John McCain's Republican "Country First" - lose your house, lose your vote

Michigan Republicans plan to foreclose African-American voters

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 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 Michigan Republicans’ planned use of foreclosure lists is apparently an attempt to challenge ineligible voters as not being “true residents.”

One expert questioned the legality of the tactic.

“You can’t challenge people without a factual basis for doing so,” said J. Gerald Hebert, a former voting rights litigator for the U.S. Justice Department who now runs the Campaign Legal Center, a Washington D.C.-based public-interest law firm. “I don’t think a foreclosure notice is sufficient basis for a challenge, because people often remain in their homes after foreclosure begins and sometimes are able to negotiate and refinance.”

click the link above for the full story.


Republican's change their minds - find new tactics to suppress voting

The Macomb County Republican Party chair who told Michigan Messenger earlier this week that Republicans planned to challenge voters at the polls using a list of foreclosed homes has changed his story.

James Carabelli now says the party has “no plans to do anything,” according to a story in the Macomb Daily.

Reports of the plan for foreclosure-based challenges have spurred outrage and the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) planned a demonstration today at the Macomb County Republican headquarters.

Eric Doster is former counsel for the Michigan Republican Party and a lawyer who plans to represent GOP election challengers on Election Day.

Doster returned a call Wednesday afternoon and in a 30-minute conversation told Michigan Messenger that while he is unfamiliar with plans to use foreclosure lists to challenge voters, he does expect party volunteers to challenge voters in other ways.

When asked whether Michigan Republicans plan to create a challenge list based on returned direct mail, a practice known as “vote caging,” Doster replied, “I think so. I know this has been done in years past … both parties may be doing this.”

Doster said that the party’s deputy political director, Kelly Harrigan, would have more information about the challenge lists. Harrigan did not respond to a call from Michigan Messenger.

“Voter caging” is controversial because it can be used to target certain groups of voters. Some say that a piece of returned mail should not be enough to challenge a person’s claim of residency.

Last week Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner acknowledged that the use of mail for vote caging has disproportionately affected poor and minority communities and she instructed that returned mail should not be considered reasonable evidence that someone has moved.

Michigan voter foreclosure lawsuit settled

By Ed Brayton 10/20/08 11:17 AM

On the day the judge was to hear arguments in the Barack Obama campaign’s lawsuit against the Republican National Committee, the Michigan Republican Party and the Macomb County Republican Party over alleged plans to use foreclosure lists to challenge Michigan voters at the polls on election day, the parties agreed to dismiss the case and issue a joint statement to reassure voters that such challenges will not occur.

Here is the statement they released in full:

“Obama for America, the Democratic National Committee and individual Macomb County residents have alleged that the Republican National Committee, the Michigan Republican Party and the Macomb County Republican Party were planning to use foreclosure lists to challenge certain voters on Election Day. The Republicans have denied the allegations and have stated that they never intended to challenge voters based on any such list. To clarify the matter for all voters, all parties are pleased that they agree that the existence of a person’s address on a foreclosure list does not provide a reasonable basis for challenging the person’s eligibility to vote and that none of these parties will challenge any voter’s eligibility on that basis.”

The Michigan Messenger will have much more on this as the story develops.

more on the story

Both sides agreed to dismiss the case with prejudice, which means it cannot be re-filed.

But not everyone is convinced that this is the end of the story.

For an earlier story about this lawsuit, Gerry Hebert, executive director of the voter rights advocacy group Campaign Legal Center, told the Michigan Messenger that he was concerned that the GOP could continue to use foreclosure lists to challenge voters by folding them into a larger voter challenge list that does not make explicit the basis for the challenge. Hebert:

“It’s true that using the foreclosure lists may be radioactive and they may have decided not to do that explicitly, but they may still be planning to do a massive challenge and incorporate the names and addresses from the foreclosure list into that program and use the larger list to challenge voters.”

Mary Ellen Gurewitz, the attorney for the Obama campaign and the DNC who handled the case, told the Michigan Messenger that the law does technically allow for such a possibility, but she doesn’t think the GOP would attempt to do this now because of the settlement in this case:

“The Michigan statute does not require people who are challenging to provide to the elections inspector the source of the information which they use to base their challenges on. Under the Michigan statute, however, it is a misdemeanor to make a challenge that is not a good faith challenge and they have acknowledged publicly and in sworn statements that this does not provide a good reason to challenge a person. So I think if they challenged a person on this basis, it would be a crime. They’ve committed themselves not to do so and they’ve said in their sworn statements that they won’t do so, so I think it would be really problematic for them to use foreclosure lists given the posture in this case and the statements they’ve made publicly and under oath.”

Both parties tried to spin the settlement as favorable to their position. The Michigan Democratic Party put out a press release saying, “The settlement acknowledges the existence of an illegal scheme by the Republicans to use mortgage foreclosure lists to deny foreclosure victims their right to vote.”

In fact, the joint statement explicitly says that the Republicans continue to deny the allegations that they ever had such a scheme.

Saul Anuzis, chairman of the Michigan Republican Party, had a different take in a press release about the settlement:

“Let’s be perfectly clear: The plaintiffs who brought this baseless lawsuit have agreed to ask a judge to dismiss it. Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Mark Brewer either is ignorant of the terms of the agreement to dismiss or he’s flat-out lying. The Michigan Republican Party only agreed to the truth: There was never a plan to use foreclosure lists, there is no plan to use foreclosure lists, there is not going to be a plan to use foreclosure lists … The joint statement by all parties states what has been the truth since day one: There is no plan to use foreclosure lists to challenge voters, there never has been one, nor will there be.”

In an interview with the Michigan Messenger, Brewer stood by his original statement:

“Why would they agree to a settlement and that statement if they never planned to do this? Why not go into court and get the judge to agree with them? They can spin it all they want, but the settlement gives us everything we wanted in our original lawsuit. I think it’s a tacit or implicit acknowledgment that the program existed, they got caught, and now they’re running away from it.”

Hebert told the Michigan Messenger that that no matter how you spin it, this settlement was a good thing for the country. “I think it’s an important development that voters in Michigan will not be challenged based on the fact that their names appeared on any foreclosure list and that that’s not a basis for doing so,” he said. “Prosecution of vote caging schemes remain at the top of the list for ensuring voter protection. It’s important that any person in any other state who plans to challenge voters because they appear on a foreclosure list should know that such plans are likely illegal and do not provide a good faith reason for challenging people’s right to vote.”

John McCain - playing in the mud - Oink Oink

John McCain's campaign is as dirty as the Liberal campaign in Canada when the Liberals put in ad on TV that said the Conservatives would put military in the streets of every city and point guns at everyone.
It was pathetic and downright dirty politics; nice to see John McCain likes to roll with the pigs too.

Woman quits job at call center over anti-Obama script

October 22, 2008

Chaylee Cole, a student at Fairmont State University, lost her part-time job in Weston last Friday after refusing to make telephone calls attacking Barack Obama.

By Paul J. Nyden
Staff writer

WESTON, W.Va. -- Chaylee Cole, a student at Fairmont State University, lost her part-time job in Weston last Friday after refusing to make telephone calls attacking Barack Obama.

McCain-Palin 2008 and the Republican National Committee were paying for the calls, according to a "work paper" handed to Cole and her co-workers at the Weston offices of 1.2.1 Direct Response, a company based in Philadelphia.

"I was working at the call center," Cole said. "We got a campaign ad talking about how Obama had been part of terrorist attacks on the Capitol, the Pentagon and a judge's home and had ties with Bill Ayers.

"Last Thursday, I told them I did not want to read it," Cole said. "They said, 'Either you read it or you go home.'

"I told them I wasn't going to read it. They made me go home without pay for the rest of the day."

The "work paper" told callers to say:

"Hello, I'm calling for John McCain and the RNC because you need to know that Barack Obama has worked closely with domestic terrorist Bill Ayers [airs], whose organization bombed the US Capitol, the Pentagon, a judge's home, and killed Americans.

"And Democrats will enact an extreme leftist agenda if they take control of Washington. Barack Obama and his Democrat allies lack the judgment to lead our country.

"This call was paid for by McCain-Palin 2008 and the Republican National Committee."

Cole said, "We were just supposed to read that message and hang up. One of my other issues working there was that someone told me it didn't matter who picked up the phone, whether it was a 5-year-old or a 95-year-old. We should read the message."

"I talked to one of our 'coaches,' which is what our supervisors were called. I said I was unhappy with the situation and I quit," she said Tuesday.

Asked about the claims about Ayers and the "extreme leftist agenda," no one from the Republican National Committee in Washington, D.C., returned telephone calls on Tuesday. Neither did Gail Gitcho, regional spokeswoman for the McCain-Palin campaign, based in Alexandria, Va.

Russell Andrews, a spokesman for 1.2.1 Direct Response, did not return several telephone calls made to his Philadelphia office on Tuesday.

1.2.1 Direct Response helps private companies and other organizations with fundraising, media coverage, advertising, marketing and publicity, according to its Web site.

That Web site reports that the company employs more than 550 people to make telephone calls, including 220 in Weston, 210 in Parkersburg, 170 in Media, Pa., and 150 in Philadelphia.

The McCain-Palin campaign has repeatedly tried to tie Ayers, now a professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago, to Obama. When Ayers was associated with Weather Underground, Obama was 8 years old.

Obama spokesman Bill Burton released a statement about Obama and Ayers reported by The Washington Post on Feb. 19.

"Sen. Obama strongly condemns the violent actions of the Weathermen group, as he does all acts of violence. But he was an 8-year-old child when Ayers and the Weathermen were active, and any attempt to connect Obama with events of almost 40 years ago is ridiculous," Burton said.

Numerous other publications - including The New York Times, Chicago Sun-Times, The New Yorker and Time magazine - have also noted that Obama and Ayers never had a close relationship.

Ballot troubles already?

Voters allege ballot trouble

More say machines changing their votes

WINFIELD - Three Putnam County voters say electronic voting machines changed their votes from Democrats to Republicans when they cast early ballots last week.
By Paul J. Nyden
Staff writer

WINFIELD - Three Putnam County voters say electronic voting machines changed their votes from Democrats to Republicans when they cast early ballots last week.

This is the second West Virginia county where voters have reported this problem. Last week, three voters in Jackson County told The Charleston Gazette their electronic vote for "Barack Obama" kept flipping to "John McCain."

In both counties, Republicans are responsible for overseeing elections. Both county clerks said the problem is isolated.

They also blamed voters for not being more careful.

"People make mistakes more than machines," said Jackson County Clerk Jeff Waybright.

Shelba Ketchum, a 69-year-old nurse retired from Thomas Memorial Hospital, described what happened Friday at the Putnam County Courthouse in Winfield.

"I pushed buttons and they all came up Republican," she said. "I hit Obama and it switched to McCain. I am really concerned about that. If McCain wins, there was something wrong with the machines.

"I asked them for a printout of my votes," Ketchum said. "But they said it was in the machine and I could not get it. I did not feel right when I left the courthouse. My son felt the same way.

"I heard from some other people; they also had trouble. But no one in there knew how to fix it," said Ketchum, who is not related to Menis Ketchum, a Democratic Supreme Court candidate.

Ketchum's son, Chris, said he had the same problem. And Bobbi Oates of Scott Depot said her vote for incumbent Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefeller was switched to GOP opponent Jay Wolfe.

"I touched the one I wanted, Rockefeller, and the machine put a checkmark on the Republican instead," Oates said of her experience Thursday.

She said she caught the mistake, called over a worker in the county clerk's office and was able to correct her vote. But she worries other voters may not catch such a mistake.

When asked if she is sure she touched the box for Rockefeller, she said, "I'm absolutely positive."

Putnam County Clerk Brian Wood said on Saturday that he is upset there are "so many negative stories out there and not enough positive ones. We want people to vote. People need to know the facts.

"But we haven't had any major issues. We try to explain to voters how the machines work when they come in," Wood said.

In Putnam County, early voters have the option of asking for either touch-screen machines or optical-scan ballots - paper ballots on which people mark their election choices.

Wood said some voters might not realize that touch-screen voting machines may take a few seconds to record their choices.

"The reaction time [on the machines] may be different. And when you hit the screen a second time, it cancels your vote," Wood said. "When you get in a hurry, if you go too fast and hit it again, you can cancel what you just did.

"The main thing people need to remember is that when you are done voting, make sure everybody you wanted to vote for has a check mark beside them," Wood said.

Ketchum said, "I am educated person. I know what I wanted. I am anxious to see who wins.

Jackson County Clerk Jeff Waybright, a Republican, said 400 other people voted without reporting any problems.

Wood said he and Waybright are both very careful to guarantee people's votes are recorded properly.

Wood said, "Voting machines are very reliable. I hate the fact that stories like this are printed. It makes everybody get scared.

"That is not good for anybody. Where the fault is, I don't know and the voter doesn't know. There needs to be good communication between the voters and the poll workers."

Wood offered this advice to voters: "The best way to solve this whole problem is that before you leave the voting booth, make sure on the review screen that everybody you want to vote for is checked."

More than 1,000 voters from 48 local precincts in Putnam County cast early ballots in the past three days, Wood said. Putnam County has 36,000 registered voters.

We've all experienced some touch screen issues at airports and other service locations. Sometimes they don't register the touch correctly but when it comes to elections, wouldn't it be prudent to have machines that work correctly every time and prints a receipt of your vote for verification.

Republicans - rigging elections

The hypocrisy of the Republicans accusing the Democratic party of pandering to poor and homeless people for votes(through ACORN) is appalling considering the illegal games they play. I should like the Republicans based on their conservative views but this party has shifted so far to the fanatical right side; it's darn right scary. It's no wonder that Republicans that fall into the middle of the political spectrum have shifted sides. It's time for the Republican Party to take a political beating. They need a serious house cleaning. The Republicans have sunken into the tar pits and it seems like they want to go further down into hell.

How to rig an election - an Ex-GOP operative.

Allen Raymond is living proof that political dirty tricksters do exist. The former Republican political operative went to federal prison after he pleaded guilty to charges of phone harassment. He jammed the phone lines of New Hampshire's Democratic Party on Election Day six years ago.

"The concept was to disrupt lines of communication. That's a fancy way of saying, 'make it so the phones didn't work,' " Raymond said recently. "No calls going out. No calls going in."

We're not going to give away exactly how Raymond did it. According to federal prosecutors, two top Republican Party officials tapped Raymond's Virginia-based telemarketing firm for the operation. Raymond then contracted out the job to a private phone bank in Idaho.

Former New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairwoman Kathy Sullivan remembers the ensuing flood of hang-up calls that created havoc in her office.

The operation also jammed the lines inside a firefighters union hall in Manchester, New Hampshire, where Jeff Duval and other local firefighters were lining up car rides to help senior citizens get to the polls.

"It almost felt to me like an election might have been stolen," Duval said. "I know for a fact that we received calls a few days later from people saying 'we tried to call you.' And I say 'did you get out and vote?' And they said 'no.'
Looking back, Raymond said, he thinks the scheme was ingenious in an "evil genius sort of way."

In his book, "How to Rig an Election: Confessions of a Republican Operative," Raymond details how he got caught. An hour and a half into the jamming operation he received an e-mail from a Republican official, frantically telling him to shut down the calls. The e-mail read: "Chairman wishes not to proceed with this project ... insists it violates federal law."

Federal agents eventually paid a visit to Raymond's office.

Raymond decided to come clean about his role in the operation and cooperate with investigators.
One of Raymond's alleged co-conspirators, James Tobin, was a top official with the National Republican Senatorial Committee that year. He went on to serve as George W. Bush's Northeastern regional re-election chairman in 2004. Tobin was initially convicted. But he succeeded in having that decision overturned by an appellate court. Just last week, Tobin was again indicted in the case on two counts of making false statements to a federal agent. His lawyer had no comment.

Another co-conspirator and former chairman of New Hampshire's Republican Party, Charles McGee, pleaded guilty to phone harassment in the case and served seven months in prison.

California Republican Arrested for Voter Fraud

SACRAMENTO -- Dozens of newly minted Republican voters say they were duped into joining the party by a GOP contractor with a trail of fraud complaints stretching across the country.

Voters contacted by The Times said they were tricked into switching parties while signing what they believed were petitions for tougher penalties against child molesters. Some said they were told that they had to become Republicans to sign the petition, contrary to California initiative law. Others had no idea their registration was being changed.
I am not a Republican," insisted Karen Ashcraft, 47, a pet-clinic manager and former Democrat from Ventura who said she was duped by a signature gatherer into joining the GOP. "I certainly . . . won't sign anything in front of a grocery store ever again."

It is a bait-and-switch scheme familiar to election experts. The firm hired by the California Republican Party -- a small company called Young Political Majors, or YPM, which operates in several states -- has been accused of using the tactic across the country.

Election officials and lawmakers have launched investigations into the activities of YPM workers in Florida and Massachusetts. In Arizona, the firm was recently a defendant in a civil rights lawsuit. Prosecutors in Los Angeles and Ventura counties say they are investigating complaints about the company.

The firm, which a Republican Party spokesman said is paid $7 to $12 for each registration it secures, has denied any wrongdoing and says it has never been charged with a crime.

The 70,000 voters YPM has registered for the Republican Party this year will help combat the public perception that it is struggling amid Democratic gains nationally, give a boost to fundraising efforts and bolster member support for party leaders, political strategists from both parties say.

Those who were formerly Democrats may stop receiving phone calls and literature from that party, perhaps affecting its get-out-the-vote efforts. They also will be given only a Republican ballot in the next primary election if they do not switch their registration back before then.

Some also report having their registration status changed to absentee without their permission; if they show up at the polls without a ballot they may be unable to vote.

The Times randomly interviewed 46 of the hundreds of voters whose election records show they were recently re-registered as Republicans by YPM, and 37 of them -- more than 80% -- said that they were misled into making the change or that it was done without their knowledge.

Lydia Laws, a Palm Springs retiree, said she was angry to find recently that her registration had been switched from Democrat to Republican.

Laws said the YPM staffer who instructed her to identify herself on a petition as a Republican assured her that it was a formality, and that her registration would not be changed. Later, a card showed up in the mail saying she had joined the GOP.

"I said, 'No, no, no. That's not right,' " Laws said.

It all sounds familiar to Beverly Hill, a Democrat and the former election supervisor in Florida's Alachua County. About 200 voters -- mostly college students -- were unwittingly registered as Republicans there in 2004 by YPM staffers using the same tactic, Hill said.

"It is just incredible that this can keep happening election after election," she said.

The Republicans accuse the Democrats of using ACORN for voter fraud. There will always be over zealous members of the public that support their parties and break the rules. The main difference, big difference, is the Republican National Committee PAYS people to do it.