# Republican voter intimidation tactics **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 22, 2004, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-voter-intimidation-tactics/265496 "2004-09-22T15:22:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![rfgdxm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c0e974/32.png) [@rfgdxm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rfgdxm)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-voter-intimidation-tactics/265496/81 "2004-11-02T18:11:55Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > These aren’t **theories, Sly,** they’re actual news reports. Read the above posts. Right. And these reports aren’t of the all kinds of dubious type “my girlfriend said when she was on the phone this morning with her third cousin, twice removed in Florida that the Republicans are…” ---
**Author:** ![SlyFrog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@SlyFrog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlyFrog)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-voter-intimidation-tactics/265496/82 "2004-11-02T18:13:32Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > These aren’t **theories, Sly,** they’re actual news reports. Read the above posts. I have. I’m seeing some isolated factual incidents, along with a fair bit of, “Someone said there’s teams of people walking the streets of Florida telling blacks not to vote,” type of fearmongering. I’m aware of the Ohio case. It’s a legitimate issue and question. It’s being treated as if Bush called out the army to fire on people voting Democrat. I just can’t stand the ranting and apocalyptic ravings. Then again, like my father-in-law always says, every good Christian has the deep down fear, driven by ego, that the rapture will come in his or her lifetime. Lord knows we can’t admit we live in a rather stable and boring political system; we must hype it up as if we are holding elections in Afghanistan. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-voter-intimidation-tactics/265496/83 "2004-11-02T18:39:33Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > 12:15 PM Toledo, OH–Voters in the predominantly African-American community of Toledo’s Old West End were turned away from the polls this morning at Glenwood Elementary School, after it was discovered that the voting machines were locked away in the principal’s office. Over one hundred people had been turned away before the machines were retrieved. Just a few hours later at 10:45 A.M., voters were again turned away when the polling place ran out of pencils used to mark the ballots. Poll watchers ran out and purchased pencils out of their own pocket. Some voters may have been turned away due to the short pencil deficit. And that principal… was _George W. Bush._ ---
**Author:** ![Airblairxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Airblairxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airblairxxx)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-voter-intimidation-tactics/265496/84 "2004-11-02T19:00:55Z")
> [@SlyFrog](#): > > It surprises me that there would be rampant conspiracy theories circling among Democrats on election day. I’m truly stunned. It’s almost as if, based on the last election, some individuals have discovered that there could potentially be a cheap but useful ploy of screaming “election fraud” as loud as possible no matter what the circumstances. > > I also understand that menthol cigarettes contain a substance that sterilizes black people; and that the Republican’s secretly began to spread AIDS among gays because gays are predominantly Democrats and AIDS would keep them from voting. > > I’m voting for Kerry, and still embarassed by far too many Kerry supporters. Let’s hope he’s not as stupid as his followers (he must be, as he is smarter than GW, who in turn is smarter than most Kerry supporters). Reading this depresses me. “Rampant conspiracy theories”? Come ON. Remember 2000? How SCOTUS yanked the election case out of the Florida Supreme Court, because their ruling would win it for Gore? How the list of “felons” who weren’t allowed to vote was made up overwhelmingly of black people–and that list still wasn’t fixed for this year? You are correct when you say > [@](#): > > some individuals have discovered that there could potentially be a cheap but useful ploy of screaming “election fraud” as loud as possible no matter what the circumstances. The difference is that it looks like it’s the GOP who has adopted this stance as a matter of strategy today, not the Democrats. For every news story about 90,000 disenfranchised Floridians, there’s a counter-balanced story about, say, one crack addict faking 100 registration forms because he’s paid on a per-form basis. THESE ARE NOT EQUAL CRIMES. However, they will be used to undermine the legitimacy of a John Kerry presidency if he wins, mark my words. We Democrats have earned our paranoia about voter suppression. (And I’m studiously ignoring your second paragraph. It wouldn’t take much searching to come up with a similar list of [dumb things](http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/09/24/politics/main645393.shtml) that Bush supporters [believe](http://www.pipa.org/OnlineReports/Pres_Election_04/Press10_21_04.pdf).) Why should you care about Kerry’s supporters? Care only about John Kerry and his presidency, versus George Bush and his presidency. Then vote based on that. ---
**Author:** ![SlyFrog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@SlyFrog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlyFrog)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-voter-intimidation-tactics/265496/85 "2004-11-02T19:27:14Z")
> [@Airblairxxx](#): > > Reading this depresses me. “Rampant conspiracy theories”? Come ON. Remember 2000? How SCOTUS yanked the election case out of the Florida Supreme Court, because their ruling would win it for Gore? How the list of “felons” who weren’t allowed to vote was made up overwhelmingly of black people–and that list still wasn’t fixed for this year? That’s your interpretation of what happened. Phrasing what happened in 2000 like you just did is exactly what I’m talking about. “Don’t you remember 2000? When having a fair election result was barely saved by SCOTUS yanking the election case from the leftist and biased Florida Supreme Court, and having the intelligence to have the highest election in the land interpreted by the highest court in the land?” It’s no better; it looks equally stupid. It’s all gross hyperbole. > [@Airblairxxx](#): > > Why should you care about Kerry’s supporters? Care only about John Kerry and his presidency, versus George Bush and his presidency. Then vote based on that. Because in a democracy, presidents pander to the views and wants of their supporters. Nutso supporters can often lead to nutso policies, as evidenced by Iraq. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republican-voter-intimidation-tactics/265496.md?page=4)