Centerfield

I hope so too, but it can only be big Bush. Kerry might win, but only a close one. Bush is more likely to win a close one, too.

And the laws -- what happens when voters violate the voter reg laws, but still want to vote?

Yeah, Floridians are not eager to go through this again, to say the least.

I grew up in Pensacola ... and my parents are still down there. We always talk about how it's going to be desided either down there or here in Ohio (or both).

Also, FYI, here's the lead from the top story, above the fold, in the Columbus Dispatch this morning:

Voters Report Fake Calls

Friday, October 22, 2004
Suzanne Hoholik

The caller interrupting a North Side couple’s dinner earlier this week said he was from the Franklin County Board of Elections.

He told the elderly woman that her voting site had changed and that on Nov. 2 she and her husband should cast their ballots at a South Side precinct. The caller even left the phone number of the board.

Her husband, who didn’t want their names published out of fear of retribution, called the board, sat through a long menu of automated options and finally spoke with an employee.

"They said there was no way in the world they would make such a call," he said. "I think it’s hankypanky and somebody in the election is trying to kill some votes."

At no time, Elections Director Matthew Damschroder said, does the board call voters.

"The only communication from the board of elections is printed on official board of elections paper with the logo," he said.

"If they’re saying they’re the board of elections, that’s a violation of the law. My recommendation to them would be to cease and desist."

His office has received about a dozen calls since last week from voters checking on similar calls.

Damschroder said there are two scams: The caller tells voters their precincts have changed or the caller offers to pick up an absentee-ballot application, deliver the ballot to the voter and return the completed ballot to the elections office.

By law, the elections board mails absentee ballots and the only deliveries are made to voters in nursing homes by both a Republican and Democratic elections worker. The only person who can return an absentee ballot, besides the voter, is an immediate family member.

"People are calling saying, ‘I got a call last night when I was watching Oprah from this group,’ " Damschroder said. "By law, the board of elections does not give anybody a ballot to deliver."

Carlo LoParo, spokesman for Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, said he hadn’t heard about the scams. But he said he was glad to hear that voters who had received calls reported them to the elections board.

"Election fraud, voter intimidation or providing voters with wrong information is unacceptable," he said. "Anyone engaging in this activity will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

"Anyone contemplating this type of malicious activity should think twice."

All county boards of elections already had planned to send cards informing voters of their voting precinct, Damschroder said, a move that could combat some of these calls.

"The cards will be dropped (in the mail) next Monday for delivery Wednesday," he said.

...yeah, I notice how much evidence he had: slim and none! Krauthammer should shiftcareers into fiction, since he seems tohave a very active imagination....

Of course, the historical record of secret plans isn't too good. Nixon was outright lying when he said he had a secret plan. Chances are, if Kerry had a good plan, he would've explained it.

(X-posted, Jon?)

It would have been helpful of the Columbus Dispatch to note the party registration of the people being called.

The "we'll carry in your ballot" scam is in an old one, usually targeting nursing homes and the home-bound elderly. On the way to the mailbox the absentee ballots somehow end up all turning into votes for one side. This is one of the reasons for false registrations requesting absentee ballots--to have blanks to substitute in for authentic ones.

Yep, that would've been helpful, Tully.

Sounds like a professional operation, whoever's doing it. That suggests they probably have voter lists or some kind of information about party ID.

The voter rolls are public info, WIlliam, and available to everyone, and usually include voting records (if you voted and when, not for whom). I get the complete county database on CD every coupla weeks during campaign season, in order to target new registers and absentee ballot requesters for clients. (No point sending them a "day before election" mailer if they mailed their ballot in two weeks ago! You time the mailers to show up in the mail the same day as the ballot.) So do several dozen (at least!) people and orgs. All legit.

But that doesn't mean it can't be abused, and easily. This is why I harp on the less obvious forms of voter fraud, and greatly object to attempts to make it easier to cheat. Like allowing "show up" voting for the unregistered, even in the wrong precinct, or not requiring ID to register and/or vote. Both of which the Dems are in a national full-court legal press to get allowed this time around. It's not about disenfranchisement, and the pros know it full well. It's about facilitating vote fraud.

Most of these vote scams are old ones, just enhanced with modern technology. The most familiar scam of all is ballot-box stuffing, of course. Even if you know the box was stuffed, if you can't tell which votes are fraudulent you have to honor them all anyway. Galling.