I'm sorry, exactly *how* is this illegal, may I ask? What exactly is illegal about helping unregistered people get registered to vote? Unless this organization is saying "register to vote--but only if you register Democrat," I don't see what is disingenuous about it, "progressive agenda" or no.
Not necessarily illegal, but probably both immoral and unethical.
Why? What normally takes place in one of these drives (especially with an election like this one)? -- Not what you "expect."
Ignoring the fact that many of these drives start off with the line, "We are registering Democrats," or "We are registering Republicans," and thereby discourage the opposite from even talking to them. (It's always fun to listen to what Independents or Non-Partisans are told. ... usually to go to City Hall to get a form.)
People are NOT given registration forms to complete and mail in on their own. (Because, "They might not fill it in OR mail it back in time.") The prospective voter is either give a form to complete on the spot and to hand back to be mailed in (delivered) by the recruiter. Or their name and address is taken and a registration form will be mailed or otherwise delivered to them later to mail back.
Clearly, either of these scenarios are open to mischief:
"Obviously invalid registrations" are simply discarded by the recruiter or the registration organization to cut down on the "workload" of the Election Commission, Registration Division.
Only when the individual is given the form and instructions to mail it in themselves is there no chance of "selective registration." (Of course, the forms can always be "pre-marked" for the "appropriate" party, which negates even this approach.)
It could be said that folks of the "other" party might have their own "agenda" in NOT wanting those people who have heretofore been unable to vote to be able to exercise this right in the upcoming elections. Eh?
Actually, it is the news media (not Fox) who are starting to raise the Constitutional issue about this.
As one report today pointed out ... there is a growing concern that, especially as voting by mail (including absentee ballots) increases WHO is actually doing the voting is becoming a very large issue.
For those of you familiar with the computer world, it is EXACTLY the same issue as "your PC was identified as a source of spam (illegal downloads, hacking, etc.). Or those of you who get parking or traffic tickets when "someone else" is using your vehicle.
The particular report was dealing with the issues surrounding Nursing Home folks known to have some form of dementia. (I think it was in Idaho where EVERYBODY will vote by mail this year.) There is NOTHING which prevents these people from voting. However, the individual "assisted" voter is NOT capable of making any kind of decision. There is no "competency" requirement for voting. The end result is that the "caregiver" gets to vote multiple times. This is all perfectly legal, there is no law in any state prohibiting it -- but it is neither ethical nor moral. The "Voter" is utterly incapable of stipulating their wishes.
As a Judge of Elections here in Philadelphia, I see this every election -- the local "group houses" bus in their clients to vote. Some have previously been registered as requiring assistance, some not. That is not the issue, there are mechanisms to deal with that situation. What IS clear from observation is that some of these individuals are clearly not capable of processing the information on the ballot in the time spent in the voting booth. Occasionally, one overhears the dialog -- who do you want to vote for, and the response "donald duck" (or someone else not on the ballot) ... yet there has never been a write-in vote in my precinct! (It was fascinating the number of votes that Bush got against Rendell in the Gubernatorial)
The way the Election Laws are written, the voter may select anyone as their "guide." The only person excluded from assisting a voter is in fact the Judge of Elections. Any other Election Board member or Committee Person, or Campaign worker could be used.
So what do you do when you know voting fraud like this is taking place "in the privacy of the voting booth?" The answer is, there is nothing you can do. It's perfectly legal. You're not supposed to overhear the conversation, and you can't know the outcome.
This issue runs big circles around the "one man one vote" concept.
It is also NOT a new issue or problem.
Votes have been stolen using techniques like this in Philadelphia for at least the past 150 years.
Philadelphia is well known for registering and voting graveyards.
T.T.F.N. William H. Magill [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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