Because minorities tend to vote Democrat, there is already a built-in structural disadvantage by dint of inefficient polling places in minority neighborhoods. But the clever obstructionist realizes that a few more percentage points can be shaved from the “D” tally by introducing procedural impediments that will “gum up the works” and slow things down even more.
It’s sad that in the end, local celebrity Andrew Meyer will only be remembered for the unintentionally hip catch-phrase “Don’t tase me, bro” than for what he was trying to accomplish: getting droney stentor John Kerry to acknowledge that, in the face of widespread electoral fraud in the form of GOP-engineered suppression campaigns, he conceded the 2004 presidential election prematurely. Meyer came prepared, with a dog-eared copy of Greg Palast’s recent “Armed Madhouse,” in which Palast makes that case that Kerry did, in fact, win the Ohio race and therefore the presidency. Do you think that Palast, and by extension, Meyer are one chad shy of a fully punched ballot? Think again…

I’ve hinted in the past that I have a personal connection to a GOP voter suppression operation. And no, I’m not talking about the fact that my absentee ballot was rejected because my signature didn’t look like the one they had on file (true story). I’m talking about something far more serious. Let me explain. Polling places in districts with large minority populations are notorious for being understaffed and outfitted with too few voting machines, many of which are antiquated. Consequently, these polling places tend to have long lines due to the lack of properly functioning machines and many voters are simply unable to cast their ballots because of time constraints. Because minorities tend to vote Democrat, there is already a built-in structural disadvantage by dint of inefficient polling places in minority neighborhoods. But the clever obstructionist realizes that a few more percentage points can be shaved from the “D” tally by introducing procedural impediments that will “gum up the works” and slow things down even more. Herein lies the scam.

There is a law that lets any citizen challenge the registration of a voter, forcing them to provide proof of their right to vote. This can take more than a few minutes and will certainly impede the voters in line behind the voter whose registration is being challenged. But there has to be a legitimate basis for the challenge to be issued, and this is where it gets sleazy. In the case I’m discussing, a cadre of operatives from the Florida GOP – working hand-in-hand with the national party back in D.C. – put together a list of addresses of voters who had recently registered in Florida. The operatives sent letters to these new voters, welcoming them to the world of “democracy” and requesting that they fill out a simple form and mail it back. The operatives then used non-receipt of the form as grounds for issuing a challenge on the grounds that the voter likely supplied a fake address when registering to vote and therefore comprised a likely fraudster. Albeit nefarious, there is, alas, nothing illegal about such an operation. Unless, that is, the intended targets were chosen on the basis of race. And this is often difficult to prove.

As luck would have it, I was in contact with Greg Palast in late 2004 because of a piece I was writing about electoral fraud and the impact it would like have in the coming election. (Palast, you may recall, is the journalist who broke the story about the illegally purged voter rolls in Florida and the subsequent Gore-v-Bush debacle of 2000). Palast’s people were kind enough to give me an “misdirected” email that originated from Bush/Cheney 2004 and was intended to be read by Florida GOP operatives who were engaged in an operation like the one I detailed above. Attached to the email was an Excel spread-sheet with addresses of voters who would be challenged. Palast needed to determine if there was a pattern to the addresses. Because they were all in nearby Jacksonville, I volunteered to do the leg-work. To make a long story short, the addresses were all in heavily black neighborhoods: some were in low-income housing complexes and a block of fifty or so were all at an historically black college – Edward Waters College. I provided Palast with this information and I also contacted the college’s Dean of Students, who made sure they all voted early to avoid chaos at the polling place (and I’m proud to say they did all vote early and that I received recognition for my activities on their behalf). Furthermore, the documents in question were handed over to Congressman John Conyers, who referred to their contents during hearings into the US Attorney firings scandal.

There are two other interesting facts to consider. The first is that the sender of the email in question was dumb enough to indicate that he realized these activities were likely illegal and should be undertaken with all due caution. The second is that the author was none other than Tim Griffin, then a lowly GOP operative soon to be hand-picked by Karl Rove to replace then-US Attorney Bud Cummins in Arkansas. You might recall that Alberto Gonzalez’s deputy, Monica Goodling, mentioned Griffin during her Congressional testimony concerning the US Attorney firings. Under questioning by Conyers, Goodling acknowledged it was imperative that Bush put Griffin in place as a recess appointment because Griffin had a known “problem” with some iffy voter suppression episode back in Florida in 2004 and would never survive confirmation hearings.
by Hank Stram

To bring this back to the matter at hand, these suppression tactics were an important component of the GOP’s march to victory in 2004. The episode in which I was involved was not an isolated incident; Karl Rove was very thorough and organized suppression operations in minority districts in swing states throughout the country. If you read “What Went Wrong in Ohio: The Conyers Report on the 2004 Presidential Election,” you’ll quickly come to the conclusion that these operations were in full force in Ohio, which Bush “won” by a slim margin, giving him a second term, a “mandate,” and “political capital.” The rest, as they say, is history. I’m sorry if I turned Andrew Meyer’s story into my own story. Don’t tase me, bro.