A judge has denied Charlie Crist's motion for longer voting hours in Broward County.
Finally, the motion said "the delay and confusion caused by those EVID malfunctions compounded county-wide confusion related to recent re-precincting."
The motion was denied by a Broward County judge shortly before 8 p.m. Tuesday.
Broward County leans Democratic. Turnout has been below 40 percent. That isn't good for Crist. The Crist campaign plan was to get out the vote in Broward County.
"Also if you vote in a minority area in a wanker state make sure and vote early because the polls shut exactly on time no matter how many people are in line. If you vote in a white area, don't worry, they will hold the polls open for you all night if necessary."
Bruce Bartlett, on Facebook.
Via Right Wing Watch: Rep. Ted Yoho wants to bring back the the voting restriction of only property owners being allowed to vote.
“I’ve had some radical ideas about voting and it’s probably not a good time to tell them, but you used to have to be a property owner to vote,” he said to applause.
In 1790, only white male property owners were allowed to vote. So if you are a woman or a minority you are shit out of luck if Ted Yoho ever becomes President. Judging by the fact that Yoho is speaking to a nearly empty church, I doubt we have to worry about Yoho becoming President anytime soon.
I wonder if the tax cut loving Yoho would support Florida bringing back the poll tax. USF political science Darryl Paulson outlines the laws made by whites in the 19th century to deny blacks the right to vote.
By 1876, Reconstruction was over, and Florida politicians would adopt many provisions to eliminate black voting. The Sunshine State would "legally" eliminate black votes without violating the 19th Amendment. Between laws passed by the Legislature and the adoption of the 1885 Constitution, almost every black vote was eliminated.
Florida, like every one of the former Confederate states, adopted a white primary, grandfather clause, poll tax, literacy test, long residency requirements and other obstacles to black voters. It was a virtual fail-safe system. If one barrier failed, there would always be another to stop them from voting.
In audio recorded by an audience member and posted on YouTube, Yoho can be heard telling the crowd that the issue of President Obama’s birth certificate was a “distraction” from topics like the national debt, he said he was hopeful that a birther investigation could bring down the whole government: “They said if it is true, it’s illegal, he shouldn’t be there and we can get rid of everything he’s done, and I said I agree with that.”
Still doubt Yoho holds racist views? Yoho told a black constituent that he isn't sure if the Civil Rights Act is constitutional.
FLOURNOY: Do you think that any part of the Civil Rights Act of 1965 [sic], do you think any part of that is constitutional? And then if you’d discuss why. [...]
YOHO: This country grew through a lot of growing pain. We’re going through it again. As we grow as a country and prosper, we’re going to go through it again in the future. That’s why I’m so thankful for the Constitution because it allows us to do that. Is it constitutional, the Civil Rights Act? I wish I could answer that 100 percent. I know a lot of things that were passed are not constitutional, but I know it’s the law of the land.
Keep this in mind when Yoho asks why black voters aren't Republicans.
Mike Bennett, Supervisor of Elections, for Manatee County, and Republican commissioners has eliminated voting locations. It will comes as no surprise the the majority of voting stations were eliminated in a Democratic leaning district.
Democratic County Commissioner Michael Gallen's District 2, which includes most of Palmetto and central/east Bradenton, has the largest percentage of closed polling places.
"I do have concerns about the closings of the precincts, especially in District 2, where 50 percent will be closed," said Gallen.
During his time in the Florida Senate, Bennett publicly advocated for making voting more difficult. Bennett also brought up a racial component by mentioning "Africans."
“Do you read the stories about the people in Africa? The people in the desert, who literally walk two and three hundred miles so they can have the opportunity to do what we do, and we want to make it more convenient? How much more convenient do you want to make it?” he said. “Do we want to go to their house? Take the polling booth with us?”
“This is a hard-fought privilege,” he added. “This is something people die for. You want to make it convenient? The guy who died to give you that right, it was not convenient. Why would we make it any easier? I want ‘em to fight for it. I want ‘em to know what it’s like. I want them to go down there, and have to walk across town to go over and vote,” he said.
We might want to make voting easier because we are America. For the record: Politifact ruled that Bennett's statement that Africans have to "walk two and three hundred miles" to vote is a pants on fire lie. Bennett vows to ad more voting sites if there are long lines during the 2014 election. I'm not counting on it.
Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam talks about speeding up the clemency process for Florida convicted felons to have their voting rights restored. One idea floated by Putnam is not having nonviolent offenders having to come before the clemency board to get their voting rights restored.
"I don't think that going all the way back to full, automatic restoration is the way to go," he said. "But for certain classes of crimes, I think an expedited restoration process is appropriate. For more violent classes of crimes, I think they should still have to come before us. I like the fact that people show interest in it and affirmatively decide to seek their restoration. But I'm open to ideas on how to improve that process."
Why not propose that? "I haven't built the better mouse trap yet. We've just talked about ideas for a better mouse trap."
Putnam claims that he doesn't want to do the policy of nonviolent felons getting their rights restored without having to go through an extensive review process. The real reason Putnam is saying that is because Charlie Crist allowed nonviolent felons to apply to have their rights restored without having to go through the clemency board. What Putnam is proposing is essentially the same as the previous policy former Gov. Charlie Crist implemented. Putnam just won't put forward a sound solution because it was originally Crist's idea.
"I don't think that going all the way back to full, automatic restoration is the way to go," he said. "But for certain classes of crimes, I think an expedited restoration process is appropriate. For more violent classes of crimes, I think they should still have to come before us. I like the fact that people show interest in it and affirmatively decide to seek their restoration. But I'm open to ideas on how to improve that process."
Does Putnam even know what the difference is between his clemency policy and that of Charlie Crist?
Florida is one of four states to deny felons their voting rights. The others are Iowa, Kentucky and Virginia. Disenfranchising felons hasn't proven to deter crime. It does keep young black males from voting.
In three Southern states the numbers are more stark: In Florida, 23 percent of the voting-age black population can't vote because of a felony record; in Kentucky it's 22 percent; and in Virginia it's 20 percent. Taken together, one in five blacks living in those three states is disenfranchised.
Florida, with 1.5 million disenfranchised ex-felons, leads the nation.
It is 2013 and we are still fighting Jim Crow-style laws.
Jim Defede Interviews Ileana Ros-Lehtinen On DOMA & Voting Rights
Jim Defede interviews Ileana Ros-Lehtinen on the Supreme Court's decisions on the Defense of Marriage Act and the Voting Rights Act. Ros-Lehtinen is one of the few elected Republicans that strongly backs gay rights. Ros-Lehtinen wants Congress to pass ENDA. There is little chance that Ros-Lehtinen can get anything done on ENDA in the dysfunctional House of Representatives.
Ros-Lehtinen told Defede that Congress should have hearings on a possible new Voting Rights Act. Ros-Lehtinen admits that racism still exists in pockets of America. However, I don't see her having the same passion for a voting rights hearings that she has demonstrated with gay rights.
Florida Republican Establishment Doesn't Care About Absentee Voter Fraud
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement gets its budget approved by the Florida legislature and signed into law by Gov. Rick Scott. It it no surprise to me that the FDLE did not look deeply into the voter fraud committed by Strategic Allied Consulting. Jeff Jewett worked for Strategic Allied Consulting and told the Miami Herald that the FDLE showed a lack of interest in voter fraud.
Jewett, the one who reported the crime, the one who supervised the employee and could best inform investigators if this was an isolated case or was more systemic, was never interviewed.
“I was surprised,” Jewett said. “I figured they’d be interested in talking to me considering I was the one who turned him in.”
Such a lack of initiative is baffling for an investigation into a crime that Gov. Rick Scott and Republican lawmakers had made a top priority in prosecuting and preventing. In the 18 months leading to last year’s presidential campaign, they said the specter of voter registration fraud was so great that it was necessary to push for a purge of ineligible voters and a new law that made it harder to register voters.
Strategic Allied Consulting was hired by the Republican Party of Florida. Considering the political ramifications, it is not surprising that the FDLE investigation was lacking enthusiasm. Daniel Smith has been covering Republican voter suppression for quite some time. Like me, Smith questions the motives of the FDLE.
“They never talked to the whistle blower?” said Daniel Smith, a University of Florida political scientist who analyzes state election laws, when told about Jewett. “That’s unbelievable. You just wonder if the FDLE is sitting on this and hoping it withers away.”
I am not wondering. As we have seen, the Republican voting laws don't stop the nearly nonexistent problem of voting fraud. The laws are targeted at people likely to vote for the Democratic Party. Republicans have had an advantage in absentee ballots. Gov. Rick Scott did not want to comment when absentee ballot fraud was discovered in Florida.
When asked about the news about the absentee ballot fraud in Miami-Dade and state attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle stepping aside from that case leaving an appointment in his hands, he said “we’ll take a look at it.” He said he wouldn’t appoint a special prosecutor on Friday but didn’t say exactly when he would appoint one.
Scott stuck to generalities -- saying that he wanted to make sure noncitzens don’t vote and repeatedly said he wants to “make sure our elections are honest and fair.”
But he didn’t show any alarm or appear to be working on any proposals for reform. Scott said that the system appears to be working -- which perhaps was a reference to the arrest in the Miami-Dade absentee ballot fraud case. When asked if his staff was researching a proposal for the Legislature to address absentee ballot fraud he said “the Secretary of State’s office will be reviewing it.”
The man that disastrously cut early voting and made it harder for groups such as the League of Women Voters to register new voters has been mum on absentee ballot fraud. Scott wants to rig to voting system. Not fix it.
“I’m going to be real honest with you, the Republican Party doesn’t want black people to vote if they’re going to vote 9-to-1 for Democrats,” Ken Emanuelson said.
Emanuelson made the comment at a Battleground Dallas meeting. Texas GOP chairman Steve Munisteri started Battleground Dallas to counter the efforts of former Obama campaign staffers starting Battleground Texas. The demographics in Texas are changing. The state's Hispanic population is growing and Democrats know that. Republicans countered by creating Battleground Dallas. The result has been a tea party activist alienating black voters. We now see that Emanuelson is doing a serious backtrack.
"What I meant, and should have said, is that it is not, in my personal opinion, in the interests of the Republican Party to spend its own time and energy working to generally increase the number of Democratic voters at the polls, and at this point in time, nine of every ten African American voters cast their votes for the Democratic Party," he wrote on Tuesday.
That nonapology isn't any better. Emanuelson's walk back unintentionally does explain the mentality behind the voter suppression laws passed in red states. These laws do nothing to reform voting. The laws do create longer lines and a teacher treated like a criminal for attempting to register first time voters. Republican want people to have proof of both a driver's licence and voter ID card when casting a ballot. Yet they refuse to back a national motor voter bill. Why have people be able to register to vote when they get their driver's license? That would make voting too easy.
I mentioned before how I doubted the sincerity of Republican voter reform after the GOP refused to deal absentee voter problems. The voter ID laws made by Republicans are meant to repressed poor voters. Absentee ballots can be sent in without the same level of proof needed by a voter. Absentee voters tend to lean Republican. Ion Sancho, Leon County Supervisor of Elections, pointed out the problem with pushing more people toward absentee ballots.
“The more people you force to vote by mail,” Mr. Sancho said, “the more invalid ballots you will generate.”
Rep. Joe Garcia (D) fired his chief of Staff, Jeffrey Gracia (no relation) after the latter Garcia was implicated in an absentee voter fraud scam.
Garcia dismissed Jeffrey Garcia, his chief of staff and longtime political adviser, Friday after law enforcement raided the family homes of Sopo and former campaign manager John Estes seeking computers and other electronic equipment. Jeffrey Garcia, who is not related to his boss, admitted to the congressman that he directed the campaign to submit the phantom ballot requests, Joe Garcia said.
“I don’t know why,” he added, saying the operation — which ultimately failed — wasn’t needed. “During this entire election, we were polling. ... We thought we were ahead early on and from the get-go.”
Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle said there is no evidence that Rep. Gracia had any knowledge of the attempted absentee voter fraud scam. I don't care if it is a Democrat or Republican involved. Absentee voter fraud is wrong. The so-called voter reform that did take place was aimed at repressing minorities. Former Gov. Charlie Crist and former RPOF chair Jim Greer admitted that Republicans did attempt to suppress minority voters.
Crist said party leaders approached him during his 2007-2011 gubernatorial term about changing early voting, in an effort to suppress Democrat turnout. Crist is now at odds with the GOP, since abandoning the party to run for U.S. Senate as an independent in 2010. He is rumored to be planning another run for governor, as a Democrat.
Crist said in a telephone interview this month that he did not recall conversations about early voting specifically targeting black voters “but it looked to me like that was what was being suggested. And I didn’t want them to go there at all.”
About inhibiting minority voters, Greer said:
“The sad thing about that is yes, there is prejudice and racism in the party but the real prevailing thought is that they don’t think minorities will ever vote Republican,” he said. “It’s not really a broad-based racist issue. It’s simply that the Republican Party gave up a long time ago ever believing that anything they did would get minorities to vote for them.”
But a GOP consultant who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retribution said black voters were a concern.
“I know that the cutting out of the Sunday before Election Day was one of their targets only because that’s a big day when the black churches organize themselves,” he said.
Republicans aren't going to reform absentee ballots and continue to make voters that show up to the polls jump through hoops.
Flip Flop Alert: Rick Scott Now Supports Early Voting
Gov. Rick Scott's interview with Soledad O'Brien did not go well. In addition to getting hammered for dodging questions on gun control, Scott was asked about Florida's restrictive voting laws. Scott is suddenly a fan of extended early voting.
The outcome of these decisions was quite obvious. Florida, which four years earlier was a model for efficiency, became once again a late-night TV joke,” Crist said pushing for national standards on voting laws and longer early voting days.
“People are frustrated in our state,” Scott told CNN’s Soledad O’Brien Wednesday. Scott said changes in size of polling locations, length of ballots and the number of early voting days are needed.
“I complied with the law. We had an election bill that was passed my first year in office by the legislature, it was approved by the Justice Department,” he said. “But we do need change.”
Scott's flip flop has nothing to do with a love for the Democratic process. The latest Quinnipiac poll finds 52 percent of Florida voters believe Scott deserve a second term. Former Gov. Charlie Crist has been hammering Scott on early voting. This doesn't mean Scott intends to change the early voting laws. Scott realizes he is vulnerable on the issue.
Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner is not doing a lot of listening on his listening tour. Detzner is on a listening tour to hear Floridians and bring back reccommendations to the Florida legislature. This comment by Detzner suggests he has been wearing ear plugs.
On restoring early voting times: "When you look at the turnout, which was larger than it was in 2008, that obviously speaks to the point that people were satisfied with the current law. People responded, reacted and turned out in greater numbers."
People turned out to vote despite voter suppression. Detzner would have you believe that the laws enhanced voting. Increased voter turnout is because of the Obama campaign's GOTV.
Proof the the listening tour is a sham. Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections Craig Latimer told the Tampa Bay Times Department of State council Gary Holland wasn't interested in listening.
Return early voting to 14 days, from eight during this year's general election, they advised Don't tamp down voter registration by placing additional restrictions on third-party groups. And don't limit early voting sites to libraries and government buildings.
The response from Department of State interim general council Gary Holland, on at least that last point: "Talk to the Legislature."
"I was a little taken aback by that," said incoming Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections Craig Latimer. "I was like, I thought that's why you are here."
Minutes after the noon deadline passed, attorneys for West headed to the St. Lucie County Courthouse to request an emergency hearing on the issue. It is not known if a hearing has been scheduled.
Florida law does allow an exemption to the deadline in an emergency and West’s attorney are expected to argue that the exemption applies.
That exemption defines emergency as “any occurrence, or threat thereof, whether accidental, natural, or caused by human beings, in war or in peace, that results or may result in substantial injury or harm to the population or substantial damage to or loss of property to the extent it will prohibit an election officer’s ability to conduct a safe and orderly election.”
I enjoy conservatives suddenly questioning if voting machines make errors. Of course they do. I have written about voting machine irregularities before. I don't want West anywhere near public office. I do believe West has a right to a recount. That said, when the recount strengthens Murphy's lead it is not a good sign for West.
We should have experts check to see if the voting machines are working properly in the Murphy-West election. That does not mean supporting West's insane idea of impounding the ballots while a recount is being done.
Joe Scarborough Dismisses Early Voting Suppression
Joe Scarborough is one of the most insufferable people on the planet. Which is why Scarborough is has a morning show. That same morning show gets its ass kicked in the ratings by the dreadful Fox & Friends, but that is another story. Scarborough comes off so condescendingly to his co-host Mika Brzezinski. Scarborough attempted to stop Brzezinski from talking about early voting problems in Miami-Dade county. Scarborough then rants on about how attempts to suppress votes are nothing but conspiracy theories. Fellow Republican Christine Todd Whitman knows much more about voting than the uninformed Scarborough. Whitman has harsh words for the way early voting has been handled in Florida.
"I don't know what went on in Florida, but I do have to say that in this day and age, it's inexcusable that in this country, we have anything like this going on." she said. "I've led delegations around the world to watch voting and this is the kind of thing you expect in a third-world country, not in the United States of America."
Whitman is a trained election monitor. I wonder if Scarborough thinks she is a conspiracy theorist. More likely, Scarborough would just put fingers in his ears and keep screaming "Benghazi." I have questions about Benghazi myself. However, I rarely get paid to be a journalist. Scarborough does. I don't expect Scarborough has the intellectual tools to do investigative journalism. It will never occur to Scarborough to travel to Egypt or spend hours trying to get documents leaked to him. Scarborough will just shout "Benghazi" like a little boy throwing a temper tantrum.
Side note: why does Mika Brzezinski put up with Scarborough?
Update: People outside the Miami-Dade county polling station chanting, "Let us vote." Perhaps their minds would have changed if Scarborough lectured them on how their votes weren't being suppressed. Never mind that the polling station temporarily shut its doors.
The Obama For America site has a handy tool to find out your voting location. Just type in your address. The address of your voting station and a map will appear.
"It's a terrible shame... People have fought and died for our right to vote, and unfortunately our legislature and this governor have decided they want to make early voting less available to Floridians rather than more available ... It's hard for me as an American to comprehend why you don't make democracy as easy as possible to exercise for the people of our state. It's frankly unconscionable."
Charlie Crist, speaking on Gov. Rick Scott's refusal to extend early voting.
BREAKING: Early voting in Miami-Dade closed earlier than promised with 180 people still in line.
Call the Miami-Dade Board of Elections at 305-499-VOTE and demand they let everyone vote!
SHARE this with everyone you know!
People are calling the Miami-Dade office and getting a voice message.
Ion Sancho Not Happy About Florida Early Voting Changes
Leon County Supervisor of Elections Ion Sancho is not happy about the long lines of early voters. Sancho lays blame on the Florida legislature.
"According to some of the legislators, that would let 'the wrong kind of people vote,' '' Sancho said.
Sancho is dealing with 90 minute long lines. He design described the situation to The Tampa Bay Times as "a mess."
"This is what happens when you make it not accessible by design,'' Sancho said. He said that the Republican-led legislature has intentionally limited early voting sites to libraries and supervisors of elections offices in an attempt to "suppress access."
Sancho gained national recognition by proving that Diebold machines could be hacked. He takes the right to vote seriously. I wish the same couldve said about some members of the Florida legislature.
Sen. Bill Nelson wrote to to Gov. Rick Scott and asked him to extend early voting. Scott has already said that early voting will end today.
Nov. 3, 2012
The Honorable Rick Scott Office of the Governor The Capitol 400 South Monroe St. Tallahassee, Florida 32399
Dear Gov. Scott:
Reports are that early voting has reached record levels and that long lines have formed at many of the early voting sites.
Combined with too few polling locations and a lack of adequate parking at many of them, an untold number of Floridians may be deprived of an opportunity to vote.
You should be doing everything in your power to make sure everybody has the chance to vote, and that their vote is counted. Instead, Gov. Scott, you are allowing people to be turned away and jeopardizing the credibility of Florida’s election.
You should act in the interest of all Floridians to be able to cast their ballot and not for partisan reasons to suppress the vote.
To ensure the maximum participation in this election and to provide the means for every citizen to vote and have their vote counted, I request that you issue an executive order extending early voting hours at least through Sunday.
"Early voting will end Saturday night."
Gov. Rick Scott
I wonder what took Scott so long to say something we already knew. The good news for progressives is that Florida Democrats have cast 86,848 votes. That is an over 6,000 advantage over Republicans. No wonder Scott doesn't want to extend early voting.
