quote: LAS VEGAS – The FBI has been notified that hundreds of voter-registration forms have been intentionally discarded or destroyed by a private company hired by the Republican Party to sign people up to vote.
According to KLAS-TV, the local CBS affiliate, employees who worked for Voters Outreach of America allege scores of registration forms were thrown in the trash.
The company reportedly employed up to 300 part-time workers and collected hundreds of registrations per day.
But according to some former employees, Voters Outreach of America sought only Republican registrations. The station reports the company has been largely, if not entirely funded, by the Republican National Committee.
Two ex-workers for Voters Outreach say they personally witnessed company supervisors tear up and trash registration forms signed by Democrats.
"We caught her taking Democrats out of my pile, handed them to her assistant and he ripped them up right in front of us," said Eric Russell, a former employee interviewed by KLAS. "I grabbed some of them out of the garbage and she tells her assistant to get those from me."
Russell was able to retrieve some shredded paperwork including signed voter-registration forms, all of which were from Democrats.
The television station pieced the forms back together, and presented them to the Clark County Election Department confirming they had not been filed with the county as required.
No one from the company was available for comment, as the local office was rented out to another tenant, with the landlord telling the station non-payment of rent was the reason. Another source said the company was now registering voters in Oregon.
Similar complaints have been received in Reno, Nev., where officials have asked the FBI to investigate.
The discovery could pose a problem for those going to the polls on Nov. 2, thinking they're already registered to vote, when officials have no record of that. In fact, the deadline to register to vote in Nevada was last night.
Clark County residents can check online to see if they are indeed registered to vote.
This really bothers me. Was there not enough controversy over the election in 2000? Must stupid people do stuff like this? I'd like very much to believe this is all an elaborate set-up by the democrats, but its obvious it is not.
Stupid dorks. Try not to turn this thread into a Republican bashing thread--stupid people belong to BOTH parties. (And turning that comment into something about either candidate is TOO easy.)
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You cannot study political history without discovering that vote-tampering has been going on as long as voting has. People seeking power will often do anything to get or keep that power, and this is but one of the ways to do it. The party involved isn't the issue, the corruption is.
Posts: 7790 | Registered: Aug 2000
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It's good reason to work on changing the system of voter registration. Agreed: this is definitely not a Republican thing.
Posts: 2919 | Registered: Aug 2004
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I could see electronic voting being a huge help to this, but then again, currently it would be very susceptible to attacks.
Whenever you have the probability that stupid people be involved, they usually are. (EDIT: I'm talking about the people who shredded the votes to clarify)
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Unfortunately, Clark County (where Las Vegas is located) has seen more than its share of political corruption and controversy. About half of the County Commissioners that were in office at the time I moved here have either been indicted for various corruption-related crimes, or are openly under investigation by the Feds. It seems a number of them (gasp) took bribes from such private business interests as large general contractors and "gentlemen's clubs."
To give you an idea of how jaded we are by now, our most popular politician in the County, and one of the most trusted, is Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, who originally made his name as defense attorney for the mob.
Our County Recorder, soon after being elected, attempted to set up her own private business on the side which would have a monopoly on the computerization of county records. (I can't remember the exact details of the scheme now).
The State Controller is being pressure to resign for various improper acts including forcing her department's employees to participate in her reelection campaign under threat.
Posts: 1652 | Registered: Aug 2003
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I'd say allowing private companies to handle voter registration is a mistake to begin with. But encouraging people to register has been an important activism tool for decades. If this weren't a for profit operation, though, they wouldn't have had to worry about the employees ratting them out. Just kidding. Even if they were volunteers, I hope they would have reported that.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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Maybe that was badly worded. I've posted things from WND before, and the fact/idea/opinion that they are a right-wing website always comes up in response. (Generally, I've found the accusation to be true.)
I was just pointing out that they were printing an article that was negative toward the right.