A Few Bumps, but Overall Election Ran Smoothly for Voters
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The fears that yesterday’s record turnout would overwhelm the voting system and cause a replay of the problems in 2000 and 2004 did not materialize, in part because election officials were better prepared and because Sen. Barack Obama’s margin of victory was so large, potential disenfranchisement was not a factor in calling the election.
Says Lora Jo Foo, coordinator of the AFL-CIO’s My Vote, My Right program:
Because of the extensive voter education we did up to the election and working with election officials, we made it so that while there were problems, they weren’t systemic.
Voter Deception Continues Up to the Last Minutes of Election
Here is the latest of our updates on voting issues throughout the day. Share what’s going on at your polling place on our Open Thread here.
- The Minnesota Independent reports that three voters of Somali origin at a polling place in Minneapolis claim a translator working there was instructing people to vote for Republican Sen. Norm Coleman. The translator works on Coleman’s staff. The chief election judge eventually asked the translator to leave.
- The Election Protection coalition says its representatives have fielded complaints from voters who were informed that Election Day had been moved to Wednesday, Nov. 5. Some of the text messages are deliberately aimed at Democratic voters, saying that Obama supporters should cast ballots the day after Election Day, said Heather Smith, who’s been coordinating outreach efforts for Rock the Vote. The organization has fielded complaints of inaccurate text messages sent to Florida State University students and messages listing the wrong day to vote posted to several Facebook groups.
Students, AFL-CIO Stand Up to Republican Challenge in Ohio
Here is the latest of our updates on voting issues throughout the day. Share what’s going on at your polling place on our Open Thread here.
The Columbus Dispatch today reported that students at Ohio State University (OSU), supported by the AFL-CIO, stood their ground against Republican attempts to disenfranchise student voters.
A Republican Party operative protested the proximity to the polling place of four members of OSU Votes, a student get-out-the-vote group, which was making sure students had the identification needed to vote and trying to steer them to the correct polling place. Ohio Republican Party attorney Keith Schneider demanded that the precinct officials move the group at least 100 feet from the front door, claiming they were influencing students’ votes.
