In one of the most appalling stories of GOP voter theft, the Republican party in Michigan is planning on using lists of foreclosed houses as a means to challenge voter eligibility on election day. The Michigan Messenger reports:

The chairman of the Republican Party in Macomb County Michigan, a key swing county in a key swing state, is planning to use a list of foreclosed homes to block people from voting in the upcoming election as part of the state GOP’s effort to challenge some voters on Election Day. “We will have a list of foreclosed homes and will make sure people aren’t voting from those addresses,” party chairman James Carabelli told Michigan Messenger in a telephone interview earlier this week. He said the local party wanted to make sure that proper electoral procedures were followed. State election rules allow parties to assign “election challengers” to polls to monitor the election. In addition to observing the poll workers, these volunteers can challenge the eligibility of any voter provided they “have a good reason to believe” that the person is not eligible to vote. One allowable reason is that the person is not a “true resident of the city or township.” The Michigan Republicans’ planned use of foreclosure lists is apparently an attempt to challenge ineligible voters as not being “true residents.”

Of course, this upwards of almost 60% of those affected by foreclosure in MI are African-Americans.

From Crooks and Liars:

GOP officials elsewhere in Michigan, as well as Ohio, have said they are looking to challenge voter registration based on foreclosure lists – which points to an orchestrated attempt by the McCain campaign to steal the votes of victims of the credit crunch, especially black American victims. This while banks are offered corporate-socialist bailout after bailout and John McCain the 5 Million Dollar Man suggests that common people should miss a holiday or get an extra job to ensure they keep up their payments on a sub-prime loan.

Welcome to the New America. You are allowed to vote if you’re well off. If, however, your government failed you by allowing unscrupulous mortgage bankers to take advantage of you, then, well, you’re not only on your own, but you no longer count. (And I am, in no way, saying that every single person who lost a house was at the hand of the unscrupulous lenders, but a fair amount were). If you lost your job and cannot find another, especially in the hard-hit states of Michigan and Ohio, too bad, you’re on your own and your vote does not count. If your company off-shored your job, tough luck. You have no say in your government.

For more on how the Republican’s are trying to steal your vote, read this, and this.

Are you sure YOU can vote? To confirm your voter eligibility, click here and step through entering your name, email address, and then click Not Sure when the page comes up asking about your registration status. You do not have to be an Obama supporter to confirm your registration.

UPDATE: After mass outrage and the threat of demonstrations, the GOP has backed down from this specific type of voter caging.

When asked whether Michigan Republicans plan to create a challenge list based on returned direct mail, a practice known as “vote caging,” Doster replied, “I think so. I know this has been done in years past … both parties may be doing this.” Doster said that the party’s deputy political director, Kelly Harrigan, would have more information about the challenge lists. Harrigan did not respond to a call from Michigan Messenger. (snip) Last week Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner acknowledged that the use of mail for vote caging has disproportionately affected poor and minority communities and she instructed that returned mail should not be considered reasonable evidence that someone has moved.

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