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Dirty Tricks Reported Ahead Of Tuesday’s Election

HeadlineNov 01, 2004

With one day until the presidential elections, reports are coming in across the country of efforts to confuse, intimidate and discourage voters from going to the polls. Ion Sancho, the supervisor of elections in Leon County in Florida, told the Washington Post, “In my 16 years as an election administrator, I’ve never seen anything like this.” In Florida thousands of students have learned that not only was their party registration switched to Republican but their home address was changed without their knowledge. This means that when they show up to vote at their local precinct, their names won’t appear on the voting rolls. In Pittsburgh, fliers were handed out on what looked like county letterhead that claimed voting had been extended an extra day “due to immense voter turnout expected on Tuesday.” The fliers said Republicans should vote on Tuesday and Democrats should vote on Wednesday. In Wisconsin fliers purportedly from the a group calling itself the “Milwaukee Black Voters League” told voters, “If you’ve already voted in any election this year, you can’t vote in the presidential election, If you violate any of these laws, you can get ten years in prison and your children will get taken away from you.” In South Carolina, a letter purportedly from the NAACP warned voters they can not vote if they have outstanding parking tickets or have failed to pay child support.

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