GOP goes after foreclosure victims in Macomb County

How do you fight this? (4.00 / 2)

The rules on challenging voters are (intentionally?) vague. One person's "voter caging" is another's "due diligence to prevent voter fraud."

Unfortunately, with a Republican Attorney General, Republican Secretary of State and a Supreme Court dominated by Republicans, what can be done in the next seven weeks?

Calling attention to it is a start -- "naming and shaming" these people is a must. The rest of it may have to come from our GOTV effort. Make sure new voters and voters who've moved because of their housing problems are aware of their rights.

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by: helzapoppn @ Thu Sep 11, 2008 at 16:36:02 PM UTC

Poll Monitors (4.00 / 2)

What we need are a lot of poll monitors on elections day. Around my old post there was usually one union guy making sure no poll problems existed. The ACLU often dispatches lawyers who can handle problems on behalf of challenged voters.

I expect there is going to be a lot of challenges in the near future. Expect not only people with foreclosed homes, but also intimidation tactics against students (Thanks Mike Rogers), Latinos, and many other groups.

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by: Philip.R.Moon @ Thu Sep 11, 2008 at 16:45:35 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

legal review coupled with an outcry to the media (0.00 / 0)

Hopefully, the legal eagles in the Democratic party are looking into this.

In the meantime, we all should write letters to the editors of our local papers on this. It's just a DESPICABLE thing to do. If someone has received a foreclosure notice, they are hurting already. This doesn't mean they lose their legal right to vote. (It also doesn't mean they don't still live in the home, or live within the voting precinct). This is just a mean, despicable thing to do - an obvious ploy to prevent people from exercising their rights as citizens.

It's just despicable.

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by: land of the free @ Thu Sep 11, 2008 at 18:16:36 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

You pass a law (0.00 / 0)

as soon as possible to make this a felony...

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by: Nazgul35 @ Thu Sep 11, 2008 at 23:47:43 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Take action! (4.00 / 2)

Thanks for this post, Eric! Don't forget, you can take action to help stop McCain and the Michigan Republican Party from suppressing voters in November by going to http://progressmichigan.org/no... and signing the petition.

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by: Progress Michigan @ Thu Sep 11, 2008 at 16:59:12 PM UTC

I kinda wish you were sending this petition to the media (4.00 / 1)

rather than to McCain's campaign. They're not going to listen nor care.

I hope you can get the Free Press, Detroit News, and other major statewide papers to cover this story. My hunch is that this article was written based on a planned leak by the MI GOP - a trial balloon to see if they can get away with such tactics without public outcry and media backlash. If the tactic is ignored and legally allowable, they'll use it all over the country to supress voters.

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by: land of the free @ Thu Sep 11, 2008 at 18:30:21 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

We have, and we'll keep sending it. (4.00 / 5)

We lit up the Tubes of the Internets AND the media in-boxes early this morning. On top of that we've been working on a concentrated effort of following by phone to media outlets statewide.

We've already had an amazing response and number of folks signing the petition. So yes, it's been a busy day at the office.

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by: Progress Michigan @ Thu Sep 11, 2008 at 18:36:49 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

excellent! (0.00 / 0)

great work!

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by: land of the free @ Thu Sep 11, 2008 at 18:45:47 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Republican Fraud (4.00 / 1)

This is going to backfire on the GOP. Under the guidelines put out by the state, when voters show ID at the poll, the ID doesn't even have to show their current address.

http://www.michigan.gov/docume...

I think Republicans would have a hard time challenging someone based on their address alone. I bet that Land will put something out stating that foreclosure lists are not a legitimate source for challenging a voter's eligibility. It's in her best interest to do so. Foreclosure has hit many suburban Republican communities as hard or worse than traditional Democratic strongholds.  

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by: NoviDemocrat @ Thu Sep 11, 2008 at 17:10:30 PM UTC

yes, but (4.00 / 1)

While the document you linked to said that the ID does not have to have the address listed, they're checking to see that you live at the address before you even get to the polls.

For example, let's pretend my home was issued a statement of foreclosure. If the GOP gets away with it, my name would be removed from the list of eligible voters. Even if I show up with ID - with or without my home address on it - they will say that I have no proof I'm eligible to vote because my name is not on their record of eligible voters in the precinct. Even if I show ID with my home address on it, or a check or whatever with my home address on it - and even if I'm still living in the home which has just entered the foreclosure process - I will be denied the right to vote, unless I can prove another residence within the precinct before voter registration deadlines.

They're intentionally mucking up the system to supress votes. I fear it will work... and I fear this tactic won't just happen in Macomb County. Land is purging the voter roles left & right.

It's really pathetic that the GOP has to go to such great lengths to steal elections. They don't offer up good candidates with good platforms, so they resort to dirty-handed tactics to cheat their way into office. Shameful and pathetic - and they call themselves the "moral" ones!

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by: land of the free @ Thu Sep 11, 2008 at 18:26:30 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Isn't this counter-productive? (0.00 / 0)

A lot of folk got swept up in the mortgage foreclosure business -- especially working class folk, but also middle class. A number of them are likely to be Palin voters.  Once they start doing this, it would seem that they start throwing a lot of names with an R off the list, too.  

Well that is, unless you think there might be something, oh, racial about it.

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by: Harris @ Thu Sep 11, 2008 at 20:12:51 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

They aren't going to do it (4.00 / 1)

everywhere.

Only in this neighborhoods where the voters are, shall we say, a slight shade darker than the type of voters Republicans want voting...

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by: Nazgul35 @ Thu Sep 11, 2008 at 23:49:42 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

They can't remove your name from the voting rolls (4.00 / 1)

just because your name is on a foreclosure list. If they do, it will make for a great civil rights lawsuit against the community that does that.  

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by: NoviDemocrat @ Fri Sep 12, 2008 at 00:36:36 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

GOP denies it (4.00 / 1)

http://www.lansingstatejournal...

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by: Max Bishop @ Thu Sep 11, 2008 at 23:46:38 PM UTC

And Michigan Messenger stands behind its reporter (4.00 / 2)

Eartha Jane Melzer is a thorough and conscientious investigative reporter.  Michigan Messenger stands behind her reporting on this story, as it has with the rest of her equally solid body of work including her expose on Sovereign Deed.

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by: lapojoynt @ Fri Sep 12, 2008 at 05:19:29 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Hats Off ... (4.00 / 1)

... and many thanks to Eartha Jane Melzer and to Michigan Messenger.  Great job!

"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." - George Orwell

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by: CFCLFM @ Sat Sep 13, 2008 at 18:27:27 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

They can deny it all they want... (4.00 / 1)

we see this kind of thing every election year. If it's not Carabelli it will be someone else doing some other ridiculous thing. You can tell the Secretary of State to put a stop to it here:
http://www.progressivefuture.o...

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by: sschreiner @ Sat Sep 13, 2008 at 15:00:08 PM UTC