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Gothmog

(144,005 posts)
Mon Jul 18, 2016, 10:40 AM Jul 2016

U.S. Curtails Federal Election Observers

One of the consequences of the SCOTUS' gutting of the voting rights act was the restriction of the DOJ's ability to federal election monitors. This is one of the provisions that the Democrats are trying to restore and which is being block by the Congressional republicans http://fortune.com/2016/07/17/us-federal-election-observers/

Federal election observers can only be sent to five states in this year’s U.S. presidential election, among the smallest deployments since the Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965 to end racial discrimination at the ballot box.

The plan, confirmed in a U.S. Department of Justice fact sheet seen by Reuters, reflects changes brought about by the Supreme Court’s 2013 decision to strike down parts of the Act, a signature legislative achievement of the 1960s civil rights movement.

Voting rights advocates told Reuters they were concerned that the scaling-back of observers would make it harder to detect and counter efforts to intimidate or hinder voters, especially in southern states with a history of racial discrimination at the ballot box.

The Supreme Court ruling undercut a key section of the Act that requires such states to obtain U.S. approval before changing election laws. The court struck down the formula used to determine which states were affected.

In 2012 I had a good number of poll watchers out watching the True the Vote assholes who were out attempting to suppress the vote. The DOJ election monitors were in a number of precincts in my county and in those precincts, we did not have to worry about the True the Vote voter suppression efforts. The DOJ people were great in stopping the True the Vote idiots from suppressing the vote.

I fear that we will be seeing some nasty GOP voter suppression efforts in states where the DOJ will not be allowed to monitor elections.

Again the Congressional republicans are refusing to restore this right because they do not want GOP voter suppression efforts stopped. The VRA needs to be restored which is not going to happen why the GOP control congress
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Igel

(35,197 posts)
1. Fear less. Act more.
Mon Jul 18, 2016, 11:52 AM
Jul 2016

Become a poll worker. Then you get to be there and stop voter suppression.

Many states allow election observers to be on site and watch. Find out if your state or precinct allows this and if so, become an observer. Some don't allow observers. On the other hand, some states don't have anti-loitering laws and don't care if you have a chair and reading material (non-partisan) and stay out of the way.

Gothmog

(144,005 posts)
4. Both daughters and my son in law were election judges last two Texas elections
Mon Jul 18, 2016, 02:53 PM
Jul 2016

I am a volunteer with Clinton Victory Counsel Program and will be working on voter protection efforts this cycle. I have been running my county voter protection war room/voter protection hotline for the last could of election cycles.

I also have been busy training poll watchers. If I had a choice between a poll watcher (who is legally not allowed to talk to voters) and good democrat being a poll worker (either election judge or poll worker) I always vote for the democrat to volunteer as a poll worker

Mc Mike

(9,107 posts)
2. In the 2012 election, while the helpful True the Vote Mighty Texas Strike Force people
Mon Jul 18, 2016, 12:26 PM
Jul 2016

were publicly stating that they were coming to city polling places in Pittsburgh to prevent any irregularities, right wing TX repugs were making statements that threatened U.N. poll watchers whose help some TX voters had begged for, with the repugs saying that they weren't going to let any outsiders come in and interfere with the elections.

The only difference between the 2 vote monitoring groups was that nobody from the targeted low income high minority polling places in Pgh had asked for the TX repugs' help, they invited themselves to come to those polls, or claimed they were invited into the city by PA repug operatives who lived outside Pgh. While the TX voters who begged for the UN's help were asking for some oversight in their own polling places, in fear that the repugs would intimidate or muscle lawful Democratic voters to disenfrachise them.

So they threatened to invade my city's polling places, and threatened vote monitoring 'enemies' because they claimed those monitors were attempting to threaten 'their' voters. Their usual move. If they're screaming accusations of crime and violence at their enemy, it's because they're engaged in those precise acts of crime and violence against their enemy.

Gothmog

(144,005 posts)
6. The True the Vote people are assholes who do not care about voter fraud
Mon Jul 18, 2016, 03:00 PM
Jul 2016

I had to deal with these idiots including spending an entire day at an early voting location where one of these idiots ere there. That precinct's election judge was an elderly African American who had been an election judge at that location for 20+ years and knew that he was doing. i enjoyed watching him tell the True the Vote asshole where he could stand and not stand.

As for monitoring, the DOJ in my county focused on low income precincts with high number of minority voters. I did not worry about precincts that had DOJ monitors.

This election is going to be nasty and the DOJ will lack the ability to protect the vote due to Nader's stupidity and the gutting of the Voting Rights Act

Mc Mike

(9,107 posts)
7. I'm glad that things are being impartially watched in your area. Important work, the good monitors
Mon Jul 18, 2016, 06:14 PM
Jul 2016

deserve credit. The TX righties didn't show up to monitor the polls anywhere in the city that I observed, but my point was they were threatening to come into our neighborhoods to watch for 'illegal' voters, while simultaneously threatening to make poll watching dangerous for U.N. election people who had been invited to observe in TX, to protect some worried voters' rights.

One of my polls in '12 was a 98% Black population housing project, and a young white couple came in, saying he wasn't registered, but had a photo ID, and that the young woman had just voted elsewhere with just her photo i.d., and he was supposed to be voting at this polling place. He was a very agro young guy, obviously wasn't from the neighborhood that was supposed to vote at that poll location. The woman in charge was hobbling around in a leg brace, she had torn a ligament dodging spill over gunfire that wasn't meant for her, a couple of weeks earlier. She told him he wasn't in the registration book, he couldn't vote there, but she had forms that he could fill out to vote next time or use to look up voting info on line. He instantly dismissed her offer, saying he knew all about the info she was trying to give him, and left without voting. He knew all about the info, but hadn't bothered to comply with the registration rules he had known all about. Looked like he was there to 'prove' that you could vote at that location without being registered, and to make the point that HE had repug-approved voter ID, so he should be allowed to vote unlike the residents there who didn't have the id the state gop was now trying to make mandatory for voters.

Fear of their crazy threats shouldn't be overwhelming, I don't think, but people should be ready for them to try to pull whatever stupid and unreasonable thing they think they can get away with, anywhere in the country. Just like every other election where the repug party is involved. I don't know what you're referring to that Nader did, Goth, but have followed the changes the R controlled states have pushed through the second the VRA enforcement was nullified by the 5 Supreme Court gopers. They haven't gotten away with any new restrictions in PA, but we dumped our repug gov 2 years ago, so they couldn't change things here as they've done elsewhere where they're completely in charge.

 

jtuck004

(15,882 posts)
3. With the popularity of carrying a weapon around, I fully expect to see some voting locations
Mon Jul 18, 2016, 12:32 PM
Jul 2016

about 3 rings deep in armed people, with and without badges.

Gothmog

(144,005 posts)
5. I know Texas law and open carry is not allowed in polling places
Mon Jul 18, 2016, 02:55 PM
Jul 2016

You cannot open carry in a polling place which means that an election judge should be able to keep these idiots more than 100 feet from polling location under Texas law

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