November 04, 2008

The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Official (NALEO) Educational Fund reported that as of noon Pacific Time, over 5,500 voters had been provided with assistance in seeking their polling place or with reporting challenges in trying to cast their votes. The biggest challenge to new voters in this election seems to be the administrative process of their names making it onto voter rolls after registering and the way poll workers handle these situations. Full release

Voters in many places are enduring long lines and other issues in order to participate in a historic election. The two biggest complaints among the over 37,000 callers today as of 3:00 pm to the 877-GO-CNN-08 national voter hotline involve voter registration and mechanical issues at polling places. Full release

Leading national conservation groups will hold a press conference tomorrow, November 5th to discuss the unprecedented role of energy and global warming as issues in this year's elections. The groups will recap their own political programs and endorsements, outline how candidates up and down the ballot engaged on key issues, and will begin to lay out what a new administration and Congress will mean for clean energy, economic recovery and global warming. Full release

The HNBA is committed to protecting citizens' right to vote on Election Day. Along with its coalition partners, HNBA launched Election Protection 2008 -- the nation's largest non-partisan voter protection program. Volunteers will be monitoring polling places and providing live assistance to voters who have questions or need to report problems with voting. Full release

Older Americans continue to vote in greater proportion than any other age group in state legislative, Congressional and Presidential races - over 70% in 2004. In the last Presidential election, more than 90 percent of registered voters over 45 voted in Illinois, making up over half of the voting electorate. Full release

Callers to the 877-GO-CNN-08 hotline in Jackson County, Missouri are reporting that several precincts received the wrong registered voter lists, which has delayed voting in these areas. Polling locations affected by the poll book mix-up cannot open without the proper lists to verify voter's registration. Full release

Some voters in Virginia are experiencing long lines and voting machine problems at their polling location, according to callers to the national 877-GOCNN-08 voter hotline. The toll-free hotline has received over 1,000 calls from Virginia voters as of 10:30 am this morning. Polls opened at 6:00 am in the state. According to InfoVoter Technologies and the Reform Institute, which are monitoring the hotline, voters in Chesapeake, VA are reporting mechanical problems, such as malfunctioning equipment. Voters in Virginia Beach are reporting long lines and some poll locations opening late. Four hundred people were reported standing in line in Petersburg, VA. Full release

Tight margins in key Presidential, U.S. Senate and governor races in at least eight states make it imperative that Democrats volunteer and provide financial support on Election Day to prevent Republican from stealing close elections, according to the experts at NoVoterLeftBehind.net (http://www.NoVoterLeftBehind.net), which is accepting donations and volunteers to fight back against the GOP campaign to steal the 2008 election both on and after November 4th. Full release

The following is an excerpt from an article from The Wall Street Journal, and is being released today by the Republican National Committee: Last week Mike Sandvick, head of the Milwaukee Police Department's five-man Special Investigative Unit, was told by superiors not to send anyone to polling places on Election Day. He was also told his unit - which wrote the book on how fraud could subvert the vote in his hometown - would be disbanded. Full release

The following article by Julia Duin from The Washington Times is being issued today by the Republican National Committee: The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has hired forensic accounting specialists to investigate more than $1 million in church funding to voter-registration group ACORN, fearing the money may have been spent in partisan or fraudulent ways that could jeopardize the church's tax-exempt status. ... Full release

Voting rights advocates in nine swing states will each hold morning and afternoon telephone press briefings on Election Day to report on specific incidents and problems reported to poll monitors and a national hotline. These calls are in addition to two national telephone press briefings that will be held at 10:30 am ET and 3:30 pm ET by the Election Protection Coalition, the nation's largest non-partisan election protection coalition that includes more than a hundred national, state, and local voter protection groups. Full release

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