Pennsylvanians On Guard Against GOP Voter Suppression

In 2000, it was Florida. In 2004, it was Ohio. This year, the war over vote counts and GOP suppression efforts seem to be shifting. Some analysts have called Colorado "the new Florida." But others are keeping their eyes trained on Pennsylvania.

Why else, given the poll numbers, is the McCain campaign wasting resources there in the final days of the election season? Poll tracking website FiveThirtyEight says Pennsylvania is a 99 percent lock for the Democrats at this point. Colorado, 97 percent. Florida, a 70 percent chance the Democrats will win. Even Arizona is now a closer race than Pennsylvania.

But Pennsylvania packs a walloping 21 electoral college votes and as the site of an Election Day "surprise" -- a la Florida 2000 and Ohio 2004 -- it could make the difference. Democrats here are on high "red" alert. Just as Bush-Cheney-Rove sent their troops into Ohio during the weeks leading up to the 2004 election, McCain-Palin-Schmidt staff are increasingly present in Pennsylvania this month. Rumors of voter suppression--some true and some not-so-true--abound.

Pennsylvania Democrats remember well how African-American voters in Florida were falsely identified in the 2000 election as felons and told they could not vote. Later it was proven that anyone whose name resembled a felon's name had been deliberately listed as one in order to prevent them from voting. Pennsylvania Democrats remember, also, how Floridians who had been voting at polling places in the same location for years, arrived on Election Day in 2000 to find that their polling places had been moved or relocated. Many voters were redirected to new locations more than once before finding a place to exercise their right to vote; others simply stopped trying. Pennsylvanians are aware that in Florida, in 2000, 26,000 Broward County votes, representing nearly forty percent of the predominately African-American county's electorate, were thrown out.

The dirty tricks have begun here in the Keystone state. Pennsylvanians are on guard especially in the greater Philadelphia area, which accounts for forty percent of the state's electorate and where the majority of African Americans reside. Students, who by a wide margin favor Obama, and African-American voters in Philadelphia have already received fliers, slipped under their doors, spreading the lie that, if anyone has an outstanding traffic violation, they cannot vote. Jewish voters in Pennsylvania have been the recipients of a vicious e-mail letter smear, sponsored by the Pennsylvania Republican Party's Victory 2008 committee, spreading the lie that Obama "taught members of ACORN to commit voter fraud." Even worse and more offensively slanderous, in a truly sick attempt to frighten and appeal to their emotions, the e-mail told Jewish voters that, if they vote for Obama, they will make the "tragic mistake" their ancestors made when they "ignored the warning signs in the 1930s and 40s."

The Republican Party has repudiated the e-mail and former state Supreme Court justice Sandra Schwartz Newman, who admits helping to write the letter, has since apologized.

In light of these attempts at voter suppression, when rumors began to circulate that polling places had been removed from the campuses of Cheyney and Lincoln, two historically African-American universities in suburban Philadelphia's traditionally Republican Delaware and Chester counties, the rumors were worth investigating. Founded by a Quaker philanthropist in 1837 as the Institute for Colored Youth, Cheyney University of Pennsylvania is the oldest of the nation's historically black colleges and universities. Cheyney's best-known alumnus is the late Ed Bradley, the award-winning CBS journalist. Located twenty-five miles west of Philadelphia in Delaware County, Cheyney is surrounded by southeastern Pennsylvania's gentle countryside, which though peaceful, makes public transportation inconvenient at best. Today, Cheyney has a diverse student body and the majority of students live on campus, which spreads outward from a classic quadrangle. The university isn't far from Widener University where yesterday morning, Obama spoke to nine-thousand supporters, including Cheyney students, who stood in the cold, pouring rain to hear him.

Contrary to rumors, Cheyney's campus did not have a polling place in the past and has not had one recently. The rural setting, however, did make it difficult for students to reach the nearest polling place on election days. Excited about this year's historic election and determined to ensure that as many of their fellow students as possible would be able to vote, last spring the university's branch of the NAACP--students--petitioned to have a polling place on campus. As it was, the local polling place was so far from campus that students needed a car in order to reach it. Since the majority of students are campus residents and not everyone has a car, the location of the polling place posed an obstacle to their exercising their right to vote. With the support of the Cheyney's administration and in collaboration with the NAACP of Media, Delaware County, a network of grassroots organizations, and both the Democratic and Republican parties, the students pursued their goal, working with the Delaware County Board of Elections. The university administration submitted a letter to the board on the students' behalf, promising to do whatever was required and needed to have an on-campus polling place.

The Country Board of Elections reached a decision in September. Although they decided not to locate the polling place on Cheyney's campus, they did move it closer, right outside the footprint of the university, in the Township Building, within walking distance of the campus.

"We are extremely proud of our students' hard work and determination," said Eric Almonte, Cheyney's executive associate to the President, "This type of civic participation is what inspires young people to achieve. They really worked hard, learned how the system operates, and reached a positive outcome."

The situation at Lincoln University was different. Lincoln was founded in 1854 as the Ashmun Institute, the first institution founded anywhere in the world to provide higher education in the arts and sciences for male youth of African descent. Renamed in honor of Abraham Lincoln in 1866, the university, which today has an international, interracial, male and female enrollment, has an extraordinary roster of legendary alumni including Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, poet Langston Hughes, the first President of Nigeria, Nnamdi Azikiwe, and the first President of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah. Like Cheyney, the university is located among the farmland and hills of southern Pennsylvania, in Chester County, forty-five miles southwest of Philadelphia. Until 1992, there was a polling place was on Lincoln's campus. In 1992, however, the polling place was relocated. This year, according to the County Board of Elections, the Democratic Party requested that the polling place be returned to the university campus. The university was contacted and asked whether they would be willing to host a polling place on campus. After reviewing the possibility, the university offered their gymnasium as a polling place. When the request was presented to the three members of the Board, however, the commissioner Terrence Farrell who is African American questioned why this petition had not been made in any other year between 1992 and 2008.

"No one had an answer," said Jim Forsythe, director of Chester County Voter Services. "The commissioner thoroughly reviewed the request and by a two to one margin, the board voted to keep the polling place where it is at the Lincoln Community Association Building in Oxford, about a mile and a half from Lincoln's campus." Although he did not explain why they'd chosen to keep the polling place off-campus, Forsythe did point out that at the time they made their decision, only 172 of Lincoln's 2100 students were using their campus address as their main address and that the polling place would be used by everyone in the township.

Michael Hill, Lincoln's vice president of development and external relations, said that the administration has made sure that Lincoln students know where their polling place is located.

An army of poll watchers will monitor polling places throughout Pennsylvania, poised to report and handle any instances of voter suppression. Voter protection is on everyone's mind this year.

Comments

[peacegurl48]

Both candidates, preferably jointly, should speak out against voter suppression in any form.

The sanctity of the vote is a Bipartisan issue.

[nikio1975]

It's a damn shame you should have to even send someone to moniter grown folk to make sure they are honest and do the right thing. I hope people realize that just because you think your fooling some people, the one person you can't fool is always watching, and that's God.

[UWNBM]

From The Washington Post:

Justice Dept. Will Send 800 Monitors to Polls
By Mary Pat Flaherty
The Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice will send 800 federal observers and justice department staff to 59 jurisdictions in 23 states on Election Day to monitor polling places and elections.

...

In 2004, 1,090 observers traveled to 25 states for Election Day. During the deadlocked 2000 election, there were 317 observers watching for problems.

Polling place activities will be observed by federal monitors in the following places:

Perry County, Alabama;
Apache, Cochise, and Navajo Counties, Arizona;
Kane County, Illinois;
East Carroll Parish, Louisiana;
Boston and Springfield, Massachusetts;
Bolivar, Jefferson Davis, Jones, Kemper, Leake, Neshoba, Newton, Noxubee, Washington, Wilkinson, and Winston Counties, Mississippi;
Salem County (Penns Grove), New Jersey;
Cibola and Sandoval Counties, New Mexico;
Kings County (Brooklyn), New York County (Manhattan), and Westchester County, New York;
Buffalo and Charles Mix Counties, South Dakota; and
Dallas, Fort Bend, and Galveston Counties, Texas.
Justice Department staff will monitor elections in:

Pima County, Arizona;
Alameda, Riverside, and Santa Clara Counties, California;
Duval, Hillsborough, and Seminole Counties, Florida;
Madison County, Indiana;
Ford County, Kansas;
Jefferson and Orleans Parishes, Louisiana;
Macomb County, Michigan;
Madison County, Mississippi;
Alamance County, North Carolina;
Colfax County, Nebraska;
Bergen County, New Jersey;
Cuyahoga County, Ohio;
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania;
Dorchester and Georgetown, South Carolina;
Bennett, Jackson, Mellette, Shannon, and Todd Counties, South Dakota;
Gonzales and Waller Counties, Texas;
Chesterfield County, Virginia
King County, Washington

[Mysticalsister]

mccain and his army of smear merchants have shown little restraint in their savage campaign of racism and lies. i don't think they would hesitate to steal this election, but if they do, there will be a public outcry the likes of which we haven't seen in this country since the civil war. it will be ugly, and it will go on for years.

pennsylvania is the only state that does not have a paper receipt for the diebold machines, nor do they have a manditory audit of the machines. making it the easiest state to steal.

VOTE. PAY ATTENTION WHEN YOU VOTE. SCREAM BLOODY MURDER IF YOU SEE ANYTHING THAT ALTERS OR SUPPRESSES YOUR VOTE. DO NOT LEAVE THE POLLING PLACE UNTIL YOUR CONCERNS ARE REGISTERED AND DOCUMENTED -- NO MATTER WHAT.

[swbks]

Are these the same Republicans who your refer to as stupid, ignorant and have lost touch with the real world. Geez, they are not smart enough to win an election outright... how can they be so smart to steal one from such a smart, carefully crafted Obama machine. Sounds to me like you are making excuses just in case the polls arent' exactly like they appear. Democrats are not above playing dirty so don't act like the Republicans are the ultimate bad guys.

[kymlosang]

look who is always doing the voter suppression. it is the republicans. i do dread if they steal the election again because this time i really dont think people will take it so lightly. i am just really hoping for a smooth voting day and an obama victory and no funny stuff. is a fair election now impossible in our country? geez.

[Mark in PA]

I should also point out that McCain and Palin have run the most despicable campaign in the history of American politics. As a result, I will be moving from the Reupblican party to independant. I wanted to mention that in my last post, but replies are limited to 250 words....and I tend to run long.

[Mark in PA]

I am a Republican in Pennsylvania. A former local party chairman and candidate for the PA House of Representatives years ago. My post here is two-fold. One...I back Obama/Biden. Two....I have lived here for 44 years and know how things work here. The threat to Obama is not GOP interference. The threat is the closet racism that runs deep here. NO....Pennsylvanians are not burning crosses and wearing sheets, but rather racism out of ignorancee. PA people are good, but they do tend to hold onto archiac beliefs almost as a tradtion.The strangest thing I have seen is my friends claiming to be voting for Obama, then calling him the "N-word" in the next sentence. That's why McCain is here.

The population here is aging. That with the fact that family bonds are also strong and children tend to follow their parents. Think back to where this country was in terms of race 60 years ago and you will see where I am heading. In short....the poll numbers in PA are wrong....and McCain/Palin know it. The question is how far off ? Just my gut feeling, but I think they could be off by as much as 50%...

More people than you think are saying OBAMA to friends and pollsters, but through "tradition" will not be able to pull the lever for a black man. Again....not evil, not racist in the normal sense of the word....but just conditioned....and ignorant.

[WFV]

I live in the center of the Commonwealth, and I agree with what you are saying. But I also believe people here are smart and they are paying attention. They will vote Obama, and he will win here.

[kymlosang]

it is pointless to lie about who you are going to vote for. just pointless. i long for people's words to mean something, to be solid. i dont care what part of the country they are from. it's not really a great excuse. if you say you are going to do something, then do it, or dont bother saying anything. i hope this poster is wrong. i dread if this poster is right.

[harriettubman]

It may be pointless but what he's saying is 100% true. Some people will never let go of the racial ideology indoctrinated into them as children. Never.

[AKAchip]

There was a time when a person's word stood for something. Now it appears that we will lie to look better in other's eyes and deny who we really are. The Shaming of America= Racism.

[notconfindtweenhatnboots]

Do not believe MarkfromPA and just expect the polls to be that far off... instead educate yourself about the many ways that Republicans have been able to steal these elections in the past. It sounds like Mark is already making an excuse for having the votes flipped in PA.

The documentary "UNCOUNTED" is available on Comcast on-demand in it's free movie section this month.

Clint Curtis of YEI has testified under oath and passed polygraphs that he has been able to write vote flipping code that is undetectable. He wrote it on the request of Tom Feeney, a republican congressman in Florida. This open code can be used on a variety of machines.

Funny me, but if the vote is severely off of the polls, I would suspect that the few Republicans in charge are up to their old dirty tricks than that a whole section of the state are compulsive liars. I trust in the honesty of most people, but know better than to trust certain politicians when their political lives and connections are at stake.

[PCRX]

These tactics are just simply FOUL. I implore anyone out there who gets intimidated into not voting to put these people onto the ground and have them arrested. Simply SICK.

[DylaBetes]

watch this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGF-HEd6XnA

[Interested Party]

WHY does the US always think they can make fun of Canada - mock us? Use us as the butt of their jokes........in this video, Canada is the ONLY one he wants to declare war on. WELL, BRING IT ON, I am so sick and tired of the US acting like we are fools in Canada...making fun of us! Let's stop sending $700M a year to foreign government who hates us...OK, we'll STOP selling you our natural resources and instead sell them elsewhere!

With the mess your country is in, your election is unbelievable, either way, you cannot hold an election that anyone believes in....the list goes on. But hey, when the next time you need our help, let planes land after 9/11, a neighbour who is helpful and supportive...guess what we'll say - who US?

[JennO]

My husband and I are traveling from NYC to Pennsylvania, with our rambunctious 21 month old in tow, to monitor voter fraud in the state. He said that when he went to orientation in Manhattan, there were *4000* attorneys at the meeting ALL headed to Pennsylvania.
So. I'm not saying "don't worry," but the Obama campaign is ready and prepared for GOP smear tactics.

[Icantbelieveher]

And I've heard Pennsylvania is not the only state -- I've heard from other volunteers in other states that Obama is prepared for all of their dirty tricks, but he's depending on us to let him know what they're doing!

I live in Colorado, and my husband's name was removed from the register, and it took us 3 times to get him back on, but he did a mail in ballot, and his vote will count this year!!!

I don't think the repugnants know what to do now! I think that Obama took him by surprise because he's calling them on every dirty trick they are playing! They have absolutely no idea how to fight someone with intelligence!

[Violet83]

It does seem a bit strange that McCain in campaigning in Pennsylvania. Most polls have him down double digits. I hope this is just paranoia.

[gladys46]

Hey, even paronoids have enemies ... vote like your future depends on it 'cause it does ! ; p

[BassMent]

I think it's a bit delusional, but I don't think it's based on a nefarious plan. I have three reasons to believe this.

First, PA is McCain's only chance. Even if he gets FL, NC AND VA (unlikely), he still needs to pick PA from Obama's column in order to get to 270. PA is the only "big state" where he has ANY chance of whipping up enough racist hatred to have a shot. What other big state is he going to flip? NJ? NY? CA? IL? Not happening.

The second reason I'm not too worried is that after FL in 2000 and OH in 2004, the scrutiny on PA is going to be unbelieveable. I have a friend there who's volunteering for the Obama campaign, and he's convinced there's going to be at least a poll watcher, if not also a lawyer, in every potentially risky polling place in the state. Anything that looks the least bit suspicious is going to be video taped and reported.

Finally, if Obama is 8% ahead (assuming here that 100% of the undecideds will break to McCain), any plan to flip that spread through disenfranchisement, intimidation, ballot rigging or inadequate voting facilities would have to be so massive that it would draw global scrutiny. 5,769,590 votes were cast in PA in '04. Let's be conservative and say an even 6M will vote this year. GOP plotters would have to invalidate half a million votes in order to make up that 8 point spread.

[barryaudrey]

SUPPRESSION AND LAST MINUTE LIES ARE THE WAY THE
REPUBLICANS WILL try TO WIN and have won in the past..
WE MUST ALL BE AWARE AND REPORT ANYTHING WE GET NERVOUS ABOUT ASAP. Report it to your local Democratic headquarters. report it to CNN. report it to Obamas camp(a bit hard to reach) But the locals will help you so everyone can vote. To vote is your legal responsibilty. Do not be intimated. iF YOU NEED A RIDE OR HELP CALL THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY . Obama has many locatons in your state.Call your local newspaper BUT do not be afraid.

[gladys46]

And, don't leave that booth until you are satisfied that your vote has been registered ! Call any official that you see in your polling place ... don't be intimidated ... voting is your right .. your constitutional right .. demand it !!!

[gladys46]

Don't stress people .. just stay there until your vote is registered ! Here's something so calming, soothing ! Remember we are the world, we are the children .. those who may a brighter day !!!

http://www.dvonkessel.com/obama?deff5910Obama

Supression ... inertia ... NOT THIS TIME !!!


Obama/Biden08