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CNN: Error purges 50,000 Georgia voters from rolls

Posted by Jason Tuohey October 27, 2008 12:16 PM

The election is more than a week away, but voter registration issues are already popping up for tens of thousands of Georgians -- including one woman with Boston ties.

CNN reported yesterday an identification mismatch in the state caused the purging of 50,000 registered voters. About 4,500 of them have had their US citizenship questioned, among them Kyla Berry, who was born in the Hub:

"College senior Kyla Berry was looking forward to voting in her first presidential election, even carrying her voter registration card in her wallet.

But about two weeks ago, Berry got disturbing news from local election officials.

'This office has received notification from the state of Georgia indicating that you are not a citizen of the United States and therefore, not eligible to vote,' a letter from the Fulton County Department of Registration and Elections said.

But Berry is a U.S. citizen, born in Boston, Massachusetts. She has a passport and a birth certificate to prove it."

The report isn't the first news of clerical errors that could possibly thwart eligible voters from casting ballots on Nov. 4. Earlier this month, the New York Times reported tens of thousands of eligible voters in several swing states had been removed from rolls or blocked from registering:

"Tens of thousands of eligible voters in at least six swing states have been removed from the rolls or have been blocked from registering in ways that appear to violate federal law, according to a review of state records and Social Security data by The New York Times.

The actions do not seem to be coordinated by one party or the other, nor do they appear to be the result of election officials intentionally breaking rules, but are apparently the result of mistakes in the handling of the registrations and voter files as the states tried to comply with a 2002 federal law, intended to overhaul the way elections are run."

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I have a bad felling that Ms Berry is double registered in both MA and GA. This is the same CNN that uses "autonomous sources" for news stories.

Posted by Jibreel Riley October 27, 08 12:24 PM
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Oh, okay, now we know why McCain is so confident he'll win. It's unbelievable to think this country can figure out how to send a man to the moon, a rover to Mars, invent phones that can do everything but bake a cake, and we still can't get it right when it comes to voting. We've had 200 years to figure it out, what's the delay?

Posted by Sam October 27, 08 12:31 PM
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Read the story Jibreel, they said she was scrubbed for not being a U.S. citizen, which she clearly is.

Posted by Homer_bailey October 27, 08 12:46 PM
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You're claiming that someone has committed fraud when you have never even met them and no absolutely nothing of their circumstance other than what you just read which claims she was listed as not a resident of this country...

And THEN you have the audacity to question CNN's credibility...

Classic.

Posted by Laughing out Loud October 27, 08 12:50 PM
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If people being excluded tend to be around university campuses, predominately black areas, young, or otherwise likely to be Democratic voters, that would raise suspicion--in my mind at least--the the Republicans are rigging the election. Remember, there are hundreds of billions of dollars in war contracts, petroleum profits, and tax breaks for the rich at stake. Don't underestimate what people would do for money.

Posted by randygrenier October 27, 08 01:51 PM
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What cell phones won't bake cakes? No, seriously, all these loud accusations against ACORN are to mask voter suppression issues like this one.

Posted by SnarkySue October 27, 08 01:58 PM
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We cannot accept this, If there is voter tampering, we must take a stand.

Posted by Joe October 27, 08 02:07 PM
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#6, I think there is a blackberry-type device you can program to automatically start your bread machine so you can have fresh-baked bread when you come home from work (that is, if you have a job anymore). Geez, and I thought baking a cake with a lightbulb (EZ Bake ovens) was so cool when I was a kid.

Posted by Sam October 27, 08 02:51 PM
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Republicans try to mess up the vote all the time. ACORN can't come close to them. In 2000 Rove sent them to storm the chad counters, rioting to stop them. They do robocalls to immigrants and blacks to lie to them. Now tossing out valid voters and ballots. They will always cheat because it worked in 2000.

Posted by Vote with a bullet October 27, 08 04:07 PM
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Last month, before the deadline, my wife sent a register by mail form to Karen Handel the Secretary of State of Georgia. With it she sent a copy of her driver's license, her military dependent ID card, and her US passport. She went to vote early and was turned away from the polls. The official at the registration told my wife that her name had been dropped from the roll because she hadn't voted in the last three elections. She told my wife to come back in four years and vote in the next election. The last time my wife did vote her name went on the list of eligible jurors. She was called and served two weeks on a jury and lost two weeks pay at her job. Like the man at the McCain rally, I'm REALLY mad.

Posted by Gnothiself October 29, 08 07:50 PM
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Coming back to this article on the morning after... Now with Pres Elect Obama. I watched the pre-election polls for Georgia, and have been watching the Georgia returns, and the numbers definitely don't match up, not remotely close enough. GEORGIA HAS "SCRUBBED" THE VOTER ROLLS, and the world needs to see this come to light. Democracy itself is in mortal danger in Georgia!

Posted by DT November 5, 08 12:48 PM
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