Disenfranchised In Nevada

An anonymous reader writes "If you are a Democrat and you decided to register to vote in Nevada through non-official channels, you may have gotten disenfranchised by a private voter registration company. In this news article, it appears that employees of 'Voters Outreach of America' have been busy tearing up registration forms, specifically those from Democrats. The article indicates that hundreds to thousands of voter registrations may have been trashed. Unfortunately, the deadline to register to vote in Nevada has already passed."

Standards?

[ConceptJunkie]

There has got to be a way to standardize the election process in this country to help prevent this kind of fraud, or all the nonsense coming from the various kinds of voting machines.

How hard can it be to come up with a simple, standard solution. Why does every jurisdiction have to do things in so many different ways. We have California, who has done everything they can but offer free beer to get illegal immigrants to vote. We have Florida that uses all those weird voting machines (which ironically don't see to be a problem in other states). We have millions being spent on electronic voting that's about as secure as Al Sharpton at a KKK meeting.

I have no doubt that these things are largely caused by crooked individuals and not some vast conspiracy on the part of the political parties involved (regardless of the shameless fear-mongering to the contrary).

I would think the richest and most powerful country in the world could do better.

Non-party affiliated registration

[chitownIrish]

... is the answer. The requirement that you declare a party affiliation seems only to be a way of locking in the two-party system.

Re:!FP?

[temojen]

Sorry, I'm from Canada, where we have sane election laws.

You have to mark your affiliation on your registration??? WTF?!

Who thought that was a good idea???

Re:Non-party affiliated registration

[dman123]

Your post proves my point.

http://politics.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=12552 0&cid=10515199 [slashdot.org]

It's nothing personal. I just don't know why politicians or legislatures can ethically keep these restrictions.

treason

[girth]

I don't care which side is involved, this is one of the most unamerican things you can do. This should be treated as treason.

This is another area where there needs to be a paper trail. These companies should be bonded and some sort of receipt should be issued to the voter that would allow one to either vote or allow them to file a protest and cast a vote after the fact. Any company found in fraud (anything above a normal error level) would loose their bond plus face criminal charges.

Re:Republicans comdemn this

[escher]

I condemn all voter fraud and I think all of it should make the news, front page, big fucking headline. Daily.

Maybe that will pound reality just a tad more into the skulls of idiot populace of this nation.

Re:!FP?

[Daetrin]

What a strawman argument.

This isn't just a normal filler news report, it contains information that people may be able to take action on and should do so if possible. The deadline to register may have passed in Nevada, but the group has also been active in Oregon and who knows where else, and in some of those locations people still may have time to correct the problem.

Every year they run short on flu shots and every year there are news stories about where you can go to still get shots. Every year there are new outbreaks of west nile virus and every year there are news stories about what signs to watch for and who you should call if you see dead birds lying about. Every few months or years some area has accidental contamination of their water supply and the news runs stories on what areas are affected and for how long.

It doesn't matter how often or regularly such events happen, if there is a specific case going on at the moment the news has a responsibility to try and inform those people who might be affected so they can take appropriate action.

Re:!FP?

[jamie]

Because it is entirely unsubstantiated. All we know is two guys claimed it happened.

That is incorrect. As the article makes clear, the physical evidence that the "two guys" provided backs up their story.

You may not be convinced, but don't overstate your case. The article may not be proven yet, but it is clearly substantiated.

Irony

[chitownIrish]

Dude, your website [bmetzler.org] says:

"Paid for by BUSH-CHENEY '04, Inc"

Oh, the irony.

Re:Standards?

[HotNeedleOfInquiry]

Of course there is. Just haul your lazy ass down to the county courthouse, ask for the elections department and register there.

So would you fill out a credit card application that someone on the street shoved in your face? I'm thinking that it's just silliness that people trusted someone to do the right thing here...

election day voter registration

[putch]

this wouldn't be an issue (or much less of one) if we'd scrap all of the hoops you need to jump through to vote. the time for election day voter registration is here. it's the fucking 21st century already. i can have pretty much any consumer item in the world (except duk nukem forever) shipped to me tommorrow, over the internet, but i have to mail in my form 25 days before the election? and 60! before a primary?

HAVA is going to require every state to maintain a centralized voter reg database. with such a system on-demand voting could mean:

1) no more voter reg deadlines. show up give them your name and you vote
2) vote from any poll site. can't make it back to your home before 9? just vote at the most convenient site. a voting kiosk will display the proper ballot for your election district
3) no over-voting. everyone gets one vote, no voting in two districts. in ny it is possible, though illegal, to register in many different counties, since they all keep their own records and dont share (at least not well enough).

See a pattern?

[rritterson]

(Disclaimer: I lean left)

-Democratic forms get tossed in the trash, but not Republican forms...
-It's Texas Republicans who are Gerrymandering in their redistricting efforts...
-Sinclair wishes to put an obviously anti Kerry Docuganda on TV...
-Flordia 2000 -- Black voters are disenfranchised by the thousands. Guess which way they lean?

Try as I might, I can only think of one example of such behavior from Democrats: Micheal Moore. However, Sinclair's decision eclipses Fahrenheit because Sony didn't tell all of it's theaters to pre-empt I,Robot to show Fahrenheit.

Now, I'm willing to concede I'm biased and that I just don't notice the deciept and trickery the left puts on. Can anyone reply to my post with a corresponding list of things Dems have done?

(No, rhetoric doesn't count- *every* candidate is full of hyperbolic BS)

Ummm...

[temojen]

Why should the state be involved in a party's internal nomination? Isn't that what party conventions are for?

Re:See a pattern?

[Sevn]

As a admitted capitalist, there is a MAJOR difference between F/911 and the other shamelessly political movies. F/911 made over 100 million dollars. It's a definite profit maker. There isn't anything that counters it that will generate even 10 percent of that massive haul. I think some people forget that. I know disney never will.

Re:See a pattern?

[Sevn]

No offense, but that guy's site screams chickenhawk. Have an actual news source? I'm trying to find a link to the craziness in Pennsylvania with ACORN that's been going on but I'm having so many problems finding a legitimate news source that I'm starting to think it was made up.

Re:Standards?

[hamburger lady]

I have no doubt that these things are largely caused by crooked individuals and not some vast conspiracy on the part of the political parties involved

seeing as how the guy who runs the company behind these shenanigans is funded by the RNC (and is the ex-head of a state republican committee), i'd look at the situation a little deeper.

Re:!FP?

[Spamsonite]

Until the remnants of the registration forms are tested for fingerprint patterns that correspond with ripping up the sheets of paper, and those fingerprints traced back to someone other than the workers who are making the report, it is incorrect to blindly assume that the campaign workers are telling the truth. The alarming claim that those two workers are making is one that understandably gets front-page national media coverage, but weeks from now if the company is cleared and the workers discredited, the story will be buried someplace back in page 16. Because of how the media and the collective memory of most Americans work, the "victims" (in this case, Democrats) stand to gain a lot - even if the charges are eventually disproven. If the allegations are true, then of course the company officials must answer for them.

It certainly warrants the immediate attention of law enforcement and whichever election commissions have jurisdiction there, but until some prints consistent with document destruction are found, and traced to the managers, no one's story should be believed. It's too easy to fake.

Dislexics of the World, Untie!

Re:Republicans PAID FOR IT

[tantalic]

They do, and they do it for the same reason the republicans do - to give the public the impression that they were not behind the fraud and that they want a fair election.

Now I have more of a tendacy to believe the democrats then republicans ususally, but that's just because I don't trust the republican party as it seems to produce more propeganda then good public policy. (and I am conservative)

How ironic.

[jbn-o]

In 2000, thousands of would-be Democratic Party voters in Florida were kept from voting by what was called "scrubbing" the voter rolls (Greg Palast's book "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy" discusses this in detail). In subsequent years, the Democrats did virtually nothing to help these voters regain their voting rights; the plight of these citizens was not made an issue when Democrat Janet Reno ran in Florida in 2002. Democratic Party senators did not sign a Congressional Black Caucus letter brought to the floor, thus preventing any discussion of the Florida disenfranchisement (this was featured in the movie "Fahrenheit 9/11"). It would have only taken one senator to sign that letter, but not even Democratic Party Sen. Lieberman (who was running for office at the time) would sign the CBC's letter.

I hope that when people read this story they feel sorry for disenfranchised citizens, not a political party that doesn't work to help all Americans retain their right to vote. This is not a reason to vote Republican nor is it a reason to vote Democrat. It's a reason to question the motivations of both major American political parties.