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I put mistakenly in quotations because I have already posted information on voter purging from a recent article in the NYT, so forgive me if I question this "accident". This morning's Washington post has more distrubing news that can affect the outcome of this coming Election.
Thousands Face Mix-Ups In Voter Registrations
In New Databases, Many Are Wrongly Flagged as Ineligible
By Mary Pat Flaherty
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, October 18, 2008; A01
Thousands
of voters across the country must reestablish their eligibility in the
next three weeks in order for their votes to count on Nov. 4, a result
of new state registration systems that are incorrectly rejecting them.
The
challenges have led to a dozen lawsuits, testy arguments among state
officials and escalating partisan battles. Because many voters may not
know that their names have been flagged, eligibility questions could
cause added confusion on Election Day, beyond the delays that may come
with a huge turnout.
The scramble to verify voter registrations
is happening as states switch from locally managed lists of voters to
statewide databases, a change required by federal law and hailed by
many as a more efficient and accurate way to keep lists up to date.
But
in the transition, the systems are questioning the registrations of
many voters when discrepancies surface between their registration
information and other official records, often because of errors outside
voters' control.
The issue made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which yesterday blocked a challenge to 200,000 Ohio voters whose registration data conflicted with other state records.
It
is impossible to know how many voters are affected nationwide. There
are no reports of large-scale problems in Virginia, Maryland or the
District, but the trouble is cropping up in many states.
In Alabama, scores of voters are being labeled as convicted felons on the basis of incorrect lists.
(Anyone else remember that one happening before? Florida in 2000, anyone?)
Michigan
must restore thousands of names it illegally removed from voter rolls
over residency questions, a judge ruled this week.
Tens of
thousands of voters could be affected in Wisconsin. Officials there
admit that their database is wrong one out of five times when it flags
voters, sometimes for data discrepancies as small as a middle initial
or a typo in a birth date. When the six members of the state elections
board -- all retired judges -- ran their registrations through the
system, four were incorrectly rejected because of mismatches.
As the gateway to voting, the new registration lists have become the
focus of attention from many fronts, including voting rights advocates,
officials concerned about fraud and political campaigns looking for an
advantage.
It is "this season's big
issue," said Wendy R. Weiser, who directs voting rights projects for
the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University's School of Law,
noting that efforts to keep names off the lists are "a new trend, not
in the majority of states but in the battleground states."...
More in the link provided...
I am telling you, this is what the Republicans and the GOP did
in 2004, and in 2000. They know McCain cannot win without a little
push. And it's us as voters getting pushed to make way for four more
years of the same policies.
This is what you do. Verify your ability to vote, and recheck it before you finally do go vote. And Vote Early!
You can check your ability to vote right now. Just go to www.canivote.org. Let others know this is happening to voters, and to check their status before election day.
