Roll of the Iron Fist election

[NikFu S.]

Real title: The GOP aims to deny voting rights to African Americans.
http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/18810

I didn't create this post, I stoled it from here.

The chairman of the Republican Party in Macomb County Michigan, a key swing county in a key swing state, is planning to use a list of foreclosed homes to block people from voting in the upcoming election as part of the state GOP's effort to challenge some voters on Election Day.

'We will have a list of foreclosed homes and will make sure people aren't voting from those addresses,' party chairman James Carabelli told Michigan Messenger in a telephone interview earlier this week. He said the local party wanted to make sure that proper electoral procedures were followed.

State election rules allow parties to assign 'election challengers' to polls to monitor the election. In addition to observing the poll workers, these volunteers can challenge the eligibility of any voter provided they 'have a good reason to believe' that the person is not eligible to vote. One allowable reason is that the person is not a 'true resident of the city or township.'

The Macomb County party's plans to challenge voters who have defaulted on their house payments is likely to disproportionately affect African-Americans who are overwhelmingly Democratic voters. More than 60 percent of all sub-prime loans - the most likely kind of loan to go into default - were made to African-Americans in Michigan, according to a report issued last year by the state's Department of Labor and Economic Growth.

Challenges to would-be voters

Statewide, the Republican Party is gearing up for a comprehensive voter challenge campaign, according to Denise Graves, party chair for Republicans in Genessee County, which encompasses Flint. The party is creating a spreadsheet of election challenger volunteers and expects to coordinate a training with the regional McCain campaign, Graves said in an interview with Michigan Messenger.

Joe Rozell, director of elections for Oakland County in suburban Detroit, acknowledged that challenges such as those described by Carabelli are allowed by law but said they have the potential to create long lines and disrupt the voting process. With 890,000 potential voters closely divided between Democratic and Republican, Oakland County is a key swing county of this swing state.

According to voter challenge directives handed down by Republican Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land, voter challenges need only be 'based on information obtained through a reliable source or means.'

'But poll workers are not allowed to ask the reason' for the challenges, Rozell said. In other words, Republican vote challengers are free to use foreclosure lists as a basis for disqualifying otherwise eligible voters.

Commence argumentation,

or if you're lazy, read the other forum's argument. I don't care.

--
Oh, and before the insults fly, let's not forget I do consider myself Republican, be it of the realist pro-choice variety.

[sicksubie]

I didn't go onto the link, but here is a question. Will these "challengers" have a list of who is registered under what party, be it democrat, republican, or other? That way if someone comes up to vote and they are on the list of foreclosed homes but are registered as a Republican the "challengers" are not going to say anything. If that is the case, then it is totally wrong. If it is equal opportunity voting discrimination then why not (I kid)?

[NikFu S.]

Good question. I haven't read the full article yet either. I might do that later.

I'm going to take a guess though and say no, the challengers won't have it listed, but it is pretty much guaranteed the people affected will vote for Obama for one of two reasons.

1) They consider themselves Democrats.
2) They are black.


IBthat'sracist. Shut up. I used to live in the area.

[sicksubie]

That is not racist at all. The fact that a portion (note that I did not say all) of blacks are voting for obama because he is black, now THAT is racist. Kinda like the women that were Hillary supporters that are now McCain supporters because of Palin. We all know how much those two had in common '

[RSVX]

So long as they enforce it in a way that denies both republican and democrat, I have no issue.

If you aren't a resident, you don't vote in that district, period.

The fact that the majority of foreclosures happened to blacks is circumstantial.

[Landshark]

its a good thing the Democrats will give anybody voting rights, even the deceased.

[sicksubie]

Originally Posted by Landshark

its a good thing the Democrats will give anybody voting rights, even the deceased.

A la Louisiana....

[lhopp77]

Originally Posted by RSVX

So long as they enforce it in a way that denies both republican and democrat, I have no issue.

If you aren't a resident, you don't vote in that district, period.

The fact that the majority of foreclosures happened to blacks is circumstantial.

+1 what he said.

Lee