The Obama campaign yesterday went to court to block what it alleged was an attempt by Republicans in Michigan to stop people who lost their homes in the mortgage crisis from voting in November’s election.
The suit, filed in a Michigan court yesterday, is the latest sign of contention over voting procedures. Voting rights activists in several battleground states have reported an aggressive push by Republican elected officials and activists to make it harder to vote.
In Macomb county, Michigan, a swing constituency, Republican officials for the first time tried to use America’s housing crisis as a way of striking people off lists, the Obama camp told reporters yesterday. “There is no doubt that there is an immediate threat to the voting rights of citizens in Michigan whose names could appear on a foreclosure list,” said Bob Bauer, an Obama lawyer.
The situation came to light last week when the Republican party chairman of Macomb county told a local newspaper he planned to draw on publicly available lists of home foreclosures to bar people from casting their vote.
The national Republicans later distanced the party from his comment, but other state party officials confirmed there were plans to deploy an army of poll “challengers” who would check voters’ credentials.
If you lost your home in this trickle-down-your-leg economy – the Republican Party is going to make certain you’re also cut off from your right to vote, as well.
#26 welcome to the real world, better late than never
#28–Calin==you are an asshole. Why do you hate America?
#28 “You can’t legally vote without proof of residency somewhere anyway…show proof…go vote, no problem.”
In CA you don’t have to show proof of anything. You don’t even have to be a citizen.
#30
Thank you. A-SS-HO-LE EVERYBODY!!
I don’t hate America. I hate politicians…pretty much all of them. I really hate politicians that want to criminalize activities that don’t effect them or any other citizen. Gay marriage has 0 effect on society as a whole, or individuals specifically. Why should government be involved?
I don’t want the government telling me I can’t smoke (3.5 months since I quit), or drink, or eat bacon, or listen to heavy metal music (thanks Tipper Gore). I don’t want the government to have the power to take my money or my property to give to others because it is “neighborly” or “For the greater good”. I want the government to handle roads, power, military, police and fire departments and get the hell out of the way of most everything else.
I am a staunch fiscal conservative and am quite liberal socially. However, neither of the major parties are either of those things. At least the Republicans give lip service to being fiscally conservative….much like the Democrats give lip service to being socially liberal. Both are lying sacks of ….. well you know. Both want bigger government. The Liberals want larger government to make things, “fair”…while the so-called Conservatives want bigger government to enforce their “values”.
No #13
“#12, ‘Political corruption’ is an oxymoron.”
“Political corruption’ is repetitive.
Instead of creating a sensational headline, they should have just reminded those people to re-register where they now live. It’s not that hard. There are droves of people wandering the street passing out voter’s registration cards to people. Also available at the courthouse or the post office.
in the meantime it’s the community organizers like ACORN that are being caught in real vote fraud.
The real issue is people registering fake names and voting in other people’s names. Shocking that they don’t have a voter ID requirement in so many places. How about they just put cameras up at polling places when people pick up their ballots.
#12 “With all the voter fraud perpetuated by Democrats (Washington. . .)” refers to the Washington governor’s race in 2004.
The facts:
The Republican US attorney, the Republican state Attorney general, the Republican King county prosecuting attorney and the FBI all investigated, looking for voter fraud. They found none.
The Repubs then sued in heavily Republican Chelan County, in a court with a Republican judge, to overturn the election. He laughed the suit out of court, saying that since the Repubs claimed voting fraud, they had to show evidence of voting fraud. The Republicans had no evidence.
Just because you lose an election does not mean the other side cheated. But since Republicans cheat, they think the Dems do also. “The crook thinks everyone is a crook.”
“Political corruption’ is repetitive.”
#33 Ben, um… er … ah…. that’s what I should have said, but inbreeding and all-consuming hate sometimes causes me to be more absurd than I intended.
I think you meant “Political Corruption is redundant.”
Well, this is all very confusing.
Most of these people still live in the houses they have been foreclosed on. This is pure political maneuvering by the Republican party to try and remove Democrats from voting. Period. I’m sickened that anyone would stand up for this.
I grew up in Macomb County…most of the peeps there are union workers…most have lost their jobs and now losing their homes due to auto industry woes…pretty ironic, huh? “We took your job and sent it to Mexico so you could lose your house and right to vote.”
Well, I say, maybe they shouldn’t have pressured GM and the like w/providing them $100K/yr. just to rivet bolts on a car.
It’s a world economy now, folks. Time to grow up.
Don’t forget to vote early….and often.
You can vote in the district you live in. Why would you vote in the district you don’t live in?
New take on the graveyards vote is my guess.
Now the empty houses vote.
The chairman of the Republican Party in Macomb County, Michigan is James Carabelli. I agree with the lawyer J. Gerald Hebert, (a former voting rights litigator for the U.S. Justice Department who now runs the Campaign Legal Center, a Washington D.C.-based public-interest law firm.) that you can’t use forclosure lists as a factual basis for someone not being a resident of the county, AND that it’s mean spirited.
It almost makes me wonder if James Carabelli secretly WANTS to help the Obama campaign, but what do I know? I tend to think on these conspiracy terms at times. I guess it really depends on how much his acations are amplified by the MSM (FYI MSM stand for Main Stream Media).
I got my info about this from an article on the Michigan Messenger “Lose your house, lose your vote” http://www.michiganmessenger.com/4076/lose-your-house-lose-your-vote
Republicans are unworthy of democracy.
If you plan to vote, better take a recent piece of mail with you as a proof of residency. Don’t take a bill in a window envelope, as it could be challenged — the address _and_ the postmark should be on the same piece of paper, with a readable (and recent — less than 30 days — less than a week is better) date. Mail one to yourself if necessary. And don’t forget your government-issued photo ID. (How long until we are required to submit DNA samples?)
Hey, just get hold of ACORN, they’re very good at fake registrations – they’re out in full force trying to help Obalama as we speak.
# 50 “Hey, just get hold of ACORN,”
Proof that Obama is the messiah. ACORN can resurrect the dead! 😉
I am so sick of hearing people whine, using the term “bail out” as if it’s Satanic. America is a ship. It’s got a hole in it again. It’s sinking. It’s happened before. What the fuck do you want do?
1) sink
2) bail out