This is a twofer for the Republicans. Not only do they get to disqualify liberal voters, but they get to discourage people from signing petitions about medical marijuana.

The following is from a BBC documentary on efforts to disenfanchise voters. [Video here]

GREG PALAST: Back in Tallahassee, another election scam surfaced which could sabotage thousands of voter registrations. It targeted students with liberal views. Election supervisor Ion Sancho discovered the scam struck close to home.

ION SANCHO: This, for example, is a copy of my step-daughter's voter registration from Orlando; and it is clear that her own handwriting filled in blocks two through fifteen. Apparently, a petition form was placed over the top of a voter registration form. It purported to tell the citizen they were signing a petition to legalize medical marijuana. The citizen filled it in, thinking that's what they were doing, and then after the voter had left, the individual fraudulently filled out lines one, the party change, making them a Republican now, and then fraudulently signed it, and then turned the application over to the election administrator. This form changed the voter's registration from Tallahassee to Orlando. And if this voter had not known me, and turned this information over to me, she may have been -- she may have been disenfranchised when she attempted to vote.

GREG PALAST: Is it a crime to misregister someone in that way?

ION SANCHO: It is a third degree felony to do this. It is an illegal act.

GREG PALAST: And the Republicans now admit it was their operatives who collected these thousands of suspect registrations, though the party denies it committed fraud. Civil rights experts in Washington fear the threat to a free and fair election is severe, and unprecedented. Ralph Neas is commander-in-chief of an army of 6,000 lawyers who will take up battle stations on election day, to protect voters from dirty tricks.

Nor is this scam just going on in Florida. The report below doesn't mention it, but if you're an already registered voter, my guess is that you probably would have been disqualified by this second registration:

A suspected scheme to register Republican voters surfaces at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Students thought they were signing a petition to legalize marijuana for medical use, but it turns out dozens of students at IUP were unknowingly registering to be Republicans.

The voter registration office said they've received about 20 complaints from students who claim they did not realize they were signing voter registration forms.

Those who didn't choose an affiliation were marked Republican by the petitioners.

Monday, university officials said they are investigating the scheme and are warning all students to be careful when signing any petitions or documents.

Ennis posted this on October 30, 2004
It is filed under National News

It is also indexed with the following tags: 2004 Election | Disenfranchisement | Dirty Tricks |