The Pinellas County, FL (St. Pete, Clearwater, etc.) Supervisor of Elections accidentally sent out a robocall this morning to hundreds — possibly thousands — of voters informing them that they have until 7 PM tomorrow to vote. Only, the message was supposed to be sent yesterday, when “tomorrow” would have been otherwise known as today.
The Supervisor of Elections in Pinellas County is a Republican. In 2008, the county went 54% for President Obama and 45% for Senator McCain. But I’m sure that’s just a coincidence and that the robocall was an honest mistake…
[X-posted at Rumproast]
Jason
This would be forgivable, except this is a standard trick of these assholes and I’m no longer inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt.
Villago Delenda Est
This piece of shit needs to be stripped of office, and then locked up for a long time.
Won’t happen…he’s a loyal LexCorp operative, after all.
russell
when these sob’s start going to jail, they will adjust their electoral tactics.
until then, not.
BGinCHI
What does it take to fire this asshole?
I mean, if he/she can’t get this right, then what are they getting paid for?
I hate Republicans. I guess it’s because I value honesty.
TenguPhule
Corrected for accuracy.
rlrr
Is there any record in recent elections of these kind of shenanigans be committed on behalf of Democrats?
Redshift
Just saying “tomorrow,” without mentioning either the date or the day of the week would be pretty unusual for an official call, in my experience.
Sounds deliberate to me.
Wyrm
Funny, that never seems to happen in Republican districts. In all seriousness, a federal judge needs to step in and keep those districts open until tomorrow, and jail the supervisor.
JPL
but John has a post about the scary man opening the door for ladies at a polling station in Philly. both side do it…
Violet
Just got back from voting. I was fifth in line and waited only about three or four minutes. It was a little creepy and scary when I showed up because there were two cop cars parked at the corner, and one cop outside the door when I walked up to the door. The election judge outside the door said, “Are you here to vote?” while the cop glared at me. I said, “Yes!” and the judge let me in the door. What kind of question is that?
There were TWO True the Vote representatives there, sitting at a table at the side of the room. Both middle-aged/older white men, with white shirts, American flag ties and both eating crunchy chips out of bags. VERY loud and annoying in the mostly-silent voting area, especially for me because I got sent to the voting machine right next to them. I kept glaring at them. I have no idea what they were doing, since they didn’t move from the table while I was there. Just there to intimidate people, I guess.
I voted for every Democrat I could. We vote for judges, so there were a lot of Dems to choose. I didn’t vote straight ticket because I wanted the pleasure of voting against every damn Republican I could.
No signs for Romney or Obama outside the polling place–only local election signs. One lone guy holding a sign for a local election. In 2010 there were about five people outside the polling place–in the rain. Today it’s gorgeous and there’s only one. Weird.
Villago Delenda Est
This reminds me of the old Steve Martin bit about having a million dollars and not paying taxes. Two words: “I forgot”. I forgot to pay my taxes on my million dollars. How often could we solve these problems with those two simple words? “Your honor, I forgot that armed robbery was a crime.”
And if those two words don’t work, there are two other words:
EXCUUUUUUUSE ME!
schrodinger's cat
Didn’t Sheriff Joe pull the same stunt in Arizona?
SiubhanDuinne
This sentence is the very definition of unnecessary, repetitive and redundant superfluity.
Leaving Texas
But my neighbor told me he saw a car with DC plates at a Maryland polling place, so voter fraud! Also too, the Republicans are really concerned about Maryland’s gerrymandered districts!! So now we all know that the Democrats are going to steal this election!!! Both sides do it!!!! (head explodes)
Meanwhile, Mr. Texas is acting branch chief because all the other lawyers in the office are taking the day off to do election work.
The Red Pen
So while the Freepers all wonder why Holder isn’t prosecuting the New Black Panthers, I wonder whether Holder will prosecute any of these Republican supressionists.
Haydnseek
This is only the beginning. Those assholes at True the Vote have been banned from polling places around Columbus, Ohio, so that’s a bit of good news in what will prove to be voter suppression shitstorm of epic proportions. The wingnuts are in full panic mode. Ohio is bad, but the blatant disenfranchisement in Florida is truly breathtaking. This is their last chance, and they know it.
LanceThruster
@TenguPhule:
I’ve long held that the pike is a much underappreciated motivational tool.
Cacti
Is that the best you can do, Florida?
Here in Maricopa County, AZ, our County Recorder sent out multiple Spanish-language election mailers with the election date as November 8. Because, you know, the arabic numerals 8 and 6 are different in Spanish and English.
In the past couple of days, our Republican US Senate candidate has been robo-calling Dems, telling them the wrong polling place for their precinct.
Violet
@Haydnseek:
I had TWO of them INSIDE my polling place. Didn’t know who they were, but they had a clipboard with True the Vote materials, so I figured that’s who they have to be. Election Judges and other officials wore name tags with their role (“Election Judge”) on it, and these guys had nothing. Just two older white guys in white shirts and American flag ties sitting there glaring at everyone while loudly chomping through a bag of crunchy stuff. Asshats.
Hawes
While I agree that the election official should be prosecuted, part of me also wonders at the sheer stupidity.
Does anyone think that voters don’t know it’s election day? That they aren’t getting phone calls saying vote?
If voter fraud is a non-troversy, then these efforts at voter suppression are mostly juvenile and laughable.
Jim Clark and Bull Connor must be red in the face with embarrassment, if they weren’t already red in the face with the constant hellfire.
Hawes
Have fun with this:
http://tbogg.firedoglake.com/2012/11/06/officer-please-for-gods-sake-theyre-looting-the-food-king/
The Red Pen
I’ve seen a smartphone app pushed on Free Republic for reporting voting irregularities. I wonder if this will turn out to be a huge source of noise, a source of a lot of nothing, or something that we need to do next time.
Haydnseek
@Violet: The Franklin County Board of Elections says that True the Vote has been banned from monitoring elections there. There’s a comprehensive article at the Columbus Dispatch website that explains the details. This makes me insane. Every time they’re called on this, it’s nothing but fake innocence and platitudes about fair elections, etc. when it’s glaringly obvious what they’re doing.
Violet
@Haydnseek: Well, from my experience, they’re intimidating. And I’m not in their target demographic. They probably thought I was voting Republican. Ha. As if.
Roger Moore
I believe that these things are honest mistakes. The fact that it’s always Republicans making them is just proof that Republicans are a gang of hopeless dullards and incompetents who can’t get the simplest parts of government right. Obviously the correct solution is to make sure our elections are run by Democrats who don’t make these mistakes.
Culture of Truth
is this really all the work of darling little Segretti??
Mnemosyne
@Hawes:
My friend’s sister, who is a bit politically naive, thought she had until Friday to vote. And it can’t be an honest mistake, because Mississippi doesn’t have any early voting at all.
Did I mention that she’s living with her AA boyfriend and his family? Yeah. Can’t imagine what anyone’s motive would be in spreading that story around in her neighborhood.
The prophet Nostradumbass
@Culture of Truth:
What, are CREEP still around?
liberal
@Leaving Texas:
Actually living in MD, I can attest that concern trolls at the WaPo, many Democratic politicians here, poli sci academics who’ve penned op-eds for WaPo, etc, are very upset about the gerrymander here.
I especially get a laugh out of the political scientists. Apparently they’re so bad at poli sci they’ve never heard of the Prisoner’s Dilemma. So, in light of the fact that nationally the Republicans have a 2% representation advantage in the House (IIRC that’s what Sam Wang at PEC says), Dems in MD are supposed to go “good govt” and redraw the map to please Republicans?
Mnemosyne
From the Tbogg link, a quote from the founder of True the Vote:
Gosh, did she suddenly realize that little Tyler and Madison weren’t going to be able to get a free pass in life because they were born rich and white and that they might actually have to work to get the things they want because now they have to compete against all of those blacks and browns who want it more?
Baron Jrod of Keeblershire
I just gave the True the Vote hotline a call (855-444-6100). You see, I had an irregularity to report.
When the nice lady on the line took my call, I told her the problem. You see, my polling place was full of negroes. Isn’t that illegal, I asked?
The nice lady promised to check the election law for me, but then hung up! I think the VLWC got her. All us patriots can do is keep trying to bring them the truth.
Remember, that number is 855-444-6100. They want to know about the irregularities you’ve seen as well! Call today! Call often!
catclub
@The Red Pen: or a source of rooted smartphones?
Roger Moore
@Baron Jrod of Keeblershire:
I think you have the right general idea, but the wrong implementation. What you need to do is to find some absolutely lily white, strongly Republican precincts, and call True the Vote to tell them that you’re seeing suspicious voters there. They just don’t look right somehow, not like other voters in the neighborhood, etc. Be as vague as possible, sound like somebody who’s afraid to say outright that you know they’re suspicious because of their skin color, etc. Do your best to make sure that True the Vote sends some people to those precincts. Waste their time chasing nothing.
The Red Pen
That had not escaped my suspicions. Working against that fear is that the software developer put out a press release announcing that they had been chosen because of their particular skills in “situation reporting applications” or something like that.
I don’t think they’d be using this to try and drum up new business if it was also a rootkit, but you never know.
Kip the Wonder Rat
@Hawes: Many, many people don’t know that today is the last day to vote, that they can only vote in one of hundreds of polling stations, that they had to have registered some time ago, etc.. From what I can glean, many first-time voters are astounded that you can’t vote on the weekend, or that they actually have to take personal time to vote in the middle of the day, or that polling places don’t even stay open as long as McDonalds.
I have to admit, they have good points…
Baron Jrod of Keeblershire
@Roger Moore: Thanks for the advice! I’ll be sure to get some more practice in later.
On the other hand, there’s also some value in simply calling them up to throw their racist bullshit right into their faces. I encourage everybody to choose their own strategy when they call 855-444-6100.
Lurking Canadian
@Mnemosyne: I was a liberal until they started letting the black guy sign the checks.
Jay in Oregon
@Haydnseek:
When Barack Obama signs no gun control legislature during his first term of office, to Wayne LaPierre (head of the NRA) that’s evidence of a sinister conspiracy to take away our 2nd Amendment rights during his second.
When Republicans all over the country engage in patterns of behavior, time and time again, that would lead people with more than two functioning brain cells to conclude that they are trying to disenfranchise voters… crickets
EDIT: For example, I’m sure this is a isolated incident and not indicative of any sinister agenda: Ohio GOP Secretary of State orders secret, last minute, unaudited software updates to voting machines
Leaving Texas
@liberal: I agree. I live in MD, too, but spent most of my life in gerrymandered TX. I was floored when a Republican came to my door and tried to shame me into voting against the map.
mai naem
It’s like Rachel Maddow said – these errors are NEVER made with an earlier date. Its always always always for a date after the actual election day. Fvck these people up the ass with an electric whisk.
PurpleGirl
@liberal: You mean there are political academics who don’t know about the history of the gerrymander… my, my, my, they don’t deserve their degrees. Dear old Elbridge lived circa 1812 and fixing districts has been going on for a long time. I knew a distant descendant of his who was a philanthropist.
befuggled
@TenguPhule: That’ll work too.
LanceThruster
@Lurking Canadian:
It’s worse than that…he has people to sign them for him! It’s like the whole world has gone topsy-turvy.
Origuy
From the Salon article, via a Boing Boing commenter, the software change in Ohio was to the tabulating machines, not the machines that voters use. The purpose of the patch allegedly was to change the format of the output from XML to CSV. An innocuous enough change, but it should not have been done at the last minute, without careful review. At the very least, this is sloppy configuration management and shows a lack of regard for election integrity. None of the customers of my division (banks, phone companies, stock exchanges) would have considered anything like that.
danielx
Of course not. Impossible. Never happened.
The Supervisor of Elections – isn’t this her job, to get little details like this right?
Why is it always Florida?
D. Mason
One ironic facet of this many similar fuck ups happening one after another across the country is that one of them, somewhere, probably is an honest mistake but no one would or should believe that.
graves007
How is it that it’s almost always a Republicon behind these types of “mistakes”? Before long the good ole US of A will be no less corrupt than fucking Somalia. I dont blame anyone for wanting to win but flushing your beloved democracy down the shitter is probably not a good way to go about it.