In Lake County, Ohio, officials say at least a handful of voters have reported receiving a notice on phony board-of-elections letterhead saying that anyone who had registered through a variety of Democratic-leaning groups would not be allowed to vote this year.
In Pennsylvania, an official of the state Republican Party said it sent out 130,000 letters congratulating newly registered voters but that 10,000 were returned, indicating that the people had died or that the address was nonexistent. Mark Pfeifle, the Republican spokesman, said the numbers showed that in their zeal to register new voters, Democratic-aligned groups had committed fraud.
PHOTO: AFP
And in Michigan, Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land said she had to put out a statement mid-last month about where to send absentee ballots after voters in the Ann Arbor area received calls telling them to mail the ballots to the wrong address.
With lawyers and poll watchers descending on battleground states and the presidential race tight enough that every vote could count, elections officials say that charges of voter intimidation and voter fraud, on the street or in courtrooms, are flying more furiously than anyone can remember in recent elections.
Much of the tone has been set by a propaganda war of sorts between the parties, with the Democrats charging that efforts are being made to suppress the vote and Republicans warning against voter fraud or double voting.
In part, the charges are designed by each party to get out their core supporters to the polls. But court battles already under way over such matters as to who gets to cast provisional ballots show this is also a serious struggle that could continue in the courts.
Democrats have tried to walk a fine line. For weeks they made charges that Republicans were working to keep down turnout and deter newly registered voters. But as election day has approached, they have moderated their tone, assuring voters that all will be fine at the polls, mindful of surveys showing that reports of confusion can deter voters.
In Philadelphia, where turnout among blacks is considered crucial to the Democrats winning Pennsylvania, state Democrats held a press conference last week where the Reverend Jesse Jackson assured voters there would be no disruptions at the polls. Michael Whouley, the get-out-the-vote expert at the Democratic National Committee (DNC), held a teleconference with reporters last week to insist that the reports of challenges and confusion at polling places were greatly exaggerated.
"American democracy is working," he said.
Jenny Backus, another adviser to the DNC, said that early voting had gone smoothly, and that election day would too.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia