I am so sick of all of this GOTV crap. Yeah, you heard me. I think that it’s all (or mostly) crap. Getting Out The Vote sounds great. It sounds very strategic and patriotic and grassroots-y and so forth. It sounds very nice.

But let me tell you people something. George Bush won in 2000 and in 2004 only partly because of a successful GOTV base strategy. The secret to their success lay in systematic voter suppression. That’s Karl Rove’s real strategy. That’s why Republicans think he’s a genius. He’s a cheat, a crook, a bigot and a thief. And he’s figured out how to get away with it scot-free with no fingerprints from his dirty little surprises.

Look, people, it doesn’t matter how many doors you knock on, how many homes you call, how many flyers you hand out, how many robo-calls you send out or ahem stop. If voters get to the polls and then are prevented from actually voting — how effective is that GOTV strategy? Had everyone who wanted to vote in Florida been able to vote in Florida (or have their vote counted), things would be very different.

I am sorry, but it seems the Democrats have learned nothing from 2000 and 2004. There is a lot of denial out there. I watched American Blackout this weekend. You’re busy handing out flyers and Getting Out The Vote to watch the whole movie, so why not just watch the first 5 or 6 minutes of this clip talking about the mechanics of exactly what happened in Ohio in 2004.

Or shucks you’re too busy right — how about I just lay a few numbers on you?

Precinct 25B of Franklin County OH (the largest city there: Columbus)
1523 registered voters
3 voting machines

Precinct 25G
1563 registered voters
5 voting machines

Houston, we have a problem.

In urban precinct after precinct, voter registration was up from 2000 to 2004 by numbers of 25 or more percent. In urban precinct after precinct, 1-2 machines were removed as a result. It’s a simple matter of throughput, folks. If there are only a few machines and voters are concentrated at the polls before and after work, how many people will get to vote? Even if you stand in a 2,3 or 4 hour line (and I mean, IF), what is the chance that the your polling place will stay open long enough for you to cast your vote.

What happened is that machines were moved from the Democratic-leaning urban polling centers to affluent Bush-leaning suburban location. No lines there! What a coincidence!

In a close race, and many of the races that could make the difference especially for the Senate are in dead heats — this type of systematic voter suppression can make the difference between a win or a lose. Oh and BTW, the cost of bringing 1500 voting machines to Franklin County OH is $7.5 million dollars. That sounds like a lot of money, don’t it? Yet, we are spending $177 million dollars a day to bring democratic elections to Iraq. Just so we have this all in the proper perspective.

I am thrilled by the 50 state strategy. I am ecstatic that Dems might actually be able to win back the House or the Senate. On paper. What happens tomorrow though? What will happen on election day? What measures has the DNC, the DSCC, the DCCC, the DLC or whoever’s job this is on the ground in local counties to ensure that all Americans who wish to vote and show up at a polling place are able to vote?

Will our cheers turn to tears tomorrow as they have in the last few elections because people are not facing up to the at-the-poll-booth realities? Why are bloggers and/or the media not hounding down polling preparations to uncover where voter suppression is likely to happen next and stop it before it becomes reality? AGAIN…

That’s what I want to know.

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