Voter Registration Fraud

I think this should at least get a mention in national news, but the first I heard of it on A View from the Classroom. An organization that has been registering voters outside of malls in Las Vegas and other cities has been accused by an employee of throwing out Democratic voters' registration forms and only filing the Republican forms. You know, I try really hard not to be paranoid, but then I find out that an organization committing this kind of fraud is funded largely by the Republican National Committee, and what do you want me to think?

The out-of-state firm has been in Las Vegas for the past few months, registering voters. It employed up to 300 part-time workers and collected hundreds of registrations per day, but former employees of the company say that Voters Outreach of America only wanted Republican registrations.

Two former workers say they personally witnessed company supervisors rip up and trash registration forms signed by Democrats.

Just imagine being a first-time voter. For whatever reason, you've got an opinion this time around strong enough to make you sign up to vote and head to the polls. But when you get there, you're told you're not registered. I can't begin to describe how angry - no, livid! - this story makes me. And for the record, I would be equally angry, not to mention ashamed, if the politics were reversed and a company funded by the Democratic National Committee were throwing out Republican voter registration forms.

My mom sent me a postcard of a photograph by Dorothea Lange: Kern County, California, 1937. It shows a rural air pump with a hand-lettered sign that reads, "This is your country dont let the big men take it away from you." On the back, she wrote, "One of these cards for each of you--the next generation of active and committed voters. This year's election is just one unending "Alice in Wonderland" experience. I look forward to and dread Nov. 2, 2004 as a "day of infamy" for democracy. Just vote! -Mom"