Idea: Station precinct monitors in overwhelmingly Republican precincts

[bluestateguy]

An earlier post mentioned that Republicans in Kentucky plan to station "challengers" in heavily Democratic precincts--composed mostly of black voters. Instead of whining or resorting to pink tutu tactics of token opposition I propose the following: Democrats should station election day "challengers" in overwhemingly white, Republican precincts. And just to ruffle the feathers of the Kentucky Republican Party, the monitors should be black, if at all possible.

[jonoboy]

1. fight fire with fire

these guys are such dirty fighters.
the only way to beat them is at their own game..just be cleverer and honest.

sounds like a good idea

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

2. Be clever and honest...

But be ready to be physically challenged by the brownshirts.

Also have 2 people videotaping at every precinct.

Why two? Much harder to shut two cameras down, especially if the camera people remain on the move.

[KharmaTrain]

3. We're So Far Behind

I don't advocate any harassment or intimidation, but poll watchers in Repugnican polls is an idea that should have been done ages ago. I was a poll watcher as a teen (before I could legally vote) in a "hostile" precinct and my job was just to make sure nothing funny was going on. I was registered with the Democratic party and was legally able to be a watcher...I did this for several elections in the 70's until I went off to school.

This is a grassroots effort this party desperately needs if it ever plans to retake the "fly over states" and achieve my biggest hope...Democrat control of BOTH houses. You don't do this with TV ads or Press releases, but with organized efforts in each congressional district down to the precinct level. In my area, the Repugnicans do this extremely well and thus haven't had a serious challenge to the top political jobs by a Democrat in the nearly 25 years I've been in this area.

We're facing a ruthless enemy who won't think twice of doing any tactic they can to get a positive spin on their candidate/agenda and demeaning the "liberal/spend-thrift" Democrats. They do this at the very root level and there's precious little the Democrats have to counter.

Enjoy your marches and meet-ups, those are important and a national show of our causes and strength, but if we're ever going to really topple this greed machine that pollutes our politics and freedoms, the DNC or someone has to get into the real trenches and tell our story virtually one voter at a time.

[AP]

4. Election challengers is so archaic.

The job of a challenger is to point out anyone they think isn't registered in the county. But, you have to have reasonable cause. Ie, you have to be familiar with your neighbors, and reasaonably believe that you've never seen the person you're challenging before. This worked find 30 years ago when communities were still stable and small. But, today, I go to my precinct and I'll be lucky if I see someone I DO recognize.

You can also be an election observer. You can't challenge anyone, but you can stant there just like a challenger and you can complain about campaign literature and signs being too close to the door, and you can watch the counting of the vote, and you can make sure they aren't going to slow.

It's just as important to do this in Dem precincts as Rep precincts.

[Nobody]

10. Feel free to ask questions, too

Last election we had two observers who watched the hand counting of the senatorial votes, and they asked a lot of questions. Our lead was really nice about answering.

But if you want to be close to the action, offer to be an election judge. Many communities are hurting for people.

[KharmaTrain]

5. We're Not In Many Precincts

Yes, the demographics are different, but I know of many precincts in my area that have NO real Democratic precinct judges or watchers...they're either "independents" (meaning not on the township payrolls) or someone bussed in from Chicago or another heavily Democratic area (usually a County payroller). I complained to the local board of elections in '98 when I noticed that our "Democratic Judge" who handled my ballot (we're dimpled chads here) had always had Repugnican campaign posters on his lawn (except for this elections...and he's gone back to it with a furor since).

I'm not for "challengers" or those who will intimidate or harass voters at or around polling sites, but we sure need REAL eyes in as many precincts as possible...especially with so much on the line, paperless systems and Repugnicans that (as noted with their challengers) won't stoop too low to steal, buy or cajole a vote. If we stand a chance in a close election, this is going to be critical...especially in Florida!

[T Roosevelt]

6. I was thinking they should station "advisors"

where the Reps have placed challengers. I envision big football player types who can be on hand to tell people who have been challenged what their rights are. :evilgrin:

[meow2u3]

9. Young Repukes are an easy target >}

They're the ones who use fake ID's to get into bars so they can drink underage....and they're the ones who often tip close elections one way or another :evilgrin:

[Le Taz Hot]

7. Another reason for poll watching

and this became very apparent very early on in the recall election -- ensure people are given a chance to vote. I've not seen this story in any of the California media but during the recall election, dozens and dozens of people were calling in saying, "They won't let me vote!"

Part of the problem was that there were fewer poling places so they merged several precincts into one poling place and the change caused a lot of "confustion." At least that's the story we got. The problem was that voters "mysteriously" were left off the list of eligible voters. To make matters worse, poll workers were refusing to allow people to vote via Provisional Ballot. My husband was one of them. He was in line right behind me and they were trying to tell him he was in the wrong precinct. He reminded them that we live in the same household and that I had just gotten a ballot. THEN the poll worker tried to tell him he couldn't vote because his name wasn't on the list. Needless to say, by now, I was blowing a gasket. I DEMANDED they give him a provisional ballot and had to give them a (loud) mini-lesson on the fact that poll workers did NOT have the right to say who can and cannot vote, that that was determined by Elections office.

After voting, I went into the Dem. office and worked the phones. We got FRANTIC calls from dozens and dozens of people relaying the same thing -- that their names weren't on the list of registered voters and the POLL WORKERS would not let them vote. We gave them instructions on what to do but I have to wonder how many hundreds -- or thousands -- just went home without voting as they didn't know about Provisional Ballots.

[KharmaTrain]

8. The GOOP got their people to the same polls...

That recall had to be a real nightmare for the board of elections and if there was a screw-up in your area, this would be from your county board of elections...and I would assume, in LA County, that would be Democrats.

When I worked for my Congressman, we organized ways to ensure our voters got to the polls and had people standing by, ready to drive a confused voter to the polls...or to station people to answer questions or oversee any disputes. This is as grassroots as it gets. It's watching sausage being made, but this is how elections are won or lost.

I applaud Bev Harris' tireless work, but I don't see much about the problems with voter registration roles...the snafus that will drive people...mostly Democrats...away from the polls and disenfranchise so many.

Recently I talked to a friend in Broward County whose really concerned about what's going on with the voter roles under the cloak of Katherine Harris and other Repugnicans. He is in the media and the buzz is that there's a stronger effort to drop minorities from the roles, like they did in 2000, for felonies like "traffic stops" and "unpaid tickets" (things that were used to turn away voters in 2000 in both Miami and Jacksonville). BushCo knows there's lot of angry black voters in Florida and they will do whatever they can to keep them either home or off the roles.

Again the time to put organization in place is now...not after another "close one" gets away.