Vote Fact '08: You Should Confirm Your Voting Location

It’s important to verify your polling location. Even if you’ve been at a certain poll location for years, you should double-check this time. Dirty election tricks include changing poll locations on folks. The point is to frustrate voters, so they will go home without voting. So, check yorur polling spot.

If your right to vote at your polling location is challenged and they refuse you entry to a voting booth, ask for a provisional ballot.

You can check your voting location at www.voteforchange.com (or click the title of this post)

Vote Fact '08: It's Not Too Late To Volunteer!

It’s not too late to volunteer for the Obama campaign. They are still looking for folks who can give up a day (or more) to visit a battleground state to help turn out the vote for Senator Obama. Depending on where you live, you may want to go to Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, Virginia, Colorado, Nevada or a few other states.

If you’d like to volunteer for the campaign, call the Chicago Office, which is coordinating volunteers from around the country. The phone number for the Chicago office is 312-819-2174.

Vote Fact '08

There's a new post after this voting tip:

Vote early, if your state allows it!

The GOP will be using all sorts of tactics to challenge people at the polls. If you go to the polls early, and there is an issue, you have time to get the situation corrected. If you wait until Election Day, you may be a&% out and disenfranchised!

Also, the lines will be longer than ever this Election Day. So, voting early is a really good idea to save time and maybe some drama at the polls.

New post below!

Vote Fact '08 and an Interesting Email

There’s a new post below, but first is the vote fact for today along with an email I received called, “What If?”

First the Vote Fact: (share this with friends, family, etc.)

YOU CAN’T BE PREVENTED FROM VOTING BECAUSE YOU OWE OUTSTANDING PARKING TICKETS! So, if you see a flier on your car or posted on a light pole or taped to your door stating that you have to pay parking tickets before you are eligible to vote or that you will be asked to pay your parking tickets at the voting place, DON’T BELIEVE IT!! This tactic was successfully used in places like Florida in the 2000 and 2004 elections. Let’s not fall for it this time. OUTSTANDING PARKING TICKETS HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH YOUR RIGHT TO VOTE. GO TO THE POLLS!!

Now the email:

The questions in this email show the power of racism and how just changing the color of someone’s skin can impact how you interpret a situation or can change how you perceive a person (positively vs. negatively). Here it is:

Obama/Biden vs McCain/Palin:

What if things were switched around?

Think about it.

Would the country's collective point of view be different? Could racism be the culprit?

Ponder the following:

What if the Obamas had paraded five children across the stage, including a three month old infant and an unwed, pregnant teenage daughter?

What if John McCain was a former president of the Harvard Law Review?

What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class?

What if McCain had only married once and Obama was divorced?

What if Obama was the candidate who left his first wife after a severe disfiguring car accident, when she no longer measured up to his standards?

What if Obama had met his second wife in a bar and had a long affair while he was still married?

What if Michelle Obama was the wife who not only became addicted to pain killers but also acquired them illegally through her charitable organization?

What if Cindy McCain had graduated from Harvard?

What if Obama had been a member of the Keating Five? (The Keating Five were five United States Senators accused of corruption in 1989, igniting a major political scandal as part of the larger Savings and Loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s.)

What if McCain was a charismatic, eloquent speaker?

What if Obama couldn't read from a teleprompter?

What if Obama was the one who had military experience that included discipline problems and a record of crashing seven planes?

What if Obama was the one who was known to display publicly, on many occasions, a serious anger management problem?

What if Michelle Obama's family had made their money from beer distribution?

What if the Obamas had adopted a white child?

You could easily add to this list. If these questions reflected reality, do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are?

This is what racism does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes positive qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities in another when there is a color difference.

Educational Background:

Barack Obama:

Columbia University - B.A. Political Science with a Specialization in International Relations.
Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude

Joseph Biden:
University of Delaware - B.A. in History and B.A. in Political Science.
Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)

vs.

John McCain:
United States Naval Academy - Class rank: 894 of 899

Sarah Palin:
Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester
North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study
University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism
Matanuska-Susitna College - 1 semester
University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in Journalism

New post below!

Vote Fact '08!

There's a new post below, but first I want to introduce a new item that will show up from time to time coming up to the election.

Since early voting has already started in some states and the rest of us will be voting on November 4th, I will occassionally post a voting fact or nugget of information for readers that I hope you'll share with everyone in your email list or post it on your own blog. I think we all remember the 2000 and 2004 elections and how Black voters were often disenfranchised, especially in places like Florida. Law abiding Black voters were listed as felons, had to deal with road blocks and were subjected to other problems. Now, we've got Republicans trying to use foreclosure lists in places with high numbers of Democratic voters. The GOP is often looking at urban areas for their voter suppression activities. Knowledge is power. So, today's fact is:

If you are using a touch screen voting machine...

DOUBLE-CHECK YOUR SELECTIONS BEFORE COMPLETING THE PROCESS!

Some voters in places like West Virginia, are reporting that they saw their selection of Barack Obama automatically switch to John McCain. This was done by the computer, they allege, and not by them. Poll workers told them they were careless, but they insist the machine switched the vote.

So, voters are being warned to ensure that their selection is accurately highlighted before pressing the button stating they are ready to submit their vote. If you see the selection switching, CALL OVER A POLL WORKER and get the situation addressed before submitting your vote.

Also, if you get a printed receipt from an electronic voting machine, check it WHILE YOU ARE STANDING AT THE MACHINE. If you vote Obama and see McCain's name on the receipt CALL OVER A POLL WORKER IMMEDIATELY. Don't move from your voting area. Call the worker over and get the situation addressed.

If you don't trust something about the voting machine, ASK FOR A PROVISIONAL (paper) BALLOT.