February 2012 – Protect Our Elections

YES! Magazine: How Much is That Politician in the Window?

Sarah van Gelder on a record season of corporate-funded political advertising and what it means for the 99 percent.

February 27, 2012- Campaign season is in full swing, especially in key states, where residents may see twelve political campaign ads in an hour of television viewing—many of them attack ads aimed at the sponsoring party's opponent. It is estimated that in 2012 $3.5 billion will be spent on political advertising.

Sarah van Gelder, YES! Magazine's executive editor, was interviewed on Free Speech TV's new show Occupy the Media about the effects of Citizens United on corporate spending, political advertising, and what it all means for the 99 percent.

The Brad Blog: Indiana’s Republican Sec. of State Charlie White Gets Off Easy for Three Felony Voter Fraud Convictions

While Other, Lesser (Non-GOP) Criminals Receive Jail Time, Deportation

-By Brad Friedman

Febrtuary 27, 2012- My full story on this is at Salon today. But, here's the skinny.

It looks like Indiana's now-former Republican Sec. of State, Charlie White, who was found guilty of three voter fraud felonies and three other felonies early this month, has now been sentenced.

And it also looks like the old adage — It's Okay If You're a Republican (IOKIYAR) — continues to ring true in the Hoosier State. Despite being the top election official in the very first state in the union to institute disenfranchising polling place Photo ID restrictions, Charlie White has gotten off with a slap on the wrist, essentially, for three intentional voter fraud felonies, and the three others he was found guilty of as well.

Salon: Voter fraud retires shameless GOP official

A lot of Republicans complain about voter fraud. Indiana Secretary of State Charlie White actually committed it

-By Brad Friedman

February 27, 2012- It’s OK if you’re a Republican. Even if you commit voter fraud. Even if you are found guilty of three felony counts of voter fraud by a jury of your peers. Even if you are found guilty of six felony counts overall. Even if you are the secretary of state – the chief election official – of the first state in the union to institute polling place photo ID restrictions which Republicans claim are meant to prevent voter fraud but actually succeed only in keeping longtime voters (like 80- and 90-year-old nuns) from being able to cast their previously legal votes.

Freak Out Nation: National Media Calls Attention to Republican-Driven Voter ID Laws

-By Jamie Sanderson

February 24, 2012- It’s refreshing to see facts laid out so plainly. Will people finally see the light and realize one party cannot be pleaded with? There’s no compromise or working together with people who are hell bent on stop others from voting.

In an election year dominated by battles over health care mandates, tax rates, and rising gasoline prices, it’s the mechanics of voting – and who’ll get to vote in November – that’s getting full-time attention from state legislators, election lawyers, and judges.

In the latest example, the Virginia state Senate is headed for a vote Friday on a new voter identification requirement – one more indication that the voter ID controversy will keep boiling in legislatures and in the courts right up to Election Day.

… Read More

The Brad Blog: Previously Legal WI Voters Turned Away at Polls Tuesday as GOP’s New Photo ID Restrictions Begin

Vet told Veteran's ID invalid for voting, others completely disenfranchised in first roll-out of Republican anti-voter law…

-By Brad Freidman

February 23, 2012- Well, golly, who coulda seen this coming? And I suspect it's just the beginning…

Tuesday was the official launch of Wisconsin’s new Voter-I.D. law, with citizens now required to present a photo-identification card in order to cast a ballot in the primaries for local elections. And as it turns out, one man refused to vote, because he was so angry that his card from the Department of Veterans Affairs was not on the approved list.

MSNBC: In legislatures and courtrooms, busy weeks ahead for voter ID

-By Tom Curry, msnbc.com National Affairs Writer

February 24, 2012- In an election year dominated by battles over health care mandates, tax rates, and rising gasoline prices, it’s the mechanics of voting – and who’ll get to vote in November – that’s getting full-time attention from state legislators, election lawyers, and judges.

In the latest example, the Virginia state Senate is headed for a vote Friday on a new voter identification requirement – one more indication that the voter ID controversy will keep boiling in legislatures and in the courts right up to Election Day.

These new voter ID laws are being proposed almost exclusively by Republican legislators and governors in states throughout the nation, spawning both litigation and angry rhetoric from Democrats.

The Society Pages: Voter Suppression: The New Disenfranchisement

-by Caroline Heldman

January 9, 2012- In early 2009, I had dinner with a prominent, conservative political operative. He calmly (and accurately) predicted that the 2010 mid-term election would see the largest Republican gains in half a century. He then leaned in and half-whispered, “but you haven’t seen anything yet. Just wait until 2012 .” I pressed him on specifics, but he would only allude to a campaign that would rewrite the political rules. With the revelation that a centralized, state-by-state voter suppression campaign is underway, I now know what he was alluding to.

The New Voter Restriction Laws

Spring Valley Patch: Election Director: No Proof of Dead Voters

State election commission reveals findings of internal investigation

-By Reilly Moore

February 23, 2012- The director of the South Carolina Election Commission released a report Wednesday refuting claims that more than 200 dead voters participated during the 2010 election.

Election Commission Executive Director Marci Andino said that 197 of the cases her agency investigated appeared to be results of human error or coincidence and not cases of voter fraud. The other ten cases proved inconclusive.

In a letter to South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, Andino said her agency spent more than 200 hours examining suspected cases of voter fraud from the 2010 general election.

"Due to the size and scope of the task of examining every claim, the review was limited to the 207 cases related to the 2010 General Election," Andino said. "Investigation of every claim would require more than 1,000 hours of work by SEC employees."

Huffington Post: Mitt Romney Super PAC Republishes 2007 Romney Ad, Violating Finance Laws, Watchdog Says

-By Paul Blumenthal

February 23, 2012- WASHINGTON — The main super PAC supporting Mitt Romney's presidential campaign has violated campaign finance law, a nonpartisan campaign finance watchdog group said on Thursday. Paul Ryan, a lawyer for the Campaign Legal Center, called foul on the Restore Our Future PAC for recycling a 2007 ad from the former governor's prior presidential bid.

The move by the group, which is filled with former Romney staffers and colleagues, violates campaign finance law that prohibits the republication of campaign materials by a super PAC, Ryan said.

The Brad Blog: Sen. Lugar Latest High-Profile Republican Accused of Voter Fraud as GOP Fraud Epidemic Continues

-By Brad Friedman

February 22, 2012- While the GOP and its operatives have been on a tear over the last year (and many more), falsely claiming an epidemic of Democratic "voter fraud" meriting the potential disenfranchisement of tens of thousands of legal (and mostly Democratic) voters through polling place Photo ID restriction laws in order stop it, the recent spate of actual voter fraud by high profile Republicans — both alleged-with-much-evidence and actually-proven-in-a-court-of-law — continues apace.

The latest high-profile Republican to join the ranks of apparent voter fraud felons is Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana. Like Republican Sec. of State Charlie White, who was found guilty of three counts of felony voter fraud (and three other felonies) earlier this month, Lugar hails from Indiana, the very first state in the nation, ironically enough, to implement voter suppressing polling place Photo ID laws in 2008.

Month: February 2012