Karen Thurman Press Release

Florida Democratic Party chairwoman Karen Thurman praising Governor Charlie Crist and urging Republicans to give citizens better access to vote. At issue is the No Match, No Vote law being enforced by Sec. of State Kurt Browning.

TALLAHASSEE, FL - Today the Florida Democratic Party joined two Florida citizens in taking legal action against the Republican Party of Florida and the Republican National Committee to prevent mass frivolous challenges against Florida voters in the presidential election.

Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Karen Thurman issued the following statement:
"All Floridians who are eligible to vote deserve the opportunity to have their voices heard and their vote counted. That is our guiding principle, and we applaud the Governor's decision, which allows more Florida voters to exercise their right to vote.

"It is in this spirit that we ask the Governor, the Republican Party of Florida and the Republican National Committee to join us in preventing frivolous challenges against voters in this election by members of their party.

"We are confident that this action today will help prevent baseless and frivolous mass challenges. Florida voters should feel certain that the necessary steps have been taken to run an effective voting process and that their votes will be counted.

"I call on the Governor, the Republican Party and voters of all parties across the Sunshine State to disavow these dishonest tactics so that we can rebuild Florida's electoral integrity and maintain the rights of our citizens to vote in a fair and open election."

County Supervisors of Elections prefer to have voters correct their information.

"We're trying to avoid all provisional ballots, at all costs," Volusia County Supervisor Ann McFall said. "It's a lot of extra work."

Browning threatened Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections Deborah Clark with legal action. Now the other counties are allowing voters to make corrections before voting. With Crist extending early voting hours, Browning is having a hard time obstructing voters.

No Match, No Vote

Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections Deborah Clark deserves credit for having her poll workers recheck applications, so voters would not have to cast provisional ballots. The No Match, No Vote requires that name, last four digits of a social security card and Florida ID match the voter application. If not, the potential voter either doesn't vote or has to vote by provisional ballot. Florida Sec. of State Kurt Browning responded by threatening legal action against Clark.

Karl Rove and the Republican Party have pushed voter fraud. The Bush administration politized the Justice Department. US Attorneys were fired for not being aggressive enough on voter fraud.

The Justice Department demanded that one U.S. attorney, Todd P. Graves of Kansas City, resign in January 2006, several months after he refused to sign off on a Justice lawsuit involving the state's voter rolls, Graves said last week. U.S. Attorney Steven M. Biskupic of Milwaukee also was targeted last fall after complaints from Rove that he was not doing enough about voter fraud. But he was spared because Justice officials feared that removing him might cause political problems on Capitol Hill, according to interviews of Justice aides conducted by congressional staff members.

"There is reason for worry and suspicion at this point as to whether voting fraud played an inappropriate role in personnel decisions by the department," said Daniel P. Tokaji, an election law specialist at Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law.

In 2007, a New York Times article revealed the Justice Department investigation investigation found no voter fraud conspiracy. What is at work is repressing voter turnout. The McCain campaign is terrified ACORN is registering young voters (that will probably vote for Obama.) So they accuse ACORN is involve in a voting fraud conspiracy. ACORN's problem was a few greedy people getting paid by the application. Most improper voter registration forms are new voters making human error. Republicans believe young people and the undereducated will not vote for their party. So, the GOP disenfranchises these voters. That is why there is a No Match, No Vote law.

Rove using voter fraud allegations to help his candidate Perry Hooper.

Rove had other plans, and immediately moved for a recount. "Karl called the next morning," says a former Rove staffer. "He said, 'We came real close. You guys did a great job. But now we really need to rally around Perry Hooper. We've got a real good shot at this, but we need to win over the people of Alabama.'" Rove explained how this was to be done. "Our role was to try to keep people motivated about Perry Hooper's election," the staffer continued, "and then to undermine the other side's support by casting them as liars, cheaters, stealers, immoral—all of that." (Rove did not respond to requests for an interview for this article.)

The campaign quickly obtained a restraining order to preserve the ballots. Then the tactical battle began. Rather than focus on a handful of Republican counties that might yield extra votes, Rove dispatched campaign staffers and hired investigators to every county to observe the counting and turn up evidence of fraud.

That is GOP voting fraud in a nutshell.