By Erin Ferns
"...Too many people do not understand or exercise their voting rights, and as a result, entire segments of our population - and especially formerly incarcerated individuals - are being underrepresented at the polls on Election Day." - New Jersey Sen. Ronald Rice (D-Newark)
Word is that voters in New Jersey are getting a mailing from some group in Massachusetts claiming to care about voter registration in New Jersey that is confusing the crap out of people.
The mailing is sent to the home, and says something like, "Do you still live at this address? If not, you need to re-register with Trenton!"
Of course, this is creating all sorts of confusion and people are calling in to election boards trying to find out if they are still registered when they are and everything is fine.
I haven't seen the mailing, but it sounds like either this group is made up of idiots or they are trying to intentionally sow confusion in voters.
If you've gotten one and can scan it, post it up here and let us see it.
Got a robocall today from the "US Chamber Of Commerce" reminding me that the polls are open 'til 8PM tomorrow here in NJ. (Funny, I thought it was kinda hard to miss that today's election day...)
Caller ID reported that it came in at 1:44pm from "Out of area" at 800-547-2764.
Sources in Bergen County are reporting that an autodial robocall is being made that starts out sounding like a positive Bob Menendez message. If you hang up, it repeatedly calls you back. If you listen all the way to the end, it finishes by saying that Menendez is an embezzler and under criminal investigation.
This is a voter suppression tactic being used nationwide by the GOP. Initially callers will think they are hearing a call from the Menendez campaign asking for support. If they hang up, it will repeatedly call them back. The intention is to annoy the voter so much that they no longer support the candidate. For those who actually listen to the entire call, they are presented with a series of lies and smears against Menendez, also with the intention of suppressing turnout. It's a win-win tactic for them.
If you receive one of these calls, call the DNC's voter protection hotline at 1-888-DEM-VOTE and record a testimonial, which will be the foundation for any legal action. Let us know about it in the comments, too. If possible, try to record it. Here's some expert advice for what to do.
From Democratic State Committee spokesman Rich McGrath:
"Today, attorneys for the Corzine for Governor Campaign and the State Democratic Party challenged an apparent statewide effort by the Republican State Committee to train its Election Day workers to challenge voters based on signature comparisons. Responding to numerous complaints received by the Democratic campaigns, the Attorney General issued the following directive making clear that such challenges violate New Jersey election laws and informing Election Board officials statewide to prevent the reoccurrence of these practices anywhere in New Jersey."
As you further know, in terms of the signature comparison process, it is the exclusive duty of the district board workers to compare signatures. This process must be done openly and in the full view of the challengers, but the challengers cannot engage in this process.
Democrats in Newark are saying that the Forrester campaign is challenging an unusally high number of voters at polling sites. Not sure how the challenges are playing out.
According to the NJ Voters Rights Handbook, there are very specific reasons for challenging a voter, though the rules won't stop them from trying to disenfranchise voters...
Republican dirty tricks got off to an early start this morning with the slashing of the tires of three Get Out The Vote Vans at the Democratic headquarters located on RT 33 in Hamilton around 2:00 AM.
"There was one woman in the campaign headquarters around 2 AM when a gang of cheesy thugs descended on the parking lot and began to rip up signs and then vandalized the trucks," said Mercer County Democratic Chairman Rich McClellan, "Luckilly, we had dispersed our fleet so that this sneak attack had minimal effect on our get out the vote effort."
"It is clear that this is a calculated attempt to drive down voter turnout by a group of candidates and their lackeys who take campaign contributions from criminals, refuse to report campaign contributions and engage in character assasination and slander as everyday campaign tactics," added McClellan.
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The incident has been reported to the Hamilton Township Police Department.
