Evidence of Voter Suppression

I have worked on this week's Monday morning post for approximately 15 hours now and I am on information overload. I have been reading through the articles I have saved about the Republican effort to stop lots of us from voting and sorting the articles' contents by state. Unfortunately, as Election Day draws nearer and early voting has already taken place, 27 states are already on my list. I'm finding article after article, video after video, and blog post after blog post, creating a mountain of evidence of our votes being eliminated in one way or another. I have too much information to comprehend, let alone categorize.

And then I found this.

The Election Protection Coalition (1-866-OUR-VOTE) in a non-partisan organization that is documenting problems people are having with voting and helping voters with their questions. They have taken over 40,000 calls so far from people having problems voting. They are posting the contents of those calls online for all of us to read.

I'm going to keep working on the original post because if McCain wins tomorrow, state by state voter turnout suppression will be the reason why. If Obama wins tomorrow, voter turnout suppression needs to be one of the first problems we solve in 2009. Identifying the problems will be key. For now, I'm posting some of the call entries that caught my attention from a few key states.

In order to keep busy and not go crazy, I will be working at the polls tomorrow so I will be not be able to obsessively read these while waiting for the election results. While watching television tomorrow, I would love it if some of you could highlight some of the most interesting calls you've found on the Our Vote Live website for me. With over 40,000 calls registered before Election Day even begins, I know I'm going to miss some fascinating reports between 5:30am and 7:00pm in Hawaii.

Tomorrow night, by the time I'm released from the polls, the election will be over. Two years of societal obsession with a small group of candidates have been leading up to that moment. No matter which way tomorrow goes, whether the news is good or bad, we will finally know the outcome. I'll be drinking either in celebration or in fury, but by God, there will be drinking.

On Wednesday, I'll get back to work. Good luck voting tomorrow. Many of us are going to need it.

Colorado (702 reports)

Nov 3, 3:54pm: Voter intimidation problem

"Caller received a call at aboaut 3:20 PM on 11/2/08 urging him to vote for Obama and saying that the election will be held on Nov. 11. The call came from a Los Angeles number, 213-251-7800."

Nov 1, 9:19pm:

"Concerned because recieved something in the mail indicating that she was not registered and may not be able to vote"

Oct 31, 3:19pm: Registration problem

"Had checkbox issue - mailed in solution last week still not listed."

Oct 31, 2:41pm: Registration problem

"Tried to reg (via ACORN) 2 months ago - but does not show up on rolls - has stub"

Florida (3,569 reports)

Nov 3, 12:29pm: Registration problem

"Caller's niece was sent a notice that she failed to selct a political party and was notified that she could not vote in the 2008 election."

Nov 3, 12:08pm: Polling place inquiry

"Caller received flyer indicating there was a new polling location, which differed from the the address on her voter registration card."

Nov 3, 11:53am: Voting equipment problem

"Elderly voter filed initial ballot having made X marks in circles instead of filling in, and machine rejected ballot. Poll worker gave him a second ballot, which he filled in correctly, but the machine rejected again with an "over voted" error message. Voter did not approach poll worker again."

Nov 3, 11:38am: ID problem

"Voter stated that she has gone to DMV twice in St. Petersburg to get a photo id (on Friday and today) to have an id that matches her present address and that she was told that she cannot get a drivers license because the system is down state wide."

Nov 3, 9:57am: Registration problem

Letter from the state that registration not valid because of issue with SSN.

Nov 2, 11:56pm: Polling place problem

"long lines - people are leaving. Caller went at 3pm today to early vote and caller just came home - at midnight."

Nov 2, 4:41pm: Polling place problem

"The precinct used manual ballots that required the use of either a No. 2 pencil or a blue/black ink pen. However, the precinct ONLY provided felt tip markers for the voters. When the voters asked where they could obtain either a No. 2 pencil or a blue or black ink pen, the workers informed the voters that the markers were all that were available."

Georgia (1,644 reports)

Nov 3, 4:15pm: ID problem, Registration problem

"Received letter from Secy of State stating that the records don't match. Need to prove citizenship; has voted has passport feels this is voter suppression"

Nov 3, 3:46pm: Poll worker problem, Registration inquiry, Registration problem

"Voter was told that she had been deleted from the lists because she hadn't voted in the last 2 elections. Voter claims that she has voted. The poll worker refused to give her a provisional ballot during early voting."

Nov 2, 4:27pm: Polling place problem

"Caller's parents went to the polling place twice. Each time were told that they couldn't vote because their names were purged from the list b/c they didn't vote in the past two years. Refused to give them provisional ballots."

Nov 2, 1:18pm: Polling place problem

"The caller reported ballot problem in Henry County, GA, polling location #30228. The presidential candidates' names were on the ballot, but at the local level, lots of democratic candidates' names are NOT on the ballot and that she had to TYPE them in."

Nov 1, 11:18pm: Registration inquiry

"Registered to vote. Voted on 10/27. Received letter from GA Secretary of State dated 10/28, saying she is not a US citizen. Voter was born in the US and has always lived in the US. No questions she is a US citizen (with all necessary ID, and has been voting since she was 18). Voter VERY concerned her vote will not be counted."

Oct 31, 2:18pm: Voter intimidation problem

"Caller's home was contacted by a McCain campaign worker, who asked for her (but spoke to her mother). The campaign worker asked her to confirm that she had voted in 3 primaries recently. The mother, answering for herself, rather than the daughter, replied that the information was incorrect. The McCain rep then informed the mother that she was going to take her "off the list" and "report her for voter fraud." The caller used *69 to obtain the campaign rep's contact information. It is not clear whether "remove from the list" referred to the call list, or to the voter registration list. Caller was under the impression that it was a reference to the voter registration list."

Oct 31, 1:39pm: Polling place problem

"Lee Headquarters Library on Bellcreek, in Jonesborugh in Clayton County, GA - there is a 6 hour wait for voting - they said that machines are down, and that they are short on machines. They are sending voters to different locations to vote. The line and wait keeps getting longer and longger."

Oct 31, 12:45pm: Polling place problem, Voter intimidation problem

"Lack of availability of parking (cones blocked off parking) and cars are being towed (lack of information telling people where overflow parking is) at advance polling station (4700 Austell Road, Austell, GA). Officers were blocking off parking lots and directing people to places without parking. Officers were also waiving people past the precinct. It took close to 5 hours to vote."

Nevada (212 reports)

Sep 12, 5:23pm:

"Caller is member of Washoe Tribe which he says is 100% democratic. Everyone around the Reservation is Republican. The Douglas County Clerk has removed the polling place from the Reservation making it a mail in only district. Before removal of pollilng place, 100% of elilgible voters (160) voted. In May, only 12 voted."

Ohio (2,234 reports)

Nov 3, 4:04pm

"There's a radio station in Cincinati 700WLW - Bill Cunningham is the host - who is telling people on his program that Democrats are voting on Wednesday November 5th instead of tomorrow."

Nov 3, 3:58pm: Polling place inquiry

"Got phone call telling her polling place was different than what was listed on voter registration notification."

Oct 31, 12:24pm: Other Inquiry

"Deceased husband. Wants to ensure he is not registered due to fear of voter fraud."

Oct 30, 7:58pm: Voter intimidation problem

"is nurse, patient sais patient's brother was arrested wwhen tried to vote today for unpaid traffic tickets. she called her pastor who went down to voting place. people being arrested."

Oct 30, 3:10pm: Registration problem, Voter intimidation problem

"republican prosecutor in columbus ohio telling obama campaign workers they must decline their registration"

Oct 29, 6:52pm: Other Inquiry, Registration problem

"Mother called because she received confirmation saying 2 year old daughter is registered to vote. She had received several forms asking daughter to vote and finally received confirmation saying daughter is registered to vote."

Virginia (1,837 reports)

Nov 3, 5:04pm: Polling place inquiry

"Received flier with a different polling location than her registration card. Hasn't moved since she registered."

Nov 3, 3:45pm: Registration problem

Voted in 2004 and 2008; not on rolls.

Nov 3, 2:13pm: Absentee voting problem, Student voting problem

"Only allowed to vote for Pres and vice pres because was student. She tried to vote in annandale. lives in falls church. Both in Fairfax co. Submitted provis. ballot. Would still like to vote for senator and other positions"

Nov 3, 2:01pm: Voter intimidation problem

"Virginia Commonwealth University -- certain professors are telling students that they will drop their grade a full grade if the student misses class to vote."

Nov 1, 4:34pm: Polling place problem

Richmond City Hall - experiencing significant delays for early voting. Caller was in line at 8:45 and didn't vote until 3 pm. Elderly and handicapped voters not given any priority in voting. Many voters left polls without voting. Only 4 machines.

Oct 30, 6:34pm: Absentee voting problem, Polling place problem

Doesn't think she got the right ballot form b/c there were only options to vote for president and senate.

Oct 30, 5:13pm: Registration problem

Although she is registered, when she called the local board of elections at 703-792-6470, they told her that voter registration was cancelled, and that she could not vote.