Good point. But could the police refuse to be present if an election inspector asked? I’d think no. It could get ugly in Florida. The Dem inspectors could order the police to step aside, and allow the person to vote. However, the voter could be arrested outside after they voted. Wise blacks would just do well to not try voting.
But they’re not actually going to be checked for outstanding warrants, etc., that’s just a Pubbie lie tactic. And anyone whose voting credentials are challenged still gets to cast a provisional ballot and will not be arrested on the spot for trying to vote illegally. Why would any would-be voter have to fear getting arrested at the polls (unless a fight breaks out)?
This might be more of a GQ, but I’ll throw it in here:
In a perfect world, with a totally impartial Supreme Court, if shenanigans from one side were concluded to have materially affected the outcome of a presidential election, could they overturn the election results? Could a re-vote be ordered, or could a different party be awarded the election?
This is precisely the strategy in African American neighborhoods in Ohio.
Inevitable Terror alert or terror fears = we must have officers stationed outside polling locations to look people over as they come to vote.
But, of course, only in the African American neighborhoods where the terrorists are most likely to hit.
There is no precedent and no constitutional or statutory provisions for a re-vote. If neither candidate wins a clear majority, the Constitution throws the decision into the House of Representatives:
Since I’ve already voted, I think I’m going to restock my “survival room” for the first time in a couple of years. Stock up on canned meats, peanut butter, bread, water, tequila…
Who recorded “Tuesday Afternoon”? Moody Blues? I’ll just put it on endless loop until a decision is made and the streets are safe again. Somebody come and get me.
Go, Johnny, go!
Just an update: Republican pre-election challenges apparently hit a major snafu in Akron, Ohio
Many of the people they claimed didn’t exist or didn’t live in the county actually showed up, their utility bills, IDs and so on in hand. And they were PISSED: some had been voting in the same place for years without anything like this ever happening. When it quickly became apparent that the Republicans had no real knowledge or evidence on which to challenge people’s right to vote outside of their party affiliation and (cough) other factors, and with legitimate voters whom they had challenged there and in their faces, they tried to dismiss all 900 or so of their own challenges without prejudice and back out of the proceedings. The Democratic/Republican BOE instead unanimously dismissed all 900 challenges WITH prejudice.
Ouch.
Similar stuff happening in Atkinson County, GA, where the law allows any registered voter to challenge the eligibility of any other voter.
A fellow named Sutton and a couple of his friends got wind of allegations that a county commissioner named Metts was signing up illegal aliens.
So Sutton requested the names of all hispanic voters in the county, and issued a challenge against 98 of them.
Interestingly NPR interviewed a Texas-born man with a hispanic name who was challenged, but I don’t recall hearing any mention of the Metts flap in their report.
Maybe the Democrats should challenge every single Republican registered voter in every single state, just to let them see what it feels like.
My question: why do our elected officials fear democracy?
Please correct me if I’m wrong - Apos or anyone else – By dismissing the challenges with prejudice, the challenges cannot be refiled.
That’s how it works in court, presumably the same with the BOE if they use the same terminology. But I would presume that applies only to those specific 900 or so challenged voters – the Pubs might come back with a new list.
Sounds like it’s only the Republicans who fear democracy. Wonder why.
I heard this story on NPR yesterday, and the first thing that came to mind (well, the second thing…) was: how does one so readily sort voter registrations by ethnicity? I’m sure he just didn’t ask for all voters with names ending in “-ez”; which means that the voter registration forms must have a box to check ethnicity. So…what the hell for? A darn good argument for “color-blind” government forms, IMHO – all sorts of mischief can ensure.
Seems like you need Election Monitors to ensure that you can all express your democratic rights. Fortunately they’ve arrived
Apos, where’s that article?
And about time! 
One of those monitors is from South Africa. A South African monitoring a U.S. election. How times have changed!
http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/10038098.htm?1c
Btw, this isn’t just in Akron. It’s a statewide effort. Thousands of Republican challengers will be on hand at polling places across Ohio.
Here’s a national perspective on poll watchers…
http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-poll-watchers,0,7901580.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines
…which includes this re Ohio:
Republicans in Ohio, btw, say they are responding to indications of fraud – specifically, thousands of mailpieces to newly registered Dem voters which were returned as undeliverable.
As I said, I’ve been personally dealing with part of the fallout of those mailpieces. I can confirm that there are tons and tons of real voters, legitimate voters, that they’ve wrongly challenged.
Basically, they did a mass mailing (Republicans, being pretty lazy despite all their talk about doing tons of fieldwork this time, still pretty much work via direct mail, a large chunk of it negative sent to Democrats and new voters to convince them not to vote) ostensibly to “welcome new voters! (also, did you know that John Edwards killed his own son, Wade by cutting his break line?)” They got what was returned undeliverable, and then challenged everbody based on that.
Problem is, their returned mail is not the same thing as the BOE’s returned mail. So angry people who do exist and do live in the counties in question are showing up en masse, absolutely PISSED that after voting for decades that someone is now trying to strip them from the rolls just because they moved two houses down, or because their address was wrong in whatever crazy database the Republicans bought to do the mailings (which wasn’t as up-to-date as the BOE’s databases apparently). They have MAJOR egg on their faces over this one.
However, I suspect that in part this may be a setup for crying wolf after the election. As they say in these stories, they are basically wilting away and saying “well, this just goes to show why we have to challenge people right in the polling location on election day.” This supposedly gives them an excuse when they use their challengers to help create lines and stall the polls for a win.
Of course, the Republicans offer no evidence that said mail was undeliverable…