Staff Blog
Voter intimidation tactics are afoot at Drexel
The Drexel Dems Web site has an item up about a flyer taped to several tables across campus, essentially saying that anyone who goes to vote on Nov. 4 will be arrested if they have any outstanding traffic violations or warrants.
The letter, which was signed Anonymous, also said that the license plates of cars will be checked for traffic violations and that cars will be immobilized if a search comes up positive.
Let's make something immediately clear: this is all a lie, no doubt designed to intimidate many first-time college-age voters.
The Committee of 70 has everything you need to know about what to bring to the voting booth on Nov. 4. Seventy also says that if you run into any problems on election day, call the hotline at 1-866-OUR-VOTE.
Also, here's a list of polling places.
Here's the flyer in question:
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| Lies |
I saw one of those the other day and tore it down and took it with me. To me it reads like someone who is trying to sound crazy. Why would they do that? What works better: “I don’t like the idea of a black president and I don’t like black people and I’m telling you not to go out and vote on election day” or “Hi! I’m really paranoid but there might be a grain of truth to my crazy! They’re going to be arresting people at polling places - just like South Philly last month - so if you have any kind of business with the law, you shouldn’t show up. I’m a fan of this stuff, of course.”
The reason I vote for fake crazy is because the tone shifts so wildly from the beginning, where they seemed opposed to the idea and were just ranting about how scary it all is, to the end, where they seem to be down with it. It just comes off like someone who is trying really, really hard to come off as a super paranoid wingnut who is just looking out for people. Also, them being a student? I’m not buying it.
On the other hand, they just might be a super paranoid wingnut! It’s quite possible. It’s just that their missives tend to not read like that.
[...] September 25, 2008 at 8:31 pm (politics) Tags: politics Pandagon posted an article today via the Philadelphia City Paper, Voter intimidation tactics are afoot at Drexel. [...]
[...] it on September 22. It was posted to the wiki after Tom Namako’s City Paper article Voter Intimidation Tactics are Afoot at Drexel, on September 24, and the 1-866-OUR-VOTE folks issued an alert Watching out for deceptive campaign [...]
As a Drexel Alumni I am appalled by any attempt at voter intimidation. If this is the mood of the campus today then I will no longer contribute to the Annual Fund and I urge other Alumni to support other educational venues aside from Drexel. Let’s hit Drexel where it hurts, in the wallet. October is time for the Annual Fund and they get nothing and like it from me.
Not quite as scary as the 2 Black Panthers standing in front of the doors of a polling station in Philly just a few hours ago. Oh yeah…and one of them had a baton that he was smacking into his hand!
In any event, this paper is stupid and the Black Panthers are violent and stupid.
[...] election-stealing to an art form. How many stories of hanging chads, vote-flipping, and voter suppression do we need to hear before someone gets prosecuted? Despite what John McCain says, this kind of [...]