I was volunteering at the Obama campaign offices today, and fielded a call from a woman who was reporting possible voter suppression fraud being committed in Greensboro, NC. Now before I get any further, I want to say that nothing is confirmed, and there is a distinct possibility that the story was merely the result of one person's confusion. But I figured that I should put it out there to see if anyone else is hearing any similar stories. That might help us determine whether or not this is something to be concerned about. Details are over the jump...
As the woman described it, a car with out-of-state plates was driving through a neighborhood close to the center of town, with one driver and one canvasser. But the volunteer who was going to the doors was, as the woman described it, telling people that they could vote right then and there, at their own door, with the canvasser. The woman who called us told us that she was sure that she must be misunderstanding the person, so she asked some more questions, and was pretty sure this person was telling her that she wouldn't have to go to the polls, she could just vote right then and there. She also told us that she had a neighbor who was under the impression that she had just voted with the same person at her door.
In full disclosure, this is not confirmed in any way, and there is some circumstantial evidence that says this may be just a case of poor communication on the part of one or both parties. Official Obama canvassers are working that neighborhood concurrent with the incident, and many of the volunteers are from out of state. We were unable to get a good enough description of either the person in the car or at the door to either rule out or confirm the possibility that these were official canvassers (although the plates were from a state that would be consistent with known canvassers in the area). That being said, the woman who spoke with us asked the canvasser followup questions since she thought it smelled fishy. She also confirmed that her neighbor thought she'd voted at her door, which would be consistent with the fraud theory. She was worried enough about it that she called the Obama office and wanted to make sure she spoke with someone higher up than a sporadic volunteer (i.e. me).
I'm publishing this diary to see if anyone has heard of a similar story. If so, please speak up so we can determine if this is a dirty tricks operation. If not, we can happily let this matter go as a misunderstanding (and rest assured that if it turns out the known canvassers were the ones who spoke to this woman, the communication issues will be dealt with by the organizer who took over the call from me). Thanks!!