Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1787 that "The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. But I should mean that every man should receive those papers and be capable of reading them."
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Details, Details, Details: Voting
Please read this article. Is this article significant for the 2008 elections? What questions does this bring up for you? Please list your name and school.
40 comments:
Anonymous
said...
if what i just read is all true- there is actually large numbers of ballots from registered voters being tossed after time is spent to register, time is spent driving to vote and waiting in line, and even more time following and studying the candidates and referendums to make informed decisions. i realize that 1.2 million is a small number out of the amount of people who vote every year, but when you have an election that is decided by 400 or 500 votes, a million is a huge number. our government seems to be fair and somewhat controlled by the people, but it's what we have no control over, like those ballots, and what goes on behind closed doors for example, that worries me. what happens when a question arises and our government thinks that we are too ignorant or ill-informed to make the right decision. we may have elected intelligent people to office for that very reason, but there have been choises made in the past and will be ones made in the future that the citizens of this country don't like that won't matter, and to a certain extent, our hands are tied. of all the liberties we enjoy, there will always be things we are and aren't satisfied about, and can and can't change. but i think that discarding that many ballots seems unfair and, and also think most people would tend to agree with me. -fecteau-cmcc
If everything in that article is 100% true, than this is a big issue. This election seems to be pretty close, well, close enough that if 1,000,000 votes suddenly didin't count, it could cause a canidate a swing state. These new restrictions they have where the votor information has to perfectly matched with their systems are terrible. A slight miscue of a letter on a name should not deprive someone of their right to vote. Now, the article mentioned and focused on Republicans doing this. I think HAVA should be looked at again and maybe tweaked to prevent this issue. I am hoping this does not affect the 2008 election but in a close race, it very well could.
There's a large number of ballots that are from registered voters that are being thrown away after some time spent to register. Time is spent driving to vote and waiting in line, and some more time figuring out which canidate is the best to vote for. 1.2 millions is a small number out of the amount that votes each year, but when about 400 votes decides who wins, 1.2 million becomes alot bigger of a number. The government trys to be fair and somewhat controlled by the people. The things we have no control over, things that happen behind closed doors for instance, makes me wonder. What do you think happens when a major issue comes to stage and the govt. thinks that we're not imformed enough to make the right pick. We have to elect intelligent people in office for that reason. Our hands are tied when it comes to political issues where the people aren't informed or aren't informing themselves as they should. Out of all the things we enjoy, there will be things that won't make us happy, and things that can and can't be chanced. I think discarding ballots are unfair. It's unconstitutional to people who have taken there time to vote.
This article raises issues with one of our most important civil liberties (right to vote) and there is truly nothing that will be done now or in the near future to fully protect it. This instance of ballots and names disappearing is just another loop hole which allows one side an edge to the other. It is a right to vote and that slogan is so often used, to see that right revoked so to speak or left to chance is unacceptable and it is too bad that we as the people in this democracy of America truly do not have the power or influence to make that difference.
If this article is true than the major issue is not just the voting, but our civil liberties being denied. How much of a democracy is America really, if everyone doesn't get the chance of have their voice heard? I don't think that the Republicans are 100% responsible. I think HAVA might need a second look at. I don't think that the government should have the right to toss somebody's vote out or deny somebody registration because of some misprint that wasn't necessarily the persons fault. The race in November is very close and I'm worried that this will happen this year too. Kayla Clark USM
All the teary eyed Obama supporters can stop crying about this story, the GOP is not going to stop the second comming of your socailistic Messiah. This story is like ever other one written by the left. If Voter fraud and supression of votes is the issue than talk about it, but they dont. THey simply use this as another way to scare the public away from republicans. So far i have yet to hear how they're going to pay for all their supposed reform,fix the economy, or how the Marter of change is going to actually cahnge anything (implimenting socialism doesn't count". The entire election has been about doing anything they can to tie Mccain to Bush. The only problem with these tatics is when Obama says McCain supported the expensive Bush Budgets, he neglects to mention how his budgets were actually billions of dollars more. My whole point is that this is just another way of painting the Republicans as evil rather than focusing on the future. If you want to talk about vote suppression, canceling those million plus votes doesn't even close to compare to the attempted voter suppression done by the media. Since day one the left wing media decided who they wanted to be president and ever since then they have been doing everything that they can to suppresss McCain votes. They try to convey the message that Obama has already won so Mccain supporters will be reluctant to "waste" their time. Beside that kind of suppression of votes, the media refuses to hold both campaigns to the same standards. For example Joe Biden said roughly that "if Obama gets elected the world will test us with several national crisises and Obama will make many wrong decisions, When he deals with theses crisises wrong, the American people will have to stand behind him more than ever." He said this extrodinarily controversial comment and yet the media bearly covred it because it made the Obama campaign look bad. The cant cover something so important as that because they are too busy talking about how much money Palin spent on her cloths. The never mention that from the begining she made arrangments to donate the cloths to charity after the election. The main point is that this story we read is just like every other Liberal story about how awful the Republicans are, and how they cant possibly win without cheating. The fact ofthe matter remains. If any vote suppression will change the election it will be akorn registering tons of democrates to vote that dont exsits and even more impactful will be the left wing media's supression of facts, and unwillingness to hold the Obama accountable.
I was ready to post my ideas until I saw this last post referring to all the ‘teary eyed Obama supporters” and felt I needed to revise my position a bit. To start with, it’s completely sacrilegious and borderline blasphemous to suggest that Obama is believed to be anything but who he says he is; a candidate for the presidency. No amount of mudslinging is going to change the fact that Obama has simply run a better campaign, to say nothing of being a better candidate to begin with. The article aside, there are several facts that conservatives have to face that aren’t fun. The first is that the economy is in the crapper. If it was a democrat in office right now, the democrat running would be feeling the heat in this election – unfortunately, de-regulation largely got us into this mess (and is highly favored by conservatives), so the republican candidate is in the hot seat. The second is that the records PROVE that McCain voted in ways that didn’t exactly help our economic situation, and right now – “it’s all about the economy stupid.” Third, and in my mind most importantly, McCain was NOT a good enough candidate to get chosen to run by HIS OWN PARTY TWICE BEFORE, now all of the sudden he is the chosen one?!?! Please. Let me present to you an alternate theory: the republicans had no good candidates to put up to run, and figured they probably couldn’t win because of the general publics perception of the war, (as you recall, the war going poorly was the primary topic at the time – not our rapidly collapsing economy), so they picked someone to put up that they figured couldn’t win. After all, he wasn’t even the republican’s choice, how could he possibly win over independents and undecided voters. Hmmm. As for the allegations of voter fraud with ACORN and their ties to Obama, the conservatives might want to do some research before constantly repeating what has been disproven time and time again. They could have just watched the debates, which would have saved time doing the research themselves, or at least given them something to ‘disprove’. Obama worked with the JUSTICE DEPARTMENT when he had dealings with ACORN. Let me say that again for the cheap seats; he worked with the JUSTICE DEPARTMENT. This is the exact information: ‘In his capacity as an attorney, Barack represented ACORN in a successful lawsuit alongside the U.S. Department of Justice against the state of Illinois to force state compliance with a federal voting access law. For his work helping enforce the law, called “Motor Voter,” Barack received the IVI-IPO Legal Eagle Award in 1995.’ (Please feel free to forward that to Fox News, Rush, and every other ultra right-winger that is trying ever so hard to beat that story to death.) Isn’t the truth a horrible thing? As for the article, which was the initial target of this blog, it appears on a well known site, and yes, it is known to be leftist. It’s a site for music and entertainment – so duh. There are going to be biases in reporting depending upon where you get your news – I wouldn’t expect to hear anything great about Obama while listening to 560AM on the radio during any time of the day because, let’s be honest, Rush and his buddies Glen Beck and Mike Gallagher make a great living making all democrats the epitome of all that is evil. Fox News, contrary to their tagline of ‘Fair and Balanced’ is probably anything but. In fairness, there are some discrepancies that should be looked into to validate the information in the article. I’m sure there was some research done, and I’m sure that someone else verified it – after all, we’re talking about a world famous publication. The quality of their work and their research gets called into question for me when I look at the post date of their entry and find that the article we are to be talking about hasn’t been posted for almost another week. (The date is listed as Posted Oct 30, 2008 11:10 AM.) With the posted date wrong, I have to wonder about the accuracy of the content in the rest of the article. Call me a skeptic, but if when things seem wrong, it’s generally because they are. Everyone makes mistakes – (regardless of their political affiliation) – and sometimes outside research is needed to confirm or deny the facts. If you rely on one source for all your information, and just repeat that over and over again, it doesn’t make it true. Some things may never be known – like Palin planning all along to donate her clothes to charity. I’m sure that now there are people at Goodwill’s across the country anxiously waiting for Election Day to get their hands on those expensive purchases at rock bottom prices! Too bad we can’t read her mind to find out if what she is saying is true… I’m willing to bet that the date is a typo, and that the information contained in the article is primarily factually accurate. That said, our right to right to vote is one of our most important rights. It helps us voice our right to voice our opinion, choose our leadership, and shape our future. To even suggest that there are those that might be trying to take away that right from Americans is deplorable. I’m sure the penalty for this infringement is next to nothing, and the payoff is for successfully deterring voters if it does, in fact, benefit republicans, is huge. Voter fraud, if the article is correct, seems in reality, to be a non-issue – while denying the right to vote is not only real, it’s prevalent. How different would things be if every person not only got the chance to vote, but had their vote count I wonder? Would we be where we are today?
If this is true, this could swing the election. It is scary to think that one group of people could "rig" the election. This being said however, I would have to confirm this source before I put too much faith in it. If this is true, it is definitely something that needs to brought to the attention of the American public. Connor Bibb USM
This article is obviously very biased, but at the same time some of the information probably holds true. The way that the information is then presented by the writer and interpreted by the reader depends mainly upon the political party that the person is voting for. So either way a person who is voting democratic is more likely to take the information as true and regard the article as being well written, while a person who is voting republican is more likely to disregard the information and call the writer an idiot. With this in mind, if the information in the article is true(and not construed by the writer, which is unlikely)then this is obviously significant when it comes to the election. That is obvious, but because the information could be misinterpreted by the author of the article, without further investigation by myself, this article doesn't really bring up any questions for me.
OK I find it hard to take this article seriously. The idea that the Republican party has somehow secretly been blocking and throwing out Democratic votes is simply ludicrous and the fact that this article is 1 in rolling Stone and 2. written by Robert Kennedy Jr. and Greg Palast, a man who firmly believes both the 2000 and 2004 elections were rigged i find the article hard to believe.I'm not in fact debunking the research that they have done i believe fully that congress has passed bills to guard against voter fraud however i refuse to believe that these bills are causing for tens of thousands of votes to be thrown out. So as for this being part of some vast right wing conspiracy come on the government is here to serve the people not to make them miserable. If anything the conspiracy here is the media trying to paint all republicans to be these careless, greedy old men when in fact the Obama household grossed over 1 billion last year.And in closing i would like to say that if this had any inch of truth it would be all over the news networks not just an article in rolling stone which is however a popular magazine. and just and aside McCain has only run fro presidency once in 2000 and had to drop out of the primary where he was the front runner because he was diagnosed with skin cancer so in all actuality McCain not gore or bush would've been elected in 2000.
The right to vote is vital within this country so that our elected representatives truly represent us and issues facing voters are taken into careful consideration. In such a close and important election as the one in November it is necessary that everyone who can vote should be able to. However, the main questions this article brings up are how true these facts and attacks on the GOP are. I think in order to make an informed decision one must do complete research, meaning getting both sides of this story. This article does make me think about the voting process, however, it doesn’t “scare” me as much as it would mean to into thinking the biased run voting operators are going to throw my vote away because my signature on my driver’s license doesn’t match the one on voter registration card. USM Joanna Gildart
My mistake on McCain running twice...he ran and didn't get picked by his party once - for whatever reason. He actually lost the race (http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/election/july-dec00/mccain_8-1.html#) and thought he was probably too old to run in 2008.
There are indeed so many issues regarding the voting processes in this country. There are constant voting irregularities and questions on the legitimacy regarding registration on both sides of the Aisle. This has come up especially with the group ACORN which is associated with the Obama campaign and questions regarding the legitimacy of their registrations. There is no doubt we need to SERIOUSLY address the accuracy of voting in this country. There should not have to be recounts!!!! This should be a bipartisan issue for each political party and in theory should be mutually beneficial with regards to accuracy for both parties. Brendan Morse USM
I’m not surprised by this articles report. I believe this is to be expected. There is no doubt this is a huge issue. Voting is one of if not the most important right belonging to the American Citizen. I’m not too sure what to say. What can I say? This is wrong, we have to come together to stand up against those seeking to take advantage of their fellow citizens for their own personal gain. There are a lot of issues American citizens need to come together on. If I am to ask anything from my fellow citizens it would be go up to the person you like the least in your life and come together. If you REALLY want change analyze yourself and become humble. We are all in this together. “Fight” not only for the right to vote, but for the validity of voting.
Like many others, I too am wondering if this article is true or not. It seems to be far fetched for me to believe that one party is throwing out votes of another party in order to win the election. Also, if this is happening, why isn't anyone doing anything about it? It is obvious that nobody has the right to throw out anyones vote. If we have the right to vote, and we do vote, then our vote should count and our voice should be heard. I really do no thtink that this will happen in the coming election. McCain is a trooper and the stakes seem to be close, but I think that Obama will win the election by a landslide.
it is very possible that the same thing could happen in the 2008 Presidential Election. This is a huge election, and could possibly be a very historical one. With the race so close, throwing millions of ballots out could very well change the whole outcome of the election. I had absolutely no idea this was going on, if what is here is true. It concerns me that people can easily just take names off the list and cause all the people who have dedicated their time to vote and participate to have no say in the end. Who knows what else is going on with our government that we may not know about. It's completely rediculous that our country, in some cases, can be so greedy and ignorant when it comes to anyone else. I hope this will not be an issue for this up-comming election.
There have been many occasions, similar to this one presented, in which the legitimacy of our voting process has been questioned; the controversy over the ACORN organization (which is associated with the Obama campaign) is another example. These bring up many questions in regards to taking a second look, not only at the number of votes, but at the process itself. If necessary, alterations need to be put into action to secure the authenticity of a voter’s ballet and registrations. I don’t believe this article or any of the other incidents will have a great effect on one specific group. I believe that, in the end, all of them will balance out and once again a new president will be put into office, fair and square, regardless. Brittany Michaud - USM
yes, Mathew is right deregulation was completly responsible for the market collapse. It had nothing to do with any liberal policies. they are in the clear on this one. Just because they created acts forcing banks to lend to poor underdeveloped communities or be labeled racist (assuring failure) doesn't mean they had anything to do with it. I mean i know it points that way because the inability to pay back mortgages in such communities is a very big part or the overall problem with the market.but we seriously need to look beyond such idealistic values of common sense. Like ambiguously stated the only way out of this is to figue out whos to blame. and i think we all know it is gw Bush and J McCain. They clearly hate America and want to start wars for Oil. NOOOO BLOOOOD FOOR OOOOil. Away with the Market crusing policies of the last 8 years and onto "fom each according to their abilities, to each according totheir needs." WHOOOOHOOOO OBama Biden 08 yall.
This article brings up one of our most important civil liberties the right to vote. I think that this article raises a lot of questions and concerns, however I beleive that this is just one more article that the liberal media uses to make republicans look bad. Most of the article might be true however, it is too focused on republican wrong doing.
If everything in the article is true then that is a huge problem. 1.2 million could change the election for sure. I do not really have much to say on this one. But something needs to be done to make sure the votes are collected properly.
I think this article is significant to the 2008 elections, if it is true. A lot of votes wouldn't be counted for, which as previously stated, goes against our right to vote- which is very important. The votes not being counted for, especially is they are mainly democrats would allow the republicans to have more of an impact in the elections. This brings up several questions like why can't they work harder to fix it because it will have some affect on the elections. I think that everyone would feel a lot better, and with the elections so close it could worry some people.
Well for starters the information is obviously going to be biased and not completely true. From what i've heard and read, discarding of votes is happening on the sides of both parties. If this article was completely true then i think it very well could effect the elections, but i believe that this is happening on both sides. Our democracy relies on the right to vote and because of both parties certain people are being denied this right. I think it is an issue that needs to be addressed, but it is not all on one parties shoulders. It makes me question the accuracy of our voting system and how much out votes really count.
This is a very biased article. I don't necessarily agree with everything it says but I understand that it is a real problem with our election process in the past few years. It is hard to say what is going to happen this year. Everything about the election is up in the air and honestly it is messed up enough without voting issues. I don't doubt that there will be a lot of fraud and a lot of things that go wrong that can't be explained but I think that is to be expected with a race so close, I just think that it is sad that we are the way we are about things... we fear what might happen so many feel the need to be dishonest and do something to change the outcome, I would hate to see the outcome of this election determined by secrets and lying. ~Rachel Gordon USM
Like most have said, if this article is truthful then we have an issue, and it doesnt suprise me that this happened in the south which tends to be Republican. I dont know enough to throw facts out at anyone about who is right or wrong, but not counting a legal registered voter is wrong. Despite governmental flaws, errors, a questionable lack of trust in the government, all would have to agree that part of what makes America so great is that one leader can peacefully come to power as the older one leaves. There is no war, no terrorism, but a republican democracy at work. Point being, everones vote should count because it reflects who the public wants to lead this country. By denying votes (or if you want to suggest interest group influence/fat cats) you start heading in the direction of a one party superiority, a further lack of choice, and distrust in the system. Someone should look into this article to find the facts, but regardless, America has come so far to allowing about everyone to vote through heated political campaigns, right movements, a civil war, and hard work; all legal registered votes should count. And as a side note, why was there a need to use the language "teary eyed Obama supporters can stop crying about this story" how about simply saying "the article isnt true"...why attack Obama supporters? Who is to say republicans dont think what happened was wrong? True Americans regardless of Republican or Democrat would want registered votes to count even if its against their party, since its our way of political life. -- Charles USM
I can help but think that this indeed another reason to scare people away from voting republican. I believe that there is fraud on both sides of the political parties but I feel that the media is purposely publishing articles like this to push their liberal agenda. I am not saying that Obama is not a good choice for president but I do feel that the American people need an accurate depiction of both Obama and McCain and we are just not getting it with stories like this. Where are the stories about Obama's link to Acorn?? Emily Brown USM
I think this is a problem that will affect a lot of people. I personally am a bit concerned with the issue of people being denied. I realize an expired ID card can make it suspect to being a fake but people should not be turned away because of one piece of identification. Voted fraud is nothing to take lightly though and I suppose dramatic measures must be taken to correct the problem. Heavy fines to those who commit fraud should be strongly enforced. Dave Harvey USM
So this information is obviously going to be biased and not completely true. This just reminds us to really look into the credibility of a source. The discarding of votes I have to say doesn't surprise me. I believe it very well may play a role in elections, but not a hugely significant one at that. I also don't believe even for a second that our voting system is fool-proof. There is no way that someone's right to vote, which IS important, should be taken away like that! -USM jenn♥
My first reaction after viewing this wasn't necessarily opposition towards the article, but nor was I able to consider it as entirely accurate. I tend to take most of what I read, on the web in particular, with a grain of salt. Obviously I was affected to learn of the many ways in which the voting system can be internally corrupted and dishonest, and I do believe that the "Help America Vote Act" may have an agenda more conspicuous than already appears, but I can't help but take a neutral stance in this case for a couple of reasons. First of which has to do with what we have discussed in class of late; the power and persuasion of the media BY the media itself. There are so many opinions, speculations, faulty arguments, distrustful contributors, etc., that I, personally, don't wish to consider too seriously what I have read or heard. There is literally too much information to digest, and this is just another take on a situation American voters have faced for decades. It's relevant once every four years. Imagine what might be done about it if it were publicly addressed during a time with no elections on the immediate horizon. secondly, using an example of something found in the media as conveyed as accurate, when in actuality is very weighted, scaled, or virtually incomplete data presented as complete, is polling. Time and again, we see the irrelevance in many cases of surveys conducted and produced through media coverage. Many people are glued to the day to day percentage polls between the candidates to see who is ahead, yet the end result has so often been: "well, I didn't see that one coming!" In short, and not to drag off topic, I would have to say I knew about much of what was reported in the article from various other references, most of which used these facts to convey an opposing argument to begin with. Depending on how you view the factuality in these articles, it is hard to avoid being anything but biased. my opinion is this: Read and 'Learn' about history. 'Relate' current events. Don't 'learn' current events... Rob Crowson - USM
It is pretty ridiculous that this is going on. If that many people are getting taken off the registered voter list, one would assume that their is some sort of scandal go on. This could be rumor, if not than it is a shame people go to these lengths to cheat. This article really discusses the issues of ones right to vote. This should not be taken away from anyone and it is certainly a large issue that needs to be taken care of not just brushed under the table. Although this article is biased leaning towards the left, if what is said is completely true well it could possibly swing the votes. And has this happened in the past. I find it to be rather upsetting and although republicans seem to be the ones involved with this scandal I'm sure there were other factors as well so the blame cannot completely go on the republicans.
People being denied their right to vote that has wrong written all over it. This could definitely affect the upcoming election and probably affected the past two elections that were also close. The government shouldn't be able to sway the vote in any particular direction. I thought this is why we have the right to vote in the first place so that the people's voices are heard.
Assuming that this article is all truth then I have just lost the last remaining threads of confidence in our voting system. I struggle to find the importance in taking pride in a system or country that dismisses its citizens rights and liberties so casually. The right to vote is arguably one of America's most dear traditions and having barriers with fines set up against people who intend to enact this right disgusts me.
Firstly I don't think this article just effects the "all the teary eyed Obama supporters." I'm not crying. I think the article presents the fact that some people are not being able to use their right to vote. This is unexcusable whether it's the GOP or the Democratic Party, partisanship aside, everyone should have the right to vote. A question that arises from this article is how do we find out if illegal immigrants are voting, with out taking legal immigrants off the voting list.
See I kind of have a problem with this idea that almost all of you start your comments with "if this is 100% true..." Okay lets be real here... whether you are an Obama fan or McCain... everything that gets written is not always 100% truth in fact. This story was bias. Sure votes get thrown out.. they have for years and years!!! This should not be new news to anyone. I don't know why people are seriously shocked. Now to blame it all on one party? Now thats going a little far. Every party has done things they are not proud of I'm sure. But to blame millions of votes getting thrown out on the Republicans? People, this is ludicrous.. those of you who are moderate or democrat do you honestly believe your party hasn't done similar things. I am going to have to agree with Adam D. on this that you know there is this whole Acorn deal that's barely being talked about but if the media would bring it up(which they wont cuz it would make democrats look bad... and we wouldn't want that) It would be considered in the same light as just as bad. And please.. to all of you who started their comments as "if this is 100% true.." I urge you to not take this article or any one article or what is said on the news completely as the truth. We are always given only what people want us to hear. Just like your friends out there, they keep things from you and tell you partial truths... trust me reporters and wanna-be controversial writers are not going to give you an un-bias paper..they arent always going to give you the truth... they want to tell a story and they want to do it their way! I just really hope some of you will listen to me and not take everything you read as what is actually occuring. Jess Jacobs - CM
To answer the question, yes I think this article is significant. It is only significant due to the fact that some people who read this will take it word for word as truth. An article such as this could easily sway some undecided voters into voting against republicans. It's simply propaganda and it's just another tactic to sway voters.
I really think that this article does play a significant role in the 2008 elections. I believe this because it is 1.2 million votes. I do not think that this article is totally true. I mean you have an article written by democrates about democratic votes getting thrown out. Who could seriously believe this? Would they say anything if it was republican votes? Probably not. -Dan Chabot CM
While I agree that this article may be exaggerated in some respects, there has to be a certain a amount of truth to it. They didn't just pull it all out of thin air, and I think that anytime ballots are being discarded in such numbers it should be vehemently scrutinized. I find this article disturbing, to say the least. Matt Murphy-USM
For me it is hard to believe that this article is true. For the amount of time and money that people put into the whole election process millons of dollars and months of campaigning it would be crazy that people could just control who gets to vote. And if there are articles and real occasions of this taking place then why isn't the media blowing it up? Why isn't Obama and the Democratic party making it well known? Like most of the posts I have read, if the article is factual, then this is a serious problem. It is against our rights as citizens and completely unfair. The cheating needs to be exposed and well known. Again, if this is real.
It was really good that they caught this problem early on, in time for the presidential election. I haven't heard many cases of votes being thrown out during the presidential election yet. Every election now, the voting process seems to be getting more refined. We still however need to make sure everyone has a fair chance at voting. It does not matter if an election is close or not. It is the fundamental principal of voting.
Since the election has already passed and we have elected a democrat, Barack Obama as our president, I do not think that it had part in our election. However whether or not we elected a democrat or republican, no one should be denied their right to vote as a US citizen. No matter what your lifestyle or salary, it is our god given right as Americans. I hope that this is a scheme that ends after this election and never happens again. 1.2 million votes is a huge amount when elections really can be won by just 1 vote.
40 comments:
if what i just read is all true- there is actually large numbers of ballots from registered voters being tossed after time is spent to register, time is spent driving to vote and waiting in line, and even more time following and studying the candidates and referendums to make informed decisions. i realize that 1.2 million is a small number out of the amount of people who vote every year, but when you have an election that is decided by 400 or 500 votes, a million is a huge number. our government seems to be fair and somewhat controlled by the people, but it's what we have no control over, like those ballots, and what goes on behind closed doors for example, that worries me. what happens when a question arises and our government thinks that we are too ignorant or ill-informed to make the right decision. we may have elected intelligent people to office for that very reason, but there have been choises made in the past and will be ones made in the future that the citizens of this country don't like that won't matter, and to a certain extent, our hands are tied. of all the liberties we enjoy, there will always be things we are and aren't satisfied about, and can and can't change. but i think that discarding that many ballots seems unfair and, and also think most people would tend to agree with me. -fecteau-cmcc
If everything in that article is 100% true, than this is a big issue. This election seems to be pretty close, well, close enough that if 1,000,000 votes suddenly didin't count, it could cause a canidate a swing state. These new restrictions they have where the votor information has to perfectly matched with their systems are terrible. A slight miscue of a letter on a name should not deprive someone of their right to vote. Now, the article mentioned and focused on Republicans doing this. I think HAVA should be looked at again and maybe tweaked to prevent this issue. I am hoping this does not affect the 2008 election but in a close race, it very well could.
Michael Ozdarski -CMCC
There's a large number of ballots that are from registered voters that are being thrown away after some time spent to register. Time is spent driving to vote and waiting in line, and some more time figuring out which canidate is the best to vote for. 1.2 millions is a small number out of the amount that votes each year, but when about 400 votes decides who wins, 1.2 million becomes alot bigger of a number. The government trys to be fair and somewhat controlled by the people. The things we have no control over, things that happen behind closed doors for instance, makes me wonder. What do you think happens when a major issue comes to stage and the govt. thinks that we're not imformed enough to make the right pick. We have to elect intelligent people in office for that reason. Our hands are tied when it comes to political issues where the people aren't informed or aren't informing themselves as they should. Out of all the things we enjoy, there will be things that won't make us happy, and things that can and can't be chanced. I think discarding ballots are unfair. It's unconstitutional to people who have taken there time to vote.
Bronson Drewry- CMCC
This article raises issues with one of our most important civil liberties (right to vote) and there is truly nothing that will be done now or in the near future to fully protect it. This instance of ballots and names disappearing is just another loop hole which allows one side an edge to the other. It is a right to vote and that slogan is so often used, to see that right revoked so to speak or left to chance is unacceptable and it is too bad that we as the people in this democracy of America truly do not have the power or influence to make that difference.
Danielle Ward-USM
If this article is true than the major issue is not just the voting, but our civil liberties being denied. How much of a democracy is America really, if everyone doesn't get the chance of have their voice heard? I don't think that the Republicans are 100% responsible. I think HAVA might need a second look at. I don't think that the government should have the right to toss somebody's vote out or deny somebody registration because of some misprint that wasn't necessarily the persons fault. The race in November is very close and I'm worried that this will happen this year too. Kayla Clark USM
All the teary eyed Obama supporters can stop crying about this story, the GOP is not going to stop the second comming of your socailistic Messiah.
This story is like ever other one written by the left. If Voter fraud and supression of votes is the issue than talk about it, but they dont. THey simply use this as another way to scare the public away from republicans. So far i have yet to hear how they're going to pay for all their supposed reform,fix the economy, or how the Marter of change is going to actually cahnge anything (implimenting socialism doesn't count". The entire election has been about doing anything they can to tie Mccain to Bush. The only problem with these tatics is when Obama says McCain supported the expensive Bush Budgets, he neglects to mention how his budgets were actually billions of dollars more. My whole point is that this is just another way of painting the Republicans as evil rather than focusing on the future. If you want to talk about vote suppression, canceling those million plus votes doesn't even close to compare to the attempted voter suppression done by the media. Since day one the left wing media decided who they wanted to be president and ever since then they have been doing everything that they can to suppresss McCain votes. They try to convey the message that Obama has already won so Mccain supporters will be reluctant to "waste" their time. Beside that kind of suppression of votes, the media refuses to hold both campaigns to the same standards. For example Joe Biden said roughly that "if Obama gets elected the world will test us with several national crisises and Obama will make many wrong decisions, When he deals with theses crisises wrong, the American people will have to stand behind him more than ever." He said this extrodinarily controversial comment and yet the media bearly covred it because it made the Obama campaign look bad. The cant cover something so important as that because they are too busy talking about how much money Palin spent on her cloths. The never mention that from the begining she made arrangments to donate the cloths to charity after the election. The main point is that this story we read is just like every other Liberal story about how awful the Republicans are, and how they cant possibly win without cheating. The fact ofthe matter remains. If any vote suppression will change the election it will be akorn registering tons of democrates to vote that dont exsits and even more impactful will be the left wing media's supression of facts, and unwillingness to hold the Obama accountable.
Adam Deveau (mod,librtEn)
I was ready to post my ideas until I saw this last post referring to all the ‘teary eyed Obama supporters” and felt I needed to revise my position a bit.
To start with, it’s completely sacrilegious and borderline blasphemous to suggest that Obama is believed to be anything but who he says he is; a candidate for the presidency. No amount of mudslinging is going to change the fact that Obama has simply run a better campaign, to say nothing of being a better candidate to begin with. The article aside, there are several facts that conservatives have to face that aren’t fun. The first is that the economy is in the crapper. If it was a democrat in office right now, the democrat running would be feeling the heat in this election – unfortunately, de-regulation largely got us into this mess (and is highly favored by conservatives), so the republican candidate is in the hot seat. The second is that the records PROVE that McCain voted in ways that didn’t exactly help our economic situation, and right now – “it’s all about the economy stupid.” Third, and in my mind most importantly, McCain was NOT a good enough candidate to get chosen to run by HIS OWN PARTY TWICE BEFORE, now all of the sudden he is the chosen one?!?! Please. Let me present to you an alternate theory: the republicans had no good candidates to put up to run, and figured they probably couldn’t win because of the general publics perception of the war, (as you recall, the war going poorly was the primary topic at the time – not our rapidly collapsing economy), so they picked someone to put up that they figured couldn’t win. After all, he wasn’t even the republican’s choice, how could he possibly win over independents and undecided voters. Hmmm.
As for the allegations of voter fraud with ACORN and their ties to Obama, the conservatives might want to do some research before constantly repeating what has been disproven time and time again. They could have just watched the debates, which would have saved time doing the research themselves, or at least given them something to ‘disprove’. Obama worked with the JUSTICE DEPARTMENT when he had dealings with ACORN. Let me say that again for the cheap seats; he worked with the JUSTICE DEPARTMENT. This is the exact information: ‘In his capacity as an attorney, Barack represented ACORN in a successful lawsuit alongside the U.S. Department of Justice against the state of Illinois to force state compliance with a federal voting access law. For his work helping enforce the law, called “Motor Voter,” Barack received the IVI-IPO Legal Eagle Award in 1995.’ (Please feel free to forward that to Fox News, Rush, and every other ultra right-winger that is trying ever so hard to beat that story to death.) Isn’t the truth a horrible thing?
As for the article, which was the initial target of this blog, it appears on a well known site, and yes, it is known to be leftist. It’s a site for music and entertainment – so duh. There are going to be biases in reporting depending upon where you get your news – I wouldn’t expect to hear anything great about Obama while listening to 560AM on the radio during any time of the day because, let’s be honest, Rush and his buddies Glen Beck and Mike Gallagher make a great living making all democrats the epitome of all that is evil. Fox News, contrary to their tagline of ‘Fair and Balanced’ is probably anything but. In fairness, there are some discrepancies that should be looked into to validate the information in the article.
I’m sure there was some research done, and I’m sure that someone else verified it – after all, we’re talking about a world famous publication. The quality of their work and their research gets called into question for me when I look at the post date of their entry and find that the article we are to be talking about hasn’t been posted for almost another week. (The date is listed as Posted Oct 30, 2008 11:10 AM.) With the posted date wrong, I have to wonder about the accuracy of the content in the rest of the article. Call me a skeptic, but if when things seem wrong, it’s generally because they are. Everyone makes mistakes – (regardless of their political affiliation) – and sometimes outside research is needed to confirm or deny the facts. If you rely on one source for all your information, and just repeat that over and over again, it doesn’t make it true. Some things may never be known – like Palin planning all along to donate her clothes to charity. I’m sure that now there are people at Goodwill’s across the country anxiously waiting for Election Day to get their hands on those expensive purchases at rock bottom prices! Too bad we can’t read her mind to find out if what she is saying is true…
I’m willing to bet that the date is a typo, and that the information contained in the article is primarily factually accurate. That said, our right to right to vote is one of our most important rights. It helps us voice our right to voice our opinion, choose our leadership, and shape our future. To even suggest that there are those that might be trying to take away that right from Americans is deplorable. I’m sure the penalty for this infringement is next to nothing, and the payoff is for successfully deterring voters if it does, in fact, benefit republicans, is huge. Voter fraud, if the article is correct, seems in reality, to be a non-issue – while denying the right to vote is not only real, it’s prevalent. How different would things be if every person not only got the chance to vote, but had their vote count I wonder? Would we be where we are today?
Matthew Lynch
USM
If this is true, this could swing the election. It is scary to think that one group of people could "rig"
the election. This being said however, I would have to confirm this source before I put too much faith in it. If this is true, it is definitely something that needs to brought to the attention of the American public.
Connor Bibb
USM
This article is obviously very biased, but at the same time some of the information probably holds true. The way that the information is then presented by the writer and interpreted by the reader depends mainly upon the political party that the person is voting for. So either way a person who is voting democratic is more likely to take the information as true and regard the article as being well written, while a person who is voting republican is more likely to disregard the information and call the writer an idiot. With this in mind, if the information in the article is true(and not construed by the writer, which is unlikely)then this is obviously significant when it comes to the election. That is obvious, but because the information could be misinterpreted by the author of the article, without further investigation by myself, this article doesn't really bring up any questions for me.
USM-Justin Richardson
OK I find it hard to take this article seriously. The idea that the Republican party has somehow secretly been blocking and throwing out Democratic votes is simply ludicrous and the fact that this article is 1 in rolling Stone and 2. written by Robert Kennedy Jr. and Greg Palast, a man who firmly believes both the 2000 and 2004 elections were rigged i find the article hard to believe.I'm not in fact debunking the research that they have done i believe fully that congress has passed bills to guard against voter fraud however i refuse to believe that these bills are causing for tens of thousands of votes to be thrown out. So as for this being part of some vast right wing conspiracy come on the government is here to serve the people not to make them miserable. If anything the conspiracy here is the media trying to paint all republicans to be these careless, greedy old men when in fact the Obama household grossed over 1 billion last year.And in closing i would like to say that if this had any inch of truth it would be all over the news networks not just an article in rolling stone which is however a popular magazine. and just and aside McCain has only run fro presidency once in 2000 and had to drop out of the primary where he was the front runner because he was diagnosed with skin cancer so in all actuality McCain not gore or bush would've been elected in 2000.
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Johann Donall USM
The right to vote is vital within this country so that our elected representatives truly represent us and issues facing voters are taken into careful consideration. In such a close and important election as the one in November it is necessary that everyone who can vote should be able to. However, the main questions this article brings up are how true these facts and attacks on the GOP are. I think in order to make an informed decision one must do complete research, meaning getting both sides of this story. This article does make me think about the voting process, however, it doesn’t “scare” me as much as it would mean to into thinking the biased run voting operators are going to throw my vote away because my signature on my driver’s license doesn’t match the one on voter registration card. USM Joanna Gildart
My mistake on McCain running twice...he ran and didn't get picked by his party once - for whatever reason. He actually lost the race (http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/election/july-dec00/mccain_8-1.html#) and thought he was probably too old to run in 2008.
M Lynch
USM
There are indeed so many issues regarding the voting processes in this country. There are constant voting irregularities and questions on the legitimacy regarding registration on both sides of the Aisle. This has come up especially with the group ACORN which is associated with the Obama campaign and questions regarding the legitimacy of their registrations. There is no doubt we need to SERIOUSLY address the accuracy of voting in this country. There should not have to be recounts!!!! This should be a bipartisan issue for each political party and in theory should be mutually beneficial with regards to accuracy for both parties.
Brendan Morse USM
I’m not surprised by this articles report. I believe this is to be expected. There is no doubt this is a huge issue. Voting is one of if not the most important right belonging to the American Citizen. I’m not too sure what to say. What can I say? This is wrong, we have to come together to stand up against those seeking to take advantage of their fellow citizens for their own personal gain. There are a lot of issues American citizens need to come together on. If I am to ask anything from my fellow citizens it would be go up to the person you like the least in your life and come together. If you REALLY want change analyze yourself and become humble. We are all in this together. “Fight” not only for the right to vote, but for the validity of voting.
Ms. Jones
USM
Like many others, I too am wondering if this article is true or not. It seems to be far fetched for me to believe that one party is throwing out votes of another party in order to win the election. Also, if this is happening, why isn't anyone doing anything about it? It is obvious that nobody has the right to throw out anyones vote. If we have the right to vote, and we do vote, then our vote should count and our voice should be heard. I really do no thtink that this will happen in the coming election. McCain is a trooper and the stakes seem to be close, but I think that Obama will win the election by a landslide.
-Briana Jette, USM
it is very possible that the same thing could happen in the 2008 Presidential Election. This is a huge election, and could possibly be a very historical one. With the race so close, throwing millions of ballots out could very well change the whole outcome of the election. I had absolutely no idea this was going on, if what is here is true. It concerns me that people can easily just take names off the list and cause all the people who have dedicated their time to vote and participate to have no say in the end. Who knows what else is going on with our government that we may not know about. It's completely rediculous that our country, in some cases, can be so greedy and ignorant when it comes to anyone else. I hope this will not be an issue for this up-comming election.
Katie Perkins, CMCC
There have been many occasions, similar to this one presented, in which the legitimacy of our voting process has been questioned; the controversy over the ACORN organization (which is associated with the Obama campaign) is another example. These bring up many questions in regards to taking a second look, not only at the number of votes, but at the process itself. If necessary, alterations need to be put into action to secure the authenticity of a voter’s ballet and registrations. I don’t believe this article or any of the other incidents will have a great effect on one specific group. I believe that, in the end, all of them will balance out and once again a new president will be put into office, fair and square, regardless.
Brittany Michaud - USM
yes, Mathew is right deregulation was completly responsible for the market collapse. It had nothing to do with any liberal policies. they are in the clear on this one. Just because they created acts forcing banks to lend to poor underdeveloped communities or be labeled racist (assuring failure) doesn't mean they had anything to do with it. I mean i know it points that way because the inability to pay back mortgages in such communities is a very big part or the overall problem with the market.but we seriously need to look beyond such idealistic values of common sense. Like ambiguously stated the only way out of this is to figue out whos to blame. and i think we all know it is gw Bush and J McCain. They clearly hate America and want to start wars for Oil. NOOOO BLOOOOD FOOR OOOOil. Away with the Market crusing policies of the last 8 years and onto "fom each according to their abilities, to each according totheir needs." WHOOOOHOOOO OBama Biden 08 yall.
This article brings up one of our most important civil liberties the right to vote. I think that this article raises a lot of questions and concerns, however I beleive that this is just one more article that the liberal media uses to make republicans look bad. Most of the article might be true however, it is too focused on republican wrong doing.
A. O'Leary USM
If everything in the article is true then that is a huge problem. 1.2 million could change the election for sure. I do not really have much to say on this one. But something needs to be done to make sure the votes are collected properly.
James Lemay - CMCC
I think this article is significant to the 2008 elections, if it is true. A lot of votes wouldn't be counted for, which as previously stated, goes against our right to vote- which is very important. The votes not being counted for, especially is they are mainly democrats would allow the republicans to have more of an impact in the elections. This brings up several questions like why can't they work harder to fix it because it will have some affect on the elections. I think that everyone would feel a lot better, and with the elections so close it could worry some people.
Melissa Ramsden
USM
Well for starters the information is obviously going to be biased and not completely true. From what i've heard and read, discarding of votes is happening on the sides of both parties. If this article was completely true then i think it very well could effect the elections, but i believe that this is happening on both sides.
Our democracy relies on the right to vote and because of both parties certain people are being denied this right. I think it is an issue that needs to be addressed, but it is not all on one parties shoulders. It makes me question the accuracy of our voting system and how much out votes really count.
Danielle Mailly USM
This is a very biased article. I don't necessarily agree with everything it says but I understand that it is a real problem with our election process in the past few years. It is hard to say what is going to happen this year. Everything about the election is up in the air and honestly it is messed up enough without voting issues. I don't doubt that there will be a lot of fraud and a lot of things that go wrong that can't be explained but I think that is to be expected with a race so close, I just think that it is sad that we are the way we are about things... we fear what might happen so many feel the need to be dishonest and do something to change the outcome, I would hate to see the outcome of this election determined by secrets and lying.
~Rachel Gordon USM
Like most have said, if this article is truthful then we have an issue, and it doesnt suprise me that this happened in the south which tends to be Republican. I dont know enough to throw facts out at anyone about who is right or wrong, but not counting a legal registered voter is wrong. Despite governmental flaws, errors, a questionable lack of trust in the government, all would have to agree that part of what makes America so great is that one leader can peacefully come to power as the older one leaves. There is no war, no terrorism, but a republican democracy at work. Point being, everones vote should count because it reflects who the public wants to lead this country. By denying votes (or if you want to suggest interest group influence/fat cats) you start heading in the direction of a one party superiority, a further lack of choice, and distrust in the system. Someone should look into this article to find the facts, but regardless, America has come so far to allowing about everyone to vote through heated political campaigns, right movements, a civil war, and hard work; all legal registered votes should count. And as a side note, why was there a need to use the language "teary eyed Obama supporters can stop crying about this story" how about simply saying "the article isnt true"...why attack Obama supporters? Who is to say republicans dont think what happened was wrong? True Americans regardless of Republican or Democrat would want registered votes to count even if its against their party, since its our way of political life. -- Charles USM
I can help but think that this indeed another reason to scare people away from voting republican. I believe that there is fraud on both sides of the political parties but I feel that the media is purposely publishing articles like this to push their liberal agenda. I am not saying that Obama is not a good choice for president but I do feel that the American people need an accurate depiction of both Obama and McCain and we are just not getting it with stories like this. Where are the stories about Obama's link to Acorn??
Emily Brown
USM
I think this is a problem that will affect a lot of people. I personally am a bit concerned with the issue of people being denied. I realize an expired ID card can make it suspect to being a fake but people should not be turned away because of one piece of identification. Voted fraud is nothing to take lightly though and I suppose dramatic measures must be taken to correct the problem. Heavy fines to those who commit fraud should be strongly enforced.
Dave Harvey USM
So this information is obviously going to be biased and not completely true. This just reminds us to really look into the credibility of a source. The discarding of votes I have to say doesn't surprise me. I believe it very well may play a role in elections, but not a hugely significant one at that.
I also don't believe even for a second that our voting system is fool-proof. There is no way that someone's right to vote, which IS important, should be taken away like that!
-USM jenn♥
My first reaction after viewing this wasn't necessarily opposition towards the article, but nor was I able to consider it as entirely accurate. I tend to take most of what I read, on the web in particular, with a grain of salt. Obviously I was affected to learn of the many ways in which the voting system can be internally corrupted and dishonest, and I do believe that the "Help America Vote Act" may have an agenda more conspicuous than already appears, but I can't help but take a neutral stance in this case for a couple of reasons. First of which has to do with what we have discussed in class of late; the power and persuasion of the media BY the media itself. There are so many opinions, speculations, faulty arguments, distrustful contributors, etc., that I, personally, don't wish to consider too seriously what I have read or heard. There is literally too much information to digest, and this is just another take on a situation American voters have faced for decades. It's relevant once every four years. Imagine what might be done about it if it were publicly addressed during a time with no elections on the immediate horizon. secondly, using an example of something found in the media as conveyed as accurate, when in actuality is very weighted, scaled, or virtually incomplete data presented as complete, is polling. Time and again, we see the irrelevance in many cases of surveys conducted and produced through media coverage. Many people are glued to the day to day percentage polls between the candidates to see who is ahead, yet the end result has so often been: "well, I didn't see that one coming!" In short, and not to drag off topic, I would have to say I knew about much of what was reported in the article from various other references, most of which used these facts to convey an opposing argument to begin with. Depending on how you view the factuality in these articles, it is hard to avoid being anything but biased. my opinion is this: Read and 'Learn' about history. 'Relate' current events. Don't 'learn' current events...
Rob Crowson - USM
It is pretty ridiculous that this is going on. If that many people are getting taken off the registered voter list, one would assume that their is some sort of scandal go on. This could be rumor, if not than it is a shame people go to these lengths to cheat. This article really discusses the issues of ones right to vote. This should not be taken away from anyone and it is certainly a large issue that needs to be taken care of not just brushed under the table. Although this article is biased leaning towards the left, if what is said is completely true well it could possibly swing the votes. And has this happened in the past. I find it to be rather upsetting and although republicans seem to be the ones involved with this scandal I'm sure there were other factors as well so the blame cannot completely go on the republicans.
Jenna Hannigan-USM
People being denied their right to vote that has wrong written all over it. This could definitely affect the upcoming election and probably affected the past two elections that were also close. The government shouldn't be able to sway the vote in any particular direction. I thought this is why we have the right to vote in the first place so that the people's voices are heard.
Sarah Myrick
USM
Assuming that this article is all truth then I have just lost the last remaining threads of confidence in our voting system. I struggle to find the importance in taking pride in a system or country that dismisses its citizens rights and liberties so casually. The right to vote is arguably one of America's most dear traditions and having barriers with fines set up against people who intend to enact this right disgusts me.
Nick Hodgkin
USM
Firstly I don't think this article just effects the "all the teary eyed Obama supporters." I'm not crying. I think the article presents the fact that some people are not being able to use their right to vote. This is unexcusable whether it's the GOP or the Democratic Party, partisanship aside, everyone should have the right to vote. A question that arises from this article is how do we find out if illegal immigrants are voting, with out taking legal immigrants off the voting list.
Alexis Ruth Deveau Handy USM
See I kind of have a problem with this idea that almost all of you start your comments with "if this is 100% true..." Okay lets be real here... whether you are an Obama fan or McCain... everything that gets written is not always 100% truth in fact. This story was bias. Sure votes get thrown out.. they have for years and years!!! This should not be new news to anyone. I don't know why people are seriously shocked. Now to blame it all on one party? Now thats going a little far. Every party has done things they are not proud of I'm sure. But to blame millions of votes getting thrown out on the Republicans? People, this is ludicrous.. those of you who are moderate or democrat do you honestly believe your party hasn't done similar things. I am going to have to agree with Adam D. on this that you know there is this whole Acorn deal that's barely being talked about but if the media would bring it up(which they wont cuz it would make democrats look bad... and we wouldn't want that) It would be considered in the same light as just as bad. And please.. to all of you who started their comments as "if this is 100% true.." I urge you to not take this article or any one article or what is said on the news completely as the truth. We are always given only what people want us to hear. Just like your friends out there, they keep things from you and tell you partial truths... trust me reporters and wanna-be controversial writers are not going to give you an un-bias paper..they arent always going to give you the truth... they want to tell a story and they want to do it their way!
I just really hope some of you will listen to me and not take everything you read as what is actually occuring.
Jess Jacobs - CM
To answer the question, yes I think this article is significant. It is only significant due to the fact that some people who read this will take it word for word as truth. An article such as this could easily sway some undecided voters into voting against republicans. It's simply propaganda and it's just another tactic to sway voters.
Michael Pottle CMCC
I really think that this article does play a significant role in the 2008 elections. I believe this because it is 1.2 million votes. I do not think that this article is totally true. I mean you have an article written by democrates about democratic votes getting thrown out. Who could seriously believe this? Would they say anything if it was republican votes? Probably not.
-Dan Chabot CM
While I agree that this article may be exaggerated in some respects, there has to be a certain a amount of truth to it. They didn't just pull it all out of thin air, and I think that anytime ballots are being discarded in such numbers it should be vehemently scrutinized. I find this article disturbing, to say the least. Matt Murphy-USM
For me it is hard to believe that this article is true. For the amount of time and money that people put into the whole election process millons of dollars and months of campaigning it would be crazy that people could just control who gets to vote. And if there are articles and real occasions of this taking place then why isn't the media blowing it up? Why isn't Obama and the Democratic party making it well known? Like most of the posts I have read, if the article is factual, then this is a serious problem. It is against our rights as citizens and completely unfair. The cheating needs to be exposed and well known. Again, if this is real.
-Paige CM
It was really good that they caught this problem early on, in time for the presidential election. I haven't heard many cases of votes being thrown out during the presidential election yet. Every election now, the voting process seems to be getting more refined. We still however need to make sure everyone has a fair chance at voting. It does not matter if an election is close or not. It is the fundamental principal of voting.
Michael P. Gauthier
CMCC
Since the election has already passed and we have elected a democrat, Barack Obama as our president, I do not think that it had part in our election. However whether or not we elected a democrat or republican, no one should be denied their right to vote as a US citizen. No matter what your lifestyle or salary, it is our god given right as Americans. I hope that this is a scheme that ends after this election and never happens again. 1.2 million votes is a huge amount when elections really can be won by just 1 vote.
Samantha Willette USM
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