The big, loud battles this Presidential election may be on debate stages, in ad campaigns, and on the trail. Yet, the decisive raids and scuffles seem to be at the precinct, county and state levels. These tactics, tricks and even scams may be determine who sits in that Oval Office.
Right now:
- The GOP and John McCain specifically repeatedly accuse Barack Obama of letting ACORN perpetuate massive voter-registration fraud.
- GOP-contracted operatives Young Political Majors (YPM) have been caught slamming registering voters-to-be in several states, including California. (This deserves a whole separate post for this complex issue.)
- The heavy weapon is the most insidious — voter suppression. In parts of Ohio and other states with minority, poor and other Dem-leaning voters, GOP operatives challenging large numbers of voters at such polling places slow down the process, driving many Obama-favorable voters away before they can cast ballots.
Thus, the multifront assault involves first a smoke screen trying to put Dems on the defensive and possibility distracting from the Republican tricks and techniques. The claims now are that the 1.3 million-plus voters from Acorn's effort are filled with fake voters.
The strongest impact so far has been in pivotal Ohio. There, GOP claims have led to court-mandated verification of several hundred thousand new voters with only three weeks to go. The GOP can claim it is only trying to keep things honest when the obvious effect is to try to disenfranchise new voters, who tend to vote Democratic.
The suppression techniques may prove the most harmful and could cost one or more states and even the election. This is a relatively new version of voter suppression The more classic and illegal forms include poll taxes, literacy tests and other Jim Crow techniques.
With the per-state election rules and laws, the ability to play dirty tricks varies by locale. For example, Ohio seems to have no penalties for the current set of tactics. On the other hand, California is well covered in several ways.
First, the slamming techniques are illegal there. That is if YPM voter registration teams do any of a number of things, there are criminal penalties including fines and jail. Dems charge that YPM folk have:
- Presented a petition to protect children from pedophiles
- Asked for a second signature on a concealed card, which in actuality switches party registration to Republican
In California, assigning party registration without permission or tricking someone into switching are both crimes.
More important, California is ahead of the voter-suppression by challenge game by its laws.Specifically its voting law 14253 reads:
In the event that the precinct board determines that persistent challenging of voters is resulting in a delay of voting sufficient to cause voters to (forgo) voting because of insufficient time or for fear of unwarranted intimidation, the board shall discontinue all challenges, and so note on the roster.
Where such common-sense polling procedures do not exist, suppression and related disenfranchisement are much easier. This election should lead more states to add California's regulation to theirs.
Grasping at Straws
In last night's final Presidential-candidate debate, McCain tried again to claim that Obama aided ACORN in the fraud for Dems. Perhaps a bit too gently, Obama noted that he — in concert with the U.S. Justice Department — worked in training ACORN staff 13 year ago.
It's likely that only someone determined to reinforce a reason not to vote Democratic this time would hold onto McCain's tenuous links. Yet this style and level of accusation illustrated both McCain's desperation and how little he has to use against Obama. The other debate slap was that Obama sat on a community board with former Weatherman (from over 40 years ago) William Ayres, who since became a college professor who does good work for the poor.
In contrast, techniques to rob new voters and those in Dem-leaning areas are much less obvious. Given McCain's failure to increase his electability with his attacks, the voting tricks and scams seem like much more powerful weapons.