Rolling Stone

Will the GOP’s campaign to deter new voters and discard Democratic ballots determine the next president?

By Robert Kennedy Jr. and Greg Palast

[..] Suppressing the vote has long been a cornerstone of the GOP’s electoral strategy. Shortly before the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, Paul Weyrich — a principal architect of today’s Republican Party — scolded evangelicals who believed in democracy. “Many of our Christians have what I call the ‘goo goo’ syndrome — good government,” said Weyrich, who co-founded Moral Majority with Jerry Falwell. “They want everybody to vote. I don’t want everybody to vote. . . . As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.” Today, Weyrich’s vision has become a national reality. Since 2003, according to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, at least 2.7 million new voters have had their applications to register rejected. In addition, at least 1.6 million votes were never counted in the 2004 election — and the commission’s own data suggests that the real number could be twice as high. To purge registration rolls and discard ballots, partisan election officials used a wide range of pretexts, from “unreadability” to changes in a voter’s signature. And this year, thanks to new provisions of the Help America Vote Act, the number of discounted votes could surge even higher. [..]

RFK Jr.and Greg Palast have done a great service to the country here with their new voter guide Steal Back Your Vote. They have been investigating election fraud and voter suppression for years. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote an article after the 2004 election that was published in Rolling Stone called Was the 2004 Election Stolen? that detailed how more than 350,000 voters in Ohio were prevented from casting ballots or having their votes counted – enough to have put John Kerry in the White House.

In Block the Vote, Kennedy and Palast are more proactive, breaking down the tactics being used to block the votes BEFORE the election arrives, so that people can find their way through the election day mine field and have their votes count and be counted.

Here are the six tactics they focus on:

Obstructing Voter-Registration Drives Demanding “Perfect Matches” Purging Legitimate Voters From the Rolls Requiring Unnecessary Voter ID’s Rejecting “Spoiled” Ballots Challenging “Provisional” Ballots

From Greg Palast:

“I don’t think the Democrats get it. All these new rules and games … could flip the vote to the GOP in half a dozen states.”

For the free, downloadable comic book/voter guide: Steal Back Your Vote.

Again, from Greg Palast:

Officially, 2.7 million voters have been purged from the voter rolls since the last election. And those voters weren’t vanished by ACORN or Mickey Mouse. ‘The Purge’n General,” “Nuns on the Run” and “Votes Gone Rotten.” What’s so funny about the death of Democracy? Would you rather CRY? Based on my investigation with Kennedy in the current issue of Rolling Stone. Featuring art by the graphic gonzo’s Ted Rall, Lukas Ketner and Troubletown’s Lloyd Dangle. Download the guide and find out what really is happening in the scary world of election theft, and find out how you can protect your vote in 7 easy steps. Please spread the word – our servers can take it – we have a goal of 100,000 downloads by the end of the week – -equal to the number of new voters denied their registration rights in Florida – help us get the word out tell everyone you know to go to www.StealBackYourVote.org and download the guide for FREE – or if you can – support out investigations and donate. Put our banners on your site, grab a page from the guide and put it up on your blog – or embed the Robert F. Kennedy Jr.video PSA.

Last night on the Rachel Maddow Show, Robert Kennedy Jr. was the guest and spoke extensively on Steal Back Your Vote:

For more information, visit No Voter Left Behind and Steal Back Your Vote.

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