The Problem is Voter Suppression

Yeah yeah, there are black boxes and e-voting machines and they need a paper trail and all of that. But the tactics used by the GOP to influence elections are actually old-fashioned and time-honored. Like intimidation:

The state attorney general's office is investigating a letter received by some Southern California Hispanics that says it is a crime for immigrants to vote and tells them they could be jailed or deported if they go to the polls next month [...]

The letter, written in Spanish, tells recipients: "You are advised that if your residence in this country is illegal or you are an immigrant, voting in a federal election is a crime that could result in jail time."

The truth is that immigrants who become naturalized citizens can legally register to vote.

Several of the people who received the letters appeared to be naturalized citizens, said John Trasvina, interim president and general counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund.

Or outright theft:

Ted Strickland, the Democratic nominee, is leading Mr. (Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth) Blackwell by as much as 28 points, according to one recent poll. In their panic, some Blackwell supporters have hit on the idea of trying to prevent the election from occurring. One of them filed a complaint alleging that Mr. Strickland, who is a member of Congress, does not live in the apartment where he is registered to vote. Mr. Strickland owns a condominium in another part of Ohio, and the complaint alleges that he actually lives there. If Mr. Strickland was not a qualified voter, he would be prohibited from running for governor.

The complaint itself is without merit. No one disputes that Mr. Strickland lives in Ohio, or that he is registered. The only issue is which of his two homes he chose to register from, and the law gives voters with multiple homes broad discretion in choosing among them.

THIS is the real threat to democracy. It's sending flyers in poor and black neighborhoods telling residents they'll go to jail if they vote with outstanding parking tickets. It's requiring voter IDs like a driver's license at the polls and not telling the public. It's putting too few machines in Democratic precincts so that people have to wait in line for 10 hours to vote. It's purging voter rolls of anyone who has a similar-sounding name to a felon who also happens to vote Democratic. These all happened in 2000 and 2004, and they're happening again. I know that vote machine hacking is a sexy topic and it resonates for those who think they know better than anyone how the world works, but vote stealing is brutally simple, and it's happening right now.

I've decided to get off my ass this year and become a Pollworker for Democracy, sponsored by People for the American Way. Most of the ways Republicans try to pick off votes has to do with low information. With more information out there and more sunshine, we can prevent the most rampant abuse and ensure that elections are a little more fair. You're not going to stop everything, as elections haven't been 100% clean at any time in the history of the Republic. But you can stop a lot.