Voter Suppression Battle Brewing In Northwest Indiana

[NNN0LHI]

http://progressillinois.com/2008/10/04/lake-county-voter-supression

It appears that Lake County, IN may be the latest arena in the GOP's effort to suppress the vote in swing states

First some basics. Under Indiana election law, early voting can only take place in a county clerk's main office. This clearly could be problematic in areas where the county seat is far in distance from the most heavily populated parts of the county. Therefore, the law gives each board of elections the authority to approve early voting centers elsewhere in their county.

Lake County's geography provides the perfect argument for these "satellite" polling places. The county seat, Crown Point, is the 7th most populous city in the county (pop. 24,000) and centrally located. Meanwhile, three of the four biggest municipalities -- Gary (pop. 96,000), Hammond (pop. 77,000), and East Chicago (pop. 30,000) are all located at the northern edge of the county, along Lake Michigan. Together, these towns hold more than 40 percent of the county's residents. (To the right is a population density map of Northwest Indiana. Lake County is visible in the upper left corner and you can see that the most populous areas are crammed at the top.) Moreover, Gary and Hammond are the fifth and sixth largest cities in the state. snip

But on September 24, the two Republican members of the elections board voted against doing so. Their explanation is that Lake County Democratic chairman Rudy Clay made an agreement early in the year with GOP chairman John Corley to allow satellite voting during the state's presidential primary, but not during the general election. Why wouldn't the Republicans want residents of these three towns to have easier access to early voting in the weeks leading up to this historic election? Because they're heavily minority, heavily low-income, and heavily Democratic.

[snappyturtle]

1. Having lived in IN, raised in Hammond, I am not surprised. The rural

areas are heavily republican and they hate the control the Dems have in the county. I've gotten two nasty e-mails from my sister's children about an e-mail I sent to them of palin making an ass out of herself. All I said was, "You need to watch this. I don't know whether to laugh or cry." All hell broke loose after that. I have now received links to: A Video Portrait of Barack Hussein Obama! Full of lies largely debunked months ago. The nephew told me not to send him any more political stuff because it would be falling on deaf ears! Ignorance personified. Makes me so sad that my relatives can be so narrow minded. Of course, I have to consider that the niece and nephew's father is an IN state senator. :puke:

[snappyturtle]

2. Here's an article about Sen. Obama's lead, narrow, in IN....

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080918/NEWS0502/809180460/1324/NEWS0502


Over-all, I thought the article is very positive news for us. A red state since 1964, IN could be blue in less than a month! :woohoo: