Posted on 11/03/2002 6:07:39 PM PST by sweetliberty
We have just returned to Budge's house to do the FReep report because there is a lot of information to report.
In attendance were Budge, Travelgirl, The Battman, parsifal, Don Frivoinai, sweetliberty, and another FReeper who, for reasons you will come to understand shortly, needs to remain anonymous until after the election.
We arrived at Budge's around noon to get everything set up for the maiden FReep of the Arkansas Hog Wild FReepers and the FReepmobile. We got to the site around quarter after 1 and finished up some signs and headed over to the convention center to await the arrival of XXX42 and his horde of Rats. There we were joined by several folks from the Hutchinson campaign and there were quite a few folks who came down from Mount Ida. There ended up being about 30 of us on the outside.
During the wait, we were informed of quite a few "questionable" things going on. For starters, there was one young man who is active with Tim Hutchinson's campaign who was threatened with arrest if he didn't leave the premises. He had done nothing to provoke this action other than they knew who he was. One of the FReepers who is a poll watcher was also threatened with arrest when she tried to go inside the convention center. Another young man who is a Hutchinson aide had a ticket to the event and because he had been seen talkiing to the "opposition" he was not allowed in, being told that it was a private event and they could exclude whoever they wanted to. There was also a group of black folks who were with us so this young man passed his ticket to one of the black guys, who removed all his campaign stuff and went in incognito, laughing saying that they'd never suspect a black guy. Will give you his report later.
Nobody would tell us what door Clinton would be entering by so we took a chance and hung out on one side of the building where they said the car would drive by. True to form, XXX42 was late by nearly an hour. But here is the great part. We were positioned between 2 entrances. One was a major side entrance. The other was a small, fenced-in service entrance by the garbage dumpsters. Well, guess which one he used. Think....which would be most appropriate. Yep, you guessed it. The snake slithered in through the garbage entrance. And he got a look at our signs. It was a classic moment in FReeperdom.
There was a whopping 500 people or so there for the "event". There were few enough people that there was a Jehovah's Witness convention going on in the building at the same time. When Clinton arrived the Jehovah's Witnesses started leaving. At that time we didn't realize that there was another event going on and Travelgirl and The Battman asked one of the cops on duty why everyone was leaving. He responded, "if Clinton entered a room, what would YOU do?" When the Jehovah's Witnesses left, the parking lot started clearing out.
Anyway, we may have to flesh in this post after we all get home because there is a lot to tell, but there is certain information that it is very important to get out there NOW! Back to our "spy". When he came out, he said they were running it like a church service, and the whole focus was on how the evil Republicans are trying to keep them from voting. They were saying that we have all the poll watchers this election to prevent THEM from voting. Now, here is the clencher. They were told that there would be attorneys posted at every precinct to prevent poll watchers from challenging ANY ballots. Now, mind you, one of our poll watchers has already had massive problems with them at the polls during early voting the past couple of weeks and has been advised to retain an attorney. They have had the sherriff remove her from the polls twice when she had done nothing inappropriate...only challenging ballots for improper or no ID. There is an all out campaign by these people to intimidate the poll watchers and then turn around and accuse us of voter intimidation. This is serious and at least one person has some legitimate fear. I can't really elaborate at this point. The reason we wanted to get this up right away is to get other FReepers on the case to get this publicized and contact appropriate media, political and legal sources to alert them that Republican poll watchers in this county are likely to be facing an organized, all-out Rat attack. Any help that FReepers can offer is needed!! Make phone calls, send letters. Whatever you can do. Post your ideas as well.
Thank you nic....this information REALLY needs to get out there.
Get Parsy's nose in those legal books. We need all we can get on the legal rights of poll watcher in Arkansas. According to a KARK news report I found from the elections office, they cannot do much. I pasted it on the locale page for reference.
Travelgirl and I tried when we were on the way home, but it was on a cell phone and we couldn't get through. Couldn't redial fast enough.
The director of the state Board of Election Commissioners says that poll watchers have generated questions from voters about what is allowed. Susie Stormes says poll watchers— who can represent a candidate, a party or a group— must present credentials. They cannot be within six feet of booths, cannot do any electioneering, cannot speak to or attempt to influence any voter and cannot disrupt the order of election procedures. Despite citizen concerns, Stormes says no complaints against poll watchers have been filed with her office. She says early voting has been successful overall.
Great idea. As many of you as possibly can, please call in to the talk radio programs tomorrow!
I'm right behind you
I'm also gonna be send this bit of info to everyone I know and even those folks I don't know
But one why or another this information WILL GET OUT!!!
EXACTLY ..
Hey Ringy .. have you seen this??
Well...that's damclose to the answer, but not quite it...MUD
However, that's gotta at least be in the Honorable Mentions...LOL!!
I reckon it's stuck between the ottoman and the La-Z-Boy again...please retrieve it and offer another opinion, my FRiend...MUD
Thank you newslady! Of course I remember you both! Told Don Friovinai (who is sitting beside me reading) that as soon as I saw your name!
Give Patriot1 my best and ping her!
No but these lawyer will try to intimidate folks and threaten a court battle that most folks can't afford in an attempt to make them back down
This is exactly what those Environmental Whack Jobs do to steal folks land till they give up because they can't afford to fight back
This is OUTRAGEOUS .. these Rats need to be stopped NOW!!!
This is an election of the people .. NOT THE LAWYERS!!!
Like in life, in FR, we all have different abilities and jobs....some to "see and share," others use their megaphones and "ping," and still others use their brains, lol. (And some just like to lurk and read....but I bet they'll go tell their friends.) Everything serves a useful purpose.
It is a power point presentation and much of it is in a true/false question format.
Do you all have this stuff?
If anyone has a ping list that hasn't already been used on this thread, please call in the troops.
We need to get the word spread from sea to shining sea!
That's what we need, too, some information that sweetliberty or budge could post tomorrow, hopefully, on BREAKING NEWS, requesting that JR keep it there for everyone to read....so they know what to say to RAT lawyers if they're a poll watcher.
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