This isn't news; that's always been my assumption. Is there anything that can be done to prevent or minimize said tampering, or is it really too late?

In other news, Ohio's solicitor general, the guy who represented the Ohio Secretary of State and wrote the argument, is one of my best friends. Sweet!

The bigger danger is turning this into a news story and therby creating the political will to pass a new 'Voter Rights' bill that bypasses all these shenanigans. If the 'fix' is in I expect it more in down ballot races where there is much less chance of exposure.

The GOP lost in 2006 and they lost in 92/96. They may be evil but they are not invincible.

I hate when I'm right about this stuff.

"Sounds suspicious—unless you know that groups like ACORN are required by law to submit them, even if they’re obvious fakes. This is to prevent funny business, such as trashing forms that look like they might be Republican (or Democratic, as the case may be)."

So, election officials are NOW somehow doing something sinister by rejecting "obvious fakes?" and "prevent[ing] funny business?" Why don't we open it up to the floor? It might be interesting to hear from a SLOG reader who had a registration thrown out, along with the proffered reason.

It might be interesting to hear from a SLOG reader who had a registration thrown out, along with the proffered reason.

I think the idea is that the people being thrown off the rolls aren't being informed of this, so they won't find out until Election Day, when it will be too late. Waiting until after the election has been stolen hasn't worked out so well the last couple of times.

And you seem to be overlooking that purging the rolls of millions of voters goes beyond rejecting "obvious fakes." That's the point that's being made here. It is beyond fishy when a handful of bogus registrations that were flagged by ACORN (supposedly the culprit in this imaginary voter fraud epidemic Republicans are pretending exists) are being used as justification for disenfranchising legitimately registered voters.

I had family members living in Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004 who were quite clear about systematic voter disenfranchisement there and their first-person accounts match well with investigative pieces by the likes of Palast. There is nothing beyond the pale or especially paranoid about eying the current round of voter caging with suspicion. It's called paying attention.

Of course you would love that, and we can go back to only allowing white men to vote. Thanks for making your true intentions and character known to all.

I'm not at all sure what you're talking about. I've never owned property in my life and neither have most of my friends, but we've never had trouble voting.

My absentee ballot application was rejected...because my signature didn't match.

So I found this out at about 5:30 yesterday, and I had services all day, so during a break I ran back to the office and called...

Woman: "So your signature now, I can make out...an H, a B, and an L. And then your middle initial, R, and then...an L and a check mark."

Me: "Sounds like my signature!"

Woman: "Yeah, your signature on file, it was...readable. If you don't want your ballot rejected, you're going to have to write your signature with all the letters visible -- "

Me: "Like a real person?"

Woman: "Yes. Like a real person."

My ballot application as rejected...because my handwriting sucks.

(I am reapplying for the absentee ballot. I'm already registered, so that's okay. If worst case scenario happens, I'll drive down to NJ on election day.)

1) Obtain names, addresses, and political affiliations of all registered voters (which ballot you voted in the primary is a matter of public record)

2) Weed out those who voted republican in the last primary

3) Send out campaign literature, "address correction requested" to the remaining names and addresses

4) Wait for a bunch to come back undelivered.

5) Show up at the precinct on voting day to challenge the voters identified in Step 4.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/54360.html

Anybody else hear about it?

And @19: To just take umbrage with one of your points, I guess you assume that all landlords are saints that feel some moral obligation to help those who live in/occupy their buildings. Otherwise, I don't know how they wouldn't wind up passing on the cost of property taxes to occupants. Funny, my landlord loves to increase my rent every year on that basis.

Maybe I'm one of the unlucky ones.

Na, don't buy it.

dp

They've started accepting it anew though since I got a new driver's license. It freaked me out because the same signature BS happened to a few of my friends.

"The Seattle-area ACORN office has received vulgar and angry calls from people upset by its role in registering 1.3 million mostly poor and minority Americans nationwide to vote, but police say a break-in at the group's Burien offices was not politically motivated." http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/otherlocalelectionstories/2008281292_localacorn18m.html