One bad apple can spoil the entire batch, apparently. So that’s it. No more last minute voter registration.
The danger of fraudulent registration isn’t when you have Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck signed up to vote . Obviously Mickey and Donald aren’t going to show up and vote. They aren’t real people. Someone has cheated the firm but the voting process is still uncompromised. Not so if someone thinks they are registered to vote and they are not.
Let’s say John Jones registers to vote and indicates he might be voting Democrat. His registration papers are pulled so as to not put a Democrat in the mix. John Jones goes to vote on Nov. 6 and no one has ever heard of him, he doesn’t get to vote, and gives the home court advantage to the Republicans. There is your voter fraud. To be fair, it can also work in opposite. It just depends on who is doing the registration.
I have received 3 voter registration cards. I am not quite sure why I need so many but I have every last one of them. Virginia doesn’t register by party so I suspect the Old Dominion’s integrity as far as voter registration isn’t as open to compromise and fraud. At least with that voter registration card you can check to see that you are registered to vote.
I expect Republicans who are embarrassed and angered by this type of behavior would like to walk back all those nasty comments about ACORN now. They have their own set of voter registration problems. Most likely they are furious at RNC for hiring this company and putting all their eggs in one basket. This was a bad strategic loss and the states and individual republicans deserve better.
Can individual volunteers pick up the slack and go sit in public places to register voters? How much vetting needs to be done for those who register people? I have to admit, I am clueless on this process. I registered to vote so many years ago I am sure my name is down in the original Prince William County catacombs under the old Court House.
Is there anything that can be done? I hope at least they get their money back. We may be partisan as snakes but I think all of us want to play fairly, don’t we?
I see the same problem as you – voters who think they are registered going to the polls and finding that their names aren’t there as registered voters. It seems some publicity about checking with the registrar in those states where Strategic Allied Consultant was active is in order. Ugh. I’d hate to have to deal with this mess.
I can see a real melee breaking out over that.
So how disasterous is this for the election and will volunteers be able to at least sign up potential voters?
Karma sure is a bitch! I just find it interesting that the same issue described as a broader conspiracy theory for ACORN employees is seen quite differently by the right. There ARE bad apples in every business. They have used this firm before and from what I understand, the owner is quite pissed to have been summarily fired.
Thie firm had such a bad reputation that the Republicans made them change their names before they would hire them. This sounds like a new coke decision to me.
@Elena
Except with ACORN, it involved federal money, criminal investigations, political protection, and a reinvention of ACORN in order to get even more federal money.
Here, the GOP took care of business so that there is no impropriety.
ACORN also reported its own problems to start with. It was a great over reaction by old Brietbart. Frankly, I see it as tit for tat. Are you absolutely sure no taxpayer money was involved in this other situation? Hmmm…anything dealing with voter registration involves taxpayer money to some degree.
Cargo, I am going to be honest and tell you that you just gripe my ass when you can’t discuss something without puffing up and trying to make your guys look better than the other guys. That is so counter productive. Show me where in the original post where I did that.
@Cargosquid
Don’t be so quick to rule out reinvention in this case.
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/10/03/3574358/strategic-allied-consulting-knew.html
There could well be….still, this company is private. It did not scam gov’t money for partisan efforts. If the GOP used it because it knew…. well the GOP deserves what it gets. If it did the right thing and found out that the company was crooked….it deserves credit.
They didn’t want to be embarrassed. They did the the right thing. It sounds like someone short cutted in the first place. that happens.