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October 23, 2002
Arkansas Politics
Arkansas Politics
In today's Washington Times, "Arkansas GOP Charges Voter Fraud." Now see what I've been telling you? Around here, our slogan is "Vote Early & Vote Often." And while you're at it, cast a vote or two for your dearly departed. It's what they would've wanted.At least six dead people tried to register to vote, including one helped by a person also listed on campaign-spending reports as having received $100 by the state Democratic party, said Marty Ryall, Republican Party chairman.
"I can understand why they needed assistance," Mr. Ryall said.
Early voting is very popular here. The county clerks get swamped, and they really don't have the staff or facilities (at least in my county) to deal with the large number of early voters.
Republicans say they are also concerned that county clerk offices plan to be open Saturdays and possibly Sundays for early voting. Arkansas law says clerks can only be open during "regular office hours" for early voting....Mr. Cook [executive director of the Arkansas Democratic Party] called Republican concerns "hypocritical."
The Republican Party says one thing, but one of the biggest Republican counties has asked for an opinion to be open on Saturday, he said. "They are trying to have it both ways," Mr. Cook said.
During the last election, there was a big uproar here because the office closed at its normal time on the last day to vote, as it's required to do, even though there were people waiting in line to vote. Other offices, it seems, were more accommodating.
During the 2000 presidential election, many clerks opened their offices on Sunday, but Jackson County Clerk Paulette Dunn refused to do so, angering Democrats, the Arkansas Democrat Gazette reported then.
"I had 17 Afro-American churches lined up to be bused to the courthouse to vote on Sunday," said Kathy Robinson, a Democratic activist, told the newspaper. "Now I'm going to have to retract that. We were trying to get Gore elected."
Yeah, that's the other scam here, used by both parties. Busing voters to the polls and "helping" them with their ballots. The elderly in nursing homes and retirement communities have no problem getting transportation to the polls around here.
In all honesty, though, it has gotten better here. I can remember going with my dad to the polls when I was a child. I had to wait for him in the truck because the polls were surrounded by men handing out pints of whiskey to buy votes. One incident stands out clearly in my memory. My dad came back from voting, and was absolutely furious, which was very unusual for him. He said that some "sonovabitch" had offered him $10 to vote for a particular candidate. (One of the few times I heard my dad swear when I was a child.) He had declined, he said, and very deliberately voted for the opposition.
Posted by Rita at October 23, 2002 06:35 AM