Vote Fraud

Well, there's a first time for everyone...

Today, over at Facing South, Chris Kromm quotes from a Mother Jones article about threats to voting rights around the country.

Of the 11 examples they cite, 7 are in the South. #2 on the list is right here in North Carolina.

Yesterday in Kinston just after lunch Fred Riggs, owner of Rustikat Internet Services, was served dessert in the form of a subpoena ordering him to present documents which will identify the owner of the anonymous fake Van Braxton web site. Riggs has until the close of business Friday to deliver the documents to the State Board of Elections in Raleigh.

Rustikat Internet Services hosts the fake site, several Republican websites including that of Republican Willie Ray Starling and numerous web sites owned by Ted Sampley known for outlandish attacks on public figures locally and nationally and for physically attacking John McCain's co-writer. Republican Steven LaRoque also pays Riggs for banner advertising.

I was cruising around the other progressive blogs and sites today, and ThinkProgress.org has a interesting link to a article by Salon.com. It addresses the attempts by certain groups in our society to inhibit voting. Voter Surpression is not new to the United States. However what is new is that after all these years as a functioning republic, it is still allowed to stand.

North Carolina is not on the list. It is compromised of Arizona, Missouri, Indiana, California, Ohio, and of course Florida.

In response to this threat to democracy, our beloved DNC Chair Howard Dean hits the nail on the head in reference to these Conservatives without a conscience:

For Republicans, nothing is more important than their partisan interests, not even the American people's most cherished right to vote and have that vote counted.

As reported in a local Graham County,NC paper,The Graham Star, the NC State Bureau of Investigation initiated a inquiry Tuesday looking into alleged vote buying in the Sheriff's race. The allegations were made to the Graham Co. Board Of Elections who imediatly notified Marshall Tutor with the NC Board of Elections who in turn contacted the local D.A. According to the paper , the SBI is looking into the possibility of if there is enough there to even warrant a investigation. As of this time however, I have heard nothing pertaining to who may be involved or what is really going on. When I do I w

One of the right's favorite scary stories is the one about voter fraud. Sure, neither party needs to be reminded that every vote counts, or that important elections can be very, very close. But while the left and libertarians have been focused on the potential perils of black-box electronic voting, Republicans have kept up a steady drumbeat for state- or nation-wide voter ID cards. The basic idea is to create a small barrier to voting in exchange for the elimination of sneaky behavior at the ballot box—in North Carolina, our own Virginia Foxx (R-5) was trying to drum up support for a national voter ID card last year. But voting is a fundamental right, and every impediment to an individual's freedom to exercise their right to vote must come with a very good reason.