Republican-engineered election irregularities are already surfacing across the country. Minnesota’s Republican governor issued terrorist warnings for polling place lines through his Department of Homeland Security. Republican Florida Governor Jeb Bush ignored warnings that errors with voter rolls needed to be corrected. A Republican-hired organization in Nevada and Oregon discarded voter registration forms filled out by residents they felt would likely vote for Democratic candidates and harassed workers who objected to this practice. Michigan’s Republican Secretary of State and Bush/Cheney campaign co-chair allowed printing errors to appear on absentee ballots that gave advantage to the Bush ticket. But perhaps the most egregious threats to the democratic process, however, is the Republican Party machine’s tactics in Ohio.

Republican Party officials have made $360,000 available, according to the New York Times, to pay 3,600 recruits $100 a piece to disrupt voting in Cleveland, Dayton and other Ohio cities. These paid election workers are being trained and sent into numerous polling places in predominantly African American neighborhoods and other working-class neighborhoods to challenge voters and their right to vote.

The Republican machine has already challenged the voting rights of some 35,000 Oho residents who recently registered in massive registration drives over the summer and early fall. Additionally, the Republican Party has begun an enormous training effort to challenge voters who seem mentally disabled, whom they thing look foreign or who they think may not speak English.

Racial and ethnic profiling of voters is illegal, say Ohio officials, because poll workers must have actual knowledge of a voters’ ineligibility in order to have their ballot eliminated, not racist or stereotypical beliefs about their qualifications.

What is the purpose of this Republican attack on voting rights? First, it is a racist tactic to suppress African American voters and other voters who appear to not be white, who all the public opinion polls indicate will vote for Senator Kerry in very large numbers. Republican strategists believe that a greater proportion of white voters will deliver a Bush victory. Disenfranchisement of people of color by Republican operatives pushes America back into the pre-Civil Rights era when Jim Crow reigned and KKK thugs roamed the countryside attacking Black men and women who dared exercise their rights. It is a cynical and racist tool to divide and foster animosity among Americans by race and ethnicity.

Second, the Republican effort is designed to discourage as many new voters as possible from casting a ballot. In Ohio, as with numerous other states, registration drives organized by Democratic and independent progressive organizations have far outstripped Republican Party campaigns in signing up new voters. This massive voter registration effort in states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Missouri and Florida means that more new voters will go to the polls on November 2nd for the first time than in previous elections going back decades. Most of these new voters were energized by the necessity of sending Bush to Texas permanently, a fact that has many Republican operatives nervous.

Finally, the Republican tactics are meant to reduce voter turnout as much as possible. Disruptions and challenges, they hope, may discourage many voters from waiting in long lines or from facing angry and abusive Republican vote challengers.

Why do the Republicans feel they have to use these racist and anti-democratic tactics in our elections, which we have long touted as the most democratic in the world? This is the only way they can win. It is as simple as that. But the deeper root of this problem is the glaring fact that these anti-democratic tactics are the heart and soul, they are, without a doubt, the signature of the conservative authoritarian Bush regime.

We can win this election and should not throw our hands up in despair, however. We can win if we stand up to this thuggery by knowing and defending our rights.

Here are some basics:

1. Call the local elections office to verify the location of your polling place. Locations may have changed, and a vote cast at the wrong place might not get counted.

2. Bring identification to the polls in case it is needed, preferably government-issued ID or a utility bill, phone bill or paycheck with your name and current street address.

3. Ask for help from poll workers and check posted information signs if you have questions or need assistance.

4. Make sure you cast a vote. If you arrive late in the day and are in line when the polls close, you should stay in line because you are entitled to vote.

5. If you are offered a provisional ballot because of a question about your eligibility, ask if you can cast a regular ballot by providing additional ID or by going to another polling place. If no alternative is available or practical, cast a provisional ballot.

6. Stand up for your rights and do not be intimidated by people who challenge your Constitutional right to have your voice heard!

Learn more about your rights in the polling place by visiting the following websites:



On November 2, if you have complaints about how you were treated at the polls or feel you rights have been violated, contact the Election Protection Hotline: 1-866-OUR-VOTE.



--Joel Wendland is managing editor of Political Affairs and can be reached at jwendland@politicalaffairs.net.



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