Republicans Try To Throw Out Early Votes In Indiana
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Democrats, Independents, Republicans
They’re claiming the potential vote fraud, but I’m honestly surprised at how flimsy their reasoning is.
Because their entire case seems to be built on the idea that they can convince a judge that just because somebody voted early, that they can then vote again.
CROWN POINT, Ind. (AP) — A judge weighing whether to close down early voting sites in Lake County’s Democratic strongholds questioned local officials about the absentee voting process during visits to the disputed sites.Lake County Superior Court Judge Diane Kavadias-Schneider toured the Gary, Hammond and East Chicago satellite voting sites Monday and heard hours of testimony and arguments on whether they are legal and fair.
Republicans want to shut down the centers in the largely Democratic county on the grounds that they will increase the likelihood of vote fraud in the Nov. 4 election.
Kavadias-Schneider, who was appointed a special judge in the case by the Indiana Supreme Court, questioned county elections board director Sally LaSota on Monday about the process of early voting and safeguards against vote fraud.
LaSota assured the judge that the elections board staff ensures voters are registered and don’t vote more than once.
When Kavadias-Schneider asked, “What of those who have already voted?†R. Lawrence Steele, a GOP lawyer, replied, “Maybe those votes should be discarded.â€
Amazing. Republicans are literally trying to get votes “discarded” that are completely legal.
So what’s this all really about?
It’s pretty easy. Republicans know that Democrats are coming out in record numbers this year to early vote and they don’t want to give them that opportunity.
And that’s pretty much revealed by the Republican lawyer’s own admission…
Kavadias-Schneider asked LaSota on Monday about possibly opening even more early in-person voting centers in suburban communities in response to Republican complaints that Democrats have opened voting in the county’s three largest Democratic strongholds.But Steele told the judge that Republicans don’t want more early voting centers open — they want the Gary, Hammond and East Chicago’s centers closed.
Nope, they don’t want to give people more access, they want to make sure they have less.
Pretty shameful stuff here.
This entry was posted on Thursday, October 23rd, 2008 and is filed under 2008 Election, Democrats, Independents, Republicans. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
October 23rd, 2008 at 5:22 pm
Being in Chicago, this has been in the news a lot, and all of their arguments seem to center on the idea that there COULD be fraud. That’s a perfectly valid argument when you’re designing and vetting the process – not so much after voting has started. At this point, you have to prove fraud is taking place.
I really wish both parties would address these concerns and take a hard look at the voting process after elections (and well clear of the next one), but it always becomes politicized at the last minute.
October 23rd, 2008 at 5:36 pm
They are trying to do the same thing in Wisconsin, but were just rebuked: http://www.madison.com/tct/news/top5/index.php?ntid=310907&source=rss
Since this is happening in every state.. wouldn’t that be a conspiracy? A conspiracy to disenfranchise voters.
October 24th, 2008 at 4:24 am
The best way to send a message about this is to vote against parties who are obviously trying to get votes from the other party thrown out for invalid reasons. It is sad when this is what politics has come to.
October 25th, 2008 at 3:01 am
[...] I posted about the attempt by some Indiana Republicans to shut down early voting in heavily Democratic precincts and throw early votes out. [...]