From their website...
* Our mission is to foster an environment that results in the fair and honest election of public officials who are accountable to the constituents they serve and who demonstrate a commitment to transparent and open government.
* We believe this change will ensure that Rogers Park VOTER focuses on the need for every vote to count.
* Our charge is to begin the process of building Rogers Park VOTER into a viable organization.
* Participate in the upcoming 2008 election cycle, including training volunteer poll watchers.
Christine Wellman – President
Richard Foxman – Treasurer
Liz Sarnik – Secretary
Blognotes: So, where was Rogers Park Voter this past election cycle?
Did they train anyone to poll watch? Did they even have ONE poll watcher on duty?
Where was Rogers Park Voter after the Magic Pen story broke? Did they organize their troops to find EVERY VOTER who voted with the magic pen? Did they do any investigation into the matter?
For a group to talk a big game, they sure didn't back it up this election cycle. With no visibility, they sure don't seem like a viable organization to me.
Where was Rogers Park Voter?
18 comments:
Is this the group that wants everyone to show id's? If so, it was best they stayed away.
Change the name. rp voter suppression.
I would've loved to have seen more qualified and trained poll watchers in the precincts. Craig poses a good question. Surely a watchdog group like this should've sent letters to the BoE, the States Attorney, Ald. Moore and Mr. Fagus asking what happened and why.
these gordonites tried but failed to block the blacks from voting. get over it. you lost.
magic pen judge was a gordon supporter. yes, rp voter suppression IS a better name.
What nice comments and how great to see people moving on with some respect and dignity. You should all be very proud of yourselves.
The Gordon campaign was proud to suppress cheating voters -- like the ones who claimed to live in buildings that had been long abandoned, those who no longer lived in ward. I can PROVE at least two instances of both personally, and reported one with documentation showing the voter's true residence of EVANSTON to BOE. In a race that was won by about 250 votes, every cheating vote counts. If Joe campaign thought there were a chance that Gordon voters were going to cheat, they would have been out in force trying to "suppress" those votes. Joe campaign knew that Gordon campaign had lists of questionable voters in advance. Btw, cheaters I can prove were white. Cheating isn't about race. It's about cheating.
Been there knows that one of her co-judges in April 07 screwed up bad -- like by putting wrong precinct and ward on the ballots. Did those ballots really count? Screw up judge was so bad Been there had to call Fagus' office for reinforcements when BOE told her too bad. Magic pen judge did an admirable job April 07 and Been There knows that too but she'd rather lie if it suits her partisan purposes than give magic pen judge a call and get his side of the story (Been there has his phone #). The real story of what happened on Feb 5 is that there were mess ups and none of the judges paid attention to the voters who tried to say something, including friends so if any vote suppression was going on they were doing it to their own, not just amy. what happened was not about voter suppression but about three stooges routine which is exactly what BOE found when they investigated. If been there really gave a shit about democracy she'd be more interested in gettting BOE and committee chairs to appoint ALL good judges and better training than slinging partisan mud. Happily for been there it's hard to imagine that magic pen judge will judge again which means that been there can go back to judging with her kind only so we'll have pols staffed with just Dems who may or may not be trained, do anything, or be able to do anything. been there may be a decent judge even if she's partisan but now she's showing her real colors which means i don't trust her as an impartial judge anymore so I'll go for early voting in future.
Gee, the topic of conversation just changed faster than John McCain's commitment. Let's stay on topic here. Don Gordon's lawsuit after the election listed for invalidation half the precincts in the ward: the half where blacks are most highly concentrated.
Gordon claimed to have a "mountain of evidence" showing that there was voting fraud, a statement that was never retracted or even explained. Rogers Park Voter is the organization that supported the lawsuit. Gordon and RPVoter have the power to release that "mountain of evidence" any time they like, but so far they has preferred not to back up their statements. So, while the lawsuit would have had the effect of invalidating most of the black votes in the ward, leaving whites to decide the election, they has never backed up the claims with any evidence.
The only thing we know for sure is that the attempt was made to invalidate the votes of nearly every black person who showed up on election day in April. It would be really great if we got more facts about exactly what they were thinking.
Just keep making race an issue and building bridges and see how far it gets you. You won't win votes that way.
Did it ever occur to you that maybe those were the precincts with the most funny business? So maybe they couldn't get a case together. Doesn't mean that there wasn't a case to be made.
I realize innocent till proven guilty and all, but the question is do you?? No, it's just all tit for tat with you.
Joe Moore is a dirt bag. You're defending a dirt bag- just remember that.
anonymous-
let me see- the incompetent judge was quickly quarantined, the ballots were spoiled (thrown out), no ballots were overridden, and i had to call in reinforcements because we were short 2 judges. i reported the incompetent to boe after the election, and also told dave fagus that i would give her the boot if i ever ran into her again.
i know the gordon case was bullshit because they challenged my precinct, and i know that all challenges were satisfied. if there was evidence against any challenged voters besides the one that voted provisional as a result of a challenge, it was not presented.
it is the gordon camp that did not move on. they not only filed the suit, they set up their little cry baby club.
moore's campaign knew that there would be challenges that did not meet the requirements of the law. those in my precinct certainly did not. many were based on returned mail, which is not a valid challenge. none were even pink applications, ie, mail returned to boe. it was a lot of bluster and bullshit.
i haven't called russ. i wanted to do so, but having recently had surgery on my throat, my voice does not work that well. which is why i called him out on this blog, hoping to email him. i agree he performed fine when i worked with him, but that would be an important detail. i was there to straighted him out on several things, including the law on voter identification, which was another part of the gordon plan- to have judges force people to show photo id's in violation of the law. i had to stop him from doing that, and explaining the law to him.
am i a partisan? right up until election day. then every voter is the same, i want them all in the polling place, i want every vote to count. i dare you to find anyone who can attest otherwise. until you work a few 15 hour days to stick up for same, you have no room to talk.
The claim that Gordon tried to invalidate black voters is bullshit. I was at the polls and the only voters that were questioned is those where questions existed that they may not live where they voting polls said they lived, and all they had to do was show any id to make questions stop, and if they couldn't show id then they could still vote so NO votes were suppressed including the guy who came in to vote who wasn't on the rolls at all! THERE WAS NO VOTRE SUPPRESSION. My neighbor's son is registered to vote in Chicago according to BOE voter registration rolls -- BUT MY NEIGHBOR'S SON HASN'T LIVED IN CHICAGO IN 20 YEARS! But, damn, we're not supposed to question this person's right to vote? That's crap. My neighbor's son doesnt' get to vote for my aldermonster.
The courts decided to hear the gordon case and then they mysteriously decided against? I thought we were supposed to question authority and government. Guess not. Only question those who might try to challenge the ones in power. Maybe we can change the name of Rogers Park to Havana.
For the total idiots, here's a newsflash: questioning questionable voters was the exact strategy used by the very same campaign consultants in Missouri that got Claire McCaskill elected. But that was ok because she was a democrat running against a republican. if cheating is happening then someone should be calling it out, doesn't matter what side of the line the cheating is on. but cheating is such a part of chicago elections that all hell would break loose if a case ever did go to trial here. no elected pol wants a case like this tried in their lifetime, even good guys, because they don't know what their minions are doing. duh.
Instead or training poll watchers, why doesnt RP Voter and any other organization advertise and actively promote the role of ELECTION JUDGE. More often than not, should you sign up, you'll be serving in or around the precint in which you live.
People cry and moan about voter fraud, hacked machines, and rigged elections. Are the complainers working the polls? No! Work the polls like I did, make a note of your precinct's results-- check what's reported on BOE's website (for YOUR precinct) by the end of the night. If both number match-- congratulations, you've just judged a fair election.
anonymous, just so you know. provisional ballots mostly do not get counted. election protection activists call them placebo ballots with good reason. in cook county, only 20% are actually counted.
look, this is a complicated issue. there is a fine line between voter intimidation and suppression and making sure voters are eligible. imho, the gordon campaign crossed that line.
the voter challenge lists were compiled by a right wing wacko organization. that is just a fact. the voters that were challenged in my precinct mostly were minorities. that is not proof of anything, but it certainly is a pattern that should be investigated.
it also needs to be stressed that the campaign instructed judges to ask for photo id's in violation of state law, as well as federal civil rights law. this was the plan from the right wing wackos that specialize in "underdog" campaigns. if you don't know why that is a crime, do some homework. this shit has a long, long history.
and when you challenge at the polls, have your watchers up people's ass all day, then turn around and take it to court, that is just bullshit.
cough up that mountain of evidence whenever you are ready. why was the case dismissed? because there was no case. a couple people wearing buttons in the polling place, and cones set at 95 feet is not a case. those are the only specifics i have ever seen or heard from this case.
bullshit. it is just bullshit smears.
"the voter challenge lists were compiled by a right wing wacko organization" = total bullshit
But I, unlike some others, am over it, moving along etc...
i would be moving on if this were not the exact kind of thing that put bush in the white house.
and no, the freeman institute thing is not bullshit. i have a copy of the list from my home precinct. it says freeman institute on it. they are listed on the d-2's. (as is john lira- listed to the tune of $12k for consulting. a thug consultant. hmmm.) i wish i had more information on it. but i saw the lists. and it was a long list in my precinct, even though i was told that the precinct had not been worked by the gordon campaign.
you don't sound very over it. i refuse to get over voter suppression and kkkarl rove tactics in my back yard. it's called history, and it's called principals.
I really think you are misguided about the "freeman institute." Perhaps you have the wrong one.
I just don't like to see misinformation being put out there.
nope. got it from the d-2's. and had it confirmed right here on the broken heart after the election. saw the sheets with my own eyes.
it was the subject of quite a bit of conversation during the campaign, and it was something that i was very upset about.
it is absolutely true.
freeman is democratic, you're crazy been there.
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