Whether you want to believe it or not, there is a lot of evidence that vote suppression has happened at polling places all over the country. Voter caging has been used to keep people off voter rolls, so that they are turned away from the polls on election day, even though they ought to have been registered.
The Help America Vote Act, which was offered to Americans as a solution to incompetent and corrupt voting practices has only made matters more complicated. In some states, first time voters are asked to show a picture ID before they can vote. Some mail-in ballots will be rejected because they won't conform to some complicated local rules for including a copy of your photo ID.
The Help America Vote Act forces some people off to provisional balloting, but incompetence leads some polling places to improperly implement the provisional ballots, causing some votes to become invalid.
At the polls, lawyers will be on hand in poor and minority-heavy areas to challenge as many voters as possible. If they can slow down the vote and create long lines at the polls, they know there are people who will not wait the 13 hours we saw at some polling places in 2004.
You can help.
Make sure everyone you know knows just what to do in the case of difficulty at the polls.
Here's an abbreviated list of some of your important voting rights:
It is your right to
If you know all this stuff, then pass it along to people you know. Especially if they are in a state in close contention.
The most important is probably that people know: if they're in line before the polls close, they have to be allowed to vote. Pass the info on, including the phone number.
Posted by James at October 27, 2008 3:40 PM