Get Ready for the GOP Sore Loser Attack

THIS IS ALREADY A STORY: Voter intimidation and suppression campaigns are more extensive and intense in 2006 than in past elections. (For the first time ever, the FBI has appointed "election coordinators".)

NOW MAKE THIS THE STORY: Voter intimidation and suppression campaigns in the 2006 election overwhelmingly target Democrats and are more extensive and intense this year. Voter intimidation and suppression campaigns targeted against:

• Democratic voters targeted in at least eight Virginia counties. (Listen to the evidence.)
• Calls to Latino voters threatening arrest.
• Paying homeless people in Maryland to distribute false voter guides.
• New Mexico Democratic voters receiving calls directing them to incorrect polling places.
• Latino voters harassed in Arizona
• Misleading, harassing and possibly illegal robo calls against Democrats in 20 Congressional Districts
• Many more reports coming in that need to be confirmed...check back

(Thanks TPMMuckraker!)

Long lines, broken machines in Democratic areas

We've already explained that Democratic areas are getting hit the worst by voting machine break downs and long lines. We're going to try to build out a list of all the areas being effected:

• East Cleveland, OH
• Cuyahoga County, OH
• Denver, CO
• Allegheny, PA
• Harrison County, MS - Thirty year veteran poll worker exclaims: "This has been the worst ever, because the machines, they didn't want to cooperate."
• Tennessee
• Lancaster County, SC
• Illinois
• Broward County, FL
• Contra Costa County, CA

More to come - help us fill out our list by emailing links to stories to info@protectourvotes.org.

Minority Vote Suppressed in Ohio

In 2004, African American voters in Ohio reported waiting an average of 52 minutes to vote, three times the average wait overall. More than half of African American voters reported problems casting their ballots in 2004.  

In 2006, the African American voters in Ohio are once again disproportionally experiencing difficulties casting their votes. Given the overall increase in polling place problems, we can assume it's even worse for African American voters.

• "In one elementary school in the predominantly black district of East Cleveland, Ohio, all 12 machines went down when voting opened at 6:30 am (1130 GMT), according to an AFP correspondent at the scene." Link
• "More than 40 polling places in Cuyahoga County," another area with a significant African American population, "reported problems with some or all of their electronic voting machines this morning." Link

MoveOn Offers $250,000 Reward for Evidence Leading to Voter Fraud Conviction

MoveOn.org Political Action is offering a $250,000 reward for new material evidence leading to a felony conviction for an organized effort of partisan voter suppression or electronic voting fraud.

Throughout the day accusations of election fraud and voter suppression incidents have been flooding into state and federal authorities throughout the country. In Virginia, the FBI has launched a criminal investigation into charges of voter suppression. In 20 Congressional districts, NRCC robocalls appearing to have come from Democrats harassed voters with repeated calls in an apparently coordinated campaign to suppress the vote.

Complementing an earlier reward for whistleblowers, MoveOn’s reward is being offered to anyone who provides this information.

Send tips to: votingfraud@moveon.org

Contact: Trevor Fitzgibbon, Laura Gross, Alex Howe, 202-822-5200

Polling place delays hurt Democrats

As in many other cities, voters in Denver are waiting hours to vote and many are turning away. Even the Colorado Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Bill Ritter, had to wait 1 hour and 45 minutes in line. Fair Vote Colorado is maintaining updated wait times at poll locations -- some are as long as 3 hours.

In 2004, Denver's county went 70% for Kerry. Urban precincts tend to lean Democratic. They are also disproportionately hit by voting delays.
 

Get Ready for the GOP Sore Loser Attack

THIS IS ALREADY A STORY: Voter intimidation and suppression campaigns are more extensive and intense in 2006 than in past elections. (For the first time ever, the FBI has appointed "election coordinators".)

NOW MAKE THIS THE STORY: Voter intimidation and suppression campaigns in the 2006 election overwhelmingly target Democrats and are more extensive and intense this year. Voter intimidation and suppression campaigns targeted against:

• Democratic voters targeted in at least eight Virginia counties. (Listen to the evidence.)
• Calls to Latino voters threatening arrest.
• Paying homeless people in Maryland to distribute false voter guides.
• New Mexico Democratic voters receiving calls directing them to incorrect polling places.
• Latino voters harassed in Arizona
• Misleading, harassing and possibly illegal robo calls against Democrats in 20 Congressional Districts
• Many more reports coming in that need to be confirmed...check back

(Thanks TPMMuckraker!)

10 Am: Early Sampling of Election Violations

The Election Incident Reporting System (EIRS) is a "sophisticated voting incident tracking system" with thousands of volunteers out in the field.  The citations below are just a few of thousands of reports already posted on the site as of 10am this morning.

Long Lines
Allegheny County, PA: Incident #1365
"Problems with voting machines caused very long lines and he had to leave to get to work and was not able to vote. Was very upset because this has happened to him before and it's going to prevent other people from voting if they can't fix problems " 
Link

Machine Problems
Sarasota County, FL: Incident #139
"LOST VOTES: 5 people cast votes on ES&S touch screen machines for the Democratic Congressional candidate but when the summary page/audit came up, that vote did not appear at all; after complaining they were eventually able to verify their votes for the candidate; however this has happened to at least 5 individuals all of whom were voting for the Democratic candidate ES&S touch screens were blank complained; they eventually saw a vote after the audit;"
Link

Voters Turned Away
Miami-Dade County, FL: Incident #1665
"Precinct 227 was closed and voters were sent to Precinct 222 where they were being turned away."
Link

For more reports go to Election Incidents Reporting System

Robo Calls Big Local News Story

Here's a sampling:

Nov 7: Seattle Times: Robo-calls rile voters; maybe that's the goal

Nov 7: Times Herald Record - Robo-calls slam Democrats before vote

Nov 7: Livingston MI Daily: Lawmakers must ban annoying 'robo-calls'

Nov 6: Times Herald Record - Repeat 'robo calls' mar end of the Hall-Kelly campaign

Nov 6: Milwaukee Journal Sentinal - Repeat 'robo-calls' alleged

Nov 6: Chanel 49 Topeka - Local voters fed up with Robo Calls

Nov 6: The Indiana Star: Recorded calls a campaign issue

8:00AM Voter Intimidation Press Roundup

Virgina:

Nov 7: Times Dispatch - FBI looks into voter intimidation
          (Click to listen to the voicemail threatening voter with arrest.)

Tennessee:

Nov 7: Chattanoogan - Do Republicans Think Black Voters Are Stupid?

Missouri:

Nov 7: AP - Mo. Elections Chief in Election Dispute

Nov 7: Columiba Missourian - Secretary of State Robin Carnahan is asked for ID while voting

Polls Open!

One of the first things we're working on this morning is a complete list of stories of voter intimidation that are popping up in local newspapers and other trusted sources. Please send links to info@protectourvotes.org

How to record a robo call

Those robo-calls on your voice mail are important evidence of voter suppression. There's an easy way to record them on your computer and send the sound file to blogs and election protection groups. Here's how:

On a PC click:
START->PROGRAMS->ACCESSORIES->ENTERTAINMENT->SOUND RECORDER

You may not know it, but there is probably a microphone built into your laptop or even desktop PC. Try recording your voice and see it if works. You might see a pinhole on the front or side of your laptop -- that's probably your mic. (If you have trouble recording, then try plugging in a real microphone into the mic jack. Another thing you can try is to go into the volume control and see if the mic needs to be un-muted.)

Now, all you have to do is hold the phone up close to your PC's mic. If you have a speaker phone, then just put it near your computer and that should do it.

Sound Recorder will record up to about a minute. It saves a "WAV" file on your computer that you can email as an attachment. Email it to info@protectourvotes.org with your personal information and location.

Annoying Robo Calls or Illegal Voter Suppression?

ALREADY A STORY: Republicans are blanketing key Congressional districts with annoying robo calls. Listen to one here.  These calls may result in post-election fines because they do not properly identify themselves early in the script and may also be violating caller id requirements.

NOT YET A STORY: These calls may be a coordinated effort to suppress the vote. What's the difference between annoying robo calls and voter suppression? Many voters are reporting that the robo callers are calling back immediately when they hang up. The first words of the robo calls are "Hi, I'm calling with information about [Democratic Candidate's Name]..." followed by a short pause. Therefore, voters receiving these calls could think they are being called repeatedly by the Democratic campaign or a group supporting the campaign.

MISSING PIECE: For this to break through, there needs to be visual evidence that voters are being called back immediately. Bloggers: please tell your readers to get video cameras ready and start rolling when the phone rings. Use the speaker phone so that the call can be heard. We need just one example of that up on YouTube and VideoTheVote.com.

Even better would be emails leaked from the robo call house responsible (or any robo call house for that matter) that offer the service or mention the strategy in question.

(Thanks TPMMuckraker & G2Geek.)

See you Tuesday, 6:00 AM SHARP!

ProtectOurVotes.org will go live at 6:00 AM Eastern Time on Election Day.

Go sign up at VideoTheVote.com

Tens of thousands of citizens will be monitoring polling places with video and posting documented problems at VideoTheVote.com and YouTube. If you have a video camera, you can particpate. By making video evidence immedaitely visible to all, VideoTheVote will make it harder for election violation stories to die before making it to print in the media. Please grab your camera and go sign yourself up at VideoTheVote.com.