There are times when the stars align your way and you are grateful for the minor miracle. “Oh,” I’ve said myself many a time, “Thank you, Lord, for saving my a$$ yet again. I am your humble and groveling servant until my next screw up.” These instances are few and far between, but so marvelous and miraculous when they happen, they only serve to reinforce my ardent belief in a higher power.
That they happen when deliverance is most unexpected makes them precious.
I do not know how it feels to be a Democratic official, to whom the improbable and miraculous seem to be daily occurrences. Most times, it appears that even if malfeasance is blatantly obvious as a root cause of said miracle, an “Oops,” or “Mistakes were made/lessons learned” or similar pablum is enough to extricate said officials or officials from any serious jeopardy. Then on they go to the next wonderous happening to appear out of the blue. Excuses, mind you, that would never in a million years fly for the opposition should they find themselves in similar circumstances.
Getting busted on something blatant is a bump in the road to political dominance for Democrats.
It’s been a good couple weeks for examples.
The biggest miracle of the week was in the Republican stronghold of Nassau County, New York.
Human Error Turns Every Registered Nassau County Voter Democrat
A spokesperson called it “an isolated event, but we apologize for our mistake, especially to Nassau County officials, who bear no responsibility for this problem”
Oops.
…Many voters in the GOP-leaning Long Island county got their voter ID cards in the mail on Tuesday, and a half-million who got their cards saw a pretty glaring typo: All the cards say voters are registered Democrats, when in fact they might be Republican, independent or members of another political party.
And with the primary a month away, the mistake is sparking confusion.
It has the potential to be more than “confusion” for primary voters. If I’m reading NY state election law right, they are still a closed primary state, which means you have to be registered to the party for the primary you wish to vote in. Now, if they don’t get this squared away lickety spilt, there might be Republicans (or others) turned away at polling stations who were rightfully registered to the GOP but could this have jacked up their registration? In some cases, I could see this confusing folks who didn’t even look at the card they received – or perhaps even just disgusting them so – that the primary has a big old shadow cast over it in any event.
So odd how these sorts of snafus never happen on the GOP side of the registrations – like, say, turning all of Manhattan red.
…For one registered Republican, the typo now has him questioning the election process.
“I have no faith in this country today, as far as what the politics are,” said George Klein. “I’m going to vote Republican primary day, and Democrat on that is not going to affect it.”
Just what we need – more bad faith engendered with the election process. Even something as simple as a registration/polling place card can be the catalyst for a person to flip out. There’s no excuse that it’s not right the first time.
In Colorado Springs, Colorado, this past week, a really acrimonious run-off election for mayor saw Democrat and Nigerian immigrant Yemi Mobolade triumph over his opponent, GOP candidate Wayne Williams. Even though Mobolade had been endorsed by both Dems and Republicans, and beat Williams by about 20K votes, there are lingering questions in the air because of something the CO secretary of state’s office had done last September.
Oops.
Colorado’s secretary of state office says it mistakenly sent postcards to about 30,000 noncitizens encouraging them to register to vote, blaming the error on a database glitch related to the state's list of residents with driver's licenses. https://t.co/dXWXDhwo83
— The Associated Press (@AP) October 10, 2022
CO Secretary of State Jena Griswold is? A Democrat. HO, BOY – not a good look.
Colorado’s secretary of state office says it mistakenly sent postcards to about 30,000 noncitizens encouraging them to register to vote, blaming the error on a database glitch related to the state’s list of residents with driver’s licenses.
The office of Democratic Secretary of State Jena Griswold insisted none of the noncitizens will be allowed to register to vote if they try.
The news comes at a time of widespread skepticism — often unfounded — of voting integrity following the 2020 presidential election and as Griswold, who has touted her role as a national advocate for secure elections, seeks reelection in the November midterms.
Colorado’s Republican Party chair, Kristi Burton Brown, condemned Griswold for the error, saying in a Monday statement that “Jena Griswold continues to make easily avoidable errors just before ballots go out” by mail on Oct. 17.
I’m sure those assurances about them not “being allowed to register to vote if they try” are really sitting well with those people right now. I mean, gosh – it’s worked so well before, the promises and assurances, all across the country.
Tens of thousands of non-citizens have tried or made it onto voter rolls across the U.S. over recent years, according to an election watchdog’s analysis of data from several states.
Non-citizen voters have been found on voter rolls in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas and Maricopa County, Ariz. In Georgia, there were non-citizens who attempted to register to vote but were placed in a pending status because there wasn’t evidence of their citizenship, so they didn’t make it onto the voter rolls.
…Adams said the “vast majority” of non-citizens “are motor voter registrations” – referring to the 1993 National Voter Registration Act that made it easier for people applying for a driver’s license to also register to vote.
The second most-common way for non-citizens to get onto voter rolls is third-party registration drives by nonprofits, Adams said.
He also said that when non-citizens go to a Department of Motor Vehicles office, many of them “lie,” saying they are U.S. citizens, and “get registered” to vote.
“Some people, guys, say, ‘no,’ and they still get registered to vote,” Adams said. “I’ve just got stacks of voter registration forms. People will actually say, ‘no, I’m not a U.S. citizen.’ They still get on the voter rolls.”
…”These records conclusively show that foreigners have been registering to vote and are voting in North Carolina elections,” Adams said at the time. “It is a shame our efforts to disclose these records were met with such resistance by election officials.”
In Georgia, an audit by Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) found last year that over 1,600 non-citizens tried to register to vote.
Why wouldn’t it be just as secure in Colorado? Pffft. No worries.
Besides, “mistakes can happen,” lessons were learned and…
“The incident is under investigation…”
Inspector Gadget is on the case.
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