Thread: Is everyone ready and down with the plan for tomorrow?

Tuesday, November 04, 2008



Yikes [Kathryn Jean Lopez]


From Fox earlier (rough transcript):

JANE SKINNER: breaking election news, we have reports of possible voter intimidation in some way — pennsylvania. republicans saying that two black panthers have been blocking the doorway of one polling locations. rick, what are the details on this? what are you hearing?



RICK LEVENTHAL: i do not even know where to begin, but we have reached a polling place in the city of philadelphia. one of the two black panthers who was allegedly blocking the door is standing right over here, with an accused us of intimidating voters because we were here with a camera and microphone. he did not answer questions, other people here have confirmed that another person in black panther attire was holding a night stick and apparently the concern was that they were intimidating people who were trying to go inside to vote. a republican poll observer actually called the police, the police were here and we miss them, they came and left. that person called the police is here. why don't you tell us — step down off the curb, if you do not mind. what is going on here?



CITIZEN: we got a phone call that there was intimidation going on. i walked up to the door, two gentlemen in black panther guard, one brandishing a nightstick, standing in front of the door. they closed ranks as i walked up. i am a veteran, that does not scare me. i went inside and found full- watchers, they said they had been here for an hour — i went inside and found poll-watchers, they said that they had said not to let people outside because black people are going to win no matter what. at that point, i spoke to him, we would not get into a fistfight, i said, and i called the police.



LEVENTHAL: the person with the nightstick was escorted away, which i just confirmed inside. but the implication is that you were telling me that the black panthers were there to intimidate white voters from coming to this location?



CITIZEN: anyone who is not going their way, i do not know. someone in front of a polling place with a nightstick, that is intimidating for all voters.



LEVENTHAL: this is the first time i have heard of black panthers being stationed outside of a polling place. the one gentleman who is still here, he is a poll-watcher?



CITIZEN: yes, and he can wear what he wants.



LEVENTHAL: the other person was not allowed to be there with a nice that?



CITIZEN: you cannot stand with a nightstick anywhere, that is a weapon. obviously, you cannot stand around with a weapon menacingly in your hand under any circumstances.



LEVENTHAL: that is situation, as far as we know it. we have heard of other incidents in the city, including voting machines breaking down. we heard of an incident not far from here where far — all three machines broke down. people did wait, most of them. lines have dissipated. i have not made it inside yet, we had a skirmish in front of the door. apparently there is voting going on as well. at this point, apparently anyone who wants to vote here can vote here.



SKINNER: i know that they do not have enough people to man ever falling site, but as far as you understand the police have come and gone. is anyone monitoring in case someone is still hanging around?



LEVENTHAL: well there are poll watchers still standing here, we’ve been to at least a half a dozen polls around here and I haven’t seen any police officers, they don’t want a police presence to intimidate some voters, they did escort one gentleman out of here



SKINNER: It’s true in some places they don’t want police on sight, plenty going on there for you



http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/? ... E4YTE5ZmM=

This just came out in this mornings paper...Hope it is good news for Sali, Canyon is our biggest county...But still worried about Sali in the rest of the state.

GOP DEFENDS ITS ONE-PARTY STATE SLATE

Republicans hold every state elected office in Idaho, but Democrats Walt Minnick and Larry LaRocco hope to change that.

Minnick's race against one-term incumbent U.S. Rep Bill Sali has been the closest and most hard-fought. Maybe you've seen an ad or two (or 40).

LaRocco faces Lt. Gov. Jim Risch for Larry Craig's Senate seat, and independent conservative Rex Rammell throws a wildcard into the mix in the only statewide election this year.

But if final, unofficial election results come out when Ada and Canyon county officials expect them too - in the middle of the night in Ada and early Wednesday morning in Canyon - then you should treat the early, partial results in the congressional races with caution.

Canyon County has long voted strongly Republican, so expect Sali and Risch to carry the county.

CITIZEN: we got a phone call that there was intimidation going on. i walked up to the door, two gentlemen in black panther guard, one brandishing a nightstick, standing in front of the door. they closed ranks as i walked up. i am a veteran, that does not scare me. i went inside and found full- watchers, they said they had been here for an hour — i went inside and found poll-watchers, they said that they had said not to let people outside because black people are going to win no matter what. at that point, i spoke to him, we would not get into a fistfight, i said, and i called the police.

It has begun.

It's also cold and wet out here in the San Diego area.

MD, welcome to my world!! It is cold and wet here from mid-October till June ! I would feel lost living in a desert location, no trees to speak of, no wind, no rain, no slugs........LOL

So far, up here it has been quiet. Though you all have to remember, we have absentee ballots so all we have to do is drive up and drop them in the secured box, where county workers are in pairs all the time.

Oregon tends to be pretty peaceful and behaved in these kinds of situations. I will be looking into the local news and papers to keep up, but do not expect any troubles here.

Everything is quiet at the polls here and the local talk radio reports much of the same. People are calling in to report smmoth voting (and voting against Obama).

Originally Posted by 31scout

Everything is quiet at the polls here and the local talk radio reports much of the same. People are calling in to report smmoth voting (and voting against Obama).

What local radio talk channels are getting in?

I'm just outside Hazleton.

I voted against NObama.

http://blog.oregonlive.com/elections/20 ... d_mul.html

This is about as rough as it is going to get here! Oregonians overall are just calm and orderly people. We do have small pocket groups who might get mad an break a few signs over something, but that is going to be about all. My brother suggested I watch Seattle, he said there are far more radical and rough people up there. I'll keep you all posted.

Here is a Youtube video labeled "Is this legal? Obama activity in polling place.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiM-6ZnW2LI

I voted this morning with no problems. Only about 6 people in line at the time (just before 9am).

I've heard rumors that at another polling place here in town folks were bragging about being paid $200 for each to vote Obama.

In a neighboring town, my friend reported long lines and lack of parking, but no problems getting to vote. Of course we have paper ballots in this county, so no e-voting issues.

Anything else I hear (or see when I get off work) I will post.

Originally Posted by florgal

I voted this morning with no problems. Only about 6 people in line at the time (just before 9am).

I've heard rumors that at another polling place here in town folks were bragging about being paid $200 for each to vote Obama.

In a neighboring town, my friend reported long lines and lack of parking, but no problems getting to vote. Of course we have paper ballots in this county, so no e-voting issues.

Anything else I hear (or see when I get off work) I will post.

I hope some patriot had a microphone on and captured these bribes

I am in rural Michigan. The poll workers said it's been unbelievably busy today. Nothing seemed out of place as far as procedures went.

Michigan has a motor voter act, and if you change an address on your registration it automatically chanes on your license.

They ask for ID at the sign in table, and the women actually compared our faces to our driver's licenses.

Detroit is reporting voting problems. http://www.freep.com/article/20081104/N ... 04049/1215

According to Election Protection, a nationwide, nonpartisan voter protection coalition, the problems at some polling places are resulting in long lines, some lasting two hours, causing some voters to leave without casting a ballot.

In Pontiac, according to the group, a voter was arrested for intimidating other voters in line. Some voters left before voting. The Free Press is attempting to confirm the report.

Election Protection's information comes from complaints made to its hot line, 1-866-OUR-VOTE, its Web site. www.866ourvote.org, and from the group's polling place volunteers.

As of 11 a.m. complaints from Michigan voters had come from 17 cities.

They were Ann Arbor, Auburn Hills, Detroit, Battle Creek, Grosse Pointe Woods, Harper Woods, Hamtramck, Inkster, Three Rivers, Redford, Taylor, Burton, Muskegon, Warren, Lapeer, New Baltimore and Tecumseh.

"Many voters are angry and unaware of the legality of the recourse being offered by poll workers. In many cases, poll workers are asking voters to cast their ballot on paper and they will count them later," an e-mail update from Election Protection said. "Some voters are being asked to vote on paper with magic markers."

The Grosse Pointe Woods City Clerk Lisa Hathaway said the complaint about voting difficulties in her city was the result of two malfunctioning ballot tabulators, one at Mason Elementary School, the other at Ferry Elementary School. The machines were rejecting ballots, but began accepting them again when a blocking device was removed, she said.

"They were down for about an hour, and the problem was fixed," Hathaway said. "The voting process never stopped."

While the lines at those polling places were long, it was more about high turnout than the broken machines, she said.

"We followed the definition of election law and everything was resolved," she said. "The good thing is people are coming out to have their voices heard. And they are being heard. This is a very good thing."

The Auburn Hills City Clerk's Office said it was not aware of any voting problems.

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