Can finger print identification pad's cut voter fraud ? Some people say they will not vote for anyone who does not support voter ID legislation . What reason other than cheating would you oppose it ?http://elitenerdherd.net/profiles/blogs/finger-print-identification-pad?xg_source=activity

10/19/2012 12:16:23 PM

voter fraud is not an issue, so reasons to oppose it would include that it will cost millions of dollars and disenfranchise voters

there are also those who oppose it because of the attempt to implement it quickly (for obvious disgusting reasons) who would support it if phased in with plenty of time to notify and allow people to obtain identification.

additionally, in the case of using finger prints, i suspect many people would not like to provide that to the government for privacy reasons

10/19/2012 12:29:51 PM

My gym has one of these to identify members. It never fucking works correctly.

10/19/2012 12:53:33 PM

Also, voter fraud is a non-issue.

Unless you define fraud as the systematic implementation of policies designed to disenfranchise voters. In which case, it is an issue.

10/19/2012 12:55:40 PM

Just to be clear, they are saying that voter-fraud on the voter level is a non-issue.


They are not saying that internal voting fraud is a non-issue.


At least... I hope they're not.

10/19/2012 1:07:28 PM

That is an accurate clarification. The story and point raised were regarding individual voters, so that is how I replied.

10/19/2012 1:19:36 PM

This thread is spam.

Also, as GeniuSxBoY said, I'm amazed anyone can earn $3000 a week working from home in a pizza joint.

10/19/2012 11:27:46 PM

Quote :

"Also, voter fraud is a non-issue"

if you believe this you are either naive, ignorant, complicit, or accepting.

10/20/2012 1:00:16 AM

It's easy, the government should provide all citizens free national identification cards and allows for enough time for this policy to be implemented.

10/20/2012 3:24:29 AM

Quote :

"It's easy, the government should provide all citizens free national identification cards and allows for enough time for this policy to be implemented."

America is broke. America doesn't have any money. It's gone.

Suggesting the government should provide 330,000,000 free national identification cards requires a shitton of printing money out of thin air.

10/20/2012 4:05:55 AM

Quote :

"if you believe this you are either naive, ignorant, complicit, or accepting."

For individual voter fraud, it's absolutely true.


Here is just on of many stories and studies that say the same thing, if you'd like me to post more I would be happy to:
http://www.brennancenter.org/content/resource/policy_brief_on_the_truth_about_voter_fraud/

Quote :

"Summary * Fraud by individual voters is both irrational and extremely rare. * Many vivid anecdotes of purported voter fraud have been proven false or do not demonstrate fraud. * Voter fraud is often conflated with other forms of election misconduct. * Raising the unsubstantiated specter of mass voter fraud suits a particular policy agenda. * Claims of voter fraud should be carefully tested before they become the basis for action."

Quote :

"Fraud by individual voters is both irrational and extremely rare. Most citizens who take the time to vote offer their legitimate signatures and sworn oaths with the gravitas that this hard-won civic right deserves. Even for the few who view voting merely as a means to an end, however, voter fraud is a singularly foolish way to attempt to win an election. Each act of voter fraud risks five years in prison and a $10,000 fine - but yields at most one incremental vote. The single vote is simply not worth the price. Because voter fraud is essentially irrational, it is not surprising that no credible evidence suggests a voter fraud epidemic. There is no documented wave or trend of individuals voting multiple times, voting as someone else, or voting despite knowing that they are ineligible. Indeed, evidence from the microscopically scrutinized 2004 gubernatorial election in Washington State actually reveals just the opposite: though voter fraud does happen, it happens approximately 0.0009% of the time. The similarly closely-analyzed 2004 election in Ohio revealed a voter fraud rate of 0.00004%. National Weather Service data shows that Americans are struck and killed by lightning about as often."

Quote :

"Many vivid anecdotes of purported voter fraud have been proven false or do not demonstrate fraud. Although there are a few scattered instances of real voter fraud, many of the vivid anecdotes cited in accounts of voter fraud have been proven false or vastly overstated. In Missouri in 2000, for example, the Secretary of State claimed that 79 voters were registered with addresses at vacant lots, but subsequent investigation revealed that the lots in question actually housed valid and legitimate residences. Similarly, a 1995 investigation into votes allegedly cast in Baltimore by deceased voters and those with disenfranchising felony convictions revealed that the voters in question were both alive and felony-free. Many of the inaccurate claims result from lists of voters compared to other lists - of deceased individuals, persons with felony convictions, voters in other states, etc. These attempts to match information often yield predictable errors. In Florida in 2000, a list of purged voters later became notorious when it was discovered that the “matching” process captured eligible voters with names similar to - but decidedly different from - the names of persons with felony convictions, sometimes in other states entirely. A 2005 attempt to identify supposed double voters in New Jersey mistakenly accused people with similar names but whose middle names or suffixes were clearly different, such as “J.T. Kearns, Jr.” and “J.T. Kearns, Sr.,” of being the same person. Even when names and birthdates match across lists, that does not mean there was voter fraud. Elementary statistics students are often surprised to learn that it is more likely than not that among just 23 individuals, two will share a birthday. Similar statistics show that for most reasonably common names, it is extremely likely that at least two people with the same name in a state will share the same date of birth. The ostensible “matches” may not represent the same person at all. Other allegations of fraudulent voting often turn out to be the result of common clerical errors, incomplete information, or faulty assumptions. Most allegations of voter fraud simply evaporate when more rigorous analysis is conducted."

Quote :

"Raising the unsubstantiated specter of mass voter fraud suits a particular policy agenda. Voter fraud is most often invoked as a substantial problem in order to justify particular election policies. Chief among these is the proposal that individuals be required to show photo ID in order to vote - a policy that disenfranchises up to 10% of eligible citizens. But the only misconduct that photo ID addresses is the kind of voter fraud that happens as infrequently as death by lightning. Therefore, it suits those who prefer photo ID as a policy to lump as much misconduct in with “voter fraud” as possible, to create the impression that the problem is far more significant than it actually is. Moreover, to the extent photo ID is suggested as a solution to the perception that voter fraud occurs, it behooves those who prefer photo ID to reinforce the unsubstantiated perception that voter fraud exists. Claims of voter fraud should be carefully tested before they become the basis for action. Researchers, reporters, public figures, and policymakers confronted with claims of potential fraud should carefully examine these claims before calling for action. Do the claims depend on matching information from one list to another? Is the matching process accurate? Does a match indicate an illegal vote, or is there a more plausible explanation? Is corroborating evidence available? If there actually appears to be a problem, can it be addressed by existing practices, or is a new solution necessary? If so, will the solution proposed - usually either a mass purge or photo identification - really solve the problem? Is the solution sufficiently burdensome that it becomes a greater problem than the problem itself? These basic questions are crucially important to evaluating claims of voter fraud, but are all too often unasked and unanswered."

10/20/2012 9:19:05 AM

Quote :

"America is broke. America doesn't have any money. It's gone. Suggesting the government should provide 330,000,000 free national identification cards requires a shitton of printing money out of thin air."

Being broke never stopped the government from spending money on things we really don't need...

So an alternative: they can charge $10-20 bucks for the national ID card for those who can pay for it. For those who can't pay for it, they can have the fee waived. This would take some time to implement properly, as in not weeks before an election.

Also, voting should be compulsory with penalties for not voting.

10/20/2012 3:32:40 PM

no no no, compulsory voting is a terrible terrible awful terrible idea

10/20/2012 3:40:38 PM

Quote :

"International monitors at US polling places draw criticism By Alexander Bolton - 2012-10-20 12:00:00 PM ET United Nations-affiliated election monitors from Europe and central Asia will be at polling places around the U.S. looking for voter suppression activities by conservative groups, a concern raised by civil rights groups during a meeting this week. The intervention has drawn criticism from a prominent conservative-leaning group combating election fraud. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), a United Nations partner on democratization and human rights projects, will deploy 44 observers around the county on Election Day to monitor an array of activities, including potential disputes at polling places. http://apps.facebook.com/thehillsocial/content/263141 "

NWO is still on track headed by the Federal Reserve's sponsored United Nations.

Obama is scripted to win this election.

10/20/2012 4:02:31 PM

The OSCE is not in anyway sponsored by or partners with the United Nations.

They have a 44 member observation mission in place (not monitoring, an important distinction)... how much ground do you think 44 members can cover? The US delegation alone to OSCE observation missions to other countries is often that much and a single state can't second more than 10% of the total observers.

The purpose of this mission has less to do with the US and more to do with the OSCE's ability to observe elections in eastern europe and central asia. Countries are more likely to invite observers if the US allows them during our elections.

If youre searching for a conspiracy, I can assure you that this is not it.

10/20/2012 4:28:17 PM

Quote :

"The US delegation alone to OSCE observation missions to other countries is often that much and a single state can't second more than 10% of the total observers."

Nope, no conspiracy here

10/20/2012 4:33:13 PM

just ignore him, he thinks a global cabal decides all global elections

10/20/2012 4:40:37 PM

global cabal decides all global cabal elections.

10/20/2012 4:51:34 PM

Quote :

"Congressman's son leaves campaign in wake of video Associated Press – 1 hr 49 mins ago Email 1 Print ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — The son of Democratic congressman Jim Moran of Virginia has resigned from his father's campaign after an undercover video shows him discussing a plan to cast fraudulent ballots. Patrick Moran had been a field director for his father's campaign. He said Wednesday he didn't take the man seriously and humored him, adding that he should have walked away. An organization led by activist James O'Keefe, Project Veritas, released a video showing an undercover operative pitching a voter-fraud plan to Patrick Moran. The plan called for casting ballots in the names of 100 voters who were registered but rarely voted. In the video, Patrick Moran expresses doubts about the plan but eventually tells the undercover volunteer to "look into it." Jim Moran's campaign office calls the incident an error in judgment."

http://news.yahoo.com/congressmans-son-leaves-campaign-wake-video-235322231--election.html

10/24/2012 10:19:23 PM

Hey OP, this would disenfranchise all of those fingerless voters. This is just another way for the GOP to stop them there blackies from votin'.

10/25/2012 9:09:56 AM

10/25/2012 2:58:55 PM

I could very easily be wrong, but I could see how that guy was just humoring the person. Honestly, if a random stranger walked up to me in a food court, started nervously rattling off stories about his personal problems and the criminal plans of his friends, and followed me around for the next 20 minutes, I'd probably laugh nervously often, play thought-experiment with him, try multiple times to steer him to more productive (and legal) efforts, and just keep walking hoping he wouldn't follow me all the way to my office. It helps that interpretation that most of his "advice" was regurgitated liberal talking points about why voter ID wouldn't be particularly effective anyway against someone dedicated.

That's just based on my own experience dealing with crazy people on the street.

It's also really funny to watch O' Keefe (Or whoever held the camera) try to imitate liberals.

[Edited on October 25, 2012 at 3:30 PM. Reason : .]

10/25/2012 3:20:05 PM

and yet, when votes have been checked, it only happens at an insignificant rate

10/25/2012 6:25:22 PM

As long as you don't look for it, it's never going to be there.

10/25/2012 6:30:57 PM

But it was looked for, from people on both sides, people who really really wanted to find it, during challenged races. And they did find it... at insignificant levels. You just can't change that it's a lot of work, and a lot of risk, for minimal gains.

[Edited on October 25, 2012 at 6:37 PM. Reason : .]

10/25/2012 6:36:34 PM

Quote :

"Texas attorney general threatens to arrest international election monitors The Texas attorney general, Greg Abbott, has threatened to arrest international election monitors invited by liberal groups to observe the conduct of next month’s presidential vote in states accused of attempting to disenfranchise minorities. Abbott has written to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe warning that its monitors have no right to monitor the vote even though they have observed previous US elections. “The OSCE’s representatives are not authorized by Texas law to enter a polling place. It may be a criminal offence for OSCE’s representatives to maintain a presence within 100 feet of a polling place’s entrance,” he said. “Failure to comply with these requirements could subject the OSCE’s representatives to criminal prosecution for violating state law.” The OSCE is sending 44 observers to voting stations across the US at the request of various groups, including the NAACP and the American Civil Liberties Union, because of “an unprecedented and sophisticated level of coordination to restrict voting rights in our nation”. These include attempts by several states, including Texas, to introduce voter identification laws and other measures blocked by federal courts which have ruled they were motivated by racial discrimination."

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/10/24/texas-attorney-general-threatens-to-arrest-international-election-monitors/

10/25/2012 7:31:52 PM

is nonexistent and unproven voter fraud one of the unknown knows that rummy talked about?

10/25/2012 9:36:06 PM

Quote :

"But it was looked for, from people on both sides, people who really really wanted to find it, during challenged races. And they did find it... at insignificant levels. You just can't change that it's a lot of work, and a lot of risk, for minimal gains."

How did they do that? Did they retroactively go out and magically find every person who came to the polls and magically match them to the vote that was cast and then check the person's ID? Did they retroactively have polling stations check IDs?

And for those that they did catch, how did they prove it? (here's a hint: they probably checked some form of identification...)

10/25/2012 9:48:04 PM

I'm sure on the multiple studies that have been done, some even by the GOP, you could find the methodology if you really wanted to.

10/25/2012 9:59:21 PM

Quote :

"But it was looked for, from people on both sides, people who really really wanted to find it, during challenged races. And they did find it... at insignificant levels. You just can't change that it's a lot of work, and a lot of risk, for minimal gains."

Lets see some links, aren't you always asking for links?

10/25/2012 10:36:21 PM

Why can't they just massively vote for people after the polls close?


You know... look at the people on the list who didn't vote and fill them in?

10/25/2012 10:50:37 PM

^^scroll up a bit

10/26/2012 6:37:37 AM

Quote :

" Here is just on of many stories and studies that say the same thing, if you'd like me to post more I would be happy to:"

I'd like to see something from a place that isn't partially funded by George Soros. Let's see a few more of these many studies.

10/26/2012 10:33:04 AM

Quote :

"Endnotes 1 See also Minnite, The Politics of Voter Fraud, supra note 12, at 6 (offering a similar definition). 2 See Sec’y of State Robin Carnahan, Voters First: An Examination of the 2006 Midterm Election in Missouri 8, 9 (Winter 2007), at http://www.sos.mo.gov/elections/VotersFirst/VotersFirst-FINAL.pdf (technical malfunction, user error); Greg Borowski, A New Push to Repair Elections, Milwaukee J. Sentinel, May 15, 2005 (technical malfunction); Arakawa Lynda, Recount Confirms Results, Honolulu Advertiser, Mar. 16, 1999, at A1 (technical malfunction). 3 See, e.g., Janine Anderson, 4 Men Face Voter Fraud Charges, Journal-Times (Racine, Wis.), Sept. 11, 2007; Scores of Felons Voted Illegally, Seattle Times, Jan. 23, 2005. 4 See, e.g., Jake Wagman, Secretary of State Blasts County on IDs, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Nov. 9, 2006, at D1. 5 See Richard L. Hasen, The Fraudulent Fraud Squad, Slate, May 18, 2007; Rep. John Conyers, Jr., The GOP’s Attack on Voting Rights, TomPaine.com, May 13, 2005, http://www.tompaine.com/articles/ 2005/05/13/the_gops_attack_on_voting_rights.php. See also Jo Mannies, Voting Rights Group Disappears From Web, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 14, 2007. 6 American Center for Voting Rights, Ohio Election Activities and Observations, Mar. 21, 2005, http://web.archive.org/web/20050425104337/www.ac4vr.com/news/OhioElectionReport.pdf; American Center for Voting Rights, Vote Fraud, Intimidation & Suppression in the 2004 Presidential Election, Aug. 2, 2005, http://www.foxnews.com/projects/pdf/Vote_Fraud_Intimidation_ Suppression_2004_Pres_Election_v2.pdf. 7 See sources cited in Brennan Center for Justice, Litigation, http://www.truthaboutfraud.org/litigation/. 8 See, e.g., John Fund, Stealing Elections: How Voter Fraud Threatens Our Democracy (2004); John Fund, Democracy Imperiled: America’s Election Problems, Nat’l Rev., Sept. 13, 2004. 9 Tracy Campbell, Deliver the Vote: A History of Election Fraud, An American Political Tradition — 1742-2004 (2005); Larry J. Sabato & Glenn R. Simpson, Dirty Little Secrets: The Persistence of Corruption in American Politics (1996). 10 Hans A. von Spakovsky, The Effect of Identification Requirements on Minority Voter Turnout, 8 Engage: The Journal of the Federalist Society Practice Groups 87 (2007), available at http://www.fedsoc. org/doclib/20070322_Engage81Feb2007.pdf; Publius, Securing the Integrity of American Elections: The Need for Change, 9 Tex. Rev. L. & Pol. 2 (2005); see also Dan Eggen, Official’s Article on Voting Law Spurs Outcry, Wash. Post, Apr. 13, 2006, at A19. 11 Jingle Davis, Even Death Can’t Stop Some Voters, Atlanta J.-Const., Nov. 6, 2000; Russ Buettner, Exposed: Scandal of Double Voters, Daily News (N.Y.), Aug. 22, 2004. 12 Lori Minnite & David Callahan, Securing the Vote: An Analysis of Election Fraud 39-43 (2003), at http://www.demos.org/pubs/EDR_-_Securing_the_Vote.pdf; Minnite, supra note 1, at 22- 35; see also Lorraine C. Minnite, An Analysis of Voter Fraud in the U.S. (2007) (adapted from Securing the Vote, supra). Professor Minnite has examined the incidence of fraud specifically in states that permit Election Day Registration; this analysis confirms the lack of widespread voter fraud, but discusses few individual inflated allegations. Lorraine Minnite, Election Day Registration: A Study of"

10/26/2012 10:56:13 AM

In person voter fraud probably the most inefficient, risky, and stupid way to try and change an election outcome.

First, you can only really vote once per polling station, unless you stake out the shifts of the poll workers, which is pretty suspicious behavior, and the whole time you're staking it out you could be traveling to other stations instead. Unless the pollworkers change shifts every 20-30 minutes, your best bet is to go from polling place to polling place, voting once each time.

You will, of course, need to know at least one voter to vote as in each district.

Travel time between districts, or waiting for poll shifts to change, assuming no lines whatsoever, is probably going lock a single individual into a maximum 2 or maybe 3 votes per hour tops. Assuming no lines, and a motorcycle that get jump over traffic.

As soon as you try to vote for somebody who has already voted, you're busted, probably going to jail. As soon as someone you voted for comes in to vote, they're probably going to check the security cameras at most polling locations. Maybe you have lists of deceased voters, not sure how you'd get them, but if so great. Should that list be slightly out of date with the one at the polling station, you are busted.

In all of these cases, whether or not they catch you, they are able to tell that voter fraud has occurred, and can investigate. Without looking at a single ID, that's part of why the whole "How can you know how many cases have occurred, since some are always going to slip under the radar" shtick is bullshit, the other part being that this argument can be used to bulk up security for literally any imaginary crime.

Either way, for every vote you take you're taking an extreme risk in either scenario. Is that risk worth grabbing maybe 20 extra votes over the course of a day? No, absolutely fucking not, and most sane people would agree. So to swing an election, let's say you need a minimum 1000 votes (Lowballing massively), you just need to find 50 people who are insane enough to take the risks but sane enough to actually physically carry out this rather complex and arduous operation.

How do you find these people, being aware that you could easily end up with an undercover cop? How much do you pay these people? How do you get lists for all of them? Distribute, monitor, and make sure none of them rat you out after they're caught? You know what's a lot easier, costs less, and carries less risk? Bribe (or become) an election official who counts, confirms, or reports votes.

Election fraud anywhere except *behind* the ballot box is an utter waste of time, anybody telling you otherwise is either an idiot or has an agenda to stop certain people from voting (Usually these go hand in hand). Like, seriously, it's just not feasible on even a small-but-not-tiny scale.

[Edited on October 26, 2012 at 1:09 PM. Reason : .]

10/26/2012 12:53:30 PM

A little old, but this video will show you, without a doubt, that our elections are rigged/scripted.




Note that poll numbers in the presidential election keep swaying weekly, yet they know how 45 out of the 50 states are going to vote months ahead of time.

It's left to "swing" states to determine the election, which pretty much makes the job of fixing the election that much easier.

10/30/2012 12:33:17 AM

I don't know why Jim Moran would even need to commit voter fraud. His district is so blue, he probably hasn't had a serious challenge in at least a decade or two.

10/30/2012 1:49:08 AM

Nothing about that video shows they are rigged

10/30/2012 8:11:41 AM

Just for the record, and be honest, how much of that video did you watch.

10/30/2012 4:48:45 PM

enough to see that the guy doesn't know what samples area

10/30/2012 4:53:51 PM

lulz, i knew you didn't watch it. jesus christ.

10/30/2012 5:11:52 PM

Quote :

"Nope, no conspiracy here"

Pls elaborate. Read a bit into the OSCE ODIHR election observation methodology and I think that you will see that they aren't the most likely culprit in your conspiracy.

I mean, 44 people having the ability to control the outcome of an election as decentralized as those in the US would be quite the feat.

Quote :

"Texas attorney general threatens to arrest international election monitors"

This is laughable (and sad) on many levels. First, the Attorney General has no authority to say whether or not election observers have authorization to observe the process. This authority falls on the Secretary of State and individual election boards. The SecState in Texas has already publically welcomed the OSCE observers and many election boards have allowed OSCE observers to operate in their regions during previous presidential elections.

The accusation that the OSCE has been invited by liberal groups is laughable as the OSCE is in the United States on the basis of international treaty and US membership in the organization. Observers have likely met with liberal organizations but they have just as likely met with their conservative counterparts. The idea being to observe all parts of the process in order to be report on the conduct of the election as a whole, good or bad.

The presence of the OSCE has absolutely nothing to do with particular states implementing voter ID laws this election cycle. In fact, states that have implemented voter ID laws since 2008 will likely receive praise in the OSCE final report since that has been a criticism of US elections in the past.

Quote :

"Why can't they just massively vote for people after the polls close?"

Wouldn't this be an area where having independent (or even party) observers present throughout the whole process would be a good thing?

10/31/2012 7:59:47 AM

Quote :

"no no no, compulsory voting is a terrible terrible awful terrible idea"

Why? Rationally, there is zero incentive to vote. The cost in time and energy is non-zero, yet your chances of affecting the election at all are literally zero if you don't live in a swing state (infinitesimal if you do).

The people that realize this already and don't vote because of it are probably the ones most apt to make the best decision in the first place.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/06/magazine/06freak.html?pagewanted=all

11/1/2012 9:59:27 AM

well its based on the false premise that refusal to vote or disinterest in voting is disenfranchisement. We should make sure everyone is able to vote, not make sure they do. our elections would be no more successful (for lack of a better word) if people without any knowledge or interest in politics participated. Yes, I realize not everyone that currently participated is knowledgeable, but by making it mandatory you guarantee that the unknowledgeable participants increase by the amount that are not currently participating.

Also, here we are arguing about a fraction of a percent (.0009%) for individual voter fraud. Research in Australia has shown a 1-2% donky-vote rate, i.e. people who are picking randomly. If A .0009% fraud rate is worth spending millions of dollars and disfranchising people over, why is a 1-2% induced randomness okay?

11/1/2012 4:46:47 PM

Quote :

"Texas, an election model for autocrats WHEN IT COMES to democracy and election transparency, Greg Abbott, the attorney general of Texas, is apparently taking his cues from post-Soviet autocrats like Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Kazakhstan’s Nursultan Nazarbayev. Like Mr. Putin, whose election czar called international election monitors in Russia “spies,” and Mr. Nazarbayev, who threatened to bar monitors altogether, Mr. Abbott, a Republican, is deeply discomfited that a few of them will be in the Lone Star State on Election Day. He is threatening to have them arrested and criminally prosecuted should they violate a state law that bans political party workers or other loiterers from coming within 100 feet of polling places Why is the attorney general threatening independent monitors? Mr. Abbott issued his bizarre warning to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which has monitored scores of elections around the world, including six in this country since 2002. The United States, which helped create the OSCE, has supported it for decades to promote freedom and democracy worldwide. One likely effect of Mr. Abbott’s grandstanding, which was seconded by Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R), is to hand a propaganda gift to dictators and autocrats everywhere. They may now cite his example as evidence that the United States is no more open to electoral scrutiny from outsiders than they are. Don’t mess with Texas — or with Belarus! Mr. Abbott’s real audience appears to be paranoiacs in the Republican Party who have bought into the theory that OSCE election monitors are determined to subvert voter ID laws. The supposed proof is that OSCE officials have met with U.S. groups, including the NAACP and Project Vote, that oppose those laws. Republicans like Mr. Abbott, intent on suppressing Democratic voters, want to tighten voter ID laws despite scant evidence of widespread voting irregularities. The OSCE has met, and is entitled to meet, with a broad variety of U.S. groups, as it routinely meets with groups in other countries in preparation for monitoring elections. The organization has expressed no opinion on U.S. voter ID laws, despite Mr. Abbott’s taunt, contained in a letter to the group, that “your opinion is legally irrelevant here in the United States.” In fact, the real irrelevancy here is Mr. Abbott, notwithstanding his chest-thumping xenophobia. As he acknowledged, Texas has no means to monitor the five or 10 OSCE monitors who will make unannounced visits to any one of thousands of the state’s polling places. (They are also monitoring polling places in other states, none of which has objected.) More to the point, Mr. Abbott has no business interfering with international election monitors from a group in which the United States is one of 56 member states. According to the State Department, visiting international election officials are accorded diplomatic immunity. “In general we give them protected status, as we expect of our people when we participate in OSCE delegations,” department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said. One reason that the United States remains so widely admired is its habit of democratic transparency. That transparency represents an admonition, and a threat, to autocracies and dictatorships. Most states get that and welcome international election monitors. Texas should get a clue. "

http://tinyurl.com/bpucgjs

It seems that AG Abbott's threats are a bit impotent in light of the observers' diplomatic immunity...

11/2/2012 11:49:36 AM

I heard she voted for obama

11/3/2012 10:44:28 PM

Where did you hear that?

11/3/2012 11:03:33 PM

Through the grapevine

11/3/2012 11:04:56 PM

Translated:

I'm juss trollin', y'all.

11/3/2012 11:05:58 PM

No, I really heard it though the grapevine.

11/3/2012 11:07:24 PM