Today's moment of WTF?!

[poltr1]

From The Daily Kos: McCain campaign admits mailing 1 Million bad ballot applications to voters in Ohio

The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that "About one-third of the absentee ballot applications received at the Hamilton County Board of Elections have been ruled invalid because Republican Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign printed a version of the form with an extra, unneeded box on it."

This is verified; read the original story. "Democratic Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner says that if the box isn't checked, circled or initialed, the application is no good. Those voters are essentially admitting they're not eligible, she said....'The outrageous partisan maneuvering by Secretary Brunner is putting the integrity of this election at risk, and it needs to stop immediately,' said state Republican Chairman Bob Bennett."

I don't like this one bit. The election process should be sacred and non-partisan. Instead, there's the appearance of corruption inside the county boards of elections. To paraphrase Mr. Bennett, the outrageous partisan deception by the Republican Party is putting the integrity of this election at risk. This is clearly unacceptable, for any county in any state.

Comments

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

Bennett can bite me. The ballots were printed by his guy; calling the other side partisan for following the rules is bullshit of the highest order.

Considering that the Republican Secretaries of State in Michigan and Wisconsin are doing their best to disenfranchise folks who were foreclosed (which apparently strongly tends to be Democratic voters), the idea that this guy even has a voice in the media is pathetic.

[billroper]

Reading the article, apparently this form has been accepted before without requiring anyone to hit the checkbox and the Republicans are the ones who are upset about the applications being thrown out. It doesn't appear that the Republicans are engaging in gamesmanship here, but the Democratic Secretary of State.

So if the election process should be sacred and non-partisan, you might want to direct your complaint to the Secretary of State.

[poltr1]

I don't know if the form was vetted by the Secretary of State before it was mailed out. But I do know this: it's not the first time Ohio Republicans have given an appearance of impropriety. Four years ago, in Warren County (a heavily Republican county), the county administration building was put under lockdown while the votes were being counted, citing a potential terrorist threat. Later, it was revealed that the FBI made no such advisement to the county.

Bottom line: I can no longer trust the Republicans with running a fair and unbiased election.

[dragon-pet.livejournal.com]

You were sitting at the wrong end of the table at Olive Garden last night.. the other end was all politics.. They were getting all into it. Glad I was in the middle (of the table).