Voter Fraud = Another GOP Smoke Screen

Every presidential election comes with charges and counter charges about voter fraud pushing the election one way or the other. This campaign is no exception. The sixth circuit court of appeals, here in Cincinnati has ordered Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner to put into place, by this Friday, a program for checking the validity of all newly registered Ohio voters. Newly registered voters total some 666,000 people. The court ruling was in answer to a lawsuit filed against Brunner by the Republican Party, voicing concern about possible voter fraud committed by ACORN registrars. ACORN is a grassroots organization that works to help poor and minorities in dealing with issues from mortgages to registering to vote.

The GOP has been upset for quite a while now at the State because of a law that allows residents to register to vote and then to vote on the same day. The GOP says that’s unconstitutional and opens up the state to all kinds of voter fraud. Well, that window was put into place by Ohio’s GOP governor and GOP controlled government back in 2006. They didn’t seem to have any problem with the window at the time they created it.

Nor did they have a problem with then Secretary of State, Ken Blackwell’s tactics against black and minority voters in 2004 when he played a major part in hijacking the election for Bush. Bush won by 119,000 votes in Ohio. Change just ten votes per precinct and he would’ve lost the presidency.

The Sheriff of Greene County has asked to see all 302 cards of the newly registered in his county, to check for voter fraud. Yet he says he is not trying to intimidate anyone. This is a republican controlled county, as is most of Ohio. Similar harassment techniques are being used in other states that are still up for grabs in this election.

HERE’S A FACT FOR YOU- In the entire United States of America, from 2000 to 2005, there has been exactly one..did ya hear me.....one, proven case of voter fraud....just one.....

All this hyper ventilation by the republican party against ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, is a smoke screen. ACORN is a grass roots advocacy group that works on behalf of poor people. Poor people of the minority kind in particular, don't generally vote republican.

The GOP is talking about faulty registrations, not votes. Faulty registrations are caught before the vote is cast. It may stress out elections officials, but fraud? No.

And usually the faulty registrations were flagged by ACORN, in the first place. They are required to do that, but instead of throwing away the shaky forms, they turn them in with the correctly filled out ones, because they are also required to do that.

Blackwell unveiled the GOP plan a couple of weeks ago in an article in the New York Post in which he compared the alleged ongoing voter fraud to the devastation of a hurricane.

Just like all the other smoke screens thrown up this year, by the GOP and the McCain/Palin campaign, this one is an attempt to divert attention away from the real issues and to confuse the population about the election and the state of the country.

The Republican party, has publicly admitted that campaigning on the issues is not the way to win an election. Confusion and diversion are the tactics that have worked in the past. The public campaign against ACORN is no exception.