Vote 2008 - Don't Stand for Dirty Tricks
It's less than 24 hours to the election. Are you ready to deal with people trying to disenfranchise you?
An excellent article on MSN.com tells us what's been going on...
Complaints have surfaced in predominantly African-American neighborhoods of Philadelphia where fliers have circulated, warning voters they could be arrested at the polls if they had unpaid parking tickets or if they had criminal convictions.
Over the weekend in Virginia, bogus fliers with an authentic-looking commonwealth seal said fears of high voter turnout had prompted election officials to hold two elections — one on Tuesday for Republicans and another on Wednesday for Democrats.
... and another one on the same site has warnings about specific tricks that are being used.
5. Your polling place or the election date has changed.
This is a classic keep-the-enemy-home-on-election-day strategy -- and any such election-eve switcheroo is highly unlikely to be authentic. If you receive an e-mail message, text message or phone call in the run-up to Nov. 4 stating that the voting date or your polling place has changed, call your the office of your local supervisor of elections directly to confirm the information before changing your voting plans.
The Obama campaign produced a video about it, here. Given that it comes from his campaign, it is, of course, not without bias. But what got me creeped out was the report that people were walking around in parking lots taking pictures of people's cars and license plates, trying to intimidate folks to leave.
All I can say is - DON'T PUT UP WITH ANY BULLSHIT. Bring an ID to the polls, stand in line with your fellow citizens, and if you see anything that looks hinky, if people try to dissuade you from voting, or something who claims to be "with the election board" tries to get you to step out of line, tell them to get stuffed, and let the election workers know what's going on.
You have a right to vote on November 4th. Do not let ANYONE take it away from you.
And may the best candidates win!
An excellent article on MSN.com tells us what's been going on...
Complaints have surfaced in predominantly African-American neighborhoods of Philadelphia where fliers have circulated, warning voters they could be arrested at the polls if they had unpaid parking tickets or if they had criminal convictions.
Over the weekend in Virginia, bogus fliers with an authentic-looking commonwealth seal said fears of high voter turnout had prompted election officials to hold two elections — one on Tuesday for Republicans and another on Wednesday for Democrats.
... and another one on the same site has warnings about specific tricks that are being used.
5. Your polling place or the election date has changed.
This is a classic keep-the-enemy-home-on-election-day strategy -- and any such election-eve switcheroo is highly unlikely to be authentic. If you receive an e-mail message, text message or phone call in the run-up to Nov. 4 stating that the voting date or your polling place has changed, call your the office of your local supervisor of elections directly to confirm the information before changing your voting plans.
The Obama campaign produced a video about it, here. Given that it comes from his campaign, it is, of course, not without bias. But what got me creeped out was the report that people were walking around in parking lots taking pictures of people's cars and license plates, trying to intimidate folks to leave.
All I can say is - DON'T PUT UP WITH ANY BULLSHIT. Bring an ID to the polls, stand in line with your fellow citizens, and if you see anything that looks hinky, if people try to dissuade you from voting, or something who claims to be "with the election board" tries to get you to step out of line, tell them to get stuffed, and let the election workers know what's going on.
You have a right to vote on November 4th. Do not let ANYONE take it away from you.
And may the best candidates win!
posted by J. Edward Tremlett at 7:57 AM
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