Anti-Bush registration drive stirs fraud concerns

A coalition of liberal groups committed to defeating President Bush has spent more than $100 million orchestrating the largest voter-registration drive in U.S. history, raising concerns of widespread voter fraud in 14 battleground states.

At the same time, Democratic Party officials are gearing up to challenge unfavorable Election Day results in a number of states through “pre-emptive strikes,” charging that Republicans prevented minorities from voting even before any such incidents are confirmed.

Working under the banner “America Votes,” the 32-member coalition — led by the anti-Bush America Coming Together (ACT), the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and MoveOn.org — has played a key role in what election officials have called a massive increase in registered voters nationwide.

In the past several months, coalition members have flooded minority neighborhoods in an extensive door-to-door voter-registration drive, using bar-coded sheets to identify undecided and potential Democratic voters in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

Colorado Gov. Bill Owens this week accused the groups of trying to undermine the election process and demanded an investigation by his state attorney of hundreds of questionable voter-registration applications.

“I am very concerned that such groups have registered people who are not qualified to vote,” said Mr. Owens, a Republican.

Democrats quickly blasted Mr. Owens, insisting that he was trying to scare people away from the polls.

“This is the classic move by Republican tacticians: create an environment of fear that discourages voters from showing up on Election Day, for this is the only way they know how to win,” said Susan Casey, state director of Sen. John Kerry’s presidential campaign.

She said Republicans were panicked over polls showing Mr. Kerry in a virtual tie with President Bush. Studies have shown that high voter turnout tends to favor Democrats.

According to a 66-page Democratic National Committee (DNC) manual, first disclosed yesterday on the Drudge Report, Democrats already are planning to challenge election results.

“If no signs of intimidation have emerged yet, launch a pre-emptive strike,” the manual said.

The manual, dated November 2004, also said Democrats should rely on party officials, minority organizations and civil rights leaders to denounce Republican tactics to discourage people from voting. It also said Democratic Party officials should assist in placing stories in the press by providing “talking points.”

Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Ed Gillespie said the manual “proves the Kerry campaign and the DNC are more interested in scaring minority voters than in working to reach out to them on Election Day, even if it means completely making things up.

“Republicans have worked hard to reach out and bring the president’s message of hope and optimism to all Americans, including minority voters around the country,” Mr. Gillespie said. “John Kerry sees these efforts, is concerned by them and is now working to scare those voters with lies and wholesale fabrications.”

Texas Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams, a black Republican and prominent speaker during the Republican National Convention in New York, denounced the manual as “truly outrageous, careless and shameful.”

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