Hecklers interrupt Obama's Cincinnati rally

Larry Downing / Reuters

President Obama is interrupted by an anti-abortion protester as he speaks at a campaign event at Fifth Third Arena at the University of Cincinnati, Nov. 4.

 

CINCINNATI, OHIO -- As President Obama tried to maximize the precious few stops he has left in crucial Ohio, his rally here Sunday night was full of musical interludes, but not without a few interruptions.

Taking the stage at the University of Cincinnati shortly after R+B superstar Stevie Wonder warmed up the crowd, the president was sidetracked by a lone protestor up in the rafters, who held a sign and yelled, his words loud but hard to make out.

“I guess y’all are still fired up,” Obama said as the crowd began a counter-chant of “four more years!” attempting to drown the heckler out.


At first the president tried to soldier through and deliver his remarks over the protestor, but he finally gave in as the crowd cheered on state troopers who pried the man away from the balcony bars he had grabbed onto.

Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP

President Barack Obama reaches over to greet supporters before speaking at in Cincinnati.

But it wasn’t over yet – there was still one more protestor who had to be removed from the arena.

“It’s okay folks. Everybody, it’s okay. We’re good,” Obama said before once again giving up until the cheering and shouting subsided.

Despite the dissonance at the beginning of his remarks, the rest of the president’s event was much more harmonious, given that Wonder played the president offstage to “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” – an Obama campaign favorite.

As the band struck up the first recognizable chords of the song, most of the 13,500 audience members started to dance and clap along.

Not even the president could resist – he was seen shuffling back and forth, modestly clapping to the beat.

After his event in Cincinnati, the president headed to Aurora, Colorado, where he would be joined by singer/songwriter Dave Matthews.

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Democrats for Romney!

  • 7 votes
Reply#59 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 7:02 AM EST

appropriate user name you have there, confused

    Reply#60 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 7:06 AM EST

    @HoosYer- Yes, I admit that I WAS a confused voter but one word changed everything for me. BENGHAZI! I am not confused anymore.......didn't want to change my user name like most of you do on these posts, especially those paid TROLLS for Obama.

    • 5 votes
    #60.1 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 7:38 AM EST
    Reply

    Well, at least the heckler was able to get in the building. Back in the days of "W" Bush, protestors were kept in holding areas far away from the president and it was rare for someone with an opposing viewpoint to ever get near the building, much less inside. I'm sure a lot of those that lean towards the GOP mindset don't remember those times, do you!

    • 2 votes
    Reply#61 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 7:15 AM EST

    WOMEN for Richard Mourdick AND Todd Akin, Romney/Ryan!!!!!

    • 4 votes
    Reply#62 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 7:17 AM EST

    CantAfford:

    I was AT that rally. The line to get in, five and six people across, stretched for more than two miles. There were so many that the venue could not hold all the people, and several thousand had to go to an overflow area. I was in the overflow area, where President Obama came first to speak, before going into the main venue area. That crowd was FIRED UP.

    We stood and walked in line in the cold for three hours, then waited another hour in the venue, and it was still more than worth it. Don't repeat lies; you look like a fool.

    • 1 vote
    Reply#63 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 7:29 AM EST

    This is a NON-STORY!

    Of course there are extremists all over America.

    When did that become "news" ...???

    • 1 vote
    Reply#64 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 7:35 AM EST

    5.4 million people added to SSA disability during obama.

    All the people whose unemployment ran out

    Then 32% increase in welfare - we now pay over 1 trillion per year.

    The people that dropped out of the job market entirely and are no longer looking.

    The people that took part time positions.

    All of the above are NOT COUNTED for the unemployment figures.

    We are far worse than they are spouting for their idea of recovery.

    Obama simply must go on Tuesday.

    • 5 votes
    Reply#65 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 7:55 AM EST

    benghazi is a GREAT incident for a middle class american to base their vote on. brilliant! wonder why Romeny hasn't brought it up on the campaign trail in the last 3-4 weeks?

    i'm not sure if i'll vote for OBAMA because of the color of his skin. wait, i can't say that.....so how about THIS. i'm not sure if i'll vote for OBAMA because of ALL those people in new jersey who Obama isn't concerned about. Yeah, that's it!!! Or...maybe he isn't an American?

    a middle class american voting for romeny is like a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders! good luck with your benghazi decision.

    • 3 votes
    Reply#66 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 8:11 AM EST

    Benghazi is important to a great many people, including our active duty Military who is going 20 to 1 against Obama.

    How come they won't come out with their investigation until after the election? It takes almost 2 months?

    How do you think the emails got leaked? By someone that works for Obama that is disgusted with what he did.

    But you continue to believe it's a non issue.

    We have a better chance with Romney putting this country back together than we will ever have with Obama.

      #66.1 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 8:24 AM EST

      How do you know active duty is going 20 to 1 against the president.

      Please provide evidence of this, specifics, stats, something other than your mouth..

      Did you talk to every single military active duty person across the country and did they tell you they were against the president. NO, you did not talk to millions of active duty members.

        #66.2 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 10:01 AM EST
        Reply

        BRONCO BAMA/BIDEN 2012!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

        • 2 votes
        Reply#67 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 8:20 AM EST

        Clearly, Romeny would have prevented the attack in Benghazi. He would have surrounded the embassy with TANKS, MISSILES, BOMBS, and 10,000 troops. He would do the same at every embassy around the world!!!

        Looking out for YOUR best interests....Gov. Romeny

        • 2 votes
        Reply#68 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 8:33 AM EST

        Someone needs to tell Romeny to start bringing up Benghazi while he's nearing the finish line. He's forgotten to mention this IMPORTANT blunder of Obama that rises to the level of impeachment and treason....at least.

        • 1 vote
        Reply#69 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 8:35 AM EST

        The press has done a great deal to try to shield Obama from it and certainly the Obama administration has done plenty to deflect it.

        The majority of the military and a great many Americans have this in our minds plenty and i am sure it will show in Tuesday's vote.

        • 2 votes
        #69.1 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 8:40 AM EST
        Reply

        News Alert - Democrat Lawyers ready to petition for late voting until Christmas, if Obama does not win tomorrow! LOL

        • 1 vote
        Reply#70 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 8:38 AM EST

        Good for the lawyers........with the lines i've seen for early voting throughout the country, predominantly in inner cities and heavily deomcratic areas, they may want to petition for late voting until Spring 2013.

        wake up.....it's as obvious as the dog atop romeny's car

        • 2 votes
        Reply#71 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 8:42 AM EST

        Yes they want many people to vote twice so Obama stands a chance.

        Tuesday is going to be a surprise for a lot of people.

        • 1 vote
        #71.1 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 8:46 AM EST

        Momma Dukes,

        You will be the first one suprise after Romney is defeated and all your hatred for our president is gonna have to last 4 more years. Hope you got plenty of tissue tomorrow night.

          #71.2 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 10:03 AM EST
          Reply

          It appears too easy to solicit the entertainers for a rally but too difficult to send support to an American Consulate under attack. We see where the priorities are! As a retired military citizen, I will not give you an approval for another term

          • 2 votes
          Reply#72 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 8:48 AM EST

          He spent his entire presidency either campaigning or going on TV shows like he's a rock star.

          His priorities have always been screwed up.

          • 2 votes
          #72.1 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 8:49 AM EST
          Reply

          If troopers dragged two Free Speech protestors away at a Romney Rally, he would have been called a Nazi. When Hussein does it, his Kool-Aid Drinkers cheer. That says it All about the Pathetic One called Zero. Good Riddance Failure. Start Packing!

          • 2 votes
          Reply#73 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 8:50 AM EST

          NBC was quick to let you know that Colin Powell endorsed Obama, let's see if they tell you today that ..................

          500 Admirals, Generals Endorse Romney with the full page ad in the Washington Times.

          THAT'S VERY TELLING ON WHAT THEY THINK OF OBAMA AS COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF.

          • 1 vote
          Reply#74 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 8:51 AM EST

          Same ad was in my paper The Virginian Pilot yesterday.

            #74.1 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 8:53 AM EST

            Ok idiots, do 500 generals speak for MILLIONS of other military folks.

              #74.2 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 10:04 AM EST
              Reply

              Can't wait for Romneys concession speech tomorrow night. I might even watch it on Fox.

              • 1 vote
              Reply#75 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 8:52 AM EST

              Tomorrow I'm having a Mittballs sandwich! Unfortunately, I'll be hungry again in 30 mins.

              • 1 vote
              Reply#76 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 8:56 AM EST

              Hecklers interrupt Obama's Cincinnati rally

              Stay classy Teabaggers!

              • 1 vote
              Reply#77 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 9:02 AM EST

              Yes about as classy as it is when hecklers have disrupted R/R, and the posters on FR thought that was hysterical.

              OH but that was ok because those people were Obama supporters?

              Well they have a perfect example of no class, it's the family living lavishly on taxpayer expense while telling us we have to tighten our belts.

              I still want someone to tell me why they have to take separate planes? Cuz maybe they really can't stand each other?

              • 2 votes
              #77.1 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 9:07 AM EST
              Reply

              If thet were to happen and it won't, it would be because O decided we don't need to vote he will allways be president. . . .welcome to Korea ! Yes no more republicans,. . . How bout no more Democracy,We tried to tell ya in 08 he would be a tricky one,now everyone has seen him in action,or I should say his natural habitat rubbing elbows with all the Hollywood winers and tells you to pay more taxes and the 1% is Evil,he would know,that's who he buddies around with,you should all go bye bye where your dreams can come true,mabe you can have an outreach with the starving of those country's that you want to model America after,hey all start out like wolves in sheeps clothing.

              • 1 vote
              Reply#78 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 9:08 AM EST

              Actually republicans have decided that Democrats should not have the right to vote..........you know the whole voter suppression thing?

                #78.1 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 9:24 AM EST

                We all know it was the Republicans who sent that letter to Republican voters in Florida telling them they couldn't vote?

                There is shenanagins on both sides, which is why I support having to present an ID to vote.

                You need ID for most other things in life but to try to waive that rule for voting? Doesn't make any sense and I am very surprised how everyone is trying to fight it.

                • 2 votes
                #78.2 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 9:25 AM EST

                Actually republicans have decided that Democrats should not have the right to vote..........you know the whole voter suppression thing?

                It's not voter suppression, it's voter ID.

                What's the matter Democrats can't carry IDs?

                • 3 votes
                #78.3 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 10:01 AM EST

                To..johnny"""

                No it's voter suppression ..The need for a voter ID nonsense has been debunked as BS in study after study ..a long time ago ...republicans just don't want blacks .. minorities to vote and we all know why

                  #78.4 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 10:14 AM EST

                  Amunaka- and why is that? We are all listening

                  • 2 votes
                  #78.5 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 10:19 AM EST

                  To..one""""

                  You live in a bubble...I mean repubs ain't even trying to hide that fact ...

                  Well we've all heard the story's about ACORN busing blacks for cigarettes and crack to different polling places to vote as Mickey Mouse and Mary Poppins over and over again... we know the Black Panthers terrorized and prevented white people from voting all over the country back in 2008 .. we know illegal immigrants came flooding across the border just to vote for Obama ..we know the dead rose up from their graves to vote on a straight democratic ticket..

                  ( well all according to fox news anyway)

                  But nobody ever talks about or mentions the E. voting and vote counting machines .. who owns the company's that make the machines .. where are they made..who makes the software that goes into them...who has control over the machines from state to state....how many documented problems have they had with these machines in the past..how easy are they to hack into ..how easily could they flip an election without leaving a paper trail.... and how would anybody ever even know...

                  wonder why do we never hear about those things

                    #78.6 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 10:35 AM EST

                    Do you mean they are using Karl Rove's plan to steal the election twice and keep a half brain like He Who Must Not Be Named in power for 8 years?

                    • 1 vote
                    #78.7 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 11:06 AM EST

                    VObamademort?

                      #78.8 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 12:09 PM EST
                      Reply

                      Obama has turned the office of the presidency into something akin to the reality tv-sitcoms so popular with todays uneducated, unemployed and easily mentally manipulated segment of our society. They receive their values from movie stars(?) basking in the self association it gives them, and other entertainers such as musicians (because they know so much about politics). They think to themselves - why Decaprio and Wonder are voting the same way as I am - thus I'm informed and on the same level of them. Such childlike wonder as the average Obama voters looks at the world and the parents around them.

                      Independent thought seems lost with these sheep.

                      Not sure yet who will win the day, but to the Obama supporters- we'll tuck you in bed and make sure you are taken care of. II wish they could free their minds and think - and see the reality of the world around them, but with slogans (and only empty slogans) like hope and change/ forward they have bought an empty bag of goods - but it seems to be in their nature to pursue style over substance. Poor politically correct followers.

                      • 3 votes
                      Reply#79 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 9:16 AM EST

                      Bill, you do realize Romney and Ryan have "adopted" Obama's "hope and change" argument without ANY accompanying details to speak of? That would pretty much make Romney and Ryan an empty bag of goods according to your own logic right?

                      • 3 votes
                      #79.1 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 9:22 AM EST

                      And that assumption is based on what actions (as compared to Obamas)? Just because a flawed, totally unprepared and corrupt politically correct individual propelled into an office he could not govern does not mean these mean these men of talent will not deliver.

                      • 2 votes
                      #79.2 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 9:28 AM EST

                      Perhaps Mitt should have "delivered" some details behind his tax plan?

                      • 1 vote
                      #79.3 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 9:51 AM EST

                      Ed, either you are not listening, you can't read, or you just are ignoring the facts. Romney has given many more facts and details about his plans than what Obama has. All I hear from Obama is more of the same agenda. An agenda that didn't work for four years. If you want 4 more years of lies, deceit, and corruption, then vote for Obama and you will get what you deserve. Personally, I want what is best for America....and Obama is not the answer. In fact he is the oxi-moron to what is best for America.

                      • 3 votes
                      #79.4 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 11:45 AM EST

                      Exactly.

                        #79.5 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 12:56 PM EST
                        Reply

                        The Heckler's were screaming "BENGHAZI" - "BENGHAZI".............

                        • 2 votes
                        Reply#80 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 9:20 AM EST

                        To..Proud""

                        Pretty pathetic repubs doing a happy dance over four dead Americans in Benghazi ...thinking they got their 9/11 moment ...in the last gasp of desperation in their hate for Obama ...good luck with all that ...

                        • 1 vote
                        #80.1 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 11:01 AM EST

                        they are hardly doing a happy dance! they are the only ones that seem to care about what happened and trying to find the truth since all we got from the administration is lies!

                        • 1 vote
                        #80.2 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 11:54 AM EST

                        To ..tlb""""

                        Right ...

                          #80.3 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 2:44 PM EST
                          Reply

                          I lost all respect for President Obama when he gave 2 million work visas to illegal aliens. No US President can pick and choose which laws should be enforced. We should enforce all US immigration laws.

                          • 5 votes
                          Reply#81 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 9:25 AM EST

                          Yes, but he had to find a way to buy their votes somehow!

                          • 5 votes
                          #81.1 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 9:41 AM EST

                          Reagan? Republican short memories should be studied as a new pathology.

                          • 2 votes
                          #81.2 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 11:07 AM EST

                          I lost all respect for President Obama when he gave 2 million work visas to illegal aliens. No US President can pick and choose which laws should be enforced. We should enforce all US immigration

                          ******************************************************

                          EITHER YOU are under 30, or stupid, or both

                          Ronald Reagan On Immigration: "I Believe In The Idea Of Amnesty"

                          Doug Mataconis · Thursday, September 8, 2011 · 22 Comments

                          Following up on the clip from a 1980 Reagan/Bush debate that Alex Knapp posted last night, here's more of Ronald Reagan on immigration from the second 1984 Presidential Debate with Walter Mondale:

                          Two years later, Congress passed and Reagan signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act, which included a provision that granted amnesty to any illegal immigrant who had entered the United States prior to January 1, 1982 and resided here continuously.

                          http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/ronald-reagan-on-immigration-i-believe-in-the-idea-of-amnesty/

                          • 1 vote
                          #81.3 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 11:41 AM EST

                          Dan, we aren't electing Reagan. We are talking about now and the future of this country. I personally don't care what Reagon did in the past, be it for the economy or for citizenship, or even how great of a president he was. I'm more interested in what Obama or Romney is going to get this country out of the mess that it is in. The only think I see is that this country is in worst shape than it was 4 years ago.

                          We are 6 trillion dollars more in debt. The unemployment rate is higher now than it was 4 years ago. Race relations are the worst they have been in the past 40 years. The middle class is disappearing at a rapid rate. Twice as many people are on food stamps than 4 years ago.

                          To me Obama is not the answer for the future of this country. Romney might not be either. But one thing I know is that he cannot be any worst than Obama has been, because Obama has hit the bottom of the well.

                          • 3 votes
                          #81.4 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 11:52 AM EST

                          We have how many millions of people out of work and he wants to give them amnesty so they can take more american jobs how on earth does that make sense!

                            #81.5 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 11:55 AM EST

                            Dan: Just stop. These types are not interested in facts. They form their point and look for things to support it. If they find facts opposed to their point, they don't change their minds, they just ignore the facts. #goniners

                            • 3 votes
                            #81.6 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 12:14 PM EST

                            Harry, you sound semi-intelligent, so here goes..

                            Obama may not be perfect, but he has endured MORE OBSTRUCTIONISM that any other POTUS in our nations history..

                            How is he supposed to do his job when that is happening?

                            Things that the GOP ACTUALLY STOOD FOR, THEIR IDEAS, when adopted by Obama, they became toxic and evil.

                            NO MATTER WHAT

                            IE: the debt ceiling..

                            The GOP holding the country hostage when the same GOP voted to raise it under Bush 12 times

                            The closest we had come to that type of obstruction was when Newt did the same thing, ONCE, and let the country shut down..

                            HE THEN LOST HIS JOB for it

                            DID ANY REPUBLICAN lose their job after holding the country hostage with Obama?

                            Harry YOU claimed you lost respect for Obama when he gave VISAs, NOT AMNESTY, but then in a rebuttal you say that what Reagan did was in the past, and that doesnt matter..

                            WELL IT DOES MATTER, it matters to the point of what Im trying to have you understand and that is Obama endures the obstruction, and yes, RACISM, that he has had to for 4 yeras..

                            I dont care who is POTUS, with that against you, you will NOT be able to do the job you were elected to do..

                            AND YET, HE HAS MANAGED to do well anyway

                            OH and as for the 6 trillion, how about GW not only spending the surplus, but putting us into A TEN TRILLION DOLLAR DEFICIT?

                            Forgetting about that little fact

                            RACE RELATIONS ARE WORSE, YES, Obama being elected made the WASPs of this country lose their minds

                            AS FOR THE MIDDLE CLASS, do some reading my friend, GW's presidency did that..

                            yeah yeah, he isnt being elected, but we will feel him for generations to come

                            • 1 vote
                            #81.7 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 12:33 PM EST

                            I know Cappy, i cant help myself

                            AND YES, GO NINERS!!!!!

                            • 2 votes
                            #81.8 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 12:36 PM EST
                            Reply

                            This will be a close election, but a clear winner will prevail. I believe that voters will come to their senses in the end and not vote for four more years of the same. After Sandy, it made people think and the answer for this country is "change for hope". Obama has failed this country and does not deserve another four years to finish his country. Vote for a new White House for hope.

                            • 5 votes
                            Reply#82 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 9:26 AM EST

                            Anti-Choice "protesters" are in fact Taliban style terrorists.

                            Arrest them all, wherever they may be.

                            • 3 votes
                            Reply#83 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 9:35 AM EST

                            The reason I love to hate liberals;

                            When they disrupt/protest (as is their / our rights) they see themselves as activists.

                            When others protest against their values they see them as criminals.

                            Hypocritical, politically correct fools seeing style over substance.

                            BTW, I'm pro-choice.

                            • 3 votes
                            #83.1 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 9:43 AM EST

                            The reason I love to hate conservatives;

                            They rely on voter suppression to win elections.

                            • 1 vote
                            #83.2 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 9:54 AM EST

                            as compared to voting fraud? Neither is right if that is happening on either side.

                            • 2 votes
                            #83.3 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 9:59 AM EST

                            How do you know they are Taliban type terrorists? Did you see their training camp in Alabama or something?

                            • 1 vote
                            #83.4 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 10:24 AM EST

                            HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA @

                            BillJ318

                            as compared to voting fraud? Neither is right if that is happening on either side.

                            **********************************************************

                            NEWS FLASH:

                            Virginia voter fraud case expands to focus on GOP
                            firm

                            The investigation into the arrest of a man on
                            charges of dumping voter registration forms last month in Harrisonburg, Va., has
                            widened, with state officials probing whether a company tied to top Republican
                            leaders had engaged in voter registration fraud in the key battleground state,
                            according to two persons close to the case.

                            A former employee of Strategic Allied Consulting, a contractor for the
                            Republican Party of Virginia, had been scheduled to appear last Tuesday before a
                            grand jury after he was charged with tossing completed registration forms into
                            a recycling bin. But state prosecutors canceled Colin Small’s grand jury
                            testimony to gather more information, with their focus expanding to the firm
                            that had employed Small, which is led by longtime GOP operative Nathan Sproul.

                            **********************************

                            Hans von Spakovsky, a prominent alarmist about election fraud in America, has posted an essay at the National Review taking issue with my piece about him in the current issue, “The Voter-Fraud Myth.” In essence, von Spakovsky asserts that the peril posed by voters illegally impersonating others at the polls is real, and that to suggest otherwise is a “false narrative” advanced by the “blind” political left.

                            Von Spakovsky, a legal scholar at the conservative Heritage Foundation who will serve this coming Tuesday as an election official in Fairfax County, Virginia—the swing state’s most populous and most liberal county—is worth paying attention to if only because he represents the most vocal element of what may become a bitter, partisan fight over the election returns, should the margins of victory be exceptionally close.

                            Von Spakovsky is right, of course, that America has a woefully antiquated system of elections, and a history pockmarked by bipartisan fraud. All of this was made clear in the New Yorker piece. But what he and other such fearmongers are stubbornly wrong about, and won’t acknowledge no matter how much evidence piles up, is that there is virtually no modern record of individual voters trying to steal elections by impersonating others at the polls. It is this phantom threat that has fuelled the push for voter-I.D. laws over the past few years. As I wrote in the piece, a nationwide study of legal records undertaken by the reporting consortium News21 found a grand total of only seven convictions for this type of voter fraud since 2000.

                            Presumably, if The New Yorker were wrong in finding this kind of fraud to be negligible, von Spakovsky would have documented many cases of it. Instead, in his response, he blurs the subject by citing other kinds of recent election fraud. This pivot is a tactic that critics have described as a form of political bait and switch. For instance, von Spakovsky provides an example of a woman in Maryland double-voting in Florida, where she owns a second home. He also cites the case of an Arkansas legislator who, along with several accomplices, bribed and cajoled those casting absentee ballots. And he describes sloppy voter-registration rolls in Florida, where, he says, two hundred “non-citizens” were discovered registered to vote. (How many actually did vote, however, he doesn’t say.) He also tosses in several cases where the allegations have yet to be adjudicated, and an oddball case or two, such as residency infractions in a town with only seventy registered voters and some fifty thousand out-of-town workers. All of this is marginally interesting, and supports what I wrote: “Nearly all scholars of America’s system of locally run elections acknowledge chronic problems, including administrative incompetence, sloppy registration rolls, unreliable machinery, vote buying, and absentee-ballot fraud.”

                            But where are the examples of individual voters trying to illegally influence election outcomes by casting ballots in other peoples’ names? If they exist, he and the proponents of strict voter-I.D. laws still have yet to provide them. This is why many Democrats suspect that the real motivation for the strict I.D. laws is voter suppression. (My piece quotes one Pennsylvania Republican asserting that such a law would “allow Governor Romney to win the state.”)

                            Instead, von Spakovsky returns in his rebuttal to a few arguments that he pushed hard when I interviewed him, but which, as I discovered when I did more reporting, didn’t pan out. Von Spakovsky told me that the Georgia Secretary of State had covered up potential evidence of zombie votes, and then refused to turn over the records. When I checked his allegation out, both the former Secretary of State and her former spokesman vehemently denied his allegation. They also said such records are only kept for a couple of years, making it impossible to know what they might have shown. Once again the evidence of impersonation voter fraud dissolved into a speculative mirage

                            Read more http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2012/11/notes-on-voter-fraud.html#ixzz2BMrmKioz

                              #83.5 - Mon Nov 5, 2012 11:51 AM EST
                              Reply
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