more on Polling Place Violation of Law

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Meeks, Brock (MSNBCi)" <Brock.Meeks () MSNBC COM>
Date: October 26, 2004 1:34:53 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: RE: [IP] more on Polling Place Violation of Law

I read the exchange below and just want to hang my head, but NOT over 
the admission of this no-account election official in this backwater 
Virginia county.

(Actually, it's a prime piece of the Old Dominion, movie stars are 
known to populate the horse ranches and such... and oh, my 
mother-in-law lives there as well... in federally subsidized 
housing...)

If this exchange becomes the tenor of this election we all--Republican, 
Democrat, Independent, Green Party, Socialist, Peace & Freedom 
Party--lose. 

 Honestly, the petty niggling over a few portraits strategically placed 
over voting booths.  Oh the horror!! 

 Our country is being deeply divided this election season on a most 
visceral level, using almost any excuse to beat up on "the other guy."  
What a great day for our democratic process.  We have people exercising 
their rights to complain... about how pictures are being hung.  I'm so 
proud of my fellow Americans.

I would argue--sober even--that anyone marching into a polling place 
that hasn't yet made up his or her mind should STAY AWAY until he or 
she is clear about their choices.  Further, just how WEAK does one have 
to be that seeing a portrait of the President hanging above a voting 
booth is going to unduly influence their choice?!

Yeah, I see you nodding your head. You're right, it's just nonsense.

We have serious problems in this country; this election is shaping up 
to be another debacle.  More than 10,000 lawyers have been put on 
retainers, by both the Republican and the Democrats, and stand ready to 
file a flurry of paperwork that would embarrass the Microsoft antitrust 
legal team.   Private jets have been chartered for election night and 
are going to be on standby, ready to whisk party gun slingers to 
"battleground states." 

 And we're squabbling about portraits?

Law enforcement agencies across the land aren't getting any sleep, even 
a week before the election.  The "angst level is at an all time high" a 
senior administration official told a group of reporters recently, 
speaking during a "background" briefing regarding intelligence on 
possibly pre-election terrorist attacks.  (And no, that's no White 
House slight of hand, threat IS real.)

And we're in a snit about the hanging of pictures?

I'm starting to long for the days when all we had to worry about were 
party machine bosses extolling the faithful to "vote early... and 
often."

Meeks out...




-----Original Message-----
From: owner-ip () v2 listbox com [mailto:owner-ip () v2 listbox com] On 
Behalf Of David Farber
Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2004 1:07 PM
To: Ip
Subject: [IP] more on Polling Place Violation of Law




Begin forwarded message:

From: Jim Griffin <griffin () onehouse com>
Date: October 26, 2004 12:37:16 PM EDT
To: Gene Gaines <gene.gaines () gainesgroup com>, David Farber
<dave () farber net>
Subject: Re: [IP] Polling Place Violation of Law

Gene:

Thanks for making the call. I am considering revisiting the polling
place
with a state trooper and citing the relevant law and the facts:
Influencing
the vote in ANY manner is illegal, and this placement was deliberate.

What Mr. Ables did not tell you: The pictures of the other elected state
officials -- and he did not include them all, by the way -- are below
the
tops of the voting booths and so are not visible. The color photographs
of
the Republican candidates on the ballot are visible as they are on top,
centered directly above the voting booths.

Neither was his decision neutral: The pictures do not merely hang in the
office. He chose to center them above the voting booth.

I leave this to the Democratic Party for the time being, but this is the
registrar's office, not some gymnasium, and it is outrageous that he now
confesses he chose the placement deliberately.

Jim



On 10/26/04 11:16 AM, "Gene Gaines" <gene.gaines () gainesgroup com> wrote:

> David,
>
> I just spoke with Mr. Ables, Voting Registrar of Fauquier
> County, Virginia, telephone 540-347-6972.
>
> He confirmed to me that he chose the placements of the
> two voting booths in his office so that the color portraits
> of the president and vice president are prominently
> displayed over the booths.
>
> He informed me that he is justified in taking this action
> because he also has placed on the wall photographs of all
> elected state officials.  Mr. Ables then stated that he
> was outraged that I would question him, and hung up on me.
>
> LESSON FOR EVERYONE:  Any questionable election activity,
> phone the nonpartisan "Lawyers Committee for Election
> Protection" 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683) or 202-347-1835.
>
> Gene Gaines
> gene.gaines () gainesgroup com
> Loudoun County, Virginia
>
>
> On Monday, October 25, 2004, 7:22:51 PM, David wrote:
>
>
>
>> Begin forwarded message:
>
>> From: "David A. Ulevitch" <davidu () everydns net>
>> Date: October 25, 2004 6:37:39 PM EDT
>> To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
>> Subject: Fwd: [SL] FW: Polling Place Violation of Law
>
>>  From the Strangelove.cc list.
>
>> Thanks,
>> David A. Ulevitch
>
>
>> Begin forwarded message:
>
>>> From: Jim Griffin <griffin () 62chevy com>
>>> Date: October 25, 2004 3:25:16 PM PDT
>>> To: <talk () strangelove cc>
>>> Subject: [SL] FW: Polling Place Violation of Law
>>>
>>>
>>> ------ Forwarded Message
>>> From: Jim Griffin <griffin () onehouse com>
>>> Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 17:36:51 -0400
>>> To: <registrar () fauquiercounty gov>
>>> Subject: Polling Place Violation of Law
>>>
>>> Alex Ables
>>> 32 Waterloo Street #207
>>> Warrenton, Virginia 20186-3219
>>>
>>> Dear Mr. Ables:
>>>
>>> I voted today (I will be out of the country on business on election
>>> day) at
>>> 32 Waterloo Street in a voting booth with a few color pictures
>>> directly
>>> above it, the top ree of them pictures of candidates on my ballot,
>>> one
>>> of
>>> them bearing the words, "Thanks, Dick Cheney". The two voting booths
>>> in the
>>> room were located directly underneath these photographs, the
>>> photographs
>>> literally inches above the voting booths, centered between them.
>>>
>>> I note that under Virginia law "It is unlawful for any (person to)
>>> ...
>>> In
>>> any manner attempt to influence any person in casting his vote."
>>>
>>> In my opinion, viewing a color photograph of a candidate on the
>>> ballot
>>> is in
>>> a manner part of an attempt to influence a person casting his vote,
>>> and it
>>> is illegal to do so in ANY manner.
>>>
>>> If you doubt that my opinion is shared by your office or the judges
>>> of
>>> this
>>> state, what might be your opinion should a voter wear a button with
>>> the
>>> picture of the other candidates into the polls? May a poll worker
>>> wear
>>> such
>>> a button with pictures including the words, "Thank you, John Kerry"?
>>> May
>>> there be handed out at the polls such photographs? If not, why 
permit
>>> this
>>> one directly above the voting booth?
>>>
>>> James H. Griffin
>>> 7493 Enon Church Road
>>> The Plains, Virginia 20198
>>>
>>> ------ End of Forwarded Message
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> 
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>
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