Possible Voter Suppression In Los Angeles County?

[Harvey]

The former manager of my apartement building used to live in my apartment before I moved in, three years ago. First, he moved to another apartment in the building. Then, following a stroke, he moved to a care facility, but he or his family never changed his voter registration so, along with my own sample ballot and voter info, I have received his since I moved in.

Around five weeks ago, I received his voter information and sample ballot, but I didn't received my own. A week later, I phoned the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder to check the status of my registration. After 45 minutes on hold, I was informed that my registration was marked "inactive." I was suprised because I have voted in almost every election since I turned 21 in 1962, and I have definitely voted in every election since moving to my current address.

The person with whom I spoke said that my registration was reactivated and that she would send my voter materials. I confirmed the status of my registration with three follow up calls over the following thee weeks, but, to date, I still have not received my sample ballot or voter information.

I am registered as a Democrat, and I was concerned that I may have been a victim of a larger voter suppresion campaign as has been reported elsewhere. I phoned the L.A. Times and left a message for their national desk reporting what had happened. I also e-mailed them with the same info. So far, no one has replied.

Than, I phoned the L.A. Daily News, and I reached a live reporter who said she knew of at least one other such incident in the San Fernando Valley. She took my number and said she would have someone look into the matter.

Has anyone else encountered similar problems with their voter registraton? If so, report it to your local press and/or authorities.

If you have not received your sample ballot or other confirmation of your status, you may want to check it before you find out the hard way that you won't be allowed to vote when you show up at the polls.

Good luck.

 

[sisq0kidd]

I have not received any of my voter materials and neither have any of my friends that registered in L.A. county. We also applied for voting by mail and have not received any confirmation or any material regarding that either

 

[SilthDraeth]

I would hazard a guess that you are experiencing the mess that is LA County.

 

[CPA]

Suppression of democrat voters in LA? in Cali? by who? LA is one big democrat stronghold. Suppression? hahahahahaha

 

[aphex]

Best of luck getting it resolved. Its sad that in 2008 we still can't get this shit straight....

 

[sisq0kidd]

Originally posted by: CPA
Suppression of democrat voters in LA? in Cali? by who? LA is one big democrat stronghold. Suppression? hahahahahaha

None of us (my friends and I) registered as Democrats. We're all independents and we have yet to receive our materials.

 

[Fern]

Why would the heavily Dem district of LA suppress Dem voters?

Have you found out why/how you were re-classified as "inactive"?

If that LA newpaper has a sum total of two people (out of millions) complaining, I doubt they're gonna *hop right on it*.

Did you vote in '06?

Fern

 

[fskimospy]

What would the point be to suppressing voters in CA? To help pass Prop 8 maybe? Obama's winning by 22 points here last time I checked, that's an awful lot of voters to suppress.

 

[Harvey]

Originally posted by: Fern

Why would the heavily Dem district of LA suppress Dem voters?

I have no idea. But then, I have no idea why Republicans are doing most of the stupid things I've seen through this election cycle. How effective such an action could be would depend on how many Democratic votes they could suppress and how the registrations were balance between parties in a given area.

Have you found out why/how you were re-classified as "inactive"?

I couldn't reach anyone at the County Registrar's office who had an answer. That's why I called the press to see if they had similar reports or whether they were following any such stories.

If that LA newpaper has a sum total of two people (out of millions) complaining, I doubt they're gonna *hop rihgt on it*.

I haven't heard anything from the Times. The woman from the Daily News said SHE knew about one other reprort, but she asked for my phone number and e-mail and said she would give it to a reporter from their city desk.

My purpose was to file one such report. Their job is to follow up on it to see if it's an isolated incident or whether there's actually a problem.

You're welcome to question whether there's really a problem. Your doubts about whether a real journalist would *hop rihgt on it* are presumptuous at best.

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

Are you sure an "inactive" status would keep you from voting?

There were plenty of different categories here in TX you can be marked but still vote regardless.

 

[Mursilis]

Originally posted by: eskimospy
What would the point be to suppressing voters in CA? To help pass Prop 8 maybe? Obama's winning by 22 points here last time I checked, that's an awful lot of voters to suppress.

Logic has no place here. Some people have just watched too much X-Files.
A few weeks ago, some idiot host on Air America was ranting on about an incident in upstate NY involving absentee ballots. Apparently, about 300 were mailed out with "Obama" spelled "Osama". Oops - not good. However, the local election board responsible was made up of 3 representatives from both the Dems and the GOP, and all 6 agreed it was just a proof-reading error, embarrassing but innocent. But the host wouldn't buy it - he was just sure it was deliberate, despite 3 Democrats admitting they too reviewed the ballots and failed to catch the error. He ranted for about 15 minutes about Karl Rove, dirty tricks, etc., quite convinced that it was a big, elaborate conspiracy. Because hey, 300 votes switched in NY are definitely going to turn that state from blue to red. :roll:

 

[Mursilis]

Originally posted by: aphex
Best of luck getting it resolved. Its sad that in 2008 we still can't get this shit straight....

We're talking about 100+ MILLION voters - snafus are just bound to happen.

 

[Aikouka]

I think it's worse that you automatically point toward possible "voter suppression" rather than assuming that the government probably screwed up in some sort of fashion .

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: Harvey
Topic Title: Possible Voter Suppression In Los Angeles County?
Topic Summary: Learned my voter registration was changed to "not active." Anyone else?

Well if by some magic California goes red we'll know what happened.

 

[Ozoned]

Originally posted by: Harvey
The former manager of my apartement building used to live in my apartment before I moved in, three years ago. First, he moved to another apartment in the building. Then, following a stroke, he moved to a care facility, but he or his family never changed his voter registration so, along with my own sample ballot and voter info, I have received his since I moved in.

Around five weeks ago, I received his voter information and sample ballot, but I didn't received my own. A week later, I phoned the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder to check the status of my registration. After 45 minutes on hold, I was informed that my registration was marked "inactive." I was suprised because I have voted in almost every election since I turned 21 in 1962, and I have definitely voted in every election since moving to my current address.

The person with whom I spoke said that my registration was reactivated and that she would send my voter materials. I confirmed the status of my registration with three follow up calls over the following thee weeks, but, to date, I still have not received my sample ballot or voter information.

I am registered as a Democrat, and I was concerned that I may have been a victim of a larger voter suppresion campaign as has been reported elsewhere. I phoned the L.A. Times and left a message for their national desk reporting what had happened. I also e-mailed them with the same info. So far, no one has replied.

Than, I phoned the L.A. Daily News, and I reached a live reporter who said she knew of at least one other such incident in the San Fernando Valley. She took my number and said she would have someone look into the matter.

Has anyone else encountered similar problems with their voter registraton? If so, report it to your local press and/or authorities.

If you have not received your sample ballot or other confirmation of your status, you may want to check it before you find out the hard way that you won't be allowed to vote when you show up at the polls.

Good luck.

Sounds like you fell into that crack called margin of error. Glad you were able to jump head 1st into the crack and get it taken care of. Of course, though, It could be seen as a good thing, because at your age, that is probably the only crack your going to be seeing anyway.

 

[Mxylplyx]

Christ, the Republican boogeyman many of you libs have conjured up in your minds has you afraid of your own shadows.

 

[Harvey]

Originally posted by: Aikouka

I think it's worse that you automatically point toward possible "voter suppression" rather than assuming that the government probably screwed up in some sort of fashion .

Hardly. I didn't "automatically point toward" anything, but there have been numerous documented reports of similar suppression tactics across the country, this election season. Under the circumstances, NOT raising the question would be somewhere between negligent and stupid.

One method Republican groups have used is to mail voters a questionaire demanding confirmation of their residence at the address and stating that, if they do not receive a reply, they will petition to have the voter's registration deactivated or canceled.

The envelopes are intentionally made to look like common junk mail that many people would automatically discard without opening them.

It cost me nothing to check the status of my registration, and I'm glad I did. If I hadn't, I would have learned too late that I wouldn't be allowed to vote, next Tuesday. :shocked:

Originally posted by: Mxylplyx

Christ, the Republican boogeyman many of you libs have conjured up in your minds has you afraid of your own shadows.

Uh-huh! :roll:

States? Actions to Block Voters Appear Illegal

Tens of thousands of eligible voters in at least six swing states have been removed from the rolls or have been blocked from registering in ways that appear to violate federal law, according to a review of state records and Social Security data by The New York Times.

The actions do not seem to be coordinated by one party or the other, nor do they appear to be the result of election officials intentionally breaking rules, but are apparently the result of mistakes in the handling of the registrations and voter files as the states tried to comply with a 2002 federal law, intended to overhaul the way elections are run.

Still, because Democrats have been more aggressive at registering new voters this year, according to state election officials, any heightened screening of new applications may affect their party?s supporters disproportionately. The screening or trimming of voter registration lists in the six states ? Colorado, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Nevada and North Carolina ? could also result in problems at the polls on Election Day: people who have been removed from the rolls are likely to show up only to be challenged by political party officials or election workers, resulting in confusion, long lines and heated tempers.

Some states allow such voters to cast provisional ballots. But they are often not counted because they require added verification.

Although much attention this year has been focused on the millions of new voters being added to the rolls by the candidacy of Senator Barack Obama, there has been far less notice given to the number of voters being dropped from those same rolls.
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[JS80]

lol not surprised coming from harvey

 

[Harvey]

Originally posted by: JS80

lol not surprised coming from harvey

Not suprised at the reply from a McCain/Bushwhacko apologist. :thumbsdown: :|

:lips: my (_!_)

 

[K1052]

Because the Democrats that run LA County want to suppress votes for Obama?

 

[OCGuy]

Originally posted by: K1052
Because the Democrats that run LA County want to suppress votes for Obama?

Tin-hatters dont need logic.

 

[woodie1]

***Possible Voter Suppression In Los Angeles***

Harvey, you are a hoot. Now I understand your childish rants more better.

 

[OrByte]

Originally posted by: SilthDraeth
I would hazard a guess that you are experiencing the mess that is LA County.

may be some truth to that.

up here in Sacto I sent in a registration card. Less than two weeks later I had my ballot and voting information in the mail.

This was after moving back into town from out of state less than a year ago.

These public systems are not the most efficient. Understatement of the week right?

 

[Fern]

Originally posted by: Harvey
I have no idea. But then, I have no idea why Republicans are doing most of the stupid things I've seen through this election cycle. How effective such an action could be would depend on how many Democratic votes they could suppress and how the registrations were balance between parties in a given area.

Are you suggesting that Repub are doing this in LA?

I thought LA was under Dem control, or is that just the city proper?

Originally posted by: Harvey
You're welcome to question whether there's really a problem. Your doubts about whether a real journalist would *hop rihgt on it* are presumptuous at best

I'm just saying for a city of LA's size, and given the limited resources newspapers now have to investigate stuff, seems like pretty slim odds that they'd allocate personel and time to follow up for/about you.

Did you call the (local) Dem party?

Fern

 

[Lemon law]

To me, this is a very serious issue, Harvey, I suggest you follow up again tomorrow and see if you are still listed as inactive. Part of the myth that some of us may be suffering from is that LA area consists of many political entities only connected by a common sewer system. And bears a common city name that is largely more fictional than actual. Harvey may live in a given area that is dominated by rascals actively seeking to disenfranchise democratic votes. And if they will try to remove your name illegally, they will lie to you over the telephone, so force a real live human being to promise you on the public record.