Someone in Seattle is interfering with the election in Florida!?
Registered Republicans in at least 14 Florida counties have received mailings questioning their citizenship and voter registration. The letter purports to be from the local election official - the election supervisor in most cases - but does not contain their official seal. And the envelope has no return address and is postmarked in Seattle. Also it is mailed with a 45-cent stamp, which a government office would not do on a mass mailing.
Much has been made of efforts to suppress the vote in recent months, but this effort is most disturbing. First, it is clearly well-funded and widespread as evidenced by the sheer number of counties and individuals involved, as well as the use of stamps. Second, the effort is targeting a crucial swing state that has been at the center of recent close elections and had elections called into question in the past. Third, the research necessary to conduct such an operation and the money needed to fund the research and stamps to send these letters from Seattle to Florida are enormous.
This is not a small effort -- it is, in fact, a very calculated and detailed effort needing money, knowledge, technology and a motive to influence the outcome on a grand scale.
So? The letter doesn't "steal" the voter's vote. But it tells them they are not eligible - to convincer them not to vote. To suppress the votes of Republicans in the swing state of Florida. And it is a massive effort - fourteen counties!
Who is doing it? Is the effort really based here or are they just dropping their mailings here?
If the GOP gets into power in the Exec. Branch, how will they prosecute future voter fraud ? Could there ever be a bipartisan Voter ID law enacted ?
Posted by: KDS on October 26, 2012 10:23 PMFUSE Washington (of King County)
Posted by: cryptometaphor on October 27, 2012 04:43 AMIf you are referring to leftist trolls, I doubt anyone misses them, although their mindless stupidity can be entertaining at times. Nah....forget I said that.
Posted by: Saltherring on October 27, 2012 08:55 AMThis just in.Posted by: MikeBoyScout on October 27, 2012 09:05 AM
Democrats agree with Republicans that the letters sent primarily -- but not entirely -- to Republican voters in at least 28 Florida counties is a bad thing.
Republicans can relax. Earlier today, they put out a release condeming the letters, which started arriving Friday in envelopes with Seattle, Wash. postmarks.
"This type of activity is not only disgusting, it is criminal, and must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law," said Lenny Curry, chairman of the Republican Party of Florida in the release. "I call on Florida Democrats to join me in condemning this false letter writing campaign that appears to target likely voters in Florida, and help RPOF get the word out about this false campaign."
Sure enough, the Democrats agreed.
"We join with the RPOF in condemning this voter suppression activity from an unknown source out of state," said Scott Arceneaux, executive director of the Florida Democratic Party. "Furthermore, we hope the involvement of the FBI and state law enforcement officials will put a stop to this activity so it comes to an immediate conclusion."
Although some Democrats and voters with no party affiliation have received the letters (in Pinellas, of the eight who received the letters, only four were Republican) state elections officials say that the vast majority of the recipients so far have been Republican, frequent voters, and in some cases, prominent.
How prominent? Former U.S. Ambassador John Rood received one. So has Jacksonville City Council President Bill Bishop. And, amazingly enough, so has Curry himself.
Clearly the intent of the letter is to intimidate the recipient from voting. The letters are written to make it look like they came from the recipient's local supervisor of elections office. They are instructed that their citizenship has recently been called into question. The letters inform recipients they have 15 days to fill out a voter eligibility form and return it to the county elections office. If they don't, they'll be removed from the voter rolls. If they vote and they aren't registered, the letter warns that spending time in jail is possible.
If voter intimidation is the aim, why, then, would the letters be sent to voters like Curry and Rood who clearly know they are registered to vote?
Perhaps that's what investigations by the FBI and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement will find out. Stay tuned.
Too many in swing states have discovered that Hope and Change is a dud, and so Leftists are scrambling.
Posted by: Jeff B. on October 27, 2012 11:58 AMHopefully next month when their benefactor is sent back to wherever he came from the lazy left will be forced to look for honest work. We cannot afford to pay them a trillion (borrowed) dollars a year to sit on their a$$e$.
Posted by: Saltherring on October 27, 2012 01:03 PM
Smells like voter fraud by Democrats in Ohio
http://www.chicagoelections.com/page.php?id=68
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/25/obama-votes-early-shows-id_n_2019505.html
This may only be a Chicago law as I couldn't find anything about required voter id when I searched at the Illinois State Board of Elections website.
Posted by: It Takes a Village to Convene a Grand Jury on October 27, 2012 02:47 PMTAMPA, Fla. - The FBI is joining an investigation into bogus letters sent from Seattle to many Florida voters that raise questions about their eligibility to cast ballots. Tampa FBI chief Steven E. Ibison said Wednesday the FBI will focus on letters received by voters in 18 counties in central and southwest Florida. State authorities have received reports of letters in at least 23 counties. The letters claim to be from county supervisors of elections but were all postmarked from Seattle. They raise questions about the voter's citizenship and appear intended to intimidate people.Posted by: MikeBoyScout on October 27, 2012 03:44 PM
Do I know the answer? Nope.
But I do know vote by mail encourages fraud.
I do know touch screen voting has problems substituting candidates names.
I do know chads hang.
I do know motor voter registration, last minute registration and welfare registration leads to fraud and, worse, lying about eligibility and intent to vote to get the welfare.
It's time we all get off our collective lazy butts, sharpen our pencils and check in down at our local polling places and vote the way voting was meant to be.
If you care enough to vote, if you care enough for your country and the consequences of your vote, you should feel privileged and grateful to have to put a bit of effort into it. It's time the privilege to vote means something again.
Posted by: RagnarDanneskold on October 27, 2012 05:50 PMWith this evidence in hand, one might ask why Democrats would try to suppress the vote. I also noticed that you did not mention that Democrats received the mailings as well.
My next step is to determine if the areas where the mailings were sent were primarily Republicanist or Democratic.
Posted by: red hiney monkey on October 28, 2012 08:05 AMThat's probably because they're so busy filling out ballots for illegal aliens, double-voting college students, convicted felons and the dead.
Posted by: Saltherring on October 28, 2012 01:10 PMmethinks they are awaiting new talking points so they can blame this all on the VRWC, ala Hillary and Bubba circa 1996.
Posted by: FurryGuy on October 28, 2012 01:37 PMIn 2005, King County was rated as the 3rd most corrupt county for voting in America after the 2004 election. It may have improved, but a measure of improvement will be if Rob McKenna is our next governor. If that occurs, then King County voter integrity will have noticeably improved since 2004.
As an educator, you deal with the WEA and the Union thugs and tow their line. You deal with the facts like Obama does -by being a provaricator. You gave us a big LAUGH there...
Posted by: KDS on October 29, 2012 12:18 PMThe DNC won't make the same mistakes in Floriduh that they made during Gore/Bush. I wouldn't be surprised at all if the same destroyers of Democracy were at work from here. It all makes perfectly good sense to me. When you need the best, get the best and that means a phone call to Seattle when votes need to be fabricated and "lost".
Posted by: Oscarphone on October 29, 2012 05:11 PM"According to the latest Rasmussen state polls, Mitt Romney is in position to win the presidency; he should win at least 279 electoral votes. Romney leads in Florida, Ohio, Virginia, Colorado, and New Hampshire; Obama leads in Nevada. Wisconsin and Iowa are tied. Were Romney to win both Wisconsin and Iowa, he'd secure another 16 electoral votes, putting him at 295 electoral votes. By way of contrast, George W. Bush won 286 electoral votes in 2004."
Posted by: KDS on October 29, 2012 06:12 PM