Voter Suppression in SOUTH CAROLINA?

Just saw on the evening news here that there was a bogus letter sent out on official-looking NAACP letterhead that tells recipients that they might be arrested at the polls if they have outstanding parking tickets, owe back child support, or have not submitted a credit report (!) to the election commission.

The letter also said that a voter needs 2 forms of picture ID and a Social Security card and has to have provided a handwriting sample ahead of time.

Standard procedure for the Republican vote suppression corps, of course, but my question is, why are they doing this in SOUTH CAROLINA? It's been a "lock" for Bush from the beginning.

The only thing I can figure is that Inez Tennenbaum's Senate campaign is getting them scared. The DeMint campaign, NRSC and several independent groups (Club for Growth, etc.) have been running vomitous ads against her lately. The Club for Growth gem is about the worst I've ever seen. They tie the flu vaccine problem to trial lawyers who forced production to go to "foreign suppliers," and then tied those evil trial lawyers to Tennenbaum. "Can't get a flu shot? It's INEZ's fault." Right.

DeMint himself is getting more hilarious by the day. First he runs ads that associate Inez with demonic pictures of Ted Kennedy and Hillary Clinton and (in big letters) the horrible word "LIBERAL!" Then he runs militaristic ads with a flight-jacketed Bush calling him "my ally" (F-16s peeling out over Iraq, swelling music in the background, yadda yadda). Then there's the "buddies" ad with Lindsay Graham and Governor Sanford singing his praises (Lindsay, Gaud Blessim, just makes me snicker).

But tonight was the stupidest ad of all. Jim sitting on the porch next to his two daughters, who do all the talking and the joke is he can't get a word in edgewise. The girls have an uncanny resemblance to Jenna and Barbara Bush, not just in basic appearance (blonde + brunette, blond plumper and not as pretty as the brunette, etc.), but they are also doing the same embarrassing "performing monkeys" bit we saw from the Bush twins at the convention. Ha-ha. Boy, are they sweet and funny girls, and I just have to vote for their Daddy because they are so cute and nice.

And lame.

Did I mention lame?

Inez replies with an ad where she just talks into the camera, doing her Steel Magnolia thing and making gentle fun of DeMint demonizing her.

"I mean really," she says, smiling her twinkly schoolmarm smile. "Ted Kennedy? Hillary Clinton? Can't he do better than thay-at?"

Winner.

•  From Greenville

  Hi,
    I was out driving kids around all day and really looking for bumper stickers and yard signs. (Know that I'm in a highly conservative corner of South Carolina)
   And I'm truly amazed. If the the vote was by yard signs and bumper stickers, I don't know that Bush would even win South Carolina. The signs just aren't here. The bumper stickers aren't here.

   Funniest thing spotted today: a bunch of DeMint supporters holding up signs asking people to honk if they support him, at one of the big intersections in town at 5 p.m.
   Not a single horn sounded as I went through.

   Strange too that DeMint put up a commercial with  Gov. Sanford in it. I don't see a lot of Republicans fired up by him, more of them complaining that he's not working with the Republican legislature.

   And Inez does that Southern Lady thing very well, gracious, smiling, soft spoken, but absolute steel underneath. Years in state government surrounded by nothing but Republicans will do that to a woman.
     

  by teresahill on Fri Oct 29, 2004 at 08:35:46 PM PDT

  •  Over by Clemson

    about the same.  I haven't yet seen a Bush yard sign, but there have been several DeMint signs put in highway medians leading into campus, only a few in actual yards.  I have only lived here for a few months, so I cant judge if this is normal or not.  You see a lot more signs for local offices than for federal ones.

    by Ugluks Flea on Fri Oct 29, 2004 at 08:43:04 PM PDT

•  At least

  they aren't using dogs, another tradition in the south.  Oh, wait.

  by Ugluks Flea on Fri Oct 29, 2004 at 08:39:24 PM PDT

•  Here in Columbia

  It's Kerry country :)  This county went for Gore 64% and will do so again in 2004.  That said, I have seen FAR more democrat signs than in previous elections.  I'd say about the suppression- one, there are state and local GOP parties that have candidates too.  While SC has always been a red state, as we all know, Inez and Demint are neck and neck, and minority votes could decide that one.  There are also plenty of local elections to worry about.  And frankly, based on the vocal level of SC dems this year, the "reverse coattails" that Mrs. Tenenbaum may yet exhibit, and the general energy level of those of us on the left, I'd say the GOP, even though in their heads they know this is their turf, are running scared.  For the next three days, lets keep it that way.

  by tubalefty on Fri Oct 29, 2004 at 08:48:38 PM PDT

•  AP via Netscape News has this...

  And is up as a sidebar news item on the Apple default page.

  Bogus Letter Calls Out 'Deadbeat' Voters

  By JENNIFER HOLLAND

  COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - A bogus letter circulating in South Carolina, purporting to be from the NAACP, threatens the arrest of voters who have outstanding parking tickets or failed to pay child support. The NAACP said Friday the letter is a scare tactic and called for an investigation.

  "I'm outraged,'' said Jill Miller, director of the Charleston County Board of Election and Voter Registration. "This is so bogus.''

  The Rev. Joe Darby, vice president of the state chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said he received the one-page letter - which had a Columbia postmark with no return address - at his Charleston home.

  He said it was an attempt to frighten minorities from voting Tuesday because the letter-writer assumes black people are in trouble with the law.

  "This is old South Carolina politics,'' said Darby. "I don't think anybody will fall for this.''

  Darby said he wants the State Law Enforcement Division to investigate.

  The letter also says voters must have a credit check, provide two forms of photo identification, a Social Security card, a voter registration card and a handwriting sample.

  "None of that is true,'' said Miller. "I certainly hope no voter would be taken in by this.''

  Miller said voters need to show just one piece of identification - a voter registration card, a South Carolina driver's license or a motor vehicles department-issued photo ID card.
  

  You know, I really really am a naive person on some levels. I keep deluding myself that we as a society are past this racist shit. But, I suppose if I really think about it, it only shows in concrete terms, the reality of the Dixiecrat flight into the GOP from the 1964 Civil Rights Act onward.

  I am constantly amazed (thinking I can't still be at this point) at the bigoted GOP tactics. Suppress the vote to (hopefully) increase the balloting share by the Fright-Wing^TM freak hardcore base of zealots.

  From trying to suppress the black vote, to running on anti-gay planks... it astounds me.

  Mitch Gore

  Wanna win in '08...?

  Put your money where your mouth is.

  by Lestatdelc on Fri Oct 29, 2004 at 10:52:43 PM PDT

•  tired tactics

  These tactics are so common place, are there any African-American voters anywhere that would be taken in by them?  Its the overt show of police intimidation -- road blocks, etc. -- that I think are more worrisome.

  by zaimokoya on Sat Oct 30, 2004 at 05:50:12 AM PDT