What we are up against

3 November 2004

Mark Kleiman, quoting TNR’s election blog:

This year, the GOP opted out of using challengers, instead installing party-affiliated poll workers at as many sites as it could. One site, deep in the west end of the city (a heavily African American area), was Shawnee High School. There, a Republican poll worker reportedly challenged a number of voters to provide credentials other than typical identification and forced them to wait in already congested lines for illogical amounts of time while he called the board of elections.

As he forced voter Alycia Underwood to stand there waiting, the worker demanded to know her party affiliation. When Underwood refused to answer, he told her she would not be allowed to vote. She said she argued the point with him for several minutes before storming out of the building frustrated and unsure of what had just transpired.

Just outside the door she explained to the two Election Protection workers what had taken place, while a group (including me) gathered to listen. The Election Protection monitors called ACLU lawyers, who worked with Underwood to eventually resolve the situation; it ended with her casting a ballot at a neighboring site.

According to Tomas Bernal, one of the poll monitors, the poll worker who questioned Underwood had done so to a number of others. The sheriff and board of elections officials were summoned twice to diffuse potentially ugly scenes. Bernal and his colleague report that at least 10 voters were deterred by the worker, most of whom said they simply didn’t have time to wait around.

That entry is datelined Louisville, Kentucky. If Republicans are pulling this kind of crap in Kentucky, which neither side ever considered a swing state, what have they been doing in Ohio and Florida?

• Later: What is to be done?
• Earlier: Four Moore years?