Chicago election judges received misleading and factually incorrect robocalls before the midterm, causing close to 2,000 of them to not show up on Election Day. As a criminal investigation gets underway, the Chicago Sun-Times has tied the calls to two Republican activists while the Republican Party has denied involvement and distanced itself from the party members who it claims acted alone. (Yeah, sure they did.)
An unknown number of election judges received one or more automated phone calls that informed them about an additional required training session or told them they needed to vote a certain way in order to keep their position. As a result, polling places across the city were understaffed and lines reached seven hours in some precincts. A smaller number of voters were turned away from certain locations.
The city was forced to dispatch standby election judges when some polling places had just one or no election judges present at 6 a.m. when polls were scheduled to open. At the time, the Chicago Board of Elections said it didn’t know who made the calls or why they were sent out. The Cook County State’s Attorney has launched a criminal investigation and Mayor Rahm Emanuel called for hearings on the robocalls.
Of course this is on top of gerrymandering that has made some Republican strongholds bullet proof, and the influx of enough corporate money to drown a medium size city under a tidal wave of dollar bills.
You know I did not play too many team sports growing up as I don't work or play well with others. However I did compete in individual sports like powerlifting, wrestling, and martial arts.
And I cannot think of one of my coaches or instructors who would EVER have encouraged me to cheat in order to win. Even if winning were the most important thing in the world to them.
I was raised to try my hardest, refuse to give up, and to accept defeat graciously if I could find no path to victory.
Losing sucks balls. But winning, when you know you do not deserve to win, well that would shame me to my very core.
And what type of people do we have running our local and federal governments, if they have no problem showing up for a job that they know they do not deserve? How can we expect them to be ethical and honest, if they got where they are by being the exact opposite?
Because if you have to cheat, lie, and bully in order to get into a position of power, than that is the very last place you should be.
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ReplyDeleteYes I did.
DeleteThank you.
I try to remind myself that these are not, nor will they ever be, fully functioning, happy human beings. How can they possibly be, with all the hatred and vileness that comes out of their mouths? They just don't understand . . . pride of ownership of a trophy or reward is not because of the OWNERSHIP of it, but because of the effort and training it took to EARN the reward. It is the recognition that makes people feel good about themselves. Any dickhead can BUY a trophy. And apparently, now, any dickhead can BUY an election. But that purchase brings with it eyes and ears and attention. That purchase means the buyer will have to continuously be looking over his shoulder, terrified of being found out. And the knowledge that one can only win by cheating must, at some point, wear on the mind.
ReplyDeleteAnyone who chooses that life is a sad soul indeed.
Let's hope Karma IS a bitch.
DeleteIt's one thing to lose fairly, but to let a party win by cheating...
DeleteWhat the FUCK is wrong with you Americans to let this happen? over and fucking over again. Every election.
If it's not hanging chads, its voter suppression, or robot-lies, and even your top judges (!) ruling on behalf of a torturer.
You don't deserve to call yourselves a democracy.
You know why they do it?
ReplyDeleteBECAUSE THEY CAN.
Because they get away with it every time.
Even if there were puddly little fines, they are a spit in the bucket and they easily pay them.
Jail time? Well, they have their sacrificial goats to fall on their swords, deflecting all blame from the puppet masters.
And those that were in essence illegally elected? THEY STAY IN OFFICE!
Hell, even the voters have such a short memory they forget and re-elect the bastards.
Once you're in, you're in. And they don't care how for good reason.
There is no downside to cheating or this kind of election fraud.
Evidently, Bruce Rauner (and his mealy mouthed mouse masquerading as Mrs. Rauner) have no problem with cheating. Hope thy get thrown out of the Illinois governor's mansion on this one and in prison where they likely belong. .
ReplyDeleteAgreed. Gov. Pat Quinn may not have been the absolute perfect choice but I do believe that he is a good person.
DeleteSad in il
At this point, WHO would believe a robocall? Seriously, you'd have to be kind of not so bright to believe a recorded call telling you voting day has been changed from what you'd been told previously. At the very least I'd expect them to Google it...
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't matter. There may be first time voters or people who aren't as knowledgeable about how to vote. That doesn't mean they deserve to be disenfranchised. Let's not assume that they aren't bright or that they don't have strong convictions about WHO they will vote for.
DeleteNot everyone understands what's going on with robocalls and some people are more gullible than others (or even hardwired to believe a voice of authority on the phone). Being able to Google and knowing when to do it is not a requirement for voting nor should it be.
We should be educating and encouraging as many people as possible to exercise this extremely important civil duty.
"There may be first time voters or people who aren't as knowledgeable about how to vote."
DeleteHhhmmm.Someone needs a course in reading comprehension. This is about the JUDGES who failed tto show, NOT the voters!
Fair enough, Leland, but my comment applies to the general practice of using robocalls or other misinformation to trick people into not voting. I've read similar comments to the OP's when voters have been fooled by lying robocalls.
DeleteGryph, this is a fun. Perhaps the vets are getting sick of Tea? At the very least, they sure seem sick of Sarah Palin.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/13/1344569/-Veterans-to-Palin-You-re-an-idiot?detail=email
Thanks for the link, hedgewytch!
ReplyDeleteWhy, oh why, can't the GOP participate in an election without cheating? Absurd gerrymandering, voter suppression laws, blatant lies in television advertising, voting machine malfunctions and "pranks" (really criminal activity) intended to prevent people from voting or to invalidate their votes. Did Republicans all cheat their way through school and college too? They should participate properly and win or lose based on their positions on the issues that matter to the voter. Nothing more and nothing less.
ReplyDeleteBeaglemom
The system is in place now. Progressive apathy at the polls has given the power to those that can further disenfranchise them. Expect more of this, really into the deep future because we didn't fight for our rights by electing like-minded politicians when we were able.
DeleteFUCK these republicans who pretend to care about the constitution and carry on about how the military is protecting our rights and then work to deprive Americans of their right to VOTE, which is arguable the most important right we have as citizens.
ReplyDeleteI am suspicious of anything with Karl Rove's fingerprints on it.
ReplyDeleteJust like there are bad and stupid apples everywhere you go. I know of some people that are not crazy, yet do believe in more of a smaller government, more strict interpretation of the constitution, and would never give death threats, or any other kind of terror, or underhanded tactics. Just like I know some Deems that would. A few loonies doesn't mean the whole bushel. We only hear of the loonies on both sides because they are the squeaky wheel. How about we get together on things we CAN agree on, rather than harp on things we cannot.
ReplyDeleteGryphen, I hate to say this, but this is about the fifth time since the anti-robot crap started that I have made posts, successfully entered the anti-robot crap and had the response show that my comment will be visible when approved and then ...nothing.
ReplyDeleteYesterday I posted a comment about my concerns about judges who are too stupid to recognize that Federal Election Day has always been the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November and if they are dumb enough to fall for something like a ROBOCALL, perhaps they need to be replaced anyway.
As you can see, I am having to rewrite it.
The big unanswered question in this Chicago voting fiasco is how did the Republicans even get the list of names and phone numbers of 2000 election judges? That information is not available to the public. Somehow this information was leaked to the Republicans and then 2,000 robo-calls were sent out!? This had to cost a lot of payola. My guess is if the investigators follow the money it may lead back to our newly elected Republican governor & his staff. My crystal ball sees future jail time for another Illinois governor and he hasn't even taken office yet. I can't stand this Rauner creep, with his 9 homes and Chatty-Cathy wife.
ReplyDeletean election judge that believes a robocall is someone that probably should not be an election judge. ridiculous anyway you look at it.
ReplyDelete