Lakhota
Diamond Member
By Aviva Shen
Conservative poll observers are gearing up for Election Day, when they will watch for possible instances of voter fraud and challenge voters they find suspicious. As ThinkProgress reported, many of these volunteers have been fed false or misleading information about voting rights by the Romney campaign and independent Tea Party groups like True the Vote. True the Vote encourages its poll watchers to build relationships with election administrators because they control the access to the vote.
But one True the Vote affiliate, the Ohio Voter Integrity Project, is taking their election interference one step further. Ohio VIP has recruited and dispatched poll workers who will not be merely observing, but directly involved in the voting process in a crucial swing state.
While in-person voter fraud is exceedingly rare, overzealous poll workers could jeopardize legitimate votes by forcing them to use provisional ballots, which cannot be counted until November 17. Ohios provisional ballot mess is already threatening to disenfranchise thousands of legitimate voters the bulk of whom live in urban, minority-heavy areas like Hamilton County, which contains Cincinnati. In 2004, Ohio tossed out thousands of provisional ballots, concentrated in Hamilton and the states four other urban counties. Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) lost Ohio by a narrow margin in 2004, allowing George W. Bush to win a second term.
More: Volunteers For Voter Suppression Group Installed As Election Officials In Ohio | ThinkProgress
Tea Party Group Builds 'Poll Watcher' Network To Discourage Voting, Create False Record Of Voter Fraud | ThinkProgress
Poll watchers could bring "chaos" in Ohio and elsewhere, national expert says | Dispatch Politics