The big fear: rigging the poll
On this side of ‘the pond’ it’s clear that Obama is heading for a historic landslide victory if he just keeps doing what he’s been doing since he declared that he was running for President. In the US however some Democrats just can’t believe that ‘they’ will let him win.
Those who think that the 2000 election was stolen, and the 2004 election too, cite long lines to vote in poor (mostly Democrat) neighbourhoods; concerns over the accuracy of electronic voting machines; and, Republican officials making it difficult for the votes to be counted. They also point to voter list purges, which remove people likely to vote Democrat from the electoral rolls.
Some of these people can sound a bit shrill, and can some come across as deluded ‘conspiracy theorists’ who exaggerate minor irregularities, but in the last week voter fraud has become headline news. Voter fraud by the Democrats, that is!
ACORN, a bi-partisan group, has been signing up masses of new voters for this election and they’ve recently come under attack by Republicans. Having signed up 1.1 million new voters, a few thousand have been marked as possibly fraudulent (by ACORN themselves) but the issue has exploded and threatens to provide a disturbing post-election narrative. If the Republicans find themselves losing in November, the stage is set to claim that Obama didn’t win, but that he stole the election instead.
So should we worry that the poll is going to be rigged? You betcha! Not by the Democrats though, but by Republicans, as this film for BBC America (in two parts here) shows:
Part two has sound and picture out of sync but stay with it:
It’s tactics like those shown in this film which should make us all concerned by the polls. If the Republicans get their way, it’ll be much closer on polling day than we might think. That’s why it’s vital that we continue to do all we can to get the message out that the election’s far from won. The only way to prevent voter fraud affecting the election is to be part of a landslide for change. If you support Obama, and have a vote, make sure you use it to Vote Obama (even if you have to wait in line for hours).
Tags: bbc, poll rigging, voter fraud
October 14th, 2008 at 8:43 am
UKCZ - thanks so much for posting on this subject. am looking forward to watching the BBC documentary.
October 14th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
Thanks for that, it was a great film, and one I hope many will get to see over here, but espeically back in America. The republicans are the past masters of voter suppression. I beleive the Acorn question has become a diversionary tactic, to cover up the various tactics in many battleground states of the GOP. To date I’ve only read or seen two pieces in the mainstream news mention this. Firstly in New Mexico, and last week in Montana where the local republicans had been found to be sending letters to urge voters in democratic heavy districts to stay home.
I think the DNC need to get as many lawyers, and observers into as many states as they can to keep this process legal. I just wish I could vote.
October 14th, 2008 at 10:08 pm
Yes, I know about this group for example:
http://www.866ourvote.org/