Voter fraud showing up in early voting.....

[Reddogs]

They registering everything that has a pulse and even some that doesnt, but this is amazing they would go this route...

"...Less than four days until the election and charges of voter fraud arise in South Florida.

A Collier woman claims someone registered her two mentally-handicapped adult children without her permission.

Griselle Gonzalez says her son and daughter don't know how to read and they can't even tell you where they live.

"It is voter registration fraud because they are not capable of being registered to vote," she said.

Her son, Michael, 19, and daughter Jenniffer, 32, live in a group home for adults with special needs.

Gonzalez says she's the court-appointed guardian. She claims someone at a Broward-County group home registered them to vote and also told them for whom to vote.

"They don't even know who the President is or what a President is.".....

http://www.winknews.com/news/local/33668204.html

[olger]

Who is behind it? Liberals?? Others?

[Reddogs]

It may have been from one of the organizations like Acorn, but the news media is checking but they are hitting a stone wall.

[Woody]

ACORN

[Reddogs]

ACORN

Yes, they be the ones......

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/10/10/cbsnews_investigates/main4514429.shtml

[carolaa]

Just because someone registered them doesn't mean they will show up to vote. The probability of actual election fraud is very small with these types of cases.

[Dr. Shane]

Not in the county I live in. We have dead people voting every election cycle. A few years ago the local Republican party hired an independent auditing group that discovered over 700 dead people had voted in the prior election.

[carolaa]

I wonder how hard it was to do an audit. I'd like to see that done everywhere.

[Dr. Shane]

It isn't that hard. They can use social security numbers. They run the social security numbers for everyone that voted and check them against the data base from the Social Security Administration. They have found that dead people voted and that people that have moved away and are no longer living in that county voted.

This is how it happens. A person's voter registration card arrives in the mail either after they die or have moved away. Whoever has that card in their hand can vote as that person. No ID is required if they have the registration card.

[carolaa]

So what is the holdup on doing that more often? Isn't that a felony? Knowing the records are audited, even randomly, would deter most people from that kind of fraud, I'd think.

[aldona]

Whoever has that card in their hand can vote as that person. No ID is required if they have the registration card.

I think this could be a big part of the problem... Here, in order to vote, you have to show photo ID.

aldona

[Dr. Shane]

When Republicans have suggested requiring a photo ID Democrats accuse them of trying to suppress the vote.

[aldona]

Is there no aspect of democracy which is not infested with partisan politics...

You need something like our Australian Electoral Commission, which is an independent statutory authority, not related to any of the political parties and handles all of the "nuts & bolts" of the election process.

Australian Electoral Commission

That's why here there is no such thing as registering as a "Party A voter" or "Party B voter"; you are simply registered as a voter (with the AEC, not with a party).

aldona

[Bravus]

The point does actually have some merit, though: who is more likely to have a driver's license, a comfortable white middle class Republican voter or a poor black Democrat voter without a car?

But I agree with aldona that Australia's system does seem a lot 'cleaner'.

[Dr. Shane]

Mexico has a better system than the US as far as voter identification.

[carolaa]

So....how do they do it?

[carolaa]

The point does actually have some merit, though: who is more likely to have a driver's license, a comfortable white middle class Republican voter or a poor black Democrat voter without a car?

But I agree with aldona that Australia's system does seem a lot 'cleaner'.

Exactly. But do you think if Australia had a really close race that the parties would be saying and doing some of this same stuff. I mean, people are human wherever you go.

[Bravus]

Agreed, people are human, and we do definitely have our own dirty tricks. But having a non-partisan, publicly funded electoral commission that handles all electoral arrangements definitely has its advantages.

[Woody]

The point does actually have some merit, though: who is more likely to have a driver's license, a comfortable white middle class Republican voter or a poor black Democrat voter without a car?

But I agree with aldona that Australia's system does seem a lot 'cleaner'.

It would be easy enough to get some form of photo ID. But the Demos support and appreciate ACORN and they want it to remain.

[aldona]

I'm following news of the election in our local media here, and these are just a few comments on how you folks do things differently...

(not necessarily implying your ways are wrong, just an exercise in "compare and contrast"...)

Quote:

Senator Obama voted in Chicago before travelling to the battleground state of Indiana to encourage people to get to the polls.

Here there is no campaigning by the candidates on election day - in fact I think I recall a "media blackout" on campaign coverage for the 24 hours beforehand. (election on Saturday - so candidates wound up their campaign on Thursday and there was no more campaigning all day Friday.)

Quote:

In the next booth, his wife Michelle also voted, with Senator Obama at times checking over her shoulder.

Here they take the term "secret ballot" very seriously, and you are absolutely not allowed to view how another person votes. It's written all over the voting papers. Even if somebody does not speak English, a translator or written instructions in their language will be provided rather than family members helping and thus being able to see their vote.

Quote:

Poll worker John Ritch in Chappaqua, New York, said: "By 7.30 this morning, we had as many as we had at noon in 2004."

Gov. Ed Rendell urged voters in Pennsylvania to "hang in there" as state and country officials braced for a huge turnout. More than 160 people were lined up to vote by the time polls opened at First Presbyterian Church in Allentown. "I could stay an hour and a half at the front end or three hours at the back end," joked Ronald Marshall, a black Democrat.

Hundreds converged on polling precincts in Missouri, a crucial battleground state. Norma Storms, a 78-year-old resident of Raytown, said her driveway was filled with cars left by voters who couldn't get into nearby parking lots.

"I have never seen anything like this in all my born days," she said. "I am just astounded."

In Virginia, where a Democrat has not won the presidential race since 1964, several counties experienced paper jams and balky touch-screen devices. In Richmond, a precinct opening was delayed because the person who had the keys overslept. Hundreds of people swarming the branch library cheered when its doors finally opened.

I still can't get my head around this...here, where voting is compulsory (i.e. EVERYBODY has to vote), and there is no such thing as an electronic voting machine (we mark our vote on a paper ballot with a pencil, the old-fashioned way), I have never seen queues at a polling station.

The United States has been doing democracy (and elections) for far longer than us. Surely you would have the system down to a fine art by now???

Quote:

Lawsuits alleging voter suppression already had surfaced in Virginia, a hotly contested state. A judge refused late Monday to extend poll hours or add voting machines to black precincts in some areas. The National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People, in a federal lawsuit, demanded those changes, saying minority neighbourhoods would experience overwhelming turnout and there weren't enough electronic machines.

Hmmm...See my comments in my other thread on "is it really this difficult to vote."

aldona

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

It really shouldn't be this difficult to vote here. I'm amazed at the things you are witnessing on the media in Australia about the US voting. Again, where I live, all is quiet because voting is done by mail-in ballots and the deadline for postmarking is today. There's no rush to the polls, no standing in line, no demands for extra equipment in minority sections of neighborhoods. Everyone who was registered to vote got a ballot. Whether or not they voted was up to the individual. Of course, someone who was NOT the listed voter could have voted illegally and gotten away with it. That's the downside of voting by mail.

This political season has been one of the worst I've ever seen. It's been shameful.

[aldona]

What part of the US are you in? It sounds like different conditions in different areas.

Some pictures:

(Maryland - picture from CNN)

(Washington - picture from CNN)

(Los Angeles - picture from ABC (Australia) News)

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

Wow... I'm in Oregon - and glad to be here! :smile:

[Neil D]

Again, where I live, all is quiet because voting is done by mail-in ballots and the deadline for postmarking is today. There's no rush to the polls, no standing in line, no demands for extra equipment in minority sections of neighborhoods.

Um, there is no postmark on any ballot today. Postmarks on mail in ballots do not count if they are not in an official ballot place. All oregonians must take thier ballots to an official ballot place, ie police station, ballot recieving station, TODAY. If you mail your ballot in today, it will not be recieved into the ballot box nor counted.

But yeah, voting by mail is a good thing and one that eliminates lone lines....