Voter Suppression Efforts Alive and Well in Nevada
The Washington Independent published a piece detailing the surprise of local Republicans over how quickly Washoe County has become a Democratic county (Hat tip to a press release from the State Democratic Party’s Paul Kincaid).
Perhaps Republicans’ surprise is a big part of their problem. After all, it’s widely acknowledged that the state Republicans have failed on several fronts–there was the failed convention, the fact that they fielded a mediocre crop of candidates in 2006, etc. Combined with the research documenting the rise of Democrats in the west that’s been coming out since 2004, the blueing of Washoe County should not be a surprise at all unless you’ve been living underground for the past four years.
So what is the Nevada State Republican Party’s response? Voter suppression of course, because when more people vote, Republicans lose:
The Democratic takeover of Washoe County has Republicans across the state reeling because it opens the door for Sen. Barack Obama to win Nevada’s five electoral votes on Nov. 4. Smith and other top GOP officials are considering a law suit to challenge the validity of new voter registrations that has turned a 17,500-voter registration advantage for Republicans in August 2007 into a 1,300-registration advantage for Democrats.
The funniest part about this story is the way the reporter found out that the Republican Party was trolling for a lawsuit–Washoe County Chair Heidi Smith answered a call from GOP executive director Zachery Moyle on her cell phone with the speaker on. Whoops.
Prepare to go to the polls:
When
- October 18th – Friday, October 31st and on Tuesday, Nov. 4rth
- You have the right to vote if you’re in the polling booth or in line when the polls close.
Where
Not sure where to vote? Call or click one of the following to find out where your specific polling place is:
- *Hours and locations vary, click here for more information on location and hours.
- Go Vote: http://GoVote.org
- Google Voter Maps: http://maps.google.com/vote
- Call 1-866-OUR-VOTE (English)
- Call 1-888-VE-Y-VOTA (Español)
If you want more information about how to protect your vote, visit the Voter Suppression Wiki.
You can also Tweet your vote.
ID
You may not need it, but bring a piece of identification, just in case.
__________________
On the other hand, doesn’t it seem like McCain’s campaign spokespeople are doing everything they can to make sure that McCain loses the election? From a Nevada State Democratic Party press release today:
According to Capitol Weekly, McCain spokesperson Rick Gorka said he is fine with Obama’s trip to Elko and his campaign in rural areas of Nevada, believing them to be unimportant: (referring to rural Nevada) Gorka says, “We’re happy he’s wasting his money in a dried up fishing hole.” [“Road to White House paved with new voters” by Anthony York, Weekly, Oct. 28, 2008]
Similar Posts:
- Registered Democrats Outnumber Republicans in Nevada
- Democrats Have 80,000 Voter Registration Advantage in Nevada
- One GOP Voter Suppression Plan Foiled in Nevada
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My wife and I didn’t have any problems voting at the Scolari’s by Mira Loma Park on Monday, though we did wait until the new address sticker for my driver’s license came, just to be sure. We’d moved to our current address five months ago, but DMV hadn’t sent me the sticker when we updated our address back then, so I made damn sure I had it before I voted. But I wasn’t challenged, and voted a straight Democratic ticket within two minutes of entering the store.
Know hope.
Too bad Elkoans don’t know they live in a dried up old fishing hole. Their stupid newspaper endorsed McCain.
Nevada is probably doing better than many other states in being ready for this election. On the first day of early voting I went up to the new UNR student union building to cast my ballot. There was only a short wait (maybe about five to ten minutes), I only needed to verify my address to be allowed in to vote, and after I finished a screen came up listing all my choices and asking me to verify if they were all what I intended.
Then there was an option to also see a printout of everything I had voted for - I didn’t get to take the printout with me but I think it’s good that they will have a hard copy of that. If everyone elected to see the printout of their votes, I think it would make a recount much easier. They also had someone there with a sign offering to help anyone who had trouble voting.
BTW, here’s a video you might like (if you haven’t seen it already):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3ijYVyhnn0
Only in places like Reno is this tired, repeated viewpoint holding any value to anyone. The same goes for ACORN efforts and everything else. Always a conspiracy. Shit like this makes people whose lives don’t run around the Hollywood-hype and romance of politics stay home and not vote. It seems like every blog trying to be something on either side has their little quippish guns drawn. It’s as if we learned our political manners from street gangs. Them against us. Red and blue. Conspiracies. Enemies. “Winning.” All of it is pornography for people in a bored society unwilling to do anything to promote change besides rally behind a puppet and get new foes/comraderies. Opinions are great, but none of them really matter. The fact they’ve become our identities is fucking SAD.
KW
Kyle, Im afraid you’re just not informed. There is a history trend throughout US elections of voter suppression through various means. It should be a non-partisan issue, unfortunately, that’s not the case and for the last 8 years, the Bush Administration and the GOP have made it a point to enact laws that make it much more difficult for Americans to vote and fired US Attorneys who didn’t prosecute voter fraud cases (for lack of evidence), hiring those who would, thereby corrupting the Justice Department