RE: Conservatives: keep them dumb, keep them poor, and for God sakes
keep them out of the voting booth!
The voter fraud& intimidation stories you won't hear about on Fox
November 01, 2010 2:59 pm ET
For the past several months, Fox News has hyped GOP accusations of
voter fraud, no matter how little evidence exists to support them, and
Bret Baier has promised that Fox will cover voter fraud allegations
"in every show." But Fox has failed to report on, or has dismissed and
distorted, numerous accusations of voter fraud or intimidation carried
out by individuals linked to right-wing groups and politicians.
Fox largely ignores the DoJ is looking into allegations that Texas Tea
Party group members engaged in voter intimidation
King Street Patriots' "True the Vote" initiative accused of
intimidating voters. Talking Points Memo published an article on
October 19 about allegations of voter intimidation by poll watchers
trained by the Tea Party group King Street Patriots. According to the
article, the Department of Justice is looking into claims that poll
watchers in Harris County were "'hovering over' voters, 'getting into
election workers' faces' and blocking or disrupting lines of voters"
at early voting stations. From the article:
Poll watchers in Harris County, Texas -- where a Tea Party group
launched an aggressive anti-voter fraud effort -- were accused of
"hovering over" voters, "getting into election workers' faces" and
blocking or disrupting lines of voters who were waiting to cast their
ballots as early voting got underway yesterday.
Now, TPMMuckraker has learned, the Justice Department has interviewed
witnesses about the alleged intimidation and is gathering information
about the so-called anti-voter fraud effort.
"We are currently gathering information regarding this matter,"
Justice Department spokeswoman Xochitl Hinojosa said in a statement
confirming the Civil Rights Division's involvement.
Harris County, the biggest county in the state, is where a Tea Party
group called the King Street Patriots launched an anti-voter fraud
initiative called "True the Vote," which recruited poll watchers and
amped up fears over groups like the community organizing group ACORN.
Chad Dunn, a lawyer who is representing the Texas Democratic Party,
told TPMMuckraker a number of witnesses have been interviewed by Civil
Rights Division lawyers already. "We've gotten a number of reports --
quite a few out of the Houston area -- that poll watchers, King Street
Patriot training poll watchers, are following a voter after they've
checked them out and stand right behind them," Dunn said. There's at
least a dozen reports that they could confirm with witnesses, he said.
"Interestingly, it's all in the polling places in Hispanic and
African-American areas," he added.
Beck briefly mentioned and dismissed allegations that King Street
Patriots poll watchers were engaged in voter intimidation. A Nexis
search of Fox transcripts for "King Street Patriots or Houston Votes
or True the Vote" returns two results, one from Glenn Beck's October
31 program and one from the September 27 broadcast of Fox& Friends.
Megyn Kelly also mentioned the King Street Patriots during a segment
on November 1. Beck appeared to dismiss the allegations, managed to
tie the DOJ's actions to George Soros, and concluded, "Gee, I wonder
which side will take the phone calls at the DoJ." From the Nexis
transcript of the program:
BECK: So expect the reaction. Expect the fraud. Expect intimidation.
It's all been done before. Eric Holder's DoJ didn't seem alarmed, you
know, at the radical militants that were hovering at the polls. No big
deal! They inexplicably dropped the rock solid case against them. Now
they're being looked at to look into voter intimidation, alleged voter
intimidation, in Harris County, Texas. A group there called the King
Street Patriots have been trained -- have been training poll watchers
to watch out for document or voter intimidation or fraud. They
document everything they see. They write it all down.
[...]
The lawsuit has been filed against the King Street Patriots now. Wait
a minute. This is against -- who's filing -- the Democrats and a group
called Houston Votes are now alleging that it is the King Street
Patriots that are the ones doing the intimidation. Both Jackson Lee
and the King Street Patriots are requesting that the DoJ sends reps to
the polls. By the way, Houston Votes, the group suing their parent
company, funded by George Soros. The George Soros Open Society-funded
group, Texans Together Education Fund. Gee, I wonder which side will
take the phone calls at the DoJ."
Fox& Friends hypes King Street Patriots' "True the Vote" allegations
of voter fraud, ignored reports they doctored a photo to support
claims of voter fraud. On the September 27 broadcast of Fox News' Fox
& Friends, co-hosts Brian Kilmeade and Gretchen Carlson interviewed
Catherine Engelbrecht, spokesperson for the "True the Vote"
initiative, which is affiliated with the King Street Patriots. The
initiative this summer claimed to have found thousands of fraudulent
voter registration forms among those turned in by a civic group called
Houston Votes. Lawsuits surrounding the claims are ongoing. On
September 6, the Huffington Post reported that the King Street
Patriots reportedly used a doctored a photo in a video on alleged
voter fraud to make it appear as though a black woman was holding a
sign that read, "I only got to vote once!" Original photos from the
2000 Gore-Lieberman recount rally show that her sign read, "Don't mess
with our vote."
Kelly mentions King Street Patriots but fails to mention Department of
Justice involvement or specific allegations at polling places. On
November 1, "America Live" anchor Megyn Kelly led a segment about the
King Street Patriots, but failed to mention that the Department of
Justice was looking into these claims, saying only that "some minority
groups say" King Street Patriot activity "amounts to voter
intimidation." A local anchor says instead that "King Street Patriots
have been accused by some of frightening white voters with allegations
that New Black Panther Party members" will intimidate voters in
Harris. According to Talking Points Memo, the King Street Patriots
director Catherine Engelbrecht derisively refers to the Houston Votes
headquarters as the "New Black Panthers' office" in a video on the
group's website.
Fox airs no reports on fliers from phony Texas group that were
intended to trick Democratic voters
Non-existent "Black Democratic Trust of Texas" distributed fliers
telling voters not to vote "straight ticket Democratic" because "it is
actually voting for Republicans." ABC affiliate KTRK reported on
October 27 that misleading fliers were handed out and left on
windshields at a predominantly African-American polling place in
Houston. The fliers urged voters not to vote "straight ticket
Democratic," saying, "it is actually voting for Republicans and your
vote doesn't count." It tells them instead to only vote for Bill
White, Democratic candidate for governor in Texas. A copy of the flier
obtained by Talking Points Memo shows that the fliers read:
Republicans are trying to trick us! When you vote straight ticket
Democratic, it is actually voting for Republicans and your vote
doesn't count. We are urging everyone to VOTE for BILL WHITE. A VOTE
for BILL WHITE is a VOTE for the ENTIRE DEMOCRATIC ticket. We have
fought too hard to let Republicans use voting machines to deny us our
basic rights. We must guard the change andNOT VOTE STRAIGHT TICKET
DEMOCRAT!"
YES WE CAN!
The flier is attributed to the "Black Democratic Trust of Texas,"
which, according to TPM, is a "non-existent group."
Fox News has made no mention of this story. Nexis searches of Fox News
transcripts for "Black Democratic Trust of Texas or (Houston w/50
(fli! or letter or mail! or straight ticket))" returned zero results.
Fox airs no reports on Republican activists in Texas allegedly
harassing elderly black voters at their homes
Seven elderly black voters report being harassed at their homes in
Texas after sending their mail-in ballots. Mother Jones reported on
October 29 that a voting rights lawyer filed a complaint with the
Department of Justice on behalf of elderly black voters who complained
of being harassed and intimidated at their homes in eastern Texas. The
article said at least seven elderly voters complained they were
harassed by "two unidentified white women" who came to their homes in
Bowie County to interrogate them about their mail-in ballot
applications. The article describes the women as "middle-aged, local
Republican activists who had accessed publicly available information
about which voters had requested mail-in ballots":
The complaint claims that the women showed up unannounced this week at
the home of 78-year-old Willard Wherry, of Dekalb, who had voted by
mail. The pair proceeded to grill Wherry about who had helped him to
fill out his mail-in ballot, repeatedly questioning whether anyone had
showed up at his home to assist him. "We are just trying to be sure no
one is trying to coax someone to vote," one of the woman said,
according to Hebert's complaint.
The women then went to a local senior citizens center to question
whether five residents had received improper assistance in voting, as
well as the home of L.E. Bohannon, a 79-year-old African American
voter from DeKalb, the complaint says: "Then they pulled out a copy of
form with his signature on it and they asked if that was his
signature. They asked him who helped him fill out the form." Molly
Beth Malcolm, a local Democratic consultant, spoke directly with some
of the alleged victims and claims the incidents are racially
discriminatory. "They're not going around to older Anglos, but the
African-American community," she says.
Fox News does not appear to have covered this story. A Nexis search of
Fox News transcripts for "Bowie County or (Texas w/50 (ballot or
absentee or mail-in)" did not return any relevant results.
Fox did not report on allegations that GOP candidate Kirk planned
"voter integrity" squads for African-American neighborhoods
Kirk: We'll deploy lawyers and others in "vulnerable precincts...where
the other side might be tempted to jigger the numbers somewhat." On
October 8, WLS-TV in Chicago reported that Mark Kirk, GOP senatorial
candidate in Illinois, was secretly recorded telling state Republican
leaders that he had hired a "voter integrity squad" to concentrate on
four regions that are populated by large numbers of African-American
voters. According to WLS-TV, Kirk said, "These are lawyers and other
people that will be deployed in key, vulnerable precincts, for
example, South and West sides of Chicago, Rockford, Metro East, where
the other side might be tempted to jigger the numbers somewhat." Kirk
was not aware he was being taped at the time. The Kirk campaign later
confirmed that the congressman made the remarks, for which he was
widely criticized.
Fox News does not appear to have covered this story. A Nexis search of
Fox News transcripts for "Kirk and (voter integrity or jigger or
vulnerable or fraud! or intimid!)" did not return any relevant
results.
By contrast, Fox has repeatedly hyped stories of "voter fraud"
allegedly carried out by Democrats
Baier vowed that Fox News will cover voter fraud allegations "in every
show." After airing a report on various allegations of voter fraud on
an October 31 special edition of Special Report, host Bret Baier
concluded that "we'll be following this in every show."
Fox has relentlessly hyped GOP-linked accusations of voter fraud,
regardless of their credibility. As Media Matters for America has
repeatedly documented, Fox News has promoted many allegations of voter
fraud supposedly carried out by Democrats and left-wing groups, no
matter how little evidence exists to support these claims.
Fox has voter fraud email tip line. As Talking Points Memo noted, on
October 28, Fox News announced that it "has set up an e-mail to
collect viewer complaints over voter fraud ahead of the midterm
elections." The email address is [email protected].
More:
http://mediamatters.org/research/201011010027
