G.O.P. Trying to STOP THE VOTE

Voters are lining up in record-breaking numbers to vote right now in early-voting states. A very worried Republican Party is trying to stop people from voting, and discourage many others from voting, with an inflammatory campaign of exaggerated and false accusations, claiming voter fraud.

The truth is that in recent years there has been almost no successful registration fraud (people registering phony or ineligible voters, which even then doesn't usually result in those people actually voting) or voting fraud (people voting who aren't eligible to vote) perpetrated in the U.S.

Nevertheless, Republicans are screaming about it on TV, and going to court in various parts of the country to try to force states to adopt onerous requirements designed to create chaos in election systems and at polling places, all simply to discourage voters from voting, particularly minority and lower income voters--as well as student voters this year-- who are more likely to vote for Democrats.

The McCain campaign is trying to demonize an organization called ACORN that among other things registers low-income voters. It is an organization that until recently John McCain was proud to support. Now McCain and his allies have seized on a few cases of canvassers filling out registration cards wrongly--cases quickly caught by ACORN and by local officials--to inflate the issue and alarm people.

The Republican Party tried to get the courts to force such measures in Ohio, but they failed Friday when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against them. Now they're trying it in Pennsylvania courts.

This smokescreen of "voter fraud" is precisely what sparked the Bush administration firings of federal prosecutors for political reasons that led to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' resignation and the appointment of a Special Prosecutor. This did not escape the notice of the Obama campaign. Its attorney wrote a letter to the current Attorney General asking that the Special Prosecutor also investigate collusion between the Bush administration and the McCain-Palin campaign:

" I request that Special Prosecutor Dannehy’s inquiry include a review of any involvement by Justice Department and White House officials in supporting the McCain-Palin campaign and the Republican National Committee (“RNC”)’s systematic development and dissemination of unsupported, spurious allegations of vote fraud. It is highly likely that the very sort of politically motivated conduct identified in the Department’s investigation to date, necessitating the appointment of a Special Prosecutor, is repeating itself, and for the same reason: unwarranted and politically motivated intervention in the upcoming election."

Voters must not fall for this blatantly partisan attempt to suppress the vote and to intimidate voters and otherwise cause chaos in the voting system. Republicans are engaging in exactly the activity they accuse others of conducting: subverting the most sacred and most important process of democracy in America.

We must all resolve with even more fervor to vote, and to encourage others to vote this year. It is the most important election of our lifetimes. It is worth any difficulty caused by those who don't want to lose their power and privilege. These attempts to suppress and stop voting makes it all the more important to insist on your right to vote, and to exercise that right by voting.

Here's an update on the issue from the AP:"This is all just one big head-fake," said Tova Wang of the government watchdog group Common Cause. "What silliness this is, at this point. It's all about creating this perception that there is a tremendous problem with voter fraud in this country, and it's not true."