this is a disturbing story posted in Yoshitsune's Journal

I am currently pissed off. Let me tell you why.Today, around lunchtime, I went with my parents to the polls to vote in our primary election. When I got there, I found that I had somehow been removed from the books, and hence could not vote.Frustrated, I took the day off work and my mom took me down to the Election Board at 18th and Walnut. When we got there, we found that the reason I was not on the books is that SOMEONE had sent in an address change card for me. I live near 76th and Troost, but the voting database now had me down as living at 52nd and Locust - I've NEVER lived there, and have in fact lived at this address all of my life (well, except for the year in England, and even then this was my "permanent address"). It took about two hours, but the elections commission director straightened it out and I was finally able to vote. However, she told me why this has been happening, and it's very worrisome.Apparently there are groups out there who buy copies of the voter registration rolls, then send in new registrations for registered voters giving them a new address. It's really a more sophisticated version of the whole thing with the felony lists in Florida in the last election - however, people aren't being REMOVED from the voting rolls, and hence there's no red flag being raised. After all, people DO move and send in change of address, so there's no reason for them to suspect voter fraud. And there's really no way to trace this, so there's really no way to detect this. But in effect what it means is voters are removed from the rolls - after all, if you're unknowingly registered in another precinct, how can you vote at yours? I was lucky...I have the job flexibility and transportation to go down to the election board and find out the problems, but I'm betting a lot of the other people with the same problems don't. And there are a lot - at my precinct, during the period we were at the polls, which was pretty slow, there were only about five or six people in and out, including us. And of those, me and one other guy found ourselves off the rolls, and one woman said she'd had the same thing happen to her during the 2000 presidential election and had to spend the entire day down at the election board.By the way, I'll just say that I think it's significant that I happen to live in a largely minority, heavily Democratic district in a swing state. You can draw your own conclusions from that. But I'll add that I've recently been reading Bush's Brain, a book about the INCREDIBLY FUCKING SCARY Karl Rove, and this scheme has a distinct Rovian stench to it. (Three guesses who masterminded the similar scheme in Florida for Bush? And the first two don't count.)Anyway, I have a feeling that this problem is only going to get worse as the November election approaches. So I'm urging everyone, especially if you live in a swing state - either check with your election board a few days before the election to make sure you're on the rolls at your current address, or vote absentee early (which will also let you know whether you're on the rolls or not).Edit: Anyone who wants to, feel free to link to this post from wherever. The more people who know about this new variety of voter fraud, the better.And I now regret putting that second to last paragraph in my original post...it seems that people have focused on that, which was basically a tossaway (that I actually considered not even putting in). The amount of response to this has just staggered me, but I'd rather it be to the legitimate issue that can affect voters, Democrat AND Republican, than to a mildly incendiary political comment.Edit 2: OMG THE DRAMA!!1! When will it end?To answer some questions...No, this is not an urban legend. Obviously, if you read this at all carefully, you'd know there was at least one person this has happened to - me. And while I don't know exactly how many people this has happened to, the elections director made it clear that I was not the only one to encounter this problem. (And there are almost certainly more people who have not contacted the Elections Board about this.)Yes, I am in the process of getting this information out to news media and to voting rights organizations. I've already talked about this with one local reporter, and have sent e-mail to another. One is with the Pitch Weekly (the local alternative paper) and the other is with the Kansas City Star (the main newspaper for the KC area). I've also been contacted by an individual with the Western Missouri ACLU, and I'll be sending a letter to them later today. And this evening I'll probably be contacting a person I know at KMBC-9 News. Aside from that, I'm still undetermined as to who else is important to contact about this.Final Edit: OK. The latest news from the election board is that, while this form of voter fraud is indeed being perpetrated here, what happened to me was a legitimate mistake. Apparently someone sharing my name moved, and when getting a driver's license with his new address changed his voter registration. (Thanks to Kendrick Blackwood from the Pitch Weekly for helping to clear this up.)To be honest, I'm kind of relieved...while it's depressing to know that something like this is happening, it's nice to know that in my case it was a legitimate mistake. Now that I'm aware of the issue, though, I will still be working to heighten voter awareness about this form of voter fraud.However, I'll now be disabling comments on this entry...it's hit close to 350 comments, and I'm sure this new info will probably inspire more. I can't keep up with that kind of response, hence no more comments. I've been surprised and pleased at the response this post has garnered (yes, even the negative response - even if you disagree with the information and opinions expressed in this post, at least everyone who read it is now aware of this practice). So, thanks to everyone who read this entry and/or commented on it.