voter disenfranchisement at pitt university
There's alot of stories going around about voter fraud and voter disenfranchisement from both sides of the political spectrum, but I have a first-hand story that I haven't seen much of anywhere else. Supposedly, an article on this appeared in the dead-tree Post-Gazette, but I can't find an article online anywhere.
A friend of mine, a Pitt student and registered Dem, signed a petition a little while ago pushing for the legalization of pot. In case you haven't seen them, these guys just hang out around campuses, asking for signatures. I'm not sure exactly what information my friend gave them, but a few weeks later he got a registration card telling him he now was registered as a Republican, and his polling place was some storefront in Uniontown, forty-five minutes from where he lives and not even a real polling place.
Apparently, they have done this to alot of people that signed the petition, hundreds of Pitt students, as well as at another college campus in the midwest somewhere. Of course, the vast majority of those that signed that petition are Kerry supporters, who are now finding themselves unable to vote a week away from election day, too late to re-register, and in the key state of Pennslyvania.
Hopefully, they find out who the hell is behind this and throw their asses in jail. I want to see Bush win, and badly, but illegal tactics like this are absolutely inexcusable for either side to be playing.
UPDATE: I finally found the
Post-Gazette article, and now it's on their front page. Fortunatly, this apparently won't affect anyone's ability to vote until next year, so people simply have to re-register before the '05 Democratic Primary. It still has alot of people confused and unsure of whether they can vote and where.
The story says these people also registered some people that were underage and some that aren't even American citizens.
And our Democrat Governor and Republican Atty. General are having at it, as well. Alot of the people this happened to don't have their old registration cards, because they've voted in the same place for years. I guess if they show ID they should still be on the rolls, but now there's some sort of power struggle between those two over how strict the rules will be, with the Gov. saying he wants everyone to vote (unregulated?) and the AG saying the polls will be closely monitored.
Whatever, they can politik it out all day long for all I care. Just so they get it straightened out.
