Democrats vote on November 5!

[RandFan]

The "it was a joke, ha-ha-ha" defense is based on the idea that they knew the information they were disseminating was false, but did it anyway for the lulz, which probably doesn't work as a defense against fraud.

No, the law specificaly states that there must be intent. That it was a joke is plausible and I think very likely. It looks like a joke to me. I don't find it funny but it doesn't appear otherwise. Yes, of course it would fly.

 

[Meadmaker]

So, we have evidence that this was either an attempt at satire, or a massively incompetent forgery.

Sorry, but I can't cross incompetence off the list. There's plenty of those that are quite incompetent.

I admit that there is a case being made here. But I don't think that this "joke" should go unpunished, myself.

There's also a hybrid of the two cases. It's possible that it started as a joke, but one of the recipients of the joke was a right wing nut job who didn't get it, and actually decided to circulate the fliers thinking he was helping the cause.

I certainly wouldn't object to some form of punishment for anyone posting these fliers in public places, as opposed to emailing it to his friends. A slap on the wrist for such a person would demonstrate that we take voting rights seriously. It's not that this particular flier did any harm, but if someone sees someone getting away with this, then they might try to push the envelope just a bit farther.

I don't think we'll find any "Republican operatives" behind this, though. At most, we'll find some whack job like that woman who carved the "B" on her face.

 

[RandFan]

I certainly wouldn't object to some form of punishment for anyone posting these fliers in public places...

Neither would I.

 

[Lonewulf]

There's also a hybrid of the two cases. It's possible that it started as a joke, but one of the recipients of the joke was a right wing nut job who didn't get it, and actually decided to circulate the fliers thinking he was helping the cause.

Yeah, this I can agree with, definitely.

I certainly wouldn't object to some form of punishment for anyone posting these fliers in public places, as opposed to emailing it to his friends. A slap on the wrist for such a person would demonstrate that we take voting rights seriously. It's not that this particular flier did any harm, but if someone sees someone getting away with this, then they might try to push the envelope just a bit farther.

Yeap, that's my concern as well.

I don't think we'll find any "Republican operatives" behind this, though.

Who besides dudalb seems to assume that anyone's saying that we will?

At most, we'll find some whack job like that woman who carved the "B" on her face.

Probably. Man, that was freaky.

 

[Wildy]

The point was foreigners would be unlikely to recognize an old joke that had been circulating for years here.

Because five minutes on Snopes, or google wouldn't let us figure that out.

But don't let that stop you from from freaking out and claiming I think foreigners shouldn't be allowed to post in this section...

Thank you, I think I will:

OMG WildCat WON'T LET US NON-AMERICANS POST IN THIS SECTION !!!111ONEONEONE.

I mean, nobody really thinks Colbert is a hard core Conservative, either.

Colbert isn't a hard core Conservative. Next you'll be telling us that The Daily Show isn't a news broadcast.

Finally, there's the blatantly unconstitutional elements of the instructions themselves.

I might as well ask (being a foreigner), how much of the constitution is taught to regular Americans?


How do we know that this isn't supposed to be seen as a joke with the added bonus of making people not vote?

 

[RandFan]

How do we know that this isn't supposed to be seen as a joke with the added bonus of making people not vote?

How do we know that this wasn't circulated by the 3rd gunman on the grassy knoll? Huh? Tell me that.

 

[Wildy]

How do we know that this wasn't circulated by the 3rd gunman on the grassy knoll? Huh? Tell me that.

That's the thing. We don't.

We have one side claiming "voter fraud" and another side claiming "it was a joke".

And we have both sides trying to get the other to prove their side, when we don't have the evidence to do so.

Because this appeared before the election we don't know whether it would have had an effect. If we see people appearing on Nov. 5 trying to vote then we already have an answer.

Well we have two. The first is that there are people out there who are so daft that they didn't see any of the reports showing that it was false (I'm assuming that it reached other media, not just the internet). The second is that regardless of whether it was supposed to be a joke or not, it did stop someone from voting, so for all intents and purposes would constitute voter fraud.


To be honest, I think that part of this works because of the electoral system that you have in place in the US. Here in Australia we don't have to worry about fake flyers stating that too many people would be voting and that people should vote on different days, primarily because we have to vote, or we get fined for it. We know that this would not be the case.

There is one thing that I find strange though. Why hold the election on a weekday? Or are Americans given the day off to vote?

 

[Meadmaker]

I might as well ask (being a foreigner), how much of the constitution is taught to regular Americans?

All of it. How well it is taught, and how much of it is learned, varies from place to place, and from student to student.

 

[Meadmaker]

There is one thing that I find strange though. Why hold the election on a weekday? Or are Americans given the day off to vote?

When the Constitution was written, there was no "weekend". There were the six days of the regular work week, and there was the Sabbath (which to the goyim that controlled America at the time, was Sunday ). It wouldn't be fit to hold the election on the Sabbath, so it was decided to hold the election on the first Monday in November. Some people objected, because farmers might have to travel a long way to the polls. They might have to make an overnight trip, and if the election were Monday, this would require travel on the Sabbath. So, the framers moved it to the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, and it would take a constitutional ammendment to change that.

Very few people get the day off to vote, but many employers generally let people arrive a little bit late or leave a little bit early to accomodate voters. For a long time, anyone with a medical condition that would prevent them from getting to the polls, or anyone who would not be in their home precinct, could vote "absentee", by mailing in their ballot early. In recent years, greatly expanded this year, "early voting" has been allowed, which allows people to go to certain polling places before the election to cast ballots. Laws vary from state to state on procedures.

 

[RandFan]

We have one side claiming "voter fraud" and another side claiming "it was a joke".

And some of us are saying it looks like a joke but we are willing to accept evidence to the contrary and wouldn't be bothered if someone were prosecuted.

 

[gtc]

Perhaps you fail to understand the situation. It is a joke which is voter disenfranchisement and the originator of this rubbish could easily face criminal charges.

That is pretty much how I see it. I suspect that is a joke. If there was any thought behind it, I think the people who did it were either wanting to get a reaction from people who read it or imaging how funny it would be to see someone show up on the wrong day.

That doesn't mean that it was a funny joke or that the people who did it shouldn't be investigated - though I think it would be difficult to secure a conviction. It is

It's a bit like disseminating a "joke" flier saying that there will be police officers outside polling places to arrest anyone with outstanding traffic tickets both rumors which are going around this time. The effect is to delude some people into giving up their right to vote, regardless of its intent.

I think that flier should be taken more seriously. It strikes me as a proper attempt to scare people away.

If you yelled "fire" in a crowded theater as a joke, you'd be facing charges regardless of what a knee slapper you thought it was.

True. Or joking about bombs at the check-in counter of an airport.