Republicans can't win a fair fight: voter suppression, voter exclusion, and election fraud.

Types of voter exclusion

Election Fraud:

• Destroying registration forms: Sproul & Associates, a Republican consulting firm funded by the RNC, destroyed Democratic voter registration forms in critical swing states (CBS).

Voter Suppression:

• Intimidation: Voters have been intimidated by visits from the police, harassment, and misleading mailings (e.g. flyers that say it is illegal to vote if you have any outstanding bills or parking tickets).
• Challenging voters at the polls: Republicans hired "vote challengers" and used arcane laws to "challenging voters' eligibility" (NPR). These challenges rarely succeed in disqualifying voters, but can be successful in disrupting the voting process and create long lines.
• Under-equipping polling places: In Ohio, Florida , and other states Republican Election officials set up too few voting machines and too few polling places in important Democratic districts. This, combined with Republican challenges (see above), lead to lines as long as 7 hours (NPR)—too long for many voters who had to give up voting to return to their jobs or families.
• Strict registration requirements: The Republican sponsored Help America Vote Act actually makes it much harder to register to vote.

Voter Exclusion:

• Felon laws: Almost 5 million former felons are not allowed to vote because of voter exclusion laws (Village Voice). This exclusion can be legal, but Florida Republicans have made numerous attempts to use faulty felon lists to exclude eligible black voters from voting. The 2000 election was won largely based on this illegal exclusion, and in 2004 attempts to use a similarly flawed felon list were interrupted only after court challenges lead to a judge ruling that the secret list had to be opened to inspection (CNN).
• Administrative Errors: We've met countless people who have filled out registration forms and never received registration cards. These "errors" are much more frequent in African-American communities. Additionally, 58,000 Florida voters' absentee ballots arrived late or never arrived this year due to an "error" of some kind (Reuters).

Unreliable voting technology:

• Electronic voting machines: More and more widely used, electronic voting machines have been widely reported to be insecure and unreliable. On election day there were more than 1,100 reports of problems (AP) with these machines, and since then there have been numerous stories of flaws in vote tallies they reported.

Click here to read an excellent summary of voter suppression from Reuters.

Click here to read an overview of Republican vs. Democratic approaches to voting accountability from The New Yorker.

Articles on voter suppression, voter exclusion, and election fraud:

Driving Votes has compiled the articles below. Email us if you find an article we should include.

12/7/04 - WASHINGTON DC - Washington Post
DNC to Investigate Ohio Voting Irregularities
The leader of the Democratic National Committee announced yesterday that he will launch an investigation into voting irregularities in Ohio, where lines snaked outside some inner-city polling places on Election Day and provisional ballots were sometimes in short supply. More...

12/5/04 - COLUMBUS, OH - AP
Recount pends, presidency certified
The state certified a 2 percentage-point election victory for President Bush yesterday even as independent candidates, strengthened by a federal court ruling, prepared to demand recounts in all 88 counties. More...

12/4/04 - LETTER (to Sec. Blackwell, OH) - Committee on the Judiciary
Committee on the Judiciary Investigates Voting Irregularities in Ohio
We are concerned that these complaints constitute a troubled portrait of a one-two punch that may well have altered and suppressed votes, particularly minority and Democratic votes. First, it appears there were substantial irregularities in vote tallies. It is unclear whether these apparent errors were the result of machine malfunctions or fraud. More...

11/30/04 - NATIONAL - Salon.com
Democracy inaction
If the Ukraine standard were applied in Ohio -- as it should be -- then the late lamented U.S. election certainly was stolen. More...

11/29/04 - NATIONAL - Salon.com
Feds to investigate voting irregularities
The presidential results won't change, but the studies could lead to changes. GAO officials said the investigation was not triggered by a request from several House Democrats, who wrote the agency this month seeking an investigation. More...

11/24/04 - WASHINGTON DC - AP
GAO to examine U.S. voting irregularities
The Government Accountability Office, responding to a request from Democratic lawmakers, will investigate the way votes were counted in the Nov. 2 election. More...

11/22/04 - COLUMBUS, OH - The Free Press
How the Ohio election was rigged for Bush
Following four community public hearings in Ohio about election irregularities and voter suppression – two in the capitol, Columbus, and one each in Cincinnati and Cleveland – a clear pattern and practice of voter disenfranchisement is emerging. More...

CURRENT - INTERNET - Wikipedia
2004 U.S. presidential election controversy
Allegations of data irregularities and systematic flaws which may have affected the outcome of the presidential and local elections. Issues range from allegations of voting machine impropriety to complaints voting was not made accessible to all citizens (long lines, disenfranchisement). More...

11/19/04 - BERKELEY, CA - Berkeley Daily Planet
Campaign 2004: The Exit Poll Mystery
The problems with exit polls occurred only in swing states. What caught my attention was that the variance was not random, some for Kerry and others for Bush; all the final tallies were significantly better for Bush than the exit polls predicted. More...

CURRENT - INTERNET - VotersUnite
VotersUnite: Election Problems
VotersUnite! presents the following compilation of problems reported in the media about the 2004 general election. Starting with early voting, we are seeing a wide array of problems, some of which appear in multiple states. This page allows you to see how widespread the problems are as they accumulate. More...

11/18/04 - COLUMBUS, OH - Columbus Free Press
Hearings on Ohio Voting Put 2004 Election in Doubt
The testimony has revealed a widespread and concerted effort on the part of Republican Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell to deny primarily African-American and young voters the right to cast their ballots within a reasonable time. More...

11/18/04 - BERKELEY, CA - Berkeley Media Relations
UC Berkeley Research Team Sounds 'Smoke Alarm' for Florida E-Vote Count
Today the University of California's Berkeley Quantitative Methods Research Team released a statistical study... reporting irregularities associated with electronic voting machines may have awarded 130,000-260,000 or more excess votes to President George W. Bush in Florida in the 2004 presidential election. More...

11/17/04 - MADISON, WI - The Capital Times
Integrity of voting system paramount
The latest paper to cast doubt on the ballot count has been written by Dr. Steven F. Freeman, a faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania, who explored the strange discrepancy that occurred this year between exit polls and the actual count in the so-called battleground states. More...

11/12/04 - NATIONAL - Emerging Democratic Majority
How Big A Role Did Fraud, Ballot Theft and Suppression of the Vote Play in The Election?
In the last few day's accusations of massive vote fraud, ballot theft and suppression of the Democratic vote during the 2004 elections have mushroomed to such a level that both the New York Times and the Washington Post have given the charges front page coverage. More...

11/8/04 - INTERNET - Raw Story
Odds of Bush gaining by 4 percent in all exit polling states 1 in 50,000; Evoting/paper variance not found to be significant
A statistical analysis of exit polling conducted for RAW STORY by a former MIT mathematics professor has found the odds of Bush making an average gain of 4.15 percent among all 16 states included in the media’s 4 p.m. exit polling is 1 in 50,000, or .002 percent. More...

11/08/04 - NATIONAL - MSNBC
Countdown with Keith Olbermann (video)
There is a small but blood curtling group of reports of voting irregularities and possible fraud, principally in Ohio and Florida, and that group of reports is moving from that end of the spectrum in which believers are likely to be wearing hats made out of reynolds wrap, to the other end of the spectrum in which believers are going to the General Accounting Office and perhaps the FBI. Play video

11/8/04 - MADISON, WI - THE CAPITAL TIMES
Election stolen, group suspects: 60 meet at UW, plan next steps
American democracy: a shining city on a hill or gutter politics that steals votes and suppresses voter intent? More...

11/8/04 - ONLINE - TRUTHOUT.ORG
Worse Than 2000: Tuesday's Electoral Disaster
Everyone remembers Florida's 2000 election debacle, and all of the new terms it introduced to our political lexicon: Hanging chads, dimpled chads, pregnant chads, overvotes, undervotes, Sore Losermans, Jews for Buchanan and so forth. More...

11/07/04 - COLUMBUS, OH - The Free Press
None dare call it voter suppression and fraud
Evidence is mounting that the 2004 presidential election was stolen in Ohio. Emerging revelations of voting irregularities coupled with well-documented Republican efforts at voter suppression prior to the election suggests that in a fair election Kerry would have won Ohio. More...

11/7/04 - EDITORIAL - NEW YORK TIMES
New Standards for Elections
The 2004 election may not have an asterisk next to it the way the 2000 election does, but the mechanics of our democracy remained badly flawed. From untrustworthy electronic voting machines, to partisan secretaries of state, to outrageously long lines at the polls, the election system was far from what voters are entitled to. More...

11/6/04 - ONLINE - COMMON DREAMS NEWS CENTER
Evidence Mounts That The Vote May Have Been Hacked
When I spoke with Jeff Fisher this morning (Saturday, November 06, 2004), the Democratic candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida's 16th District said he was waiting for the FBI to show up. Fisher has evidence, he says, not only that the Florida election was hacked, but of who hacked it and how. More...

11/5/04 - COLUMBUS, OH - AP
Glitch gave Bush extra votes in Ohio
An error with an electronic voting system gave President Bush 3,893 extra votes in suburban Columbus, elections officials said. More...

11/5/04 - SAN FRANCISCO, CA - THE NEW YORK TIMES
Glitches Mar San Francisco Balloting
San Francisco's new municipal election system, which relies on an optical scan machine and software that ranks the voters' choice of candidate, failed to work as expected because of a software problem, officials said on Thursday. More...

11/5/04 - ONLINE - WIRED
House Dems Seek Election Inquiry
Three congressmen sent a letter to the General Accountability Office on Friday requesting an investigation into irregularities with voting machines used in Tuesday's elections. More...

11/5/04 - JACKSONVILLE, NC - WSOCTV.COM
Computer Loses More Than 4,000 Early Votes
More than 4,500 Carteret County votes have been lost because officials believed a computer that stored ballots electronically could hold more data than it did. More...

11/5/04 - FORT LAUDERDALE, FL - PALM BEACH POST
Software flaw found in Florida vote machines
Early Thursday, as Broward County elections officials wrapped up after a long day of canvassing votes, something unusual caught their eye. Tallies should go up as more votes are counted. That's simple math. But in some races, the numbers had gone ... down. More...

11/5/04 - ONLINE - THE FREE PRESS
Did Kerry Concede Too Soon?
Kerry conceded on Nov. 3 before some troubling election irregularities have surfaced in Ohio. More...

11/5/04 - OMAHA, NE - WOWT.COM
Countinghouse Blues: Too Many Votes
Sarpy County election officials are trying to figure out how they ended up with more votes than voters in the general election. More...

11/4/04 - ONLINE - TOMPAINE.COM
Kerry Won
Although the exit polls show that most voters in Ohio punched cards for Kerry-Edwards, thousands of these votes were simply not recorded. This was predictable and it was predicted. Once again, at the heart of the Ohio uncounted vote game are, I'm sorry to report, hanging chads and pregnant chads, plus some other ballot tricks old and new. More...

11/4/04 - UPPER PENNINSULA, MI - WLUCTV6.COM
Voting Machine Troubles
The elections are over, but many questions about voting troubles are still unanswered, even in the U.P. More...

11/3/04 - FORT LAUDERDALE, FL - AP
Touchscreen voting troubles reported
Voters nationwide reported some 1,100 problems with electronic voting machines on Tuesday, including trouble choosing their intended candidates. More...

11/3/04 - USA TODAY
E-voting irregularities raise eyebrows, blood pressure
Concern over electronic voting technology was not assuaged Tuesday as glitches, confusion and human error raised a welter of problems across the country ... More...

11/3/04 - ONLINE - WASHINGTON TECHNOLOGY
Maryland e-voting controversy continues in presidential race
A voter advocacy group monitoring the use of electronic voting machines in Maryland reports a number of software glitches occurred during yesterday's presidential election, but state election officials said the allegations were baseless. More...

11/3/04 - ONLINE - THE INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC ACCURACY
Was the Ohio Election Honest and Fair?
Ohio State Senator Teresa Fedor said today: "There was trouble with our elections in Ohio at every stage." [Ohio Secretary of State] Blackwell, while claiming to run an unbiased elections process, was also the co-chair of the Bush-Cheney campaign in Ohio. More...

11/2/04 - RADIO - NPR
Judge Allows Voting Challenges at Ohio Polls
A federal judge in Ohio issues a ruling that will allow political parties to challenge voters' eligibility at the polls. The federal appeals court ruling sides with the Ohio Republican Party, which is challenging the registrations of certain voters. More...

11/2/04 - USA TODAY
Scattered e-voting problems reported
Polling places experienced scattered problems Tuesday morning as legions of lawyers, election-rights activists and computer scientists watched, particularly in battleground states, for any trouble that could disenfranchise voters. More...

11/2/04 - FORT LAUDERDALE, FL - ST. PETERSBURG TIMES
Can South Florida get it right?
As Republican leaders and county officials say they've ensured voting will go well, some Democrats predict disaster and file a lawsuit. More...

11/1/04 - ONLINE - TOMPAINE.COM
An Election Spoiled Rotten
It's not even Election Day yet, and the Kerry-Edwards campaign is already down by almost a million votes. That's because, in important states like Ohio, Florida and New Mexico, voter names have been systematically removed from the rolls and absentee ballots have been overlooked—overwhelmingly in minority areas ... More...

10/30/04 - PORTLAND, OR - THE OREGONIAN
Deceptive tactics inflate GOP voter registration
Canvassers hired by a leading Republican group allegedly misled Oregon college students while gathering signatures. More...

10/29/04 - MIAMI, FL - AP
Fla. Republicans, Democrats trade accusations: Tensions high over fraud claims, missing ballots
Tensions have been mounting in the runup to the presidential election as Florida politicians trade accusations over claims of fraud, missing absentee ballots and concerns that thousands of voter registrations will be challenged in "hand-to-hand combat at the precincts" on Nov. 2. More...

10/29/2004 – COLUMBUS, OH – AP
Ohio GOP Loses Bid to Fight Registrations
A federal appeals court Friday blocked the Republicans from contesting more than 20,000 voter registrations in Ohio before Election Day. The GOP originally challenged about 35,000 voters, but withdrew about 7,500 of those challenges because of mistakes. County elections boards threw out hundreds more. Few registrations have been rejected. More...

10/29/04 - RADIO - NPR
Early Voters in Atlanta Meet Long Lines
Voters in metropolitan Atlanta have been turning out in overwhelming numbers to take advantage of early voting, even though Georgia is not a battleground state and has been put in the column for President Bush. Voters have waited up to four hours at some polling places, and a record turnout is predicted for Tuesday's election. More...

10/28/04 - ONLINE - BBC NEWS
Florida ballot papers go missing
Tens of thousands of postal ballots have gone missing in the state of Florida, sparking fresh fears of irregularities in the US poll campaign. More...

10/28/04 - FORT LAUDERDALE, FL - AP
Some absentee ballots go missing in Florida's Broward County
Election officials are questioning how many of a batch of 58,000 absentee ballots reached Broward County voters who requested them more than two weeks ago. State police investigated but found no criminal violations. More...

10/27/04 - MIAMI, FL - REUTERS.COM
Postal Experts Hunt for Missing Ballots in Florida
U.S. Postal Service investigators on Wednesday were trying to find thousands of absentee ballots that should have been delivered to voters in one of Florida's most populous counties, officials said. More...

10/26/2004 – FLORIDA – BBC NEWS
New Florida vote scandal feared
A secret document obtained from inside Bush campaign headquarters in Florida suggests a plan - possibly in violation of US law - to disrupt voting in the state's African-American voting districts, a BBC Newsnight investigation reveals. More...

10/23/2004 – OHIO - NEW YORK TIMES
THE 2004 CAMPAIGN: BALLOTING; Big G.O.P. Bid to Challenge Voters at Polls in Key State
Republican Party officials in Ohio took formal steps yesterday to place thousands of recruits inside polling places on Election Day to challenge the qualifications of voters. More...

10/15/04 - MIAMI, FL - SALON.COM
Seeing red in Florida
Four years after the biggest voting debacle in U.S. history, many suspect that GOP officials in the crucial state are planning dirty tricks again. More...

10/15/2004 – WEST VIRGINIA – NBC25
Calls Made to Discourage Democrats from Voting
Local republicans get a slap on the wrist after they are accused of trying to persuade democrats not to vote. More...

10/14/04 - TEMPE, AZ - CBS
Voter Fraud Charges Out West
Officials in Oregon have launched a criminal investigation after receiving numerous complaints that a Republican-affiliated group was destroying registration forms filed by Democratic voters statewide, Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury told CBSNews.com. More...

10/13/04 - LAS VEGAS, NV - KLASTV.COM
Investigation into Trashed Voter Registrations
Federal, state, and local officials are gathering information about allegations of voter registration fraud that were first raised Channel 8 Eyewitness News. More...

10/13/04 – WASHINGTON, DC – DNC WEBSITE
McAuliffe Letter Demands Answers from Gillespie On RNC Funded Voter Fraud
Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe sent Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie a letter in which he asks Gillespie why the RNC is funding an organization that is ripping up Democratic voter registrations and other important questions. More...

10/12/04 - NEW YORK, NY - VILLAGE VOICE
Political Prisoners: Minorities struggle to break free of felon voting bans
Nearly 5 million citizens—a hugely disproportionate share of them racial minorities—will not be allowed to vote in next month's presidential election. Laws in 48 states automatically stripped them of that right when they were convicted of a felony. More...

10/10/04 - ONLINE - AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION
Oregon Librarian Thwarts Voter-Registration Fraud
Oregon Librarian Thwarts Voter-Registration Fraud A librarian in Medford, Oregon, uncovered in September the real identity of a group claiming to be part of a nonpartisan, nationwide voter-registration organization called America Votes. More...

10/9/04 - ONLINE - SALON.COM
GOP dirty tricks in Ohio?
Voter registration is exploding in the swing state, but a ruling by the obstructionist Republican secretary of state may result in thousands not voting. More...

10/04 – WISCONSIN – THE PROGRESSIVE
Bullies at the Voting Booth
Republicans may use a variety of tactics to suppress the vote of racial minorities in swing states. These tactics could determine control of the White House or the Senate. More...

9/28/04 - DAYTON, OH - DAYTON DAILY NEWS
Ohio Secretary of State Blocks New Voter Registrations
Voters-rights advocates are criticizing two recent decisions by Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell that they say will unfairly limit some people's ability to vote Nov. 2. More...

09/25/2004 – NEW ORLEANS, LA – WASHINGTON POST
Two Rights Groups Call for Probe of La. Election
Two civil rights groups have asked the Justice Department to investigate an election in which they say voting machine problems prevented as many as 58,000 voters, many of them black, from casting ballots. More...

9/25/2004 – NATIONAL – NPR All Things Considered
Foreign Group to Monitor US Election
A team of international election observers is in the United States in advance of the November vote. The group spent last week examining voting procedures in St. Louis. More...

9/22/04 – WASHINGTON, DC – COMMONDREAMS.ORG
Millions Blocked from Voting in U.S. Election
There are individuals and officials who are actively trying to stop people from voting who they think will vote against their party and that nearly always means stopping black people from voting Democratic. More...

9/21/04 - JACKSON COUNTY, OR - MAIL TRIBUNE
Librarian bares possible voter registration dodge: Company claiming affiliation with the non-partisan 'America Votes' group appears to represent the GOP
A local librarian checking on a company's request to set up a voter registration booth in the library discovered the company was not affiliated with a non-partisan national group as it claimed. More...

9/21/04 – ONLINE– SALON.COM
Voter terrorism
For decades, Republicans have mounted highly organized operations to discourage minorities from voting. Experts say there's no reason to believe this year's presidential campaign will be any different. More...

9/13/04 – NEW YORK, NY – THE NEW YORKER
Poll Position
Is the Justice Department poised to stop voter fraud—or to keep voters from voting? More...

8/16/04 – NEW YORK, NY – NEW YORK TIMES
Suppress the Vote?
Florida is a state that's very much in play in the presidential election, with some polls showing John Kerry in the lead. A heavy-handed state police investigation that throws a blanket of fear over thousands of black voters can only help President Bush. More...

8/8/04 - ONLINE - CBSNEWS.COM
E-Voting: Is The Fix In?
To avoid a fiasco in this fall's election, Congress offered the states $3.9 billion to buy modern voting equipment, reports David Pogue, technology editor of The New York Times. More...

8/04 – ONLINE – PEOPLE FOR THE AMERICAN WAY
The Long Shadow of Jim Crow: Voter Intimidation and Suppression in America Today
With widespread predictions of a close national election, and an unprecedented wave of new voter registration, unscrupulous political operatives will look for any advantage, including suppression and intimidation efforts. As in the past, minority voters and low-income populations will be the most likely targets of dirty tricks at the polls. More...

7/26/04 – ONLINE– DEMOCRACY NOW!
Stealing An Election: Greg Palast Reviews How Florida Is Attempting To Disenfranchise Thousands of Voters (Again)
One of the leading journalists investigating the voter disenfranchisement in Florida during the 2000 elections is investigative reporter Greg Palast, author of the international best-seller "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy." More...

7/2/04 - ONLINE - CNN
Judge rules for media on Florida voter list: Upholds both 'right to inspect' and 'right to copy'
A state court judge in Florida ordered Thursday that the board of elections immediately release a list of nearly 50,000 suspected felons to CNN and other news organizations that last month sued the state for access to copies of the list. More...

6/25/02 - NATIONAL - HARPER'S MAGAZINE
Katherine Harris says Palast 'Twisted and Maniacal'
Have I upset Kate? Darn. The Florida Secretary of State has sent me a heartfelt billet-doux in time for my birthday. Twisted and maniacal? I won't deny it. Most important, she doesn't say I was wrong: her office sent out lists of 57,700 voters—most of them black, almost all of them innocent, to remove from the voter rolls. Harris' letter, despite its berserker tone, is in fact an astonishing confession. More...

4/1/02 - NATIONAL - HARPER'S MAGAZINE
The Great Floride Ex-Con Game: How the 'felon' voter-purge was itself felonious
In November the U.S. media, lost in patriotic reverie, dressed up the Florida recount as a victory for President Bush. But however one reads the ballots, Bush's win would certainly have been jeopardized had not some Floridians been barred from casting ballots at all. More...

12/4/00 - ONLINE - SALON.COM
Florida's flawed "voter-cleansing" program
Secretary of State Katherine Harris hired a firm to vet the rolls for felons, but that may have wrongly kept thousands, particularly blacks, from casting ballots. More...

10/22/98 - WASHINGTON D.C. - HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
Felon Laws Bar 3.9 Million Americans from Voting
A stunning proportion of black men in the United States will not be able to vote in the November elections because they have been convicted of a felony, according to a new report released today by Human Rights Watch and The Sentencing Project. In seven states, a staggering one in four black men is permanently disenfranchised. More...