Please watch this report from the BBC Newsnight journalist Greg Palast titled The Theft of 2008. At the beginning of the video a BBC anchor states that he was told by a Republican campaign staffer that it is “inevitable that his people would contest any Democratic victory”. In the video Palast reports on the voter fraud/voter suppression claims of both parties as the 2008 election enters it’s last two weeks. Part 1 examines both side’s claims of voter fraud and voter suppression along with a report on voters in NM finding out they were purged from the rolls and voters in MI that may be challenged at the polls based on their receiving foreclosure notices.
Part 2 takes a look at the king of the Michigan foreclosure business, Trott & Trott, and notes that the McCain campaign shares office space with their foreclosure operation. It also examines a bi-partisan report on election practices in the 2004 election. The report found the GOP fears of voter fraud were unfounded and that qualified voters were denied their vote by suppression tactics, but those findings were altered by the Bush administration prior to release. There is also a statement from a US attorney who was fired by the Bush administration for not finding any prosecutable cases of voter fraud. Voter fraud claims are used as justification to implement suppression methods that can disenfranchise voters in large numbers.
Members of the Republican party are waging a campaign of misinformation regarding voter registration fraud and it’s effect on our elections as they did in 2004. We know that some paid staff of various organizations turned in fake registrations to plump the results of their efforts, but these registrations won’t be verified and will not wind up on the rolls as registered voters. By raising alarm over this the Republicans are setting the stage to challenge the registrations of American citizens by the thousands, denying many their right to vote. At last weeks debate John McCain stated that Acorn, who reported that some of the registrations they collected were probably fake, “is now on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history … maybe destroying the fabric of democracy.” To date cases of fraudulent voter registrations have rarely been followed by evidence of people actually casting an illegal vote. In reality what could destroy the fabric of democracy is denying the right to vote to portions of the citizenry. These efforts are focused heavily on poor and minority areas, those which tend to vote democratic. If we continue to disenfranchise enough of them to swing elections to the GOP and that party also stacks the Justice Department with prosecutors that favor their agenda we will no longer be a full democracy. We must turn out in large enough numbers to counteract any suppression efforts that await us. Please encourage all you know to get to the polls!
