BradBlog, AlterNet, VotersUnite, Randi, Thom, Keith, Rachel -- you are all preaching to the choir here.

If you really want a resounding turnout of Progressive voters THAT MATTERS; then tell us what to do if we are caged.


We're ready to vote in our precinct. Somebody we've never seen before steps up to the friendly local registrar in front of us and tells her that we can't vote. This makes us surprised and angry.

Maybe it's worse: We're registered to vote absentee. We never get our ballot. Maybe we do get a ballot and return it, but it's challenged behind our back and we never find out about that challenge.

What's next?

What do we say?

What do we do?

To whom?

How do we challenge that guy at the precinct right back; sign our name, get a ballot and cast a vote that somebody will count?

Stop yelling at us. Stop being such weenie talk show hosts and give us some goddam helpful information here.

While you're at it; kick Obama in the ass. He's throwing his own election over this.

sc

PS: In 2004, I was really turned off by how Al Franken treated Randi on election night. Because Franken didn't take such an obvious threat seriously, I am NOT going to vote for him this November.

I wonder what Franken's opponent's view is on election reform? For that matter, how does McCain go on the record about election fraud?

I believe the proper action is to request/demand a provisional ballot which may be ignored unless the vote is so close that it may matter, and then, (in your case) then vote for Norm Coleman (or nobody, which equals a Coleman vote)?...you must be kidding. If you are serious about not voting Democratic in Minnesota for as lame a "reason" as you stated, frankly, you don't deserve any ballot! You deserve Norm Coleman.

Make sure you call your county clerk a couple of days before the registration deadline and ensure you ARE registered first of all. Here in NM the deadline is Oct. 7 so it's getting close. If they say you aren't, trot your ass over to the Bureau of Elections in the County Clerk's office toot suite and register before the deadline. Here, our registration applications have a receipt with a date and the initials of the registrar in question. If they have one in your state or county, make sure you keep it. Check back in two weeks if you don't get a voter ID card if one is available. I always stress absentee ballots for the paper trail but, if you're worried, drop IT off to the County clerk's office.

If, after all this, you go to your polling place they say you aren't on the rolls, produce your registation receipt. If ANYONE tries to prevent your vote or disallow your ballot, take down that person's name, organization and political affiliation for later lawsuits of both him and his representative organizations for election fraud. Demand and vote on a provisional ballot. Then go home, contact a attorney and the County District Attorney's office to prefer criminal charges of vote tampering and interference with an election. Then sue their ASSES off for all the money they'll ever make for the rest of their lives.

O.K. Homework. Ready?
Find lawyers to work the polls in your area.
Go here and stay there until you have found all the information you need.
If you are caged, or if you have problems on election day the first thing you should do is contact Bev Harris at this website Be an observer
http://www.blackboxvoting.org

Better still, since some of the electors can't be trusted, go to the Obama website and check to see if you are good to go there...and it's on the server in case the locals try to pull a fast one.

Also call the Obama Campaign. They WILL have lawyers around and on duty.

There's also some election protection groups, so google them up. Check out Bradblog.com

This isn't that hard to record yourself being suppressed, the hard thing is convincing your state it happened. Oh and take your cell into the booth and record what you voted. keep those cameras on hand if you see anyone being harassed, and record it.

This is a great start. Thank you.

Notice how involved this process needs to be?

Do you realize that you are one of the few people around, who happens to know all this?

... that's because a lot of public folks on "our" side, are not doing the homework they claim to be doing, and letting us know what we need to do. In 2004, Kerry promised he had "thousands" of lawyers on his staff and would protect us: He Didn't. Al Franken was representative of a lot of public people at that time when he disparaged Randi and then just cut her off while she broadcast election night from Florida. I submit that our friends' hypocracy is as dangerous to us as our enemies' outright attacks.

Today, I hear a lot of people yelling at me on my radio who apparently have just discovered for the first time that the last two Presidential elections were stolen. They are superficial, foolish, and don't know what *their* job is, never mind mine.

Mine is to cast a valid vote. If people like Franken had been doing their job in 2004, I'd be able to do my job today. Randi does her job. Is Obama doing his job? Is BradBlog? Are other talkshow hosts and commentators? Most of them are not doing their jobs.

If they were doing their jobs -- taking caging seriously and telling us what we can do if we are caged or challenged on Election day -- then I would see the info you posted a lot more widely disseminated. It should NOT be so damned hard to respond to a surprise GOP challenge on election day. It's all fucking ridiculous.

... I've been posting intermittently on Randi's message board for five years now. Apparently my old posts have been lost. So it goes -- just know that I like Randi even when I disagree with her.

Al Franken slowly dropped beneath my radar and never came back after 2004. I will vote on other State issues but will NOT cast a vote for Senate in five weeks because I don't think Franken understands the problems we face as citizens and voters. That's what his 2004 escapade meant to me.

I'm as pissed at many Democrats as I am with all Republicans. This is a place where I disagree with Randi, but that's for another time. I refuse to be blackmailed by Democrats. As McCain would say; "that's not change we can believe in... "


sc

Well, I'm a certified voter registrar here in Valencia County and have registered over 100 new voters for the election. So I've been answering these questions for some weeks now. And everyone I talk to here so far, Dem, Rep or Ind, are all voting for Obama. I've even phone-banked and even the wrong numbers I dialed are voting for Obama.

Regarding Franken/Coleman. You can vote how you like. But as bad as Franken may be, he is still preferable to these Republican Traitors who have destroyed the nation.

Google Amy Goodman and the recent Gestapo tactics during the RNC there. Watch the videos of law-abiding citizens being rousted and pre-emptively arrested to keep them from protesting. This is the final result of Republican Tyranny. Then ask yourself if Franken is so bad after all and remember Norm Coleman signed off on these actions.

Then remember that when you vote. The Republic you save may be your own.

All I can say is that if some Republican puke challenged MY right to cast a vote, I'd make DAMN sure he knew he was fucking with his LIFE.

The absolutely best thing is to make sure that there are people at the voting sites in the form of lawyers, or another not-taking-crap-form that tells the precinct workers that they better damn well let you vote. This isn't the time to fight for a general right, or argue about election fraud, it's the time to make them let you vote. Tell them if they are challenging your right to vote, it is up to them to prove that their challenge is legitimate.

In 2004, I worked with MoveOn for my precinct, and so was there when the voting closed that evening. This guy came running out of the building in a panic, because he had been there earlier, and they had told him that our whole area had been redistricted (it had) and that he had to go to the voting place up the street, in his new district. So he did, and they told him there something like he wasn't on their list. So he came running BACK to ours, where he was on the list but shown to now be in the other district. We also had someone there from the local Democratic party, and we told the precinct workers that we weren't leaving, and they better not lock those doors, until they let him vote, and they saw me on the phone calling people who could back us up with more official enforcement (I called MoveOn and they called "people") They let him vote. You really need to make it clear that you will vote, and their only option will be to call the police - in which case you may not vote, but that just wouldn't look good for them since we had cameras.

Oh and scribble - you may not like Al Franken, you may actively dislike him, but do you really think that Randi would want Coleman to win for her sake? Since it sounds like you aren't voting for Franken for her sake?

I think this is valid, but my son, in college, received a summons for jury duty. He goes to school in another state, a swing state, and I think he is registered there not here.
I called the Circuit Clerk and they said to return the summons with his correct address. I checked out the Judge and he seems ok. I guess I am getting paranoid about this caging.

Here's an idea... don't get caged at all... take the protest to the street in front of the offices of CNN, or CBS, or NBC.
Fuck the event go straight to the media.

Caging zones my ass!

You can check your registration status on line to vote

http://www.canivote.org/


This site was put together by the secretaries of state.

Thanks, Yellowbird. I will pass that on.

Thanks for the link. I notified the Valencia County Obama campaign office and they're passing it on to the rest of our registrants. I also wrote it down in my book to pass on to the folks I'll be registering.

I will not be denied the opportunity to vote without someone getting their ass kicked, literally!

Ummmm how is Obama throwing his own election and how does holding a grudge against Franken and not voting for him help anything?

Exactly. Randi would be mad at you.

Speaking about voter caging, not caged protesters

he's not. He's challenging voter suppression in Michigan where they are trying to cage voters who have lost their homes. He's suing the RNC over that.

Give him a break, he actually cares about the vote. He's no Kerry.

Check out if you are registered, Obama's site will tell you in 30 seconds...

oh and Franken is far superior to Coleman. Anyone who would vote for Coleman as a protest vote against Franken for not being "liberal enough" is a freaking idiot.

oh and Franken is far superior to Coleman. Anyone who would vote for Coleman as a protest vote against Franken for not being "liberal enough" is a freaking idiot. Just stupid at the core of their being, thinking based on pure emotions over some supposed wrong over realizing in the long run that we have to have democrats in Congress if we want Progressive Change.

I'm no big fan of Franken in many ways, but he's a hell of a lot better than one of my Senators (Feinstein) and ALL the republicans in Congress. He's pro-alternative energy, he's pro Geneva convention, he's pro-Constitution. He needs edcuation on 9/11 and it may just be that he conceptually just can't ever accept that our government would do that to us. My father is like that, no matter what evidence I give him, he just can't accept it. and he's a retired judge.

Franken will bring humour to the Senate floor and those idiots need more COMEDY in their COMITY.

The idea that you can have the "perfect candidate" is idealistic to be generous and to be realistic, ridiculous.

No one person can be perfect for everyone.

WHAT TO DO IF YOU'RE CAGED:

GO TO THIS SITE AND MAKE SURE YOU'RE REGISTERED TO VOTE:

IF NOT, GO TO YOUR COUNTY BOARD AND REGISTER!

DEADLINE OCT 6

CAN I VOTE DOT ORG

Wow. Cool web site. I checked for myself and my friends. Also, for Washington Voters, you get a neat summary of your elected officials and voting history (only recording your attendance, not your vote of course).

First, thanks for the 'canIvote' link. That's just the kind of help all 100,000,000 of us need -- that most Progressive talkshow hosts are NOT providing to us.

Second, my remarks about Al Franken probably don't help anything, but I'm still holding a grudge.

By squelching Randi's warnings on election night 2004, he directly helped to bring on the Election problems we face today, in 2008. I don't know but I haven't seen a thing from him in the last four years that would lead me to believe he's had a change of heart on the voting issue, or on the loyalty and patience he owes to people he works with.

I don't think Franken is evil, but I *do* think he's part of the problem we face today; not part of the solution. I certainly think Coleman is close to evil, so I have a personal quandry. Which ugly piece of sh*t do I vote for?

... I'm not voting for either one. I REFUSE to let the Democratic Party blackmail me into voting for even one more politically ugly piece of sh*t because they claim the other guy is worse.

This election is a golden opportunity to hold the Democrats' feet to the fire over Election Reform, Campaign Reform, Finance Reform, Bankruptcy reform, Jobs reform, Health Care Reform, Budget Reform, to restore our squandered Civil Rights, and to appoint a falanx of Special Prosecutors to put half the Bush Administration in jail.

Franken will CAVE on all these things. Therefore, he doesn't get my vote.

sc

No one is looking for perfection. Go debate another strawman.



I just answered a lot of this in another post.

I think Franken is a moderate Democrat who will cave on every single issue I care about the most. Health Care. Financial reform, bankruptcy and jobs outsourcing. Education. Civil Rights restoration. Election reform. Campaign Reform... several others.

Franken is part of our PROBLEM; not part of our SOLUTION.

This is NOT the time to "get in line" with the Democratic Party. This is the time to HOLD THEIR FEET TO THE FIRE so we will get what we want out of them. It will be too late after the election.

Randi is great. I've spent much of the last four years listening to her show TWICE a day on the internet. .... but she's wrong on this issue. This is precisely the time to make sure Democratic Candidates pay a heavy price for looking the other way on a show-stopper issue like Election fraud -- in the way Franken looked the other way on Air America when Randi reported it on election night in 2004.

After two or three more non-election experiences, I'll bet you'll come around to my viewpoint as well.

sc

So...if you're not voting for Franken, who are you voting for? Cliches?