# How the pubbies pad the roles in Fla. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 27, 2004, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-pubbies-pad-the-roles-in-fla/257020 "2004-07-27T00:46:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-pubbies-pad-the-roles-in-fla/257020/1 "2004-07-27T00:46:55Z")
They give new citizens voting registration forms with the party affiliation already filled out. > [@](#): > > JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Dario Cruz has lived in the United States for 16 years, but just became a citizen last week as he and about 200 other immigrants were naturalized. > > One of the things he had always wanted to was register to vote, but when he was offered the chance to do that right outside the ceremony, he knew something wasn’t right – the place on the form where you’re asked to choose Democrat, Republican or independent was already filled out. > > “It’s like one side,” Cruz said. “You don’t get to choose.” [http://www.news4jax.com/politics/3495828/detail.html](http://www.news4jax.com/politics/3495828/detail.html) And it was filled out republican. Heaven forbid he might make another choice. And people support these people? God help us if the repugs stay in power. ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-pubbies-pad-the-roles-in-fla/257020/2 "2004-07-27T00:47:59Z")
Rolls…not roles. My bad ---
**Author:** ![Gest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9d8465/32.png) [@Gest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gest)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-pubbies-pad-the-roles-in-fla/257020/3 "2004-07-27T03:45:32Z")
How will this benefit them? And why does the government want to know who you affiliate with? ---
**Author:** ![LilShieste](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9f8e36/32.png) [@LilShieste](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilShieste)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-pubbies-pad-the-roles-in-fla/257020/4 "2004-07-27T06:12:25Z")
At risk of probably sounding like a left-wing crazy man… :)… It’s funny how the republicans are all about making things “easier” for cases like this, but ol’ Jeb tries to make it harder for ex-felons (read: “people who have already served time for their crime”) to restore their right to vote (as is/was being discussed [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=267969) ). Man… if only we had people working this hard in other aspects of our government… > [@Gest](#): > > How will this benefit them? Well, there is this (from the cite, bolding mine): > [@](#): > > For the record, any registered voter can vote for any candidate of any party in a general election, **but in most primaries in Florida, people can only vote for candidates of their own party.** LilShieste ---
**Author:** ![Gest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9d8465/32.png) [@Gest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gest)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-pubbies-pad-the-roles-in-fla/257020/5 "2004-07-27T06:20:47Z")
But they can still vote Kerry for president yes? They just can’t vote on who will be a candidate for anybody other than the Republican Party. Personally, I would only want people with an interest in my party winning being able to vote for its candidate. ---
**Author:** ![Brutus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-pubbies-pad-the-roles-in-fla/257020/6 "2004-07-27T06:29:02Z")
OK, if this is all a mad ploy by the GOP and not some fabrication or mistake, what is the benefit? How is having disinterested voters registered (which only matters in the primaries) going to help the GOP? C’mon **Reeder** , I know there is a mad conspiracy floating around in that melon of yours… ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-pubbies-pad-the-roles-in-fla/257020/7 "2004-07-27T06:44:18Z")
> [@Brutus](#): > > what is the benefit? How is having disinterested voters registered (which only matters in the primaries) going to help the GOP? Rather than ask **Reeder** , why not ask the Florida GOPers who are investing their time and effort in pre-checking those boxes? Either _they_ see some benefit accruing from it, or they’re complete idiots. Or maybe they’re complete idiots who see an illusory benefit. ---
**Author:** ![Brutus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-pubbies-pad-the-roles-in-fla/257020/8 "2004-07-27T06:49:19Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > Rather than ask **Reeder** , why not ask the Florida GOPers who are investing their time and effort in pre-checking those boxes? Either _they_ see some benefit accruing from it, or they’re complete idiots. Or maybe they’re complete idiots who see an illusory benefit. _Box_. Not boxes, but a single box. Unconfirmed, at that. Come on, no theories on what the heck the up-side to doing this is? ---
**Author:** ![Gest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9d8465/32.png) [@Gest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gest)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-pubbies-pad-the-roles-in-fla/257020/9 "2004-07-27T07:01:28Z")
Actually, two people and possibly other members of their family allege all forms were pre-checked. About 200 people at the ceremony and presumably enough forms for everybody means about 200 boxes. Maybe nothing will count as confirmation unless it’s from the GOP though. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-pubbies-pad-the-roles-in-fla/257020/10 "2004-07-27T07:01:59Z")
“New voter registration data released today showed an astonishing increase in the number of registered Republicans. Republicans in the Florida legislature touted the news as an impetus for drafting new redistricting maps, a move immediately decried as ‘jerrymandering’ from the Democrats.” ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-pubbies-pad-the-roles-in-fla/257020/11 "2004-07-27T07:02:57Z")
> [@Brutus](#): > > _Box_. Not boxes, but a single box. > [@](#): > > “These new citizens that were coming out and maybe did not know much of what was going on were all registering Republican,” Cross said. “Not by choice, but by someone else’s choice.” Note the use of the plural in that quote, “citizens”. One box per form, plus more than one form equals more than one box. Hence boxes. Is that clear for you now? ---
**Author:** ![Ninja\_Pizza\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f04885/32.png) [@Ninja\_Pizza\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ninja_Pizza_Guy)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-pubbies-pad-the-roles-in-fla/257020/12 "2004-07-27T07:05:51Z")
Hey, **Squink** , you beat me to the clarification. Darn you! ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-pubbies-pad-the-roles-in-fla/257020/13 "2004-07-27T07:09:28Z")
Some days you kick a hole in the pizza. Some days the pizza kicks a hole in you. 😛 -It’s bedtime. ---
**Author:** ![Brutus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-pubbies-pad-the-roles-in-fla/257020/14 "2004-07-27T07:13:44Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > “New voter registration data released today showed an astonishing increase in the number of registered Republicans. Republicans in the Florida legislature touted the news as an impetus for drafting new redistricting maps, a move immediately decried as ‘jerrymandering’ from the Democrats.” Say, not such a bad idea after all! (Assuming redistricting efforts are based off of voter registration.) Still, all we have are allegations by this one couple. _Shrug_ ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-pubbies-pad-the-roles-in-fla/257020/15 "2004-07-27T09:52:45Z")
Actually, it is a bad idea. It’s a terrible idea. If one were to redraw the maps based on party registrations of people not unusually likely to vote for one’s party in the general election, one would find oneself, uh, surprised (and unemployed) come election day. If one signed up a ton of people for primaries who didn’t share at least some of one’s party’s platform, one might find onesself with unorthodox primary winners and reduced control over the party (not necessarily a _bad_ thing, mind you, but a dumb one if one is a party boss). I have no reason to doubt the story’s veracity, but this sounds like a few boneheads doing something wrong that is also not in their party’s best interest. It seems to me that a person who believes that something like this is sanctioned by the party’s leaders would have to abandon any conspiracy theories they might have had, as the leaders would be too dumb to put such a conspiracy together. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-pubbies-pad-the-roles-in-fla/257020/16 "2004-07-27T10:06:36Z")
Not surprisingly, both sides pull this kind of crap. [http://www.sptimes.com/2002/11/01/State/State\_attorney\_looks\_.shtml](http://www.sptimes.com/2002/11/01/State/State_attorney_looks_.shtml) > [@](#): > > But Wednesday, state attorney investigator Roger D. Floyd sent letters to state Senate District 19 candidates Tony Suarez, a Republican, and Gary Siplin, a Democrat, related to similar complaints about illegal changes to party affiliations on voter registration cards. > > According to the letters, investigators began receiving complaints that supporters for each campaign may have intentionally changed party affiliations on voter registration cards. > > Both allegations were related to registrations before the September primary. > > In Siplin’s letter, Floyd said a woman complained that she put an “X” in the “no party affiliation” spot on her registration form when she filled it out. But when she received her voter card in the mail, it said she was a Democrat. She suspects someone later checked the Democratic box, the letter said. ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-pubbies-pad-the-roles-in-fla/257020/17 "2004-07-27T10:16:04Z")
:smack: I bet the little fuckers get paid according to how many registrants are on each side, don’t they? Fuckin’ campaign finance “reform.” I got an idea – how about we stop making the taxpayers pay for the same two parties to run their guys every year and let their supporters do it? ---
**Author:** ![Siege](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Siege](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siege)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-pubbies-pad-the-roles-in-fla/257020/18 "2004-07-27T10:20:50Z")
So, **Brutus** , if you move to my state, is it OK if I include a voter registration card with “Democrat” checked off in your welcome basket? For that matter, when the hard-core conservative who’s been sleeping on my couch finally finds a place of his own, is it OK with you if I help him out by registering him as a Democrat? As I’ve mentioned a few time, I am a naturalized citizen, and became one right after graduating from college. I would have been highly offended if I’d been handed a voter registration card with party affiliation filled in, especially since I’ve been a registered independent for most of my life and am deeply disgusted with both parties. I also think it’s a bit of chutzpah for a party which has used some rather harsh language regarding immigrants and immigration to expect us to be willing to sign up to vote them in. CJ ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-pubbies-pad-the-roles-in-fla/257020/19 "2004-07-27T10:26:13Z")
> [@manhattan](#): > > :smack: > > I bet the little fuckers get paid according to how many registrants are on each side, don’t they? > > Fuckin’ campaign finance “reform.” I got an idea – how about we stop making the taxpayers pay for the same two parties to run their guys every year and let their supporters do it? A-fucking-men. ---
**Author:** ![Desmostylus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@Desmostylus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desmostylus)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2004, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-pubbies-pad-the-roles-in-fla/257020/20 "2004-07-27T10:31:24Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > Not surprisingly, both sides pull this kind of crap. > > [http://www.sptimes.com/2002/11/01/State/State\_attorney\_looks\_.shtml](http://www.sptimes.com/2002/11/01/State/State_attorney_looks_.shtml) > [@](#): > > State attorney looks into Orange, Osceola ballots > Officials worry that a possible ballot stuffing scheme could tangle up the election process. > ©Associated Press > \*\*November 1, 2002 \*\* > > In Siplin’s letter, Floyd said a woman complained that she put an “X” in the “no party affiliation” spot on her registration form when she filled it out. But when she received her voter card in the mail, it said she was a Democrat. She suspects someone later checked the Democratic box, the letter said. > > Siplin’s attorney, Allen “A. Daniel” Holland, said more information and proof of the actual card was needed to respond to the complaint. He had not seen the card. Not surprisingly, crazy fucks of the **Liberal** persuasion are keen to present an allegation by one single person _two years ago_ as conclusive proof that such things occur. So what was the outcome of the investigation? Was there one at all, you dishonest fucker? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-the-pubbies-pad-the-roles-in-fla/257020.md?page=2)