Complaint: Elderly Black Voters Intimidated at Home

[sonias]

Mother Jones 10/29/10
Complaint: Elderly Black Voters Intimidated at Home

A voting rights lawyer has filed a complaint with the Department of Justice that elderly black voters are being harassed and intimidated at their homes in eastern Texas. Gerry Hebert, executive director of the Campaign Legal Center, submitted a complaint on Thursday to the DOJ claiming that at least seven elderly black voters "were being harassed by two unidentified white women" who visited their homes in Bowie County to question them about their mail-in ballot applications. The women are described as middle-aged, local Republican activists who had accessed publicly available information about which voters had requested mail-in ballots.

The complaint claims that the women showed up unannounced this week at the home of 78-year-old Willard Wherry, of Dekalb, who had voted by mail. The pair proceeded to grill Wherry about who had helped him to fill out his mail-in ballot, repeatedly questioning whether anyone had showed up at his home to assist him. "We are just trying to be sure no one is trying to coax someone to vote," one of the woman said, according to Hebert's complaint.

The women then went to a local senior citizens center to question whether five residents had received improper assistance in voting, as well as the home of L.E. Bohannon, a 79-year-old African American voter from DeKalb, the complaint says: "Then they pulled out a copy of form with his signature on it and they asked if that was his signature. They asked him who helped him fill out the form." Molly Beth Malcolm, a local Democratic consultant, spoke directly with some of the alleged victims and claims the incidents are racially discriminatory. "They're not going around to older Anglos, but the African-American community," she says.

:grr:

[sonias]

1. More dirty GOP dirty tricks in Travis

http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Blogs/index.html/objID1105912/blogID/">Austin Chronicle 10/29/10
Travis Dems Allege GOP Voter Intimidation Plot

Claims of voter harassment and intimidation by pro-Republican groups have been rocking Harris County (Houston) during the early voting period. Today, the Travis County Democratic Party claimed it may be coming here, too, and pointed the finger at the Travis County Republican Party.

On the steps of the county courthouse, party leaders said they had sent two of their own to check out poll watcher training being conducted by local Republican Party chair Rosemary Edwards on Wednesday. The duo – identified as Lloyd Gardner and Alexandra Bledsoe – said Edwards specifically wanted to target areas in central east and southeast Austin, including precincts 124, 429, 423, 407, and 401.

(snip)
“Ever since I’ve been a lawyer working in Texas, 10 years in the Rio Grande Valley, I’ve seen the same thing happen over and over and over again: Minority districts are specifically targeted for this kind of activity,” Harrington said. “There’s no doubt in my mind that this is to suppress the vote and intimidate people.”

:kick:

[Horse with no Name]

2. I worked a function for my candidate in this area

and these people are IN YOUR FACE!
One woman in particular--I went head to head with her but they are definitely "in it to win it" and will NOT back down.
She was literally trying to knock the table down that had campaign literature on it. She kept getting in my face. Everytime I backed up--she stepped forward, trying to get me into a corner.
Asked me if I knew the Constitution (I informed her I had a degree in Political Science--so yeah, I was pretty knowledgeable about it)--then handed me one of their pre-printed ones they are handing out. I pulled the one out of my pocket that I got from the ACLU and told her I wanted to compare and see if they changed anything. She snatched theirs back out of my hands.
Every unreasonable question was answered with a reasonable answer--she blamed our STATE rep for EVERYTHING--even the fact that her mail times had changed???WTF??I directed her to call her republican FEDERALLY elected employees to talk about that--she wasn't interested.
It is really bad in this neck of the woods Sonia. Really really bad.
The local tea party even gave away a RUGER to "help ensure that the political process runs smoothly".:scared:

[sonias]

3. Sad to hear you had to put up with the crazy

Just when we think things might get better for Texas, the national nut media like Fox and the Tea Party kick up the crazy all over the country. And Texas with its own brand of crazy gets moved backwards.

Makes me sick. :puke:

Thanks for trying to make a difference out there Horse with no Name! :hug::yourock: