Democrat Goons Intimidate Florida Voters
Published October 24, 2004
From here:
Republican Party senior adviser Mindy Tucker Fletcher said she had more than a dozen affidavits from voters around the state that would be forwarded to Hood's office.According to the affidavits Fletcher released:
One woman who voted early in Boca Raton, at the Southwest County Regional Library, complained that as she stood in line, two men behind her were "trashing our president," Fletcher said, declining to identify the woman. She tried to ignore them. Then the man touched her arm and said, "Who are you voting for?"
"I said, `I don't think that's an appropriate question,'" the woman said she responded.
"Uh oh! We have a Bush supporter here," screamed the man behind her.
For the 2 1/2 hours she had to wait in line, she was heckled by the man. As they neared the voting room, someone in the rear of the line yelled, "I sure hope everyone here is voting for Kerry!" she reported.
That's when the man behind her held his hand over her head and screamed, "We have a Republican right here!" There were "boos and jeers" from the crowd.
"I felt intimidated, harassed and threatened!" the woman wrote in her complaint to the Republican Party.
Elaine Fandino complained to the Republican Party that she took her mother to vote on South Military Trail in Palm Beach County and was confronted by 25 people supporting John Kerry for president. The crowd was "very angry and used foul language," she reported. She said the man next to her said, "Where's my shotgun?"
In Broward County, at the regional library in Pembroke Pines, a voter complained that Kerry supporters used abusive language about President Bush and had signs and banners within 50 feet of the entrance.
Kerry supporters were "shoving anti-Bush propaganda at us," complained the voter, who said he shouted back "Vote President Bush!"
A woman who voted in Plantation at the West Regional Courthouse said she was offended to see five or six people with "huge stick on badges" for Kerry/Edwards, standing near the voting machines.
"Never in all the years of voting do we remember being allowed to show a badge or poster or literature while inside the area where the voters are standing ready to cast their vote," she wrote.
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RJ Elliott is a graduate student at the University Of Central Florida. His passions in life are sports, politics, nature, and women who have piercings they never told their daddy about. He dislikes daytime television, left-wing dictators, and people who talk like Garrison Keillor. He is ambivalent about the names "Trig" and "Piper."
- Democrat Goons Intimidate Florida Voters
- Published: October 24, 2004
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- Section: Politics
- Filed Under: Politics: Law and Rights
- Writer: RJ Elliott
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Comments on this articleComments
Another close disputed election and I don't believe America's republic will survive. Things have got so polarised that whoever's judged the loser won't accept defeat; I find it difficult to see how things won't become violent.
The French are on their fifth Republic already. I hope America's Second Republic has a better electoral system than this one.
These stories, if true, are terrible and the offenders should be prosecuted. MUST be prosecuted.
Let me note, however, that:
1. Such stories are often fabricated, so we need more data here.
2. Incidentally, we can list such apalling behavior on both sides, and it is usually worse on the right.
3. Although it sucks, electioneering of this kind is common. (Which is, of course, not to say that it's right.) I remember in the '84 election a fratboy and his sorority sis girlfriend stood behind me to vote, her with a big fat Reagan sticker on her sweater. "You know, that's electioneering" sez me, very politely. She looks back at me blankly. "It's illegal," sez me, patiently explaining to her what electioneering was. Poking her nose in the air, she looked away, making no effort to remove the sticker.
4. Incidentally, a house in my down was set on fire because it had an anti-war sign and a U.N. flag on it. Did that bother you?
Some people say that spreading this type of "story" with suspect attribution, and lack of veracity is precisely the sort of thing needed to discourage citizens from voting.
I know, I know, you just shovel the coal, you don't actually choose what the engine does.
By the way, this one time, a friend of mine got back from vacation in Florida, and you wouldn't believe what happened to their toothbrush.
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(Or ping: http://blogcritics.org/mt/tb/21334)
No, no, no... only REPUBLICANS use intimidation, never poor, defenseless Democrats.
Vic