Three weeks ago my twenty year old daughter came home and told me she had registered to vote. Caroline was really excited about being able to vote for the first time and being able to cast her vote for Barack Obama.
However she was disturbed by her experience in registering to vote.
This Los Angles Times article shows many voters have been duped into registering as Republicans.
Jacoby's arrest by state investigators and the Ontario Police Department late Saturday came after dozens of voters said they were duped into registering as Republicans by people employed by YPM
Her story continues below the fold:
I had been pestering Caroline to register to vote but she had not gotten around to it. While she was walking into a Wal-Mart in Simi Valley a guy asked her if she wanted to register to vote. She filled out a registration form and checked the box for "Independent" for party affiliation. The guy took her form and told her that to be able to vote for anyone she needed to register as a Republican. She got upset and told him that she was not going to vote for McCain and she did not want to be registered as a Republican. The guy reassured her that she would be able to vote for Obama. He also struck up a conversation with her and shared his story. He had made some mistakes and went to prison. He is a felon that was recently released and is on parole. No one wanted to hire him and this was the only job he could get. He was being paid based on the number of registrations he submitted. Caroline made no changes to her registration form and thought okay I've just helped the guy out and didn't think any more of it.
Fast forward three weeks, Caroline received her voter registration card in the mail and it said she was registered as a Republican. She showed me the card and asked if that meant that she had to vote for John McCain. I've of course reassured her that she can vote for whomever she wants in the general election.
I wonder though how many others this has happened to? How many believe that the party affiliation on their cards means they can't vote for the person they really want? Is this a tool for voter supression?
I don't blame the guy who registered her. He desperately needs the money and was used by the company who hired him. These companies are paying for Republican registration only. This must violate election laws. Why isn't the MSM reporting these issues. The issues of voter rolls being purged and the issues regarding Diebold machines. We need to get these stories out there.