2000 all over again?

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Cross posted from Rational Resistance. http://rationalresistance.blog…

It wasn’t possible in 2008, but it appears that the Republicans are trying to steal Florida again.

 It’s mainly being reported at the Huffington Post: hundreds of people waiting on line for early voting, spending hours before they can get in, and in one case even having their cars towed away.

 The chaos is the direct result of new laws enacted by the Republican legislature to curtail early voting, and when the crowds that appeared were too large to be accommodated, did Medicare defrauder Rick Scott extend the hours? Just the opposite:

Miami-Dade attempted to deal with the problem on Sunday by allowing voters to cast absentee ballots in person between 1:00 and 5:00 p.m. However, after just two hours, the Miami-Dade elections department shut down the location after too many people showed up. People outside the locked doors were reportedly screaming, “We want to vote!”

 There is no mistake here. What is happening is, once again, a deliberate effort to suppress the Democratic vote and give Florida’s electoral votes to Romney.

 Which makes Frank Bruni’s column in Sunday’s Times particularly ironic. Bruni calls for amity following the election, a hope that bipartisanship will reign.

 

There’s an opportunity here, as we hit the reset button, for Obama to begin a second term by lavishing his attention on areas of general bipartisan agreement or for Romney to begin a first term with a focus on that same territory.

Then, predictably, Bruni descends into the MSM’s favorite rhetorical construct: the false equivalence.



The Obama and Romney campaigns have already signaled that they’ll be sending lawyers, thousands of them, to polling places on Tuesday to gather information for possible legal challenges to the results, should the campaigns feel that there’s some justification for challenges and – perhaps just as important – some way to sway the outcome. They’re poised, in other words, to reject the integrity of the tally.

 What’s happening in Florida is proof that we need to send lawyers to challenged states, and to bring in international monitors, not to file challenges after the election is over, but to bring lawsuits while the election is going on, and before the Republicans have the chance to steal it.

 I surely hope for a legitimate Presidency, but the Republicans are doing everything they can to prevent it.

6 thoughts on “2000 all over again?”

  1. I read that Huff Post piece last night and got pretty alarmed.  Scott is playing with fire down there.

    It’s the last ditch hubris of white supremacist America.  It reminds me of some of the stuff in Johannesburg just before Apartheid fell.

    Shameful.

  2. Counter the unpatriotic bullying of the Republican vote suppression machine! Canvass or make phone calls to Swing States to re-elect President Obama.

    The Burlington Obama for America Office can let you know what opportunities are available in your part of Vermont:  802-952-8732

    Make calls from home: https://my.barackobama.com/pag…

    Canvasses are going to New Hampshire.

    If Al Gore had won New Hampshire in 2000, the world would be a different place!

    Join me in volunteering to win this thing.

  3. Rachel Maddow had a rare Sunday night show last night to keep following the election end-game. In it she featured the Florida GOP’s vote-suppression efforts.

    Maddow Show blogger Steve Benen documented the piece. It’s well worth a read.

    The kicker, from Rachel Maddow:

    “If you are one of those people being forced to stand in those long lines tonight or tomorrow or on Election Day, honestly, your country needs you to do it. Your country needs you to do it, not only because it’s your civic responsibility, but also because there are people trying to profit politically off of you not doing it.” [emphasis added]

    NanuqFC

    In a Time of Universal Deceit, TELLING the TRUTH Is a Revolutionary Act. ~ George Orwell  

  4. There will be lawyers at as many polling places as possible in the most problematic states.

    In each state, protection volunteers will help people at the various polling locations. There will be a whole raft of people in each state staffing an office the poll volunteers can call. We’ll resolve the easy issues on the spot, triaging tougher issues and finding resolutions.

    If triage shows the kind of problem that needs legal help, and there is NOT a pair of lawyers at that voter’s location, one will be sent. If there is a lawyer, the voter will be connected to that person. In almost as many polling places as possible, the lawyers will work in pairs, taking turns both inside and outside the building to ensure voters are not being harassed or intimidated.

    In many places, other volunteers will speak with voters in line to verify that the voter is in the right location – so they can get misdirected voters to the correct polling location before they stand in line for hours.

    And that’s just OFA.

    There is also a hotline provided by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law:



    1-866-OUR-VOTE

    People can call if they see or experience any issues, including insanely long lines, broken voting machines, or intimidation/harassment.

    They have a mobile app, and a web site chock-full of info: http://www.866ourvote.org/

    And finally, the UN is sending observers, but they’ll have little ability to do anything:

    http://www.scribd.com/doc/1108…

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