vote caging. In any event, it would seem that Barack Obama is not affiliated with ACORN in the first place.

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Barack Obama Never Organized with ACORN

Discredited Republican voter-suppression guru Ken Blackwell is attacking Barack Obama with naked lies about his supposed connection to ACORN.

• Fact: Barack was never an ACORN community organizer.
• Fact: Barack was never an ACORN trainer and never worked for ACORN in any other capacity.
• Fact: ACORN was not part of Project Vote, the successful voter registration drive Barack ran in 1992.

Read more at: Fight the Smears

Obama Wins on Karl Rove's Own Electoral Map

Photo from source, Politico

Something peculiar has happened to Karl Rove. The FOX "News" commentator (and, in a conflict of interest, John McCain advisor) usually seizes upon any crumb, any tidbit of any story in order to boost Republicans, and attack Democrats. But this morning's edition of FOX "News" Sunday, was uncharacteristically--um--honest?

I don't know what to call it, because I know that even when Rove sounds forthright, he's up to something. But his electoral map of the United States, made from scrutinizing polls from all over the country, shows Barack Obama decidedly ahead. Like way, way ahead.

This threw me for a bit of a loop, because if what Rove says is true (and I suspect it is), it would be more in character for him to simply ignore the map altogether, and spin in another direction. Is he putting it up to scare FOX's heavily "Republican base" audience? And what was his bit at the end about voters in Clark County, Nevada (home of Las Vegas, and well, me) who don't exist? I live here, and I've never heard that.

"Voter fraud" is a common GOP bogeyman, alleging that there are people voting who shouldn't be, spurred by Democrats, in order to throw elections. Trouble is, how ever many dead, illegal or ficticious "voters" there are alleged to be, they pale in comparison to the legitimate voters that Republicans are attempting to scub off the rolls, or otherwise disenfranchise.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Check out BradBlog for details on vote suppression.

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Obama clinches on Rove map

With 30 days until Nov. 4, Karl Rove projects that Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) would get at least 273 electoral votes – three more than are needed to win – if the presidential election were held today.But Rove warns that this race is “susceptible to rapid changes,” so no definite prediction is possible. . .

Read more at: Politico