article tools: email | print | read more Michael Kwiatkowski
Thanks to Sarah Lane at EENR for supplying the links in this entry.
When the Supreme (Kangaroo) Court upheld an unconstitutional poll tax last week that was passed in the form of a voter suppression law in Indiana, some people (like Injustice Antonin Scalia) were quick to dismiss the horrendous effects. But as that state held its primary yesterday, reports about voters being turned away because they did not have the poll tax began coming out.
Twelve elderly nuns—NUNS, for crying out loud—were told they could not vote because they didn't have the required state or federal ID card. They are all in their eighties and nineties. Vietnam and Gulf War I veteran Russell Baughman was denied his right to vote, because his identification wasn't considered good enough.
People unable to obtain the draconian Indiana poll tax ID—nuns, veterans, the disabled, students, and poor folk—are being denied their right to vote. Denied because they cannot meet the requirements to obtain state-issued identification. Bradblog reports that in order to obtain the necessary items to get a state-issued identification card (a state-issued copy of one's birth certificate), a state-issued identification card is needed. It's a vicious and ultimately dangerous catch-22, making it impossible for the disenfranchised to meet the poll tax requirement. Bradblog also reports that at least 43,000 Indiana residents have been prevented from exercising their right to vote in this fashion.
This is what the Supremes upheld, ladies and gentlemen. Twenty states, including Ohio, have mandatory ID laws designed to suppress the votes of minorities, the elderly, students, veterans, and the poor (an economic situation that affects all the other categories of disenfranchised to one degree or another). Although the Buckeye State was able to counter this in part by allowing fewer restrictions on absentee voting, others—including Indiana—enjoy no such protections. This is what America has come to: another banana republic, another dictatorship, that suppresses the rights of its citizens and engages in sham elections.
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Liberal-Pride.org
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My Horrible Hoosier Voting Experience
I voted at Precinct 18-007 on the east side of Indianapolis yesterday, at 8 AM. After I showed my driver's license, I was told that I would have to give my driver's license number or the last 4 digits of my SS# before I could vote. The poll worker said that I was only the second voter who had to meet the additional requirement even though about 100 people had already voted. I looked at the sign in sheet. Very few voters had the additional info required. I was furious and mouthy, including saying "They hate us for our freedoms". I have lived at my present address for 29 years, and have voted regularly. I gritted my teeth and gave my driver's license number, so that I could vote.
When I got home, I called the Voter Suppression Office at 317 327 2000. I was told by the answering person that I could have voted without supplying the extra info. I told them to call me if they could explain why this happened. I have not heard from them.
Robert Van Buskirk 317 359 6907
Also Rush/McCain voters helped Hillary win a squeaker:
http://www.jedreport.com/2008/05/mccain-supporte.html
Why the NW corner of IN was last to report last night
According to this week's BlackBoxVoting.org email, thousands have been purged from Lake County's voter registration rolls. Tons of poor and blue-collar (steel mill, etc.) Dems live in and around Gary.
Just east of Lake County is Porter County, site of Valparaiso and Valpo -- a church (Lutheran) affiliated U. with thousands of super-bright kids (on NASA fellowships and such) plus faculty -- many of whom are Obama Dems.
Porter County actually purged 15% more names from the voter rolls than were left on the list!
I'm guessing thousands of people were forced to submit provisional ballots -- if they were allowed to vote at all -- and that there were some handy dandy shredders overheating in a back room. (Why else not even START reporting until 2-3 HOURS after the polls closed!?)
IN also allows people to cross over, so Goddess only knows how many Reptiles switched only for the day so they could vote for the more-beatable Clinton, who won by only 2%. (I'm guessing that's why Mitt dropped out, so McCrazy would be a given and dittoheads COULD safely cross over during the primaries.)
Who knows how large Obama's win would have been if those election shenanigans, Diebold Variations, and Lush Lambaste's "chaos" campaign hadn't occurred? I'm guessing he'd have won with a margin of at least 5%.
_______Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark: "Impeachment is not a political question. It is a constitutional duty." AMEN!
Indiana’s republican
Indiana’s republican legislature reached into every billfold and purse in the state and tore up every voter’s voter registration card. Yup, a voter registration card is no longer proof that a voter is registered to vote in Indiana.