November 07, 2006

Blogometer Update: Tricks And Travails

Tons of stories of voting troubles and and underhanded behavior coming from both sides of the blogosphere. Right and left have stories on voting machines either pre-set with a certain candidate or unable to register votes for a certain candidate. In the shenanigan department, The Washington Monthly has reports of GOPers bussing in homeless from Philadelphia, PA to pass out "DEMOCRATIC SAMPLE BALLOT"s showing Gov. Bob Ehrlich (R) and LG Michael Steele (R) as Dems. Righty bloggers are most upset about a Dem County Clerk in NM sending to few ballots to a heavily GOP NM 01 precinct.

Lefty dirty tricks stories include:

• The Washington Monthly's Jesse Signal interviewed a "man in an Ehrlich-Cox shirt" at Parkdale High School in Riverdale, MD who gave her a "DEMOCRATIC SAMPLE BALLOT" showing Gov. Bob Ehrlich (R) and LG Michael Steele (R) as Dems. Singal shares: "A thirty-something African-American who wouldn't give his name, he told me that, starting last Friday, some people had come to the Philadelphia homeless shelter where he said he volunteers, and had begun to recruit residents. Eventually, he said that 300 people filled five buses. He said he was paid $100 for the day's work. He was honest with me: He didn't actually support Ehrlich, but was pro-Steele."
• TPM Muckraker's Paul Kiel shares from reader JN: "just got a call in CT from a Mr. Gallo of the, i think, CT State Central Republican Committee. It was something like that. It was from the republican state senate committee i think. I think gallo said he was some kind of leader. The poll identified itself pretty quickly as being from a republican group, and then it went on to promise that if you vote republicans then they would stop the robocalls."
• From TPM Muckraker's Justin Rood: "I just spoke with a Latino election monitor in Arizona who said that a trio of men, one with a handgun visible, is harassing Latino voters as they go to the polls in Tucson, Ariz. Nina Perales, a senior poll-watcher for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF), said that three men are approaching Latino voters and videotaping them on their way to vote at a polling place in Tucson's Iglesia Bautista precinct."

Righty complaints include:

• Erick Erickson at RedState shares: "In wards 7, 19, 51 in Philly, PA, the crowds are going wild. Inside several voting locations, individuals have poured white out onto the polling books and the poll workers are allowing voters to go into the polls and vote without first registering. Several individuals are on hand demanding that voters vote straight Democrat. RNC lawyers have headed to the scene of the incidents, which are occurring in mostly hispanic precinct locations. The District Attorney has also been contacted. More from the ground: Reports of voter intimidation by son-in-law of Philadelphia City Commissioner in 19th Ward. Carlos Mantos is not allowing Republican poll watchers with valid poll-watching certificates monitor polling places."
• RedState also links to this Wednesday Morning Politics post: "At Bernalillo County precinct 603 in Albququerque's NE Heights - where there are over 2400 registered voters, County Clerk Mary Herrera (who is also running for Secretary of State) only sent over 150 ballots. They ran out. A long time ago. At a press conference today, Republicans called on Dem Clerk Mary Herrera to follow election law and get ENOUGH ballots at once out to the precincts where people are being turned away. Apparently, the same thing has happened in precinct 57 on Albuquerque's west side.

In the voting trouble department:

• TPM Muckraker's Justin Rood posts reader PW email: "My wife just came home from voting here in Webster Groves MO. She used the electronic touch-screen voting system. . . She touched Claire McCaskill's picture and the machine recorded a vote for Jim Talent. She then called one of the people running the polling center who helped her correct the problem. My wife then had to call the person over another time after it recorded her vote a Republican again. In her frustration she asked the person who was responsible for the design of this system. The polling person leaned in very close to my wife and whispered, "We're f----d."
• Michelle Malkin posts email from reader Bob Schoeffler: "I live in Tustin, Ca. Our machines were not working when I got to the polls. I was told the only ballots they had left were either Korean, Vietnamese or Chinese. I ended up choosing Chinese. How confusing!
• Also from Malkin reader Jessica McBride: " The state Elections Board (Dem controlled and already accused of rigging claims against the GOP candidate for guv) has just ordered the Milwaukee Election Commission to remove signs that tell felons on parole they can't legally vote or they will be prosecuted. They admit it's an accurate statement of the law. They don't want to "intimidate" voters. They are doing this even though prosecutors want the signs up otherwise it will be hard to prove their case.

Posted by Conn Carroll at November 7, 2006 05:53 PM