You'd think that getting caught destroying Voter Registration forms signed by Democratic-leaning citizens -- would get serious attention, and perhaps even serious jail time too.
You'd think that -- but you'd be wrong. No those kind of Voter Suppression operatives -- simply live to "Block our Votes" on another day. That this continues unabated is quite simply outrageous. Or at least it should be.
Voter Fraud Charges Out West
by Joel Roberts, CBS News -- Feb 11, 2009
[...]
Both state's allegations [Oregon & Nevada] are linked to a Phoenix political consulting firm called Sproul & Associates run by Nathan Sproul, former head of the Arizona Republican Party. Sproul & Associates has received nearly $500,000 from the Republican National Committee this election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
[...]
Late Thursday afternoon, two Democratic senators, Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, sent a letter to Attorney General John Ashcroft asking the Justice Department to "launch an immediate investigation into the activities of Mr. Sproul and his firm."
According to KLAS-TV, a former employee claimed hundreds, if not thousands, of Democratic registration forms were destroyed by a Sproul & Associates group called Voters Outreach of America.
[...]
While Nevada is considering an investigation, Oregon's is well underway. Bradbury expects to have more than 200,000 new registered voters in Oregon by Election Day, when all the forms are tallied and verified. He said that they are now paying particular attention to issues of improper registration.
[...]
In Nevada and Oregon, Sproul allegedly canvassed voters for which candidate they intend to support. If voters were leaning Republican, the group is said to have assisted in their registration. If they leaned Democratic, the group allegedly ignored them or later destroyed the form.
It is illegal to destroy voting registration material.
[...]
That was 4 years ago. A little-known Republican Election Fraud operative,
never saw the long arm of the Law then. No instead he managed to re-invent himself (as Lincoln Strategies), and survived to ply his services to the Republican Suppressors of the current day (2012).
No matter how much the RNC may feign outrage -- they were buying a specific "set of skills" when they hired Nathan Sproul to tilt the odds in their favor, in swing states all across America (Colorado, Florida, Virginia, Colorado, North Carolina, Nevada, Ohio, Wisconsin).
This should be a very big deal. It's deceptively messing with the core of our Democracy.
I refuse to believe this kind of Voter Suppression, is "just how it's done" ... or that "both sides do this -- so what's the problem?"
I refuse to surrender our Constitutional rights, to think-tank talking points. The Rights of American Citizens must be upheld -- not systematically suppressed, with the suppressors only to be quickly ignored, by the Media; and then by the Justice system.
Fast-forward to the 2012 Election season ...
Romney Quietly Hires Consulting Firm With Sordid History Of Destroying Democratic Voter Registration Forms
by Lee Fang, RepublicReport.org -- June 6, 2012
[...]
Late last year, Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign began paying Nathan Sproul, a political consultant with a long history of destroying Democratic voter registration forms and manipulating ballot initiatives. Sproul, who changed his firm’s name from Sproul and Associates to Lincoln Strategies, has received over $70,000 from Romney’s campaign {currently $80,000}. [...]
* In Nevada, people who registered as Democrats with Lincoln Strategies -- then known as Sproul and Associates -- found their names absent from the voter registration rolls. [Reno Gazette-Journal, 10/29/04]
[...]
Though Romney and his allies have decried supposed voter fraud by his opponents, they don’t have any evidence that people are illegally voting. Most accusations of Democratic voter fraud center on registration forms filled out by fake people -- usually because signature gatherers are paid per-form -- but these accusations do not include examples of these fake people actually attempting to vote. On the other hand, when a person goes to vote and learns their voter registration form was never turned in, they are denied their rights.
[...]
In other words --
actual Voter Suppression is occurring ... Because of Lincoln Strategies procedures.
Yet Lincoln Strategies was hired by the Romney Campaign and by the RNC -- for the special skill-set on Sproul's resume:
To prevent as many Democratic leaning citizens from voting, as possible.
Let a well-coached and very naive employee of Lincoln Strategies explain what she is being paid to do, when she asks "Are you registered to Vote?"
Colorado: Safeway voter registration
link to video
The RNC's fake outrage doesn't cut it anymore. Nathan Sproul needs to go to jail. Those who hired him need to be held accountable -- in the stark light of Photo-ID day.
They are messing with the very fabric of Democracy.
Registering people to Vote -- only to have them to show up Election Day and find out they're not -- is Not funny.
In fact, it's criminal.
And according to Senator Barbara Boxer -- it's a Federal-FBI-investigation offense. So we should no longer sit back and take it -- like we did in the days of John Ashcroft.
We should instead demand Justice. This kind of citizenship suppression should not stand, to live another day.