The wave of voter suppression begins in CA and NJ

Long time voters in California and New Jersey are now finding that they are suddenly not registered as Democrats any more, but "unaffiliated"...just like in Arizona, New York, Nevada, Oregon, and others. Here is the story of one woman from New Jersey:

My mom has been a registered Democrat in NJ for years. She moved in 2013 and changed to "Unaffiliated." To vote in this primary, she filled out a new voter registration (with ample time) to once again register as Democrat. We just received this letter, http://imgur.com/KDfRZLC

stating she is now a registered Dem, but was not registered in time and would not be able to vote in the primary. We immediately called the office to figure out why this registration was not in time, when in fact it was. We were informed that that the letter was sent to her "by mistake" and she is indeed eligible to vote this primary. If we didn't call to clarify she probably wouldn't have showed up.

We were then told the office was "having problems" with their letters and there were several wrong letters sent out. We asked how many people were sent these letters, and why the people who were sent incorrect letters were not informed that it was an error, to which they responded they have "no idea who the letters got sent to or how many were sent." This is outrage. They are "looking into it" and will call us back when they figure out how and why these letters got sent. We are currently talking to them to figure out more details about the situation. This is suppressing newly registered democrats from voting on June 7.

Link: https://www.reddit.com/r/SandersForPresident/comments/4k8w0r/voter_suppr...

A friend of mine in Kentucky had a similar problem in their recent Primary. She was sent a letter from her Board of Elections, even though she had been registered for years. She sent me a copy of the letter a few days ago...remarkably similar to the letter in the link above. Almost as if there was some sort of coordinated action to disenfranchise voters.

Inelligible in KY_0.PNG

And, like the woman in New Jersey, when she questioned the Elections officials, they said..."oh, we sent this letter in error, you can vote." Just like the woman in New Jersey. Almost if there was a coordinated effort to minimize the uproar.

How many people get such a letter and just stay home? My Kentucky friend knew four other people who got the letter. Three went to vote. One stayed home. Enough to change the outcome, in a vote "won" by 0.4% ? Don't just stay home.

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MsGrin's picture

This pattern being repeated in state after state after state... it is shocking.

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'What we are left with is an agency mandated to ensure transparency and disclosure that is actually working to keep the public in the dark' - Ann M. Ravel, former FEC member

Bisbonian's picture

popping up like mushrooms, all over the many states.

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"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X

WI has a total infestation of Alec laws and 99% of the Rs are members--We have a long hard road ahead of us here as they control all thru the WI supreme court. And now ALEC has a sub organization that is infecting local govts and school boards as well.

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k9disc's picture

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“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu

To even a child, it would appear to be a statistical impossibility for this to all be coincidence. So my question is;

1. Who is doing this? By this I mean organizations like ALEC and Heritage are absolutely the fronts for these types of abuses however, WHO is doing this?

2. While I am not an attorney I would appreciate a legal opinion from those out there who are, why can't the federal government take legal action against what appears to be some type of coordinated racketeering and fraud taking place. Is there no way the federal government can protect the constitutional rites of citizens on a national scale?

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Bisbonian's picture

Those in power got there the same way.

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"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X

stealing election right in front of our eyes?

one of many articles on this

U.S. elections ranked worst among Western democracies. Here’s why.

maybe, just maybe, we will address election integrity in the US

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Pluto's Republic's picture

…just as it is. They also love the quaint, pre-industrial, 18th century US Constitution, which made corporate ownership of the government possible.

Most Americans do not realize that we do not have a constitutionally protected right to vote. While there are amendments to the U.S. Constitution that prohibit discrimination based on race (15th), sex (19th) and age (26th), Voting is not a right - no affirmative right to vote exists. And that's just the beginning.
www.salon.com/2013/05/23/voting_is_not_a_right/Salon

In a few years, voting will become increasingly restricted and opaque. There is nothing that can be done about this. The Constitution can no longer be amended or revoked. The plutocrats who wrote it have stolen the sovereignty of 21st century Americans and taken it to their graves.

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

and so did some others, but who listens to us?

By 2004 Markos et al were calling us conspiracy theorists and banning us from his site

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

GreyWolf's picture

I'm not a Dem, but I think Dems who have been disenfranchised need to get together and file a nationwide class action suit against the DNC: for breach of contract and failure under "implied warranty of fitness for a particular purpose" -- meaning a fair and honest national party nomination.

U.C.C. § 2-315. Implied Warranty: Fitness for Particular Purpose. - https://www.law.cornell.edu/ucc/2/2-315

Get a large enough group and a firm will take the case. It would drag on for years and gain the attorneys notoriety (and tons of money if they win ... while each plaintiff might only get $100, if you have a class of a 100,000 people, the atty would make a couple of million, and it would be a huge thorn for the DNC

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

machines and a dirty-tricks Clinton Machine.

There are probably ways to protect voter registration databases with redundancy and other approaches, ways to send voters dated printouts and have them print from registries and have those printouts accepted at polling places. Other safeguards. This must be considered a dry run for the GE. Clinton was almost sneeringly confident when she told Chris Cuomo: "I will be the nominee for my party, Chris," the former secretary of state told CNN's Chris Cuomo in an interview from Park Ridge, Illinois. "That is already done, in effect. There's no way that I won't be." http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/hillary-clinton-2016-democratic-no...

Eerily reminiscent of Karl Rove (or was it Jeb?) insisting that Bush would win Florida when the state had been called for Gore, and lo and behold, the nos. changed rather remarkably in Bush's favor. http://truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/http-www-truth-out-org-buzzfla...

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"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." --Jiddu Krishnamurti

My husband, daughter and I moved to NC in November of 1992 from Florida. We registered via motor-voter when we got NC driver's licenses, and voted in every single local, state, national and primary election ever since. We all lived in the same house, along with our grandson.

Grandson was 10 years old in 2000, daughter was Den Mother to his Cub Scout troop. Since voting is a regular Big Deal for us, grandson accompanied us to the poll at the local train station so daughter could show him how voting works. When we checked in, our daughter's name was mysteriously 'missing' from the voter roll in our precinct. She argued the point, was told it must be a snafu, and she should go to the other polling place in our town of 738 humans. Hub and I voted, accompanied her and grandson to the other poll. She wasn't on their roll either.

By that time daughter was pretty peeved. She stated loudly that she was a duly registered voter, and insisted she wouldn't leave without voting. So the head poll worker shuffled off to an anteroom to place a panic call to BoE in Raleigh. She also called the police, so a deputy came in to sit with us as we awaited Raleigh's response. After half an hour or so we were informed that she could vote a provisional ballot under an old (1700s) law allowing same day registration/voting to the region's numerous and notorious Mountain Men who only came into town every year or two to trade and vote. None of us expected that her vote would actually be counted, but she did go through the motions for grandson's sake.

While waiting we learned that she was not the only long-time voter who had been turned away that day. She was just the one who refused to leave. So they started leafing through the roll books. This being a tiny town with maybe 100 voters in each of our two precincts, the old "Everybody Knows Everybody" thing is a given. They were more than a little surprised to find that while a few regulars were missing from the rolls, many more DEAD PEOPLE were on the list! WTF?!? I have wondered ever since how many dead people showed up to vote that year...

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Life is absurd.

to long time republican voters?

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Bisbonian's picture

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"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X

The May Queen's picture

in New Jersey. While he was able to resolve the issue-so they said-it really does seem that a portion of Hillary's ill-gotten war chest is being used to purge likely Sanders voters from Democratic party registration.

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Pity would be no more if we did not make somebody poor-William Blake

Bisbonian's picture

TV ads, when you can buy the Board of Elections?

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"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X

The May Queen's picture

making any kind of effort to broaden her appeal. Who needs voters when you control the votes themselves?

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Pity would be no more if we did not make somebody poor-William Blake

mjsmeme's picture

confronted with the fact that people don't like her. Ex. While waiting for the Berners to sit down and stop applauding after Bernie's closing remarks at the Brooklyn debate, she stood there with that smirk on her face until the crowd had quieted down enough for her to speak. It didn't happen overnight, but there's no doubt at this point that 126,00 voters in Brooklyn alone found they were ineligible to cast their votes, and that 6.6 million $ changed hands between her politically active surrogate's daughter and the recently suspended BOE official in 2014.

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Seeing as how they keep blaming us for things they themselves do, that the fiasco in December with the data gave them many of the names they wanted to purge? My pointy little head keeps going back there.

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'Well, I've wrestled with reality for thirty five years, Doctor, and I’m happy to state I finally won out over it." Elwood P. Dowd "

mjsmeme's picture

any political candidate or party - ever, and suddenly began getting surveys and contribution requests from them our of the blue???. And the same is true for one of my kids who also contributes to Bernie and was zapped off the voter lists in spite of living at the same address for 7 years and having voted in the last election. I don't think it, I believe it to my core.

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wilderness voice's picture

are permitted to vote in the Democratic primary, So California mentions should deleted from your piece.

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"unaffiliated" or "no party preference" -- many people registered as "Independent" which in California refers to the ultra-conservative American Independent Party; those people will not be allowed to vote in the California primary, so there are some valid worries.

Deadline for registration is Monday, so give a call to your county Board of Elections if you've got any concerns.

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Bisbonian's picture

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"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X

I watched my registration to ensure no issues while I still had time to rectify any which might have arisen. My ballot will go in today once I've filled it in. I can also watch to see that it has been received by the Registrar.

#BernieOrBust

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Vowing To Oppose Everything Trump Attempts.

Bisbonian's picture

Both of us.

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"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X

bebimbob's picture

Not true for presidential primaries. Look it up. Deadline to register as a dem is May 23rd.

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"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye." de Saint-Exupery

The CA Democratic Party elected to make its primary election "semi-closed," which means that NPP voters are entitled to cast ballots (no one registered with another party is eligible). All they have to do is request a Dem ballot at their polling place.

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Bisbonian's picture

But Poll Workers are currently being trained to give them only Provisional Ballots. See reddit link, my next comment down.

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"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X

The situation's even worse—see my comment below.

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wilderness voice's picture

unintended repeat of prior comment.

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The May Queen's picture

saying that local board of elections have been instructed to give Independent voters provisional ballots. If this is true, it's a big problem.

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Pity would be no more if we did not make somebody poor-William Blake

Bisbonian's picture

to give NPP (no party preference) voters a provisional ballot "every time"

https://www.reddit.com/r/SandersForPresident/comments/4k0v4p/election_fr...

Also, in California, "Independent" refers to the American Independent Party, a far right party, and not "Independent" as you think of it. In California, the proper term is "No Party Preference". Which is still an iffy proposition.

So, no, I will not remove California.

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"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X

wilderness voice's picture

This: "to give NPP (no party preference) voters a provisional ballot" is definitely voter suppression no question about it. Watching the Ashley Beck's video now. Ashley says she checked with the registrar of voters and was told the person giving the training was lying. No reason to doubt the trainer was a Clinton operative, and who knows how many more are out there doing the same thing. So, yes this is definitely a problem.

http://rebrn.com/re/election-fraud-ca-watch-poll-workers-being-told-in-o...

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… at least some county officials are apparently not being trained properly either. See my comment below. This is really, really bad.

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Bisbonian, unfortunately there is some misinformation in that video you linked to.

This situation is so out of hand… Ashley, the conscientious poll worker who cared enough to post that video, was misinformed not only in her training session but also by her local elections official.

Ashley correctly explains that the trainer was wrong in instructing the workers to give provisional ballots to NPP voters—but the elections official she spoke to was also wrong, which unfortunately means that Ashley fails to properly inform people, despite her best intentions. The "crossover ballot" Ashley instructs NPP voters to ask for will not even be available at the polls because that's the special absentee ballot that's mailed to NPP voters who request them before May 31. On election day, an NPP voter voting in person uses a Dem ballot—simple, except that no one, from the trainers to the county officials, apparently, is informing workers of the actual rules.

I'm really concerned about this because Ashley's account of what she was told by the Orange County elections official is eerily similar to advice that I've heard the elections official in Tuolumne County has been giving people: that NPP voters need a "special ballot" to vote in person on election day. No, no, no!! How are we ever going to make sure that NPP voters who show up at the polls are given the ballots that the law entitles them to so that their votes are counted?

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Bisbonian's picture

Thanks for pointing that out. Everyone in California needs to be informed of, and on top of this. If you are registered NPP, you can get, and NEED TO GET, a Dem ballot.

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"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X

edg's picture

Yes, but will they be ABLE TO GET the Dem ballot at the poll, or will misinformed or malevolent poll workers refuse to give them out? And will there be enough Dem ballots available on election day or will there be mysterious shortages?

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Bisbonian's picture

Arguments about which ballot to give them are pretty much assured, too.

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"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X

going on in California for months at the least!

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'Well, I've wrestled with reality for thirty five years, Doctor, and I’m happy to state I finally won out over it." Elwood P. Dowd "

While we're registered to vote (both of us for nearly 4 decades), Mr. Scribe and I technically don't currently have a permanent residential address; we've been staying with friends and getting help from his mom to stay in motels while we're on the waiting list for low-income senior housing (lost our last apartment when they wouldn't renew our lease so they could remodel and jack up the rents to cater to the Silly Con Valley crowd). So we're just trying to figure out how to proceed -- do we use our mailing address (a UPS store box in the city we last lived)? Or can we just vote for President, Senate candidate and propositions and not worry about House members since we're not sure who our next Rep will be? (I think we'll be in Zoe Lofgren's district when we get our new place but not sure.)

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I believe that a Post Office Box doesn't constitute a legal address for registration. You must have a verifiable address of legal residence. Your motel might have counted if you could show you stayed there long enough to qualify for residence.

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Vowing To Oppose Everything Trump Attempts.

I am extremely sorry you have this problem. I know life must be pretty hard for you right now.

I will keep you in my thoughts and send positive vibes every day.

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'Well, I've wrestled with reality for thirty five years, Doctor, and I’m happy to state I finally won out over it." Elwood P. Dowd "

Thaumlord-Exelbirth's picture

how much "incompetence" there seems to be on the democrat side of the primaries this go around. Seems to be exclusively on that side actually. I'm curious, how many instances of this alleged "incompetence" has a Hillary supporter being the cause/source of said "incompetence?"

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Never attribute to incompetence or stupidity that which is adequately explained by malice.

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k9disc's picture

The Dunning-Kruger Effect is a great place to start:

While Dunning already touched on one reason for this—a collective failure to appreciate new, breakthrough ideas—he now turned to an opposite kind of problem, failures that can come from a lack of group coherence, from people seeming to work together, while actually having significantly different sorts of goals. “I have often wondered, if everybody has a hymnal, is everybody’s hymnal the same,” Dunning said. “So for political operatives, sometimes I wonder if their task is to get candidates elected or to make sure that they earn enough money from the election that they can live a good life, and can continue to have their political business.” It’s a question many in netroots have raised repeatedly over the years.

It’s not limited to politics, of course. Dunning also cited a similar problem in the business world, where “if you’re a CEO, you get graded on how well you do this past quarter, so the task is to maximize profit for this quarter. And that may not be the best strategy in the long-term.”

More generally, Dunning said, “Whenever you see somebody acting in what looks like an incompetent way you have to ask yourself if they actually perceive themselves doing a different task than what you think they’re doing, and being very competent in [that task].” He cited an example from his own experience, a dean at a university he had observed, who “would speak in non sequiturs,” hardly a sign of intellectual competence, “until I realized this task was to outlast everybody, just so he got his way, and that he was brilliant. But if you thought his task was to bring many minds in together, and come to an understanding … no, that was not the task.”

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“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu

since it's NOT "incompetence" if it gets your desired result......

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Thaumlord-Exelbirth's picture

and still getting used to being able to edit comments on a blog, after so much time of not having the capability of doing so on GOS.

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Oldest Son Of A Sailor's picture

99.99% of them are Hillary induced voter suppression efforts...

Being masked as bureaucratic incompetence...

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"Do you realize the responsibility I carry?
I'm the only person standing between Richard Nixon and the White House."

~John F. Kennedy~
Economic: -9.13, Social: -7.28,
Raggedy Ann's picture

she'll be the nominee - she's got it wrapped up because she's cheating, as usual.

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"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

show and said she switched to Democrat, got her new voter registration card in the mail verifying her being a registered Democrat, but then when she got her mail-in ballot, Bernie's name wasn't on it.

Fortunately she had plenty of time to go to the voter office and get this fixed. But there was no excuse for this.

I think they blamed it on the computers.

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Damnit Janet's picture

Me and mu husband were registered as fucking Dems here in Oregon at the same address for ten years. We got our records wiped and were given a non-partisan ballot... which is useless.

No one gives a shit about all this fraud.

I wish to dog Bernie would have just ran as an Indy.

Fuck the Democratic Party.

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"Love One Another" ~ George Harrison

Bisbonian's picture

Oregon? Added above.

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"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X

A lot comes to mind when you consider DWS, Barbara Boxer, Barney Frank, Ed Rendell, and what happened in Nevada and other States, are so deeply involved in this election to make a left turn go right, in the direction of Hillary. And all the trickery is being done in the open, while they deny it and find another candidate to blame.
The establishment has been doing these things for so long they know just how to wallow out of being blamed.

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TK