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TechnoratiMany Voters Caught Unawares by Florida's 'No-Match' ID Law
What do a promising rookie for the Miami Heat, a systems analyst from Bulgaria, the wife of a Republican congressional candidate and Fidel Castro have in common?
![[Critics say the law adds unneeded steps for minor ID problems and is skewed against minorities. Hispanics and blacks outnumbered non-Hispanics by more than six to one on the list in South Florida, and three to one statewide. (Image: Miller-McCune)]](http://www.commondreams.org/files/article_images/nomatch1031.jpg "nomatch1031.jpg")
They can't just show up Nov. 4 and fill out a
regular ballot. Theirs are among 12,000 names statewide flagged under
Florida's Voter Verification Law, a ''no match'' screening process
embroiled in legal and political controversy.
The ID check spits out voter registrations that don't match driver's license or social security records. It has left voters on a list dominated by blacks, Hispanics and Democrats in a legal limbo -- unless they supply elections officials with additional proof they are who they say they are.
More than one-third of the people on the ''no match'' list live in Miami-Dade or Broward counties -- most notably Mario Chalmers, a Heat guard who starred in last year's Final Four college basketball championships.
Chalmers, who grew up in Alaska and played in Kansas, said his father successfully sorted out the ID mess.
''All I have to do is go vote,'' he said, ``so that made it easier for me.''
The process has not been such a breeze for everyone. A Miami Herald survey of 50 no-match voters showed that more than a third didn't know the list, or law, even existed.
The 2006 law, created by a Republican-led Legislature, was put on hold after civil rights groups filed a federal lawsuit last year. Florida Secretary of State Kurt Browning, a Republican, imposed a new version on Sept. 8 over objections from Democratic and voter activists who contend it targets minorities.
The screening snagged dubious registrations among 437,638 new filers statewide, including some 600 who were under-age and two people who told The Herald they weren't citizens.
The address given for one Fidel Castro, registered as a 53-year-old Republican, also was suspect: the Camillus House homeless shelter in Miami. A woman who answered a phone number provided on Castro's form replied in Spanish, ''Fidel lives in Cuba,'' then hung up.
But the law also flagged plenty of regular people -- particularly in South Florida, where Miami-Dade ranked No. 1 with 2,944 names and Broward No. 3 with 1,602.
A Herald phone survey of 50 no-match voters in the two counties suggests many don't know they are on the list or how to get off. More than a third reported either not receiving or overlooking letters from elections offices.
ID REQUIRED
Under state law, counties are supposed to send ''no match'' voters notice that they need to provide elections offices with a driver's license or Social Security card to receive a regular ballot. Otherwise, they could be forced to cast a ''provisional'' ballot subject to additional scrutiny and higher rates of rejection.
Kavin Walden, 23, who registered Oct. 6 when an activist approached him at a park in Liberty City, didn't know the screening snared him as ''Kevin,'' not Kavin.
''I've been waiting for my voter registration card,'' said Walden, a lifeguard at Jose Martí Park worried about health insurance for his 4-year-old daughter and newborn son. ``I don't want to miss this election.''
For people who were notified, the time and effort to resolve identification discrepancies varied. Some reported doing it with a single fax or e-mail, while others found the process slow and frustrating.
Angela Graham-West, wife of Allen West, a Broward Republican congressional candidate, was surprised she was flagged after she registered at the main elections office in Fort Lauderdale.
''Of all people, that I would get caught up in this little web,'' Graham-West said.
Though black and Republican, she discounted race and party as a factor. She guessed the problem was either a middle initial or her identification. She used a military ID because her husband is a recently retired Army lieutenant colonel.
Still, she didn't view the ''hassle'' as an obstacle and supported the scrutiny. ``I think my temporary discomfort is far less important than having an accurate election.''
Husband Allen laughed that he'd like his wife's vote, but he likened the law to a guard gate at a military base.
''Security is a good thing, especially when you think about some of the things going on right now,'' he said.
MINORITIES 6-1 ON LIST
Democrats and other critics argue the state already has a strict ID requirement to vote. They say the law adds unneeded steps for minor ID problems and is skewed against minorities. Hispanics and blacks outnumbered non-Hispanics by more than six to one on the list in South Florida, and three to one statewide. Democrats outnumbered Republicans about four to one both locally and statewide.
Elizabeth Westfall, senior attorney for the Washington, D.C.-based Advancement Project, one of the groups challenging the law, said a law touted as anti-fraud is instead snaring ``sports figures and people who are in the public eye.''
On Thursday, 15 activist groups, including ACORN and the Brennan Center for Justice, wrote Gov. Charlie Crist asking for more flexibility with a law they said ``only prevents valid votes from counting.''
They want the state to relax a standard set by Browning requiring no-match voters to cast provisional ballots. Miami-Dade and some other counties already are providing regular ballots if no-match voters come to the polls with copies of ID documents.
The Republican Party of Florida has backed Browning, arguing the standard ensures illegitimate votes don't cancel out legitimate ones.
`PHOTOCOPY IS KEY'
Jennifer Krell Davis, a spokeswoman for Browning, said the state had slightly ''refined'' its stance to allow no-match voters to present copies of ID papers at polls, rather than the elections office. But the state still wants counties to use a provisional ballot with the ID papers attached -- the standard Broward is using.
''The photocopy is the key,'' Davis said. ``If we're trying so hard to keep accurate voter rolls, we want to make sure we have an audit trail to follow.''
Any no-match voters without copies of ID must use a provisional ballot -- and resolve discrepancies by 5 p.m. Nov. 6 for their vote to count.
Davis said voters still have time to straighten out the issues. For some, getting off the list has been easy.
Jonathan Gonzalez, a 27-year-old who registered by mail in September, faxed a copy of his Social Security card after he got a no-match notice. He early voted at the North Miami Library this week with a regular ballot.
''I guess everything is OK because I didn't hear back,'' he said, ``and I voted."
Others have had to work a little harder.
Davie's Michael McIntosh, 20, said repeated busy signals thwarted attempts to fax his driver's license to the Broward elections office.
''Finally it went through and now I can't talk to anyone to verify they got it,'' said McIntosh, a student at Southeastern University in Lakeland. He has hung up after lengthy waits on hold but he said he has not given up.
''I'm patient enough not to get worked up about it,'' he said.
Others were shocked to find their registrations in question less than a week from Election Day.
''I've been in this country for 12 years and I was excited to be able to do this,'' said Katina Iyer, a systems analyst from Planation. Iyer, originally from Bulgaria, signed up the day of her citizenship ceremony in Miami in September. ``They said just wait for your card in the mail, and almost every day I have been waiting.''
Miami Herald staff writers Diana Moskovitz, Adam Beasley, Dan Chang, Kirstin Maguire, Susannah A. Nesmith and Mike Wallace contributed to this report.
34 Comments so far
Show AllOne more thing: it isn't a guarantee Obama will win folks. Remember 2004? Remember how all the pre-election polls showed Bush losing by large margins? Remember how almost EVERY exit poll in the battleground states showed Kerry winning by overwhelming majorities, as late as 9:00 p.m. on Tuesday evening? And remember how - suddenly! Amazingly! - only an hour or two later the results were showing Bush suddenly ahead?
It's called vote-rigging, people. The Rethugs are incredibly good at it (Remember 2000? 2004? Remember Ohio? Florida?) Watch Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 911. Watch the scene of W in the plane with his brother, smugly looking at the camera, on election day, and when a reporter asks him about the large lead Gore has in his brother's state, Bush says (paraphrasing), "I guarantee we will win Florida. I GUARANTEE it. You can take that to the bank." With a smug, knowing smile on his face, and with Jeb sitting there with a matching smug smile on his.
McCain will win this yet, folks. WATCH.
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross."
Sinclair Lewis, "It Cant Happen Here", 1935
It is a regular feature of American elections - especially Presidential ones - that the Rethuglicans have to try this voter-suppression crap, and always mostly in key electoral states. Every 4 years. Like clockwork.
What does that say about a party that, in order to win, has to pull out all the stops to supress as many Democratic voters as possible? I'll tell you what it says: that their platform and ideology isn't enough on its own to get elected, and so they have no choice but to resort to such illegal bullshit. What a pathetic statement about the Rethuglican "values" -
"we can't win without cheating, because our platform by itself can't do the job."
Bastards.
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross."
Sinclair Lewis, "It Cant Happen Here", 1935
Being late to this discussion many of you may not know about this guy and his testimony but when I watched it I could only hope that the polls showing Obama ahead will be enough to head off this kind of fraud as people will simply not stand for it if it happens.
Google Stephen Spoonamore and watch his assessment of the possibilities of this election. Or try to get to his testimony through googling velvet revolution and look at his 9/5 08 testimony. (I couldn't get it to load tonight but I did watch it before) The man is a cyber security expert. I think he is pretty knowledgable.
There is gonna be a party at my house when the pathetic NEOCON pieces of shit leave the White House! And for Bush Sr, we know ole Junior did not get your smarts? So where did he get his IQ? OMG! Was it that old racist hag who should live in a god damn football stadium?
It appears as if Florida will once again be the Banana Republic of the USA.
Hispanic names unfortunately get snagged frequently in this kind of match-game, because clerks vary in how they record the two surnames. Standard forms do not have the right boxes for Hispanic names (they assume the second surname is the important one, and the first is a "middle name"), so clerks all along the line improvize. I've seen families where each child's birth certificate had the name recorded, or hyphenated, in a different fashion. Is it "Juan Rodriguez-Velasquez," or "Juan Rodriguez", or "Juan R. Velasquez"?
Our instructions as election workers here in RI are that if we can't find a voter in our poll book, we should ask if there is another surname that it may be under. That usually solves the problem. But computer matching programs aren't smart enough, apparently, to try the various options. It's easier to just kick it out as "fraudulent" and yell "gotcha" and fume about "those people."
Someday someone will come up with forms that ask "Which surname is your primary one" or "under which surname should this be alphabetized". And someday when a computer kicks things out, a human will be required to look at the two forms and make a judgment call about what is a close-enough match.
If Obama does not walk away with this I say do something people. Every poll for the last month have said Obama is going to win. SO get out there and vote and make it look like the landslide victory it should be. DIEBOLD then can be removed across the country and go back to paper ballots.
Canadian example Real simple 2000 walk in 2000 names crossed off the list to show they voted, 2000 ballots handed out, 2000 ballots in the box to be counted.
Well, even assuming this "election" is legitimate (dream on!), I don't see how anyone could think it would be an Obama "landslide," when Obama has an average lead of six percentage points over McCain. That's it. That's not any "landslide," assuming these polls are correct.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=a7mniBYySm_w&refer=home
Then Rasmussen shows this:
Saturday, November 01, 2008
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Saturday shows Barack Obama with 51% of the vote, John McCain with 46%. The race continues to remain remarkably stable at the national level--this is the 37th straight day that Obama’s support has been between 50% and 52% (see trends).
Nearly a third of voters say they have already cast their ballot and Obama leads by nine among this group. Obama also has a similar lead among the small group who have not voted but still plan to vote early. The candidates are essentially even among those who plan to vote on Tuesday.
Not surprisingly, the number of persuadable voters has declined sharply as Election Day draws near. Forty-seven percent (47%) of voters say they are certain they will vote for Obama and won’t change their mind. Forty-three percent (43%) say the same about McCain. Six percent (6%) have a preference for one of the major party candidates but could change their mind, 2% plan to vote for a third party option and 2% remain undecided.
Obama is now viewed favorably by 56% of voters nationwide, McCain by 52% (see trends).
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/dail...
Again, no "landslide."
I suspect we will be told the final percentage is something like:
51% McCain to 49% Obama. Heard those percentages before?
Electoral landslide and popular landslide are a bit different. Most groups that have published their probably electoral maps show Obama winning with well over 300 electoral votes, McCain under 170.
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I think, therefore I am dangerous.
Removing Diebold would be great, but it's going to take a lot more than that. We need to un-privatize every single facet of the election process. There are some things that are too important to be left to the free market.
Not to mention the incredible conflict of interest with partisan political supporters owning the companies that control elections.
"Unaware(s)"??
First off, the rethuglicans are pretending to be very worried about "voter fraud", as evidenced by their propagandists' incessant blabbering re ACORN. A tactic meant to deflect attention from their real election fraud efforts. Fortunately, more and more of these crimes are actually being reported in the msm, and as a result more attention is being paid, and more energy is being directed towards pushing back against them.
Another factor to consider is the possibility of a major landslide in favor of Obama, with a large enough margin that the fascista cannot steal it this time.
"Another factor to consider is the possibility of a major landslide in favor of Obama, with a large enough margin that the fascista cannot steal it this time."
Oh here we go with that again. Dream on.
The "election" can be stolen:
1. regardless of voter turnout
2. regardless of how people vote
3. regardless of how many people vote
Why? Because we will never know the true numbers. We will only know what they tell us they are. And of course these neocons never lie, correct?
Check this out for a better understanding:
Early Voting Sees Reports of Voter Intimidation, Machine Malfunctions
(Interview with Mark Crispin Miller begins after newscast)
"Early voting has begun, and problems are already emerging at the polls. In West Virginia, voters using touchscreen machines have claimed their votes were switched from Democrat to Republican. In North Carolina, a group of McCain supporters heckled a group of mostly black supporters of Barack Obama. In Ohio, Republicans are being accused of trying to scare newly registered voters by filing lawsuits that question their eligibility. We speak to NYU professor Mark Crispin Miller, author of Loser Take All: Election Fraud and the Subversion of Democracy."
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/10/22/votes
Precisely..It will be hacked again...Although it makes little difference. Should the slave really care what mask his owner wears??
Bet no Piece of Shit Neocon Corporate Loving Fascist REPUBLICRATS are on that list!
Coffeelover,,,,,,,
Republican operatives are paid well to stay up nights thinking of ways to rig the system.
Our Broward County, FL ballots had our party affiliation written on the outside. An invitation to electoral fraud. What's to keep mailhandlers from the opposite party from chucking our ballots without having to open them?
Broward? Which part? I'm in *shudder* Davie, when not at school.
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I think, therefore I am dangerous.
North Broward
Many of you are aware I'm sure of the purging that has gone on in Colorado a state that will play an important role this time around.
This story just came out and it's disturbing. Even after an agreement was reached concerning this Colorado's Secretary of State continued purging. They know no bounds.
The Political Police are Terrorizing the population, again.
Is this how 'voting' should be in a Faschist Dictatorship?
Where are the 'batteries' of 'election-expert' lawyers that were 'promised' by the Dems after the 2004 balloting debacle?
Most of us will recall the national Dem Party chieftans ballyhooing in 2005 that -- guaranteed! -- they'd have a surplus of poll watchers and lawyers ready in 2008 to quickly deal with and resolve any problems, especially in the formerly 'troubled' key election states, like Florida.
Since the updated federal Voting Rights Act disallows localities or states from making any changes to voter certification or mechanical balloting proceedures within 90 days of a federal election, the Dems claimed that, with adequate money, they'd be ready with the manpower needed to neuter, vis-a-vis this law, any proven shenanigans, pre-election day, 2008.
And given what the national Party is raising ($150 million just last month) and now spending monthly on Obama ads (by some accounts, $100 million per month), there's certainly no lack of money to pay the pollwatchers and lawyers.
Yet many local/state GOP election officials are still playing the same election games in 2008 as they did before. And, just as before, they're getting away with it in all-too-many instances, from what I read.
Apparently, the Dems no longer care about all of this, since they're generally confident of an Obama/Democ election sweep.
Supporters of other-than-duopoly candidates, though, do need to care - for obvious reasons.
I read an article on Yahoo last night saying that the faux Dems have a bank of 5,000 volunteer lawyers who will be wandering around in FL (to give the appearance of supposedly keeping the Repugs from stealing it.) Uh huh. Yeah right. Big fuking deal!
The faux Dems (including Obama) are complicit and enabling with the Repugs due to their silence on this issue. The faux Dems have been the scum to encourage the electronic voting machines across the nation.
I read the same type of article 4 years ago (Kerry/Edwards) about this bank of attorneys they supposedly had, and we see what happened with that "election." Kerry couldn't concede fast enough.
Banana Republic rigged voting again. There's no excuse for it. You'd have thought the Democrats would have done something to prevent it as they've had eight years to work on it......but no, they allow Rethuglicans to do as they please. Democrats are disgusting (along with the Rethuglicans). There needs to be more than just the two-sides-of-the-same-coin dominant party in the U.S. Canada allows five political parties, and they don't exclude any party --- as the Democrats and Rethuglicans do here. This is a "democracy?" hahaha
Someone wrote in another thread:
"And if both parties are virtually identical, why is one of them trying to steal the election . . . again?"
I wrote:
They are BOTH complicit in the stealing of the "elections." The faux Dems are complicit with their SILENCE and ENABLING, despite any theatre to the contrary they engage in. This interview will explain what I'm talking about:
Lawsuits, Machine Malfunctions and Missing Absentee Ballots Among Voting Rights Issues Facing Jittery Election
With the election less than a week away, the battle is on for voting rights. Early voters across the country are reporting long lines and problems with electronic voting machines. Republicans, meanwhile, continue to file lawsuits that could stop thousands from voting. We speak to Harvey Wasserman of Free Press and Brad Friedman of the Brad Blog.
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/10/29/lawsuits_machine_malfunctions_and...
The Republicrooks certainly did learn their lessons in 2000 and 2004. Stealing vote works very well. The Democrooks don't seem to give a fuck; so why should the Republicrooks. If the Democrooks ever grew another set of balls, they'd have two.
Exactly. I have said for some time that the Bush-accomplice faux Dems are quite comfortable where they are and in the positions they are in. They get paid all the same regardless with full health coverage. The Scum.
Bush-accomplice Walk on Water Obama has run as pathetic and weak campaign as did Bush-accomplice John Kerry. And should the vote-flipping easily-hackable electronic voting machines select McCain, I expect Obama to rush to the microphone in John Kerry style and say the following:
"I congratulate my esteemed and distinguished colleague for the outstanding campaign he ran. He's a fine man and fine senator. He will make an outstanding president [sic]. I intend to return to the senate and reach across the aisle to help our new president-select [sic] (Obama should say: as I have been doing as a Bush-accomplice since I sat my ass down in the senate). We all must rally now behind our new president-select [sic] McCain. We must come together now and have a healing. (There always has to be a "healing"...it's like "I'm leaving to spend more time with my family.") We must heal this nation and put aside our differences for hope and change [I had to get my wishful-thinking slogan of "hope and change" in there that the sheep fell for one last time]. Let's all come together now and welcome our wonderful and distinguished president-select [sic] John McCain. And god bless america. [They always have to end with that garbage. In fact, I heard Obama say it the other night at the end of a speech.]
That's close to what he will likely spew. Nauseating isn't it? It's so different---speaking of "change"---from what any other useless politician says on such an occasion. Yeah right.
Thanks to Bush's "homeland security" laws, it's far worse than you think. My sister has been denied a renewed state ID because they demanded a birth certificate and she was born in the Naval Hospital in Guantanamo Cuba as my father was stationed there 50 years ago. Her government issued birth certificate is apparently not good enough for her to get a new ID and now her old one has expired. Basically, she has been stripped of her citizenship by the National Security State.
The Jaded Prole
Election tampering is the crime that really does pay.
There are no effective remedies in this corrupt system of election theft.
This whole voting system is SO BROKEN. It needs to become a nation-wide, with one set of rules and regulations for everyone institution, instead of being state controlled. It's crazy that ex-felons can vote in some states, but not in others, and that states can make laws like this one the knocks innocent voters off the voting rolls. It's crazy that the reigning political parties are in a position to disenfranchise thousands, if not millions of voters for their own gain.
HOW DO WE GO ABOUT CHANGING THE SYSTEM???? Does anyone know?
The system is broken because many states don't require photo ID to vote...that is not a burden to anybody and would stop a lot of this nonsense
What a lot of folks don't realize is that each election IS a State Election (We're the United STATES in case you hadn't noticed)...as long as the rules are fair they can run elections anyway they want....
but I digress...present a valid photo ID and Vote...would be the way I ran it
(We're the United STATES in case you hadn't noticed)
Sorry, but being nearly three quarters of a century old, I can remember many years when we were the united states, and united citizens. I haven't seen either in many years. We're now red states or blue states, with people now fearful of what they say around their friends and neighbors; a federal government that cares only about feeding the bloated corporate interests as it extends it's control more and more into every aspect of the states, and the problem with our voting system as a whole lot more than simply a valid photo ID in every state.
I know, I'm just a paranoid old fool. We'll see.
My sister has cancer and keeps on getting questioned by the police due to her disability tag in her car: her picture doesn't look like she looks due to her illness. So how does I.D. cards (my picture looks nothing like me!) become the solution??
Umm yeah in case you haven't noticed, ID requirements are making elections less fair. All citizens have the right to vote...not all citizens have cars, necessitating driver's licenses (I don't have one), and not all citizens have bank accounts or travel overseas, so not all citizens have state-issued photo IDs or passports. Did we have photo IDs when George Washington was re-elected? Nope..are you saying that election was fraudulent?
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I think, therefore I am dangerous.
Wow.
Voter suppression and intimidation in Florida, aimed at the poor and minorities. The day after John McCain gives a speech there, with Tom Ridge (former head of Homeland Security) standing behind him.
Never would have expected that. Nope.
I was sure that after 2000 and 2004, the Republicans would have learned their lesson about tampering with the voting process in such an important state.
... and if you belive that, I have an unfinished bridge in Alaska to sell you.
Walk in peace.