From RedState earlier today:
In wards 7, 19, 51 in Philly, PA, the crowds are going wild. Inside several voting locations, individuals have poured white out onto the polling books and the poll workers are allowing voters to go into the polls and vote without first registering. Several individuals are on hand demanding that voters vote straight Democrat.
RNC lawyers have headed to the scene of the incidents, which are occurring in mostly hispanic precinct locations. The District Attorney has also been contacted.
More from the ground: Reports of voter intimidation by son-in-law of Philadelphia City Commissioner in 19th Ward. Carlos Mantos is not allowing Republican poll watchers with valid poll-watching certificates monitor polling places.
Here’s the video of Carlos Mantos preventing Republican poll watchers access. He insists that the ward is 100% Democrat anyway, so telling people to vote straight Democrat isn’t cheating Republicans. However, he argues, simply letting Republican poll watchers into the polling station could prevent Democrats from voting. Got that logic?
Hat tip: RedState.
Update: Today, I received an email from none other than Howard Dean warning me of Republican shenanigans at the voting booths:
There’s another thing I want you to be aware of as your and your neighbors head to the polls today.
There have already been widespread reports of voter suppression by Republican operatives, ranging from apparently legal harassment of Democratic voters to potentially illegal efforts to keep voters away from the voting booth.
This isn’t new for Republicans. It’s a cynical art that the Republican machine has refined for years, and each election brings new variations on old tactics that target minorities and minority-heavy areas.
[snip]
Democrats are committed to ensuring that every rightful voter has the freedom to cast his or her ballot free from intimidation or undue burden, and we’ve deployed voter protection teams across the country to make sure that’s possible today.
Just like Carlos Mantos in the video above, right Howard?
you’ve sent links to washington post articles brian! hardly “facts” that support your statements.
Well, if it’s a choice of relying on WaPo articles that cite laws, FCC rules, audio tape, and statements from RNCC directors, or relying on your opinion, I’ll choose the WaPo.
fraud is fraud and is wrong no matter what. brian on the other hand believes it is a case of isolated kooks versus the GOP.
Now you got it. Those two positions are not incompatible.
First off sorry about the double post. I hit POST button by accident.
“Not always. When they violate do-not-call laws, they’re not legal. When they violate FCC rules, they’re not legal. When they threaten voters with being arrested if they try to vote, they’re not legal.”
The Do Not Call registry has an exemption for political solicitations. See FAQ 30.
Whether it is an FCC violation is yet to be determined. The Democrats are calling it that, but that doesn’t necessarily make it a violation. We’ll have to wait and see if the FCC rules on it.
For your third point, I absolutely agree, threatening to arrest someone or any form of intimidation is wrong and illegal. But as I pointed out above, all you have right now are allegations. The GOP flat out denies they are doing it. That doesn’t mean it’s not being done, by “isolated kooks”. But there is no evidence at hand that it is being done by the GOP. Based on the same amount of evidence you have I could just as easily say that this is a disinformation campaign by the DNC.
Eric, did you follow any of the links in my post? They address every one of your points.
The Do Not Call registry has an exemption for political solicitations.
My link addressed that. New Hampshire state law closed that exemption:
Whether it is an FCC violation is yet to be determined. The Democrats are calling it that, but that doesn’t necessarily make it a violation. We’ll have to wait and see if the FCC rules on it.
I’ll agree to temporarily withdraw judgment on that count. The Dems have cited actual FCC rules. The Reps have said they don’t apply. We’ll see.
But as I pointed out above, all you have right now are allegations. The GOP flat out denies they are doing it…. But there is no evidence at hand that it is being done by the GOP.
How can you say that? My links addressed that. As I pointed out above, multiple times, every article linking to the issue has the NRCC admitting it! Go back and read. They’re just denying that it’s illegal (see point #2 above). We’ll see how that one plays out, but you need to stop claiming that they’re not even doing it in the first place.
I’ll agree to temporarily withdraw judgment on that count. The Dems have cited actual FCC rules. The Reps have said they don’t apply. We’ll see.
Here’s the rule:
They did not identify the calls at the beginning of the message. There are audio tapes showing this.
This rule is undisputed. The only question is whether they apply to political organizations. You can go follow the link, and decide from yourself. But from how I read it, section a(2) defines who can make such calls (political calls are OK), and section b(1) defines the rules for those calls. It would be silly, as the Reps now claim, to suggest that b(1) doesn’t apply to the very calls identified in a(2). If that’s true, then what’s the point of having b(1) at all?
“How can you say that? My links addressed that. As I pointed out above, multiple times, every article linking to the issue has the NRCC admitting it!”
WRONG WRONG WRONG! You are conflating two different things together. You are saying that because the RNCC admits to doing robocalls that they are also admitting to the alleged voter intimidation calls in VA. That is simply NOT TRUE! You are lying by saying that they did.
To repeat I am not denying anything that the RNCC admits to doing. But you linked multiple articles. In the ONLY article in which you linked where the FBI is investigating the GOP flat out denies being involved in, that is the Virginia voter intimidation allegation.
Ah, yes, OK. I missed that you were talking about the threatening calls. Right, the GOP admits only to the harassing and deceptive calls. They haven’t admitted to the threatening calls.