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History of Republican Election Fraud, Voter Suppression and Campaign Smears
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History of Republican Election Fraud, Voter Suppression and Campaign Smears
List by:
Picka
Last Updated: 10/31/2008
Evidence of Republican election fraud, voter suppression and campaign smears have been documented in every election in recent history. Election fraud includes illegal actions to remove otherwise eligible voters from registration rolls. But it also can include voter fraud, in which ineligible people actually cast votes in an election (as opposed to being illegally registered to vote). Voter suppression is an activity that seeks to exclude a group of people based on local or state restrictive voting requirements such as photo IDs, proof of citizenship and/or residency. Campaign smears are generally lies and distortions of a candidate’s voting record or platform. The Republican Party has resorted to voter suppression of minorities, students, the poor, the transient and the elderly for decades and also campaign smears as a means of winning elections.
1. 2000 Election Fraud and Voter Suppression in Florida.
George Bush won Florida in 2000 by 537 votes, and as a result the US Presidency. The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (USCCR) conducted public hearings and investigations of election fraud in Florida, concluding that "many eligible Florida voters were, in fact, denied their right to vote, with the disenfranchisement disproportionately affecting African Americans."
The USCCR concluded that "statewide, based upon county-level statistical estimates, black voters were nearly 10 times more likely than nonblack voters to have their ballots rejected."
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The USCCR estimated that "approximately 14.4% of Florida’s black voters cast ballots that were rejected. This compares with 1.6% of nonblack Florida voters who did not have their votes counted."
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Approximately 11% of Florida voters were African American; however, African Americans cast about 54% of the 180,000 spoiled ballots in Florida during the November 2000 election.
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In Miami-Dade county, more than 65% of the those purged were African Americans, who represented only 20.4% of the population.
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The USCCR noted that Florida’s overzealous efforts to purge voters from the rolls was "conducted under the guise of an anti-fraud campaign."
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Many Florida precincts were not equipped to accommodate potential voters with disabilities. As a result, individuals with disabilities were simply turned away, and therefore disenfranchised.
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The USCCR noted "the purposeful use of erroneous listings to promote the state’s purging priorities and the permanent disenfranchisement of discharged felons."
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Although Florida's secretary of state [Republican Katherine Harris] denied any responsibility for the election problems, she nevertheless used her authority to influence the outcome of the vote count.
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2. 2004 Election Fraud and Voter Suppresion
The 2004 Presidential election in Ohio was decided by 118,601 votes. An investigation headed by John Conyers, Jr., the Ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, concluded that there were massive and unprecedented voter irregularities and anomalies in the Ohio 2004 election. In many cases the intentional misconduct and illegal behavior involved Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, the co-chair of the Bush-Cheney campaign in Ohio.
Conyers reported that restrictions on provisional ballots "resulted in the disenfranchisement of tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of voters, again predominantly minority and Democratic voters."
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Mr. Blackwell’s widely reviled decision to reject voter registration applications based on "paper weight" disenfranchised thousands of newly registered voters in Democratic voter drives.
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The Ohio Republican Party engaged in preelection “caging” tactics, selectively targeting 35,000 predominantly minority voters for intimidation and negatively impacting voter turnout.
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Ohio officials illegally derailed a recount that could have given Kerry the presidency.
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One in every four Ohio citizens who registered to vote in 2004 showed up at the polls only to discover that they were not listed on the rolls, thanks to GOP efforts to disenfranchize them.
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Evidence of outright election fraud in Ohio indicates that upwards of 80,000 votes for Kerry were counted instead for Bush.
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Exit poll data in Ohio suggested a Kerry win, but in Republican strogholds official tallies showed improbable disparites as high as 9.5 %.
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Conyers reported that "the misallocation of voting machines led to unprecedented long lines that disenfranchised scores, if not hundreds of thousands, of predominantly minority and Democratic voters."
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Lou Harris, the father of modern political polling, said that "Ohio was as dirty an election as America has ever seen."
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Senator Christopher Dodd stated that "in Ohio, you had a secretary of state who was determined to guarantee a Republican outcome. I'm terribly disheartened."
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Steven Freeman, a survey expert, said "it was impossible" that the discrepancies between predicted and actual vote count in the three critical battleground states could have been due to random error.
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In 2004, Florida planned to remove 48,000 “suspected felons” from its voter rolls. Many of those identified were in fact eligible to vote.
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Overall the party investigated the eligibility of more than half a million voters across the country, challenged 74,000 of them directly on election day and had a plan in place to challenge more.
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3. 2004 Smear Campaign Against Kerry.
In addition to Bush's negative campaign ads and distortions, several 527 organizations, the most prominanet being the Swift Boaters orchestrated false campaigns meant to discredit the honor and credibility of Senator John Kerry.
The Swift Boat ads featured vets who claim Kerry "lied" to get Vietnam medals, but FactCheck.org pointed out that the claims "are contradicted by Kerry's former crewmen, and by Navy records."
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A WSJ article called the Swift Boat Veterans smear campaign against Kerry's honorabe service in Vietnam as "launched by people without decency" who are "lying" and "should hang their heads in shame"
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John McCain said "the ad is dishonest and dishonorable. As it is none of these individuals served on the boat (Kerry) commanded. Many of his crewmates have testified to his courage under fire."
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4. 2008 Election Fraud and Voter Suppression in Key Swing States.
The current Republican campaign of voter suppression consists of voter caging, intimidation, and distractions. In "caging" RNC operatives send millions of first class letters to black voters across the country marked 'do not forward.' Letters returned are then used by Republican operatives on Election Day to challenge those voters whose letters were returned to the RNC because the voter was not home to sign when the mail arrived.
Robert Kennedy revealed that RNC operatives are completing one of the "most massive voter suppression and purging efforts in American history, stealing hundreds of thousands of Democratic votes."
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In Ohio some 600,000 registered voters in 2008 have been the victims of a Republican caging campaign of having their votes thrown out because of the wrong address.
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Colorado Republican county clerk lied to Colorado College students, telling them that out of state students could not register to vote if their parents claimed them on their tax returns.
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Colorado Secretary of State Mike Coffman's illegal purges and cancellation practices apparently have removed between 16,000 and 30,000 voters from Colorado’s rolls.
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Montana's Republican lieutant governor said that "Republicans crossed the line" in attempting to remove 6,000 voters from the rolls in Democratic counties.
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In Philadelphia, flyers distributed in universities and low-income neighborhoods, incorrectly stated that voters with outstanding warrants or unpaid traffic tickets will be arrested at voting places.
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In Florida, a new law -- known as "no match, no vote" -- says you need identification at the polls that matches a state or federal database or you will be denied regular voting.
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In Mississippi, an election official wrongly purged 10,000 voters from her home computer just a week before the presidential primary.
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In Georgia, a county official purged 700 people from the voter lists, supposedly because they were ineligible to vote due to criminal convictions, but the list included citizens with no convictions.
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The registration of ineligible voters by ACORN has been called "massive voter fraud" by the Republicans, but in reality voter fraud only exists if an inelgible voter actually votes.
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5. 2008 Smears, Lies and Distortions of McCain Campaign
John McCain, Sarah Palin, noted Republicans and numerous right wing radicals have been engaging in a viscious smear campaign against Barack Obama, telling outright insidious lies and distortions that are designed to not only generate doubt but also hate and division. Obama's website, Fight the Smears (link below) provides independent reputable sources that debunk each and every one of these smears.
The McCain campaign has distorted and misrepresented Obama's association with ACORN, a group involved in voter registration drives.
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FactCheck states that McCain has "cranked out false and misleading attacks" on Obama's past association with William Ayers, a former domestic anti-Vietnam war activist and now a respected professor.
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The McCain campaign has repeatedly misrepresented Obama's postions and plans on taxes using inflamatory terms such as socialism.
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McCain's claim that Obama wants to use the constitution to redistrbute the wealth has been totally debunked by a Washington Post Fact Check article.
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Republican Sen. Susan Collins called on McCain to stop the robo calls: "These kind of tactics have no place in Maine politics. Sen. Collins urges the McCain campaign to stop these calls immediately."
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6. Valuable Websites and Articles
These are websites that provide additional information on election legalities, election fraud, and in the case of Barack Obama, a website to fight the smears against his character, his associations, his political beliefs, and his plans if elected President.
Brennan Center for Justice
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Common Cause
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Century Foundation
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VoterAction
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Fight the Smears
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FairVote
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[1]
Article: Voting Irregularities in Florida During the 2000 Presidential Election - Executive Summary
- United States Commission on Civil Rights, Friday, June 01, 2001
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Article: Preserving Democracy: What Went Wrong in Ohio
- House Judiciary Committee Democratic Staff, Wednesday, January 05, 2005
[3]
Article: None Dare Call It Stolen: Ohio, the election, and America's servile press
- Harper's Magazine, Monday, August 01, 2005
[4]
Article: Was the 2004 Election Stolen?
- Rolling Stone - Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Thursday, June 01, 2006
[5]
Article: Voter Suppression In Colorado By Republican Clerk
- The Zoo, Thursday, October 23, 2008
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Article: Colorado Secretary of State Sued for Illegal Purge of Voters
- Advancement Project, Saturday, October 25, 2008
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Article: Republicans crossed line with voter purge attempt
- Montana Standard, Sunday, October 05, 2008
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Article: Nearly 600,000 Subject to Possible Caging in Ohio
- The Zoo, Sunday, September 07, 2008
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Article: False flyers aim to intimidate voters
- The Daily Pennsylvanian, Thursday, October 09, 2008
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Article: Drinking the ACORN Kool-Aid: How Cries of Voter Fraud Cover Up GOP Elections Theft
- Huffington Post, Tuesday, October 28, 2008
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Article: Republican-funded Group Attacks Kerry's War Record
- FactCheck.org, Sunday, August 22, 2004
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Article: Another election nightmare in Florida?
- Salon.com, Friday, October 24, 2008
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Article: ACORN Accusations
- FactCheck.org, Saturday, October 18, 2008
[14]
Article: "He Lied" About Bill Ayers?
- FactCheck.org, Friday, October 10, 2008
[15]
Article: More Tax Deceptions
- FactCheck.org, Tuesday, August 12, 2008
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Article: Obama's Redistribution 'Bombshell'
- Washington Post, Monday, October 27, 2008
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Article: Protect This Election
- The Nation, Wednesday, October 22, 2008
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Article: Voter Purges
- Brennan Center for Justice, Tuesday, September 30, 2008
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Link: Brennan Center for Justice
- Wednesday, October 29, 2008
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Link: Common Cause
- Wednesday, October 29, 2008
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Link: Century Foundation
- Wednesday, October 29, 2008
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Link: Voter Action
- Thursday, October 30, 2008
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Link: Fight the Smears
- Thursday, October 30, 2008
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Article: GOP Senator Slams McCain Robo Call
- ABC News, Monday, October 27, 2008
[25]
Link: FairVote
- Friday, October 31, 2008