Campaign 2006: Dirty Tricks, Undecided Races
by Bob Burnett, from Smirking Chimp
The elections in 2000, 2002, and 2004 featured Republican dirty tricks: extensive voter suppression and iniquitous vote count manipulation. While 2006 saw some of the latter, the main GOP tactic was once again voter suppression: either directly by purging valid names from voter rolls or indirectly by harassing and misleading phone calls.
In roughly 50 key congressional races, likely Democratic voters were bombarded by automatic phone messages, robo calls, that claimed to be from their candidate, but were actually attack ads. GOP dirty tricks were an important factor in seven of the eleven Congressional races whose outcome is yet to be decided.
In Florida 13 Republican Vern Buchanan leads Democrat Christine Jennings by 373 votes in the race for the seat vacated when Katherine Harris ran for Senator. In the days before the election, Jennings supporters were bombarded by an estimated 1 million robo calls . When Dems made it to the polls, many of their votes weren't counted. There were huge problems with touch-screen voting results in Sarasota County where more than 18,000 voters (13 percent of those who cast their ballots) appeared not to have voted in the Congressional race. There were anomalous "undercounts," where votes were cast in races for Governor, Senator, and other contests, but not for the House seat. A recount is underway but seems unlikely to resolve the massive vote irregularity. Some say the new 110th Congress will ultimately have to decide the outcome of this race, when the House convenes in January.
Not surprisingly, GOP dirty tricks also played a role in Ohio. A barrage of robo calls impacted the closest races. Many of the calls gave voters the wrong precinct location. In Ohio 2 Republican incumbent Jean Schmidt is ahead of Democrat Victoria Wulsin by 2323 votes. However, roughly 4700 absentee and provisional ballots won't be counted until the week of November 20. In Ohio 15 Republican incumbent Deborah Pryce leads Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy by 2835 votes. There were massive problems with voter rolls in this district and many Ohio voters experienced long lines and multiple challenges. Roughly 18,000 absentee and provisional ballots remain to be counted by an election board that won't start until the end of the month.
In Connecticut 2 Democrat Joe Courtney leads incumbent Rob Simmons by 67 votes; the recount will be completed this week. Republican-funded robo calls impacted this race. They're also blamed for the defeat of Diane Farrell in Connecticut's 4th Congressional district: many Dem voters were turned off by the around-the-clock calls they thought were coming from her.
(There's more.)
The elections in 2000, 2002, and 2004 featured Republican dirty tricks: extensive voter suppression and iniquitous vote count manipulation. While 2006 saw some of the latter, the main GOP tactic was once again voter suppression: either directly by purging valid names from voter rolls or indirectly by harassing and misleading phone calls.
In roughly 50 key congressional races, likely Democratic voters were bombarded by automatic phone messages, robo calls, that claimed to be from their candidate, but were actually attack ads. GOP dirty tricks were an important factor in seven of the eleven Congressional races whose outcome is yet to be decided.
In Florida 13 Republican Vern Buchanan leads Democrat Christine Jennings by 373 votes in the race for the seat vacated when Katherine Harris ran for Senator. In the days before the election, Jennings supporters were bombarded by an estimated 1 million robo calls . When Dems made it to the polls, many of their votes weren't counted. There were huge problems with touch-screen voting results in Sarasota County where more than 18,000 voters (13 percent of those who cast their ballots) appeared not to have voted in the Congressional race. There were anomalous "undercounts," where votes were cast in races for Governor, Senator, and other contests, but not for the House seat. A recount is underway but seems unlikely to resolve the massive vote irregularity. Some say the new 110th Congress will ultimately have to decide the outcome of this race, when the House convenes in January.
Not surprisingly, GOP dirty tricks also played a role in Ohio. A barrage of robo calls impacted the closest races. Many of the calls gave voters the wrong precinct location. In Ohio 2 Republican incumbent Jean Schmidt is ahead of Democrat Victoria Wulsin by 2323 votes. However, roughly 4700 absentee and provisional ballots won't be counted until the week of November 20. In Ohio 15 Republican incumbent Deborah Pryce leads Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy by 2835 votes. There were massive problems with voter rolls in this district and many Ohio voters experienced long lines and multiple challenges. Roughly 18,000 absentee and provisional ballots remain to be counted by an election board that won't start until the end of the month.
In Connecticut 2 Democrat Joe Courtney leads incumbent Rob Simmons by 67 votes; the recount will be completed this week. Republican-funded robo calls impacted this race. They're also blamed for the defeat of Diane Farrell in Connecticut's 4th Congressional district: many Dem voters were turned off by the around-the-clock calls they thought were coming from her.
(There's more.)
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