Would Republicans Accuse Joe the Plumber of Voter Fraud?
| Thu Oct. 16, 2008 11:32 PM PDT
Originally published on the Guardian's "On the Road to the White House" blog, a project of Guardian Films
Under the GOP's current vote suppression strategy in Ohio, McCain's now famous icon might have had a hard time casting a ballot. In a case that has now gone to the Supreme Court for review, Republicans in the state are challenging the registrations of all new voters whose names and other information do not exactly match those in government databases. It turns out that one of the present Ohio voters who could have fallen into this category is Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher—or is it Worzelbacher?—otherwise known as Joe the Plumber.
The man John McCain lionized in Wednesday night's debate has since had every aspect of his life scrutinized by the media. They've uncovered some contradictory facts, to say the least: He's not really a plumber, he probably wouldn't pay more taxes under Obama if he bought his business, and he hasn't actually paid some of the taxes he already owes. He's also registered to vote under a different name.
The New York Times politics blog The Caucus yesterday included the following piece of information:
Mr. Wurzelbacher is registered to vote in Lucas County under the name Samuel Joseph Worzelbacher.
"We have his named spelled W-O, instead of W-U," Linda Howe, executive director of the Lucas County Board of Elections, said in a telephone interview. "Handwriting is sometimes hard to read. He has never corrected it in his registration card."
The records, she said, showed he voted Republican in the March primary.
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Continued From Above
Because Joe the Plumber registered and has a record of voting in the past, he would not be among those targeted by the Republicans. That privilege is reserved for the voters with newly filed registration applications--a group that clearly favors Obama.
On Tuesday, a federal court ruled in favor of the GOP, ordering Ohio's Democratic Secretary of State, Jennifer Brunner, to release a list of those voters whose information on voter registration applications does not match the information on Social Security and drivers license databases. Republicans want to force these voters to cast provisional ballots, which can later be scrutinized and challenged; some may instead choose to simply go home.
The list includes a stunning 200,000 of the 660,000 Ohioans who have registered since January 1 of this year. The magnitude of the number—like the glitch in Joe the Plumber's registration—prove the fallibility of a system in which sloppy handwriting is being used to deny people their most basic democratic rights.
© Guardian News and Media Limited 2008
Comments
Submitted by Steve Ivy (not verified) on Fri Oct. 17, 2008 10:01 AM PDT.
I would hope at least that that list was also used to send notices to those voters that their ability to vote could be compromised if they don't update their voter records...
It really doesn't matter if he was a plant or not, nor does anything about "Joe the plumber" matter. A citizen asked Sen. Obama a question. Sen. Obama answered with "share the wealth". If you like socialism, then you liked the answer, if you don't, you didn't, make up your own mind.
As for voter fraud - my goodness whether it's promoting multiple votes or voter suppression it's all WRONG and there isn't a good guy in either situation. Goodness sakes how hard is it to take a valid ID to your county clerk or polling office and register? We don't need groups running around defrauding the system.
If you move - register
If you vote - register
If you don't it's your fault, not the systems. Personal responsibility - take control of your own life.
Submitted by Eric Ferguson (not verified) on Fri Oct. 17, 2008 12:58 PM PDT.
Bob, there are enough problems with photo ID to make it essentially a voter suppression technique. Nonetheless, let's take these exact match laws and ACORN controversies and use them to fix our voter registration system. It's intended to be hard to use and keep the wrong people out. Let's replace it with something sane countries use. I understand that Canada uses tax records, and doesn't need these registration cards with difficult handwriting. Why can't we do that?
Great news!!!! just in. I got this from Americablog.com
BREAKING: U.S. Supreme Court throws out largest GOP "voter fraud" case involving ACORN, others
Joe Sudbay (DC) · 10/17/2008 12:04:00 PM ET · Link
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Well, isn't that interesting. The biggest Republican "voter fraud" cause, involving ACORN among others, just got thrown out by George Bush's conservative Republican US Supreme Court. And make no mistake - as one of the leading conservative publications, Human Events, pointed out yesterday, this case was all about ACORN:
The full 6th Circuit Court on Tuesday night decided in favor of the Ohio Republican Party in their suit requiring the use of government records to verify the identities and validity of the thousands of newly-registered voters by outside groups such as ACORN. Ohio's Secretary of State, Democrat Jennifer Brunner, had previously refused that standard stating that she didn't believe it was required by Ohio law. Brunner was also recently required by a federal court to turn over new voter registration data from county boards of elections for identity verification.
The Ohio GOP tried to take away the voting rights of 200,000 voters in that state, after ACORN and others registered voters with misspelled names. George Bush's conservative Republican U.S. Supreme Court just took the side of Democrats in Ohio, and ACORN, and overturned a lower court's decision which took the side of the GOP. Ohio's Secretary of State appealed that earlier ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court -- and won:
The Supreme Court is siding with Ohio's top elections official in a dispute with the state Republican Party over voter registrations.
The justices on Friday overruled a federal appeals court that had ordered Ohio's top elections official to do more to help counties verify voter eligibility.
Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat, faced a deadline of Friday to set up a system to provide local officials with names of newly registered voters whose driver's license numbers or Social Security numbers on voter registration forms don't match records in other government databases.
Nice work by the Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner. The GOP does everything possible to suppress the vote. Today, the George Bush's conservative Republican U.S. Supreme Court suppressed the GOP and told the nation, the only fraud is the Republican party.
It's a travesty that people like jennifer Brunner are allowed to hold public office. Our entire democracy depends on fair elections. Voter fraud should be vigorously prosecuted by the authorities, with automatic jail time for offenders ... and that includes voter fraud perpetrated by high ranking officials as well. Perhaps if stiff jail sentences were imposed, organizations like Acorn would think twice about defrauding the system, and defrauding the American people. This issue once again shows how important trust is ... and, that's why I would rather trust a man who would not sell out his fellow prisoners, even during 5 years of torture, than to trust a man who betrayed a 20 year friendship, for personal ambition.
Howard,
ACORN is a self-reporting/governing organization. Any info the republicans are using comes from ACORN.
I am not one of those people that is blankly going to insult McCain; but he used ACORN when it was beneficial for him when he was running against Bush in 2000.
Based off of what you just said, McCain supported ACORN, so he should be investigated and possibly jailed?
Canada does do tax records or health card (photo id), or drivers licence, or on voting day, bring a bill with you to identify address which should be recorded. Census records are done every five yrs, more often in major election, to all dwellers and their dwelling type, etc., This prevents much fraud weve seen for any service including voting. It's not complicated at all. In fact, we don't identify our party to anyone, as you do. It is simple.
I heard the Republican Party has been doing this for years and the last two election cycles in 2000 and 2004 were all sorts of Republican tactics including voter suppression and fraud such as this. This morning a company charged with voter fraud on many individuals again a Republican ring.
OMG! That assumes that the same government that you don't trust will get your change of address right -- as someone who's had to move more than once while coping with family issues, I can tell you that I had to make numerous calls and write letters to get the voting registration corrected and still have mail going back to a state where I no longer live. AND, it turns out that I was purged from Colorado voting lists before I notified them that I had moved.
The Democratic HQ in Denver has had its windows shattered four times in the past month by bricks that said "Maverick" on them (might as well have said Republican or racist).
The concerns about vote tampering are based on facts. And, please stop confusing "socialism" with "social responsibility," which is a cornerstone of Christianity.
Socialism is fantastic! For Wall Street. We've just done a fabulous job of spreading the wealth--from our children/grandchildren to people like Hank Greenberg and Richard Fuld. W is the most effective wealth redistributor of all time...it's just all going in the wrong direction. A reverse Robin Hood.
Submitted by kathy (not verified) on Mon Oct. 20, 2008 12:18 PM PDT.
Actually, the Court's ruling is right in line with a series of voter cases going back almost as long as this has been a nation. The presumption is in favor of voters, as well it should be in a nation which historically undervotes.
Submitted by Carol (not verified) on Mon Oct. 20, 2008 12:50 PM PDT.
Why can't the media leave the guy alone? Could it be because he IS a plant and a relative of Charles Keating of the
Keating 5? Because McCain is still using him in his campaign and making false assertions? Because he appeared on Mike Huckabee's show yesterday making those same false assertions?
Submitted by Carol (not verified) on Mon Oct. 20, 2008 1:00 PM PDT.
It's such a travesty to have an honest election official do his/her job without some bogus interference such as handing her an impossible task 2 weeks before election day, especially in a state where her predecessor made voter fraud the order of the day in 2004. We need more election officials like Jennifer Brunner!
Obama/Biden '08!
Small point: Joe the Plumber has been a loser all his life, so his idea of buying the plumbing business he works for is pure bull. There is no way in hell Joe the Plumber could ever buy that business.
BIG point: As usual, the Republican party will stop at nothing to deny American citizens from voting for a Democrat.
its ashamed many people in this country will buy anything sold to them without any verification. I suspect the truth is blocked by racism and hate. It should be obvious when a campaign mired in name calling and senseless associations to terrorist can have such widespread support. How can anyone in their right mind listen to Sara Pailen and thinks she's is ready to be VP of USA
Howard - great idea! Let's go after the former Sec of State for voter fraud who was quoted to say he would get Bush elected any way he could. Let's send him to jail; he handed the election to Bush along with some other guilty parties. "People like jennifer Brunner..." Sec Brunner is a former Judge who thinks that cheating and defrauding voters is the wrong way to hold an election unlike the GOP; she believes everyone should have a vote, not just Republicans. You don't read much, do you?
Quoth Howard:
"It's a travesty that people like jennifer Brunner are allowed to hold public office. Our entire democracy depends on fair elections. Voter fraud should be vigorously prosecuted by the authorities, with automatic jail time for offenders ... and that includes voter fraud perpetrated by high ranking officials as well."
I don't know about you, Howard, but I am a voter in Ohio. In 2004, you could have replaced Jennifer Brunner's name with that of Kenneth Blackwell, the former Secretary of State for Ohio. Same position, same state. You see, Kenny was instrumental in the re-election of Bush, so much so that he was on a committee for Bush's re-election.
I don't recall hearing from you then, Howard. Let's see how this works...In 2004, Bush was re-elected and voting irregularities in Ohio were common and widespread. Where were you then? The Republican stance was to pooh-pooh the whole thing. Fast forward to 2008. The election hasn't happened and already, the Republican stance is: Voter fraud!! Looks like you've got the cart before the horse, Howard. You see, if McCain is elected, you're going to have to do some serious backsliding.
Getting really tired of Joe the Plumber, but he is the perfect mascot for the Republican party, a hack who doesn't care enough to get licensed and do the real work, but he wants to run the company. Just like all those Bush hacks running departments.
