corrente

Xan posted (back here) the cookbook for vote fraud. Not that the Republicans need it, but it's handy for us to know what they're up to, and what we're up against. See if you can guess which technique the Republicans are using to deny Spanish speakers their voting rights:

Federal promises to make registering to vote easier for Spanish-speaking voters by posting the required forms on the Internet have been lost in translation.

Seven months after the government hired a company to translate the material, and nearly a year after the English version was made available, nothing appeared online.

Federal promises to make registering to vote easier for Spanish-speaking voters by posting the required forms on the Internet have been lost in translation.

Seven months after the government hired a company to translate the material, and nearly a year after the English version was made available, nothing appeared online.

On Friday evening...

Heh. A 5 o'clock horror!

... [t]he U.S. Election Assistance Commission, after questions from The Washington Post, rushed a translated version still under review onto its Web site. But as of yesterday afternoon, the Federal Election Commission did not offer the Spanish version on its site. At issue has been the 33-page National Mail Voter Registration form that allows people to register from anywhere in the country.

In January, two months after the English version appeared on the Internet, the FEC hired California-based Transcend, a company experienced in translating government documents, to translate the form. But after Transcend completed its work in April and handed the translation to the newly formed U.S. Election Assistance Commission, the project stalled.

Commission Chairman DeForest Soaries, said the Spanish voter registration form had become a casualty of limited resources and a sprawling priority list.

He said federal law does not require the commission to provide voter registration forms in languages other than English. Even so, he acknowledged the value of the effort to voters. Latinos made up 5 percent of the overall electorate in the last election.

"It's obviously necessary because of the size of Hispanic community," he said. "And from the information we received, we get more requests for Spanish than other languages."

The commission was mandated by the Helping America Vote Act of 2002, a law intended to remove obstacles to the election process. It has four commissioners, appointed by [Bush]...

Why on earth did the Beltway Dems stand for that one?

.... with recommendations from both parties. Among its responsibilities, the commission is charged with creating a nationally uniform electoral process and administering federal aid to help states upgrade voting booths and train poll workers.

Rodolfo de la Garza, a Columbia University political science professor and expert on Latino political behavior, said the delay amounted to voter disenfranchisement.

"This is the area that we have moved into in voting rights, these kinds of passive obstacles," he said. "That is very different from stealing votes, it just makes it harder for them to vote. . It's patently false that this so complicated they can't get it done in nine months."
(via WaPo)

Time's up! Bing bing bing bing bing!

Why, it's technique #1! "Inconvenience to register"!