Vote Watch 2004
Vote/Election fraud, vote suppression, voting irregularities, voter intimidation in Election 2004

Acknowledgements

ELECTORAL REFORM, Via BradBlog: The progressive, non-profit group Velvet Revolution has started a "Divestiture for Democracy" (DV4D) campaign to demand voting machine transparency and credible audits to allow for election reform in the U.S. 23 U.S. Representatives have signed a letter to voting machine companies demanding voting machine integrity and transparency. 

EXIT POLL V. VOTE RESULTS: A new, detailed report analyzing the 2004 exit poll results by a group of academic experts says (in its abstract):

...Edison/Mitofsky's own exit poll data does not support their theory that a higher exit poll response rate by Kerry voters accounted for the discrepancies between the exit polls and the presidential election results. Using Edison/Mitofsky’s data tables we demonstrate that the “reluctant Bush responder” hypothesis is implausible because it is inconsistent with the combination of high response rates and high discrepancy rates among the precincts with the highest percentage for Bush.

There are Three Primary Explanations for the Discrepancies:

1. Statistical Sampling Error – or Chance

We agree with Edison/Mitofsky that the first possible cause, random statistical sampling error, can be ruled out.

2. Inaccurate Exit Polls

This is the theory that Edison/Mitofsky put forth. They hypothesize that the reason the exit polls were so biased towards Kerry was because Bush voters were more reluctant to respond to exit polls than Kerry voters. Edison/Mitofsky did not come close to justifying this position, however, even though they have access to the raw, unadjusted, precinct-specific data set. The data that Edison/Mitofsky did offer in their report show how implausible this theory is. 

3. Inaccurate Election Results

Edison/Mitofsky did not even consider this hypothesis, and thus made no effort to contradict it. Some of Edison/Mitofsky's exit poll data may be construed as affirmative evidence for inaccurate election results. We conclude that the hypothesis that the voters’ intent was not accurately recorded or counted cannot be ruled out and needs further investigation. 

For more election results and commentary on voting irregularities and oddities in exit polls/vote results go to: 
eRiposte (main site), Ohio Vote Facts (Free Press), 2004 Exit Polls v. Vote Results, US Count Votes

UPDATES as of 12/14/04 
[NOTE: I have been unable to add a large number of updates here due to lack of time. Please review the four links above for key information/updates]

152. 238 absentee ballots uncounted in Wisconsin [via reader LV, an article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]: Details in the Wisconsin page under Voting in Swing States. 

151. U. S. voting procedures found to be deficient by international observers [via different sources]: Details in the Other Voting Irregularities/Fraud page.

150. Some reports in Florida of electronic voting machines displaying Bush as the voter's choice when Kerry was selected [via reader radtimes, a piece by David Corn]: Details in the Florida page under Voting in Swing States. 

149. Election Protection volunteers report possible undercounting of votes in a Florida county [via reader LV, a report in the Newport News Times]: Details in the Florida page under Voting in Swing States. 

148. Ohio's GOP Secretary of State continues his disdain for voting rights by delaying start of Ohio recount to the date when U.S. Presidential election will be formally certified nationwide [Bob Parry writes in the Consortium News]: Details in the Ohio page under Voting in Swing States. 

147. Chicago Tribune investigation shows thousands of dead people remained on voter rolls in key swing states [via BradBlog]: Details in the Other Voting Irregularities/Fraud page.

146. Black Box Voting (BBV) finds poll tape copies in the garbage, poll tape discrepancies, and hostile officials in Volusia County, Florida; officials say BBV is comparing apples to oranges in reporting a discrepancy and that they don't have to legally keep the copies (that were found in the trash) [via reader radtimes]: Details in the Florida page under Voting in Swing States. 

145. A sample of the vote suppression and voting irregularities in Ohio captured by Voters Unite with an excellent single page graphic: Voters Unite supports an Ohio recount based on their data. Make sure you check out their chart in the Ohio page under Voting in Swing States. 

144. Some Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania precincts had as low as 12 provisional ballots, leading to many voters unable to vote [via reader radtimes]: Details in the Pennsylvania page under Voting in Swing States. 

143. Some voters in a predominantly African-American precinct near Denver, Colorado, provided wrong precinct address on their doorsteps on Election day [via Election Protection Coalition]: Details in the Colorado page under Voting in Swing States. 

142. Numerous (potentially hundreds of) ballots rejected in New Mexico for trivial reasons such as missing middle initials or other minor technicalities [via reader LV, an article in the Albuquerque Journal]: Details in the New Mexico page under Voting in Swing States. 

141. South Carolina's Horry County orders election to be held AGAIN to decide County Council seat based on incumbent Democrat's complaint that voters who were eligible to vote were not allowed to vote and those ineligible to vote in the District were allowed to vote [via reader VL, a report in the Sun News]: Details in the South Carolina page under Voting in Red States. 

140. Older News from Indiana: Vote machine company Elections Systems and Software (ES&S) has a legacy of installing illegal software and lying about it [via BradBlog]: Details in the Indiana page under Voting in Red States. 

139. Numerous voting irregularities in Maryland, mostly involving malfunctioning touch-screen machines; hundreds of student voters told that their registrations were invalid [via Votersunite]: Details in the Maryland page under Voting in Blue States. 

138. Voter registrations of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of students from Rutgers University in New Jersey were never processed, leading to discouraged (disenfranchised) voters [via Votersunite, a report in The Star-Ledger]: Details in the New Jersey page under Voting in Blue States. 

137. Kerry supporters in New Hampshire who had Kerry-Edwards signs found roofing nails in their driveway on election day [via Votersunite]: Details in the New Hampshire page under Voting in Swing States. 

136. Voting irregularities reported in Louisiana with a few precincts showing higher votes than voters and some voters wrongly blocked from voting on some propositions [via Votersunite, a report in the News Star]: Details in the Louisiana page under Voting in Swing States. 

135. Tampering of voting machines charged in Yonkers, New York, with the discovery of damaged or missing seals in 22 machines. Recount currently showing significantly shrink in lead for Republican in state Senate race [via Votersunite, this article from a local NBC affiliate]: Details in the New York page under Voting in Blue States. 

134. Voting irregularities in Colorado included incorrect instructions on absentee ballots and IDs [via Votersunite, a report in the Denver Post]: Details in the Colorado page under Voting in Swing States. 

133. Ohio's Sandusky County had some votes counted twice raising doubts about some results from that county [via Votersunite, a report in the News-Messenger]: Details in the Ohio page under Voting in Swing States. 

132. Straight party votes for Democrat registered as votes for Libertarian and vice versa in Franklin County, Indiana. Additionally, other irregularities such as unvoted ballots and "programming errors"  [via Votersunite, a report in the Palladium-Item]: Details in the Indiana page under Voting in Red States. 

131. Voter registration forms never turned in lead to ballot disqualifications in Indiana [via Votersunite, a report from a local NBC affiliate]: Details in the Indiana page under Voting in Red States.   

130. 268 uncounted absentee ballots "discovered" in the office of Pinellas county, Florida, that Bush "won" by 226 votes - after county formally certified results. This is not new - similar incident in 2000 resulted in County changing final tally in favor of Al Gore. These are not the only incidents that County Supervisor of Elections Deborah Clark has become infamous for [via edverb at Dailykos, a report in the St. Petersburg Times and more]: Details in the Florida page under Voting in Swing States. 

129. Diebold Voting Machines source code analyzed by Computer Science professor used encryption key that was hacked in 1997 and no longer used elsewhere! [via BradBlog, a report in the Washington Times]: Details in the Other Voting Irregularities/Fraud page.

128. About 33,000 ballots "discovered" in Utah after being left uncounted initially due to voting machine "glitch" [via BradBlog, a report in the Salt Lake Tribune]: Details in the Utah page under Voting in Red States. 

127. Paperless e-voting machine locked up in Texas refusing to divulge voting results. Memory card shipped to Canada (!) to machine vendor Diebold - and vendor claimed to have "successfully" extracted the results [via reader radtimes, a report in the Dallas Morning News]: Details in the Texas page under Voting in Red States. 

126. Voting machine malfunctions in several precincts in Pennsylvania forced voters to vote "backwards" [via reader radtimes, a column in Roanoke.com]: Details in the Pennsylvania page under Voting in Swing States. 

125. Report from at least one Ohio county that 20 to 30 machines were recording votes for one candidate as votes for another and had to be recalibrated; another report of a machine that recorded a negative 25 million votes! [via different sources]: Details in the Ohio page under Voting in Swing States. 

124. Former Deputy Director of Auglaize County, Ohio, resigns after claiming that former employee of electronic voting firm ES&S was given unauthorized access to the county's central vote tabulation computer before the election [via reader CS, a report in The Free Press]: Details in the Ohio page under Voting in Swing States. 

123. 10,000 more votes than voters recorded in Nebraska county [via BradBlog]: Details in the Nebraska page under Voting in Red States. 

122. Over 50,000 votes not counted in Democratic Indiana county due to electronic voting machine "glitch" [via BradBlog]: Details in the Indiana page under Voting in Red States. 

121. In Florida, electronic voting machines subtracted about 70,000 votes from vote totals in Broward County and by about 8400 in Orange county [via BradBlog, a report in the Miami Herald and Votersunite]: Details in the Florida page under Voting in Swing States. 

120. Over 11,000 more votes for President recorded in North Carolina county than were actually cast [via BradBlog, a story in the New Bern Sun Journal]: Details in the North Carolina page under Voting in Swing States. 

119. Franklin County, Ohio, absentee ballots designed similar to infamous "butterfly" ballots [via reader radtimes, a report in The Free Press]: Details in the Ohio page under Voting in Swing States. 

118. Around 1,100 problems reported with electronic voting machines; numerous reports of people voting for Kerry and seeing the machine show Bush as their choice in the checkout screen [via reader radtimes, an AP report]: Details in the Other Voting Irregularities/Fraud page.

117. Indiana County orders voting machine audit after voting machine breakdowns and reports of "straight-party" votes for Democrats showing up as votes for Republicans [via reader radtimes, a report in The Courier Press]: Details in the Indiana page under Voting in Red States. 

116. Voting mess in North Carolina apparent from disappearing, missing, "appearing", double-counted and uncounted votes [via various sources]: 4500 ballots lost due to voting machine screw-up; about 12000 uncounted votes; 120 missing ballots; ballots from seven machines counted twice; ballots from seven others not counted at all. So much for reliability of voting technology and "smoothness" of this election. Details in the North Carolina page under Voting in Swing States. 

115. Eligibility criteria for Ohio provisional ballots (which are expected to favor Kerry) changed after the election in Cuhayoga County (on 11/9/04) per Election Observer. Ballots without birth dates are ordered to be thrown out even though earlier instructions clearly stated lack of birth date was not a disqualifier. Subsequently Ohio Secretary of State issues ruling allowing such ballots to be counted [via different sources]: Details in the Ohio page under Voting in Swing States. 

114. Ohio Warren County election officials who instituted a "lockdown" during vote counting (keeping the media away) claimed terrorist threat notification from FBI led to the "lockdown"; FBI and Ohio Public Safety Director said there was no such threat [via Keith Olbermann at Hard Blogger]: Details in the Ohio page under Voting in Swing States. 

113. Additional modes of Democratic vote suppression in Ohio may have easily cost Kerry tens of thousands of votes: GOP Secretary of State stuck with outdated and less reliable punch-card machines in Democratic counties (refusing to spend budgeted tens of millions of dollars); the number of precincts in highly populated Democratic counties was significantly reduced unlike in Republican counties leading to a lower vote gain for Kerry; polling machine reductions in Democratic precincts, other problems and delays lasting for several hours added to the mix - indicating poor preparation even though turnout was below the state's expectations [via various sources]: Details in the Ohio page under Voting in Swing States. 

112. Bush gets extra 3893 votes in Gahanna Precinct in Ohio's Franklin County - only 638 total voters cast ballots in that precinct [via BradBlog, an AP report]: Details in the Ohio page under Voting in Swing States. 

111. Several hundred provisional ballots of registered Democrats disqualified in New Mexico by Republican judge; ballots certified "good" turn out to be all Republican; this news comes as reports indicate provisional ballots are being rejected in New Mexico at higher rates than expected [via reader radtimes, reports in the Albuquerque Tribune]: Details in the New Mexico page under Voting in Swing States. 

110. Democratic Party accused of making calls to Republicans in Ohio with wrong polling site information; Democrats claim volunteers made a mistake and that Democratic voters were also provided incorrect information [via Demos, a report in the Marion Star]: Details in the Ohio page under Voting in Swing States. 

109. The state of Iowa incorrectly labeled dozens of voters as felons and struck them from the rolls - many were reinstated but some are still not, although it appears they might be able to cast provisional ballots [via Election Protection, a report in the Des Moines Register]: Details in the Iowa page under Voting in Swing States.   

108. Some democratic voters in Arizona went to wrong polling sites due to fraudulent calls [via Election Protection]: Details in the Arizona page under Voting in Swing States. 

107. More voting irregularities in Arizona include display of large photo of President Bush at polling site, understaffed polling location leading to extra long lines/delays and a closed polling site in an area with a large Mexican-American population [via Election Protection]: Details in the Arizona page under Voting in Swing States.   

106. Doctored article circulated in a flyer in Pennsylvania falsely claims that students registering in PA will lose grant money from their home state [via TAPPED]: Details in the Pennsylvania page under Voting in Swing States. 

105. Lawyers' Committee on Civil Rights files FBI complaint saying that at least one voter in Arizona got an automated call urging the voter to vote tomorrow - and that the called ID was that of the Tucson GOP HQ: [via Campaign Desk, a report at TAPPED]: Details in the Arizona page under Voting in Swing States. 

104. Bogus phone calls in New Hampshire tell Kerry supporters he is leading and that they don't need to go and vote [via Campaign Desk, a report in TNR]: Folks (everywhere in the U.S.) - go and vote because there is NO tomorrow! Don't get misled by any calls or flyers. If you have any doubt check directly with your election office or click the voter fraud/suppression link for numbers to call! Details in the New Hampshire page under Voting in Swing States. 

103. Voters in Democrat-rich counties in Wisconsin falsely told they cannot register on Election Day [via TNR]: Details in the Wisconsin page under Voting in Swing States. 

102. Democratic voters in Florida receive fraudulent calls claiming they need to go to a different polling location [via Campaign Desk, a report in The Daily Commercial]: Details in the Florida page under Voting in Swing States. 

101. GOP falsely accuses Democratic Party of making robo-calls claiming Schwarzkopf supports Kerry; DNC says GOP doctored call from Kerry supporter Gen. McPeak to include fake endorsement: Details in the Other Voting Irregularities/Fraud page.

100. Student in Mississippi discovers only today that her registration had been rejected without her knowledge - other students appear to be affected too. Also, heavily African-American precinct in Hinds County had polling booths separated by partisan preference and with more machines on the GOP side - this was later corrected by election officials [via Votersunite, an article in the Clarion-Ledger]: Details in the Mississippi page under Voting in Red States. 

99. Kerry/Edwards supporters' bus held up for 40 min for no reason at Nevada checkpoint by anti-Kerry state troopers [a report from Moderate Independent]: Details in the Nevada page under Voting in Swing States. 

98. Voting machine malfunctions reported in many states - impact unknown but hopefully not major: Voters Unite has a running tally. Captured in the Other Voting Irregularities/Fraud page.

97. Wisconsin GOP's GOTV-vans' tires slashed; fake letter mimicking RNC letterhead sent to some voters claiming that the Party chairman has endorsed John Kerry [via various sources]: Details in the Wisconsin page under Voting in Swing States. 

96. Republicans push BOGUS claim over "pre-existing" votes in polling machines in Pennsylvania, via Matt Drudge (who runs the well known gossip- and lie-factory "Drudge Report") [via Campaign Extra and Josh Marshall]: Details in the Pennsylvania page under Voting in Swing States. 

95. GOP vote suppression efforts spread to Pennsylvania with massive, last minute vote challenges using the same failed, error-prone strategy used in Ohio and elsewhere. GOP refuses to release detailed list to the Press and attempts to directly and wrongly influence poll workers going around Election Board. They also claimed that some Republican voters got fraudulent calls. [via Hungry Blues, a report in the Philadelphia Inquirer]: Details in the Pennsylvania page under Voting in Swing States. 

94. GOP demands that Democratic volunteers in Florida speak to non-English (Creole) speaking Haitian-American early voters in English only, claiming that the volunteers are "threatening" the voters. Democratic volunteers deny this and point out that they were responding to requests of help from the voters (confirmed independently) [via PFAW/NAACP report a story in the Miami Herald]: Details in the Florida page under Voting in Swing States. 

93. GOP in South Dakota intimidates Native American voters by writing down their license plate numbers - judge orders them to stop the practice [via Demos, a report in the Argus Leader]: Details in the South Dakota page under Voting in Red States. 

92. Illegal (felon) and false voter registrations reported in Nevada [via Votersunite, a story in the Chicago Tribune]: Details in the Nevada page under Voting in Swing States. 

91. Iowa Republican Auditor wrongly sends away student voters in line at closing time and refuses to hold another day of early voting to compensate [via Votersunite, a story in the Des Moines Register]: Details in the Iowa page under Voting in Swing States. 

90. Fraudulent robo (phone) calls to heavily Democratic counties in Michigan provide false information on polling locations and claim that a vote for Kerry is a vote for gay marriage [via Josh Marshall, here is an article in the Detroit Free Press]: Details in the Michigan page under Voting in Swing States. 

89. Fraudulent calls made to Minnesota voters providing wrong polling places [via Minnesotan at Dailykos]: Details in the Minnesota page under Voting in Swing States. 

88. Fake email claiming to be from Joe Lockhart in John Kerry's campaign [with a johnkerry.com address] asks readers to vote for Bush [via Atrios]: Details in the Other Voting Irregularities/Fraud page. 

87. Non-partisan voter registration drive illegally blocked in New Mexico and decision reversed after criticism mounted [via PFAW/NAACP]: Details in the New Mexico page under Voting in Swing States. 

86. Non-partisan voter registration drive illegally blocked in Florida and decision reversed after court order [via PFAW/NAACP]: Details in the Florida page under Voting in Swing States. 

85. North Carolina Mecklenburg County Republicans attempt to suppress voters by rejecting state funds for early voting; later relent under criticism [via the PFAW/NAACP report]: Details in the North Carolina page under Voting in Swing States. 

84. Iowa wrongly rejects numerous voter registrations for missing tick mark against age (>18) and U.S. citizenship, even though signed and sworn voter affidavit submitted with the registration contains this certification. Registrants asked to re-submit applications [via PFAW/NAACP, a report in the Des Moines Register]: Details in the Iowa page under Voting in Swing States. 

83. Kentucky Jefferson County GOP Chair announces plan to challenge voters in minority rich precincts and faces calls for resignation from a few of his own party members [via PFAW/NAACP, a report in the Louisville Courier-Journal]: Details in the Kentucky page under Voting in Red States. 

82. Fox News reporter intimidates students registering new voters in Arizona (in late August), suggesting that they were potentially signing up students to commit felonies [via PFAW/NAACP, a report in The Nation]: Details in the Arizona page under Voting in Swing States. 

81. GOP State House candidate in Utah attempts vote suppression through illegal party-based (anti-Democrat) challenges of 1496 voters that turn out to be baseless/false [via Pitterpatter at Dailykos, a report in the Salt Lake Tribune]: Details in the Utah page under Voting in Red States. 

80. Dirty Tricks in Wisconsin: Fraudulent callers claiming to be from NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin (which has endorsed Kerry) urge voters to vote for Bush. Called ID shows NARAL's number and a criminal investigation has begun [via Rumblelizard at Dailykos]: Details in the Wisconsin page under Voting in Swing States. 

79. Fake leaflet emerges in Ohio saying Republicans should vote on Tuesday (11/2) and Democrats on Wednesday (11/3) [via Ohio Voter Suppression News]: Looks like this is a multi-state operation (previous reports in Virginia, Pennsylvania). Details in the Ohio page under Voting in Swing States. 

78. Vote suppression dirty tricks in Ohio grow at an alarming pace [via Ohio Voter Suppression News]: Frauds showing up at the door to "pick up" absentee ballots and phone lines severed at GOTV phone banks are two examples. Details in the Ohio page under Voting in Swing States. 

77. Dirty trick previously reported in Pennsylvania also seen in email in Virginia. Fraudulent email claims Republicans should vote on 11/2 and Democrats on 11/3 [via reader JT]: Details in the Virginia page under Voting in Swing States.

76. Voters in different states report incidents where absentee ballots were not received (in time or not at all) [via various sources]: Details in the Other Voting Irregularities/Fraud page. 

75. GOP distances itself from vote challenge complaint in Oregon by GOP volunteer/lawyer, saying he does not formally represent BC04 and that the GOP has not decided whether to challenge the voters. Complaint demanded IDs for thousands of new registrants in liberal Multnomah county ONLY -- when IDs are not required by state law and proper identification of such voters is left to the states per the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) [via reader KM]: Details in the Oregon page under Voting in Swing States. 

74. Fraudulent flyer in Democratic areas in Jefferson County in Alabama states elections are on November 4th [via Dailykos]: Details in the Alabama page under Voting in Red States. 

73. Fraudulent calls to registered Democrats in West Virginia telling them they are not registered to vote spread to another county; identical earlier incident was traced back to state GOP [update via Atrios]: Details in the West Virginia page under Voting in Swing States. 

72. GOP challenger John Thune's campaign in South Dakota hits another low with disgusting flyer with racist overtones; additionally his campaign was found photographing Native American voters [via Buzzflash and Blue Lemur/Raw Story, a report in Indian Country]: As Native Americans line up to vote early, Thune's campaign has released a flyer (showing prairie dogs) titled "The dogs are lining up to vote for Tom Daschle" and this is appearing in many mailboxes in the state. Inside it says "''No wonder the varmints are heading to the polls to vote for him". Thune's campaign claims it referred only to prairie dogs. Native Americans see a flashback to the days when stores in the State displayed signs with the words "No Dogs or Indians allowed". Details in the South Dakota page under Voting in Red States. 

71. Fraudulent calls lead some West Virginia voters to vote via absentee ballot even though they may not be eligible to do so [via dkosopedia, a report from the Charleston Daily Mail]: Details in the West Virginia page under Voting in Swing States. 

70. Arizona's Republican Superintendent of Public Instruction issues memo advising schools serving as polling places to take security measures (including police presence) - based on a recent school 'terror alert' from the Bush Homeland Security department that had already been shown to be highly dubious and possibly bogus [via Mbryan at Dailykos]: Details in the Arizona page under Voting in Swing States. 

69. Wisconsin GOP intensifies vote suppression efforts using more than 37000 last-minute vote challenges based on supposedly invalid voter addresses - even though their first batch of alleged "incorrect" addresses had hundreds that were correct [via reader HR, a report in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and via Buzzflash]: Details in the Wisconsin page under Voting in Swing States. 

68. Charges and counter-charges between Republicans and Democrats on campaign related violence, vandalism, and theft [via various sources]: There are some sites/articles which are documenting this and I provide links to those - there is too much content to reproduce and I don't have time to sift through the large number of alleged incidents and sort out what is a valid claim and what is an invalid claim. Clearly, some of the charges are nonsensical - e.g., Republicans blaming non-violent but confrontational protestors. Incidents of theft (which should be prosecuted) may or may not be campaign related unless campaign specific materials were stolen. Other incidents such as vandalism of campaign offices or violence against campaign offices/staff are egregious and unacceptable. Anyway, links are in the Other Voting Irregularities/Fraud page. 

67. Karl-Rove style Dirty Trick from Tennessee makes its move to Georgia [via JamesB3 at Dailykos]: Remember the dirty trick in Tennessee surrounding the egregious flyer "Voting for Bush is Like Running in the Special Olympics -- Even if You Win, You're Still Retarded"? As I highlighted in that case, there is no evidence that the Democrats put out this flier and the evidence suggests it was a dirty trick that was played ON the Democrats. Now this garbage has spread to Georgia. Details in the Georgia page under Voting in Red States. 

66. Florida GOP and the Bush-Cheney campaign continue attempts to suppress Democratic votes in Florida using evolving methods [via Dailykos - a report by Greg Palast in the BBC, Blogwood, Dailykos]: A GOP "caging list" of voters in a minority rich district was discovered and suspected to be a vote challenge list. Its use for vote challenges exposed as possibly illegal, the GOP claimed they will challenge lots of voters but not specifically the ones on the list.  Their vote challenge plan in Florida (using a 109-year old pre-civil-rights-era state law) mirrors GOP plans in Ohio and is expected to cause massive voting delays or shutdowns on voting day (and attendant discouragement/suppression of voters). Governor Jeb Bush encouraged the vote challenges and downplayed the significance of the GOP plan. The GOP vote challengers/poll watchers are disproportionately in minority rich districts - says something doesn't it?
Additionally, the GOP challenged the votes already cast by numerous people claiming that they are felons (using the repeatedly discredited Florida "felon list") - and not unexpectedly, shortly after they propagated this new list it was shown to have names of people who had already had their voting rights restored. 
The latest news is that the Florida Elections Director issued a detailed ruling stating that challenges cannot be allowed to delay the polls, that those challenged should be given the option of casting a provisional ballot and that a voter's being in the discredited felon list is not sufficient reason to allow a challenge to his or her vote. Details in the Florida page under Voting in Swing States. 

65. GOP voter suppression efforts in Ohio morph into another growing scandal with fraudulent challenges and angry citizens/voters -  Federal courts nix GOP challenges [via various sources, including a personal incident report by reader EN]: The GOP originally challenged about 35,000 registrations in Ohio - only to withdraw thousands of the claims because of self-described "errors" in their filings. Moreover, some of those challenged were homeless. The GOP also claimed over-registration fraud but the Election Board pointed out there is no evidence of fraud and that "inactive" voters have to be kept on the rolls for 4 years per the National Voter Registration Act. After mass protests, Ohio's GOP Sec. of State partially caved in with a "compromise" ruling that allows the challenged voters to cast provisional ballots. 
In the meantime, one of the GOP members who challenged the voters faces a possible indictment on felony charges for swearing she had personal knowledge about the voters being challenged when she had no knowledge whatsoever - by her own admission. The election board threw out another 976 challenges due to the latter incident. Another challenger turns out to be Megan Harrington, President of the College Republicans at the University of Toledo. She has been discovered to have challenged a voter based on a claim that he does not live where he claims he does, even though the voter actually does live at that address. Many others including some faculty at the University of Toledo were falsely challenged as well even though they were actually living at the very address the GOP claimed was not valid [NOTE: New Donkey points out that this type of vote challenge is a decades old GOP trick and Dailykos points out that that GOP settled a lawsuit agreeing to not indulge in this kind of vote suppression about two decades ago]. Many of those challenged are understandably angry at this nonsense. There is a possibility that some of those who were challenged may have been on the list since they were contributors to the Democratic party - but this needs further investigation. At least one voter was challenged under the pretext that she was dead, even though she was very much alive. It is quite clear these challengers have no morals whatsoever and need to be indicted or investigated, as appropriate. Details in the Ohio page under Voting in Swing States. 

64. Illegal Handling of Absentee Ballot Requests by GOP in South Dakota mushrooms into a scandal, amid resignations; many ballot requests were not even submitted; six Republican notaries charged with a Class 2 misdemeanor and three plead guilty [via Sdindc at Dailykos, Dailykos, Josh Marshall and Buzzflash]: Jeff Thune, nephew of Republican candidate for Senate John Thune (running a very close race against Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle) is under investigation for falsely pretending to be a Notary when collecting absentee ballot requests from prospective student voters. Additionally, even though he claimed 75 applications were notarized - the applications were never notarized or submitted to the county auditor. A number of GOP operatives/consultants have resigned. Six Republican notaries have been charged with a Class 2 misdemeanor and three of them pled guilty. KELO-TV reported that the former governor and GOP congressman in South Dakota says the national GOP is encouraging campaign workers to cheat. An executive board member of the state GOP resigns in disgust at the party's dirty tricks. These and other details are covered in the South Dakota page under Voting in Red States. 

63. Jim Crow Dirty Tricks in South Carolina: Bogus letter claiming to be from NAACP threatens arrest of voters who have failed to pay parking tickets or child support, among other things [via reader PJK, an AP report]: Letter also claims falsely that "voters must have a credit check, provide two forms of photo identification, a Social Security card, a voter registration card and a handwriting sample". Details in the South Carolina page under Voting in Red States. 

62. Employee of left-leaning but nonpartisan voter registration group South Carolina Progressive Network (SCPN) involved in submitting numerous fraudulent registrations. Fraud was however discovered by SCPN and reported to state authorities for prosecution of the employee [via Votersunite]: Details in the South Carolina page under Voting in Red States. 

61. Left-leaning but non-partisan group ACORN accused (especially by the GOP) of voter registration fraud in multiple states in favor of the Democratic Party; the data, however, indicates ACORN may have been defrauded and there is no evidence of them solely favoring Democrats. This is particularly apparent from the fact that one of the incidents involved falsely registering 1500 students as Republican. [via various sources]: Voter registration fraud in multiple states has been reported against workers of ACORN - Florida, Minnesota, Colorado, New Mexico and Michigan. The Florida incident involves the false registration of about 1500 students as Republicans. A former ACORN employee in FL who accused ACORN of improprieties was shown to have a credibility problem when he tried to fraudulently cash a check that was not in his name and got fired -- before he went on to accuse ACORN. Another person (in MN) had been fired by ACORN for doing multiple registration two months before duplicate registration cards were found in his car trunk. Likewise, another person in New Mexico had been fired by ACORN prior to her having submitted false registrations. Colorado election officials downplayed the ACORN related incidents there saying most were cases of multiple registrations (which is common as I've indicated here), and not what they would call fraud - and that ACORN helped in the discovery of the fraud. All in all, while it is clear ACORN needs to do better, it is also clear that they have been doing what they should when they discovered attempted fraud. There is certainly no evidence here to suggest that they were intentionally trying to favor any one party (especially the Democrats). Details in the Florida Page, Colorado page, New Mexico page and Michigan page under Voting in Swing States. 

60. Iowa State officials reject hundreds of voter registrations because of a problem with their own systems that prevents them from accessing the Social Security database - officials state they will work to fix this [via Votersunite, a report in the Des Moines Register]: Details in the Iowa page under Voting in Swing States. 

59. Bush Justice Department participates in unprecedented legal action to take away the rights of voters to file lawsuits to redress vote fraud or suppression [via Buzzflash, a report in the Los Angeles Times]: The Bush Justice Department has reversed decades of precedent by Justice Departments to allow individuals to go to court to fight for their voting rights. Details in the Other Voting Irregularities/Fraud page.

58. College Republicans at the University of Wisconsin and Congressional GOP candidate keep up the rich tradition of their national counterparts by distributing flyer to students with wrong voting information; they have since apologized for the "honest error" [via reader TK, a report in the Capital Times]: Details in the Wisconsin page under Voting in Swing States. 

57. Dirty Tricks in Pennsylvania: fake leaflets mimicking County stationery asks Republicans to vote on 11/2 and Democrats to vote on 11/3. Leaflets provoking numerous calls to county offices and criminal investigation initiated. Additionally, calls claiming to be from Bill Clinton and ACT ask some voters to vote on 11/3 [via various sources]: Details in the Pennsylvania page under Voting in Swing States. 

56. More electoral fraud/dirty tricks in Ohio: voter receives letter claiming that voters registered by Democratic campaigns or NAACP have invalid registrations and cannot vote [via Atrios]: Details in the Ohio page under Voting in Swing States. 

55. Another GOP funded outfit [Young Political Majors, run by Marc Jacoby] deceives students at the University of Florida by registering (or trying to register) them as Republican. Students in multiple Florida campuses report similar scams (perpetrators unclear), and in some cases changed addresses (which could make it difficult for them to vote). [via Dailykos]: Details in the Florida page under Voting in Swing States.

54. Inappropriate behavior, lying and attempted vote suppression by Democrat-hating Registrar in Rockland, Maine [via dkosopedia]: Details in the Maine page under Voting in Swing States. 

53. In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, fraudulent flyer being circulated in African-American neighborhoods to suppress their votes through "warnings": Dailykos has a scanned copy of the flyer here. Details in the Wisconsin page under Voting in Swing States. 

52. College Republican National Committee (CRNC) bilks elderly Republican donors of millions of dollars through massive campaign of deception in which donors thought they were donating to the Republican election campaign; CRNC chair now runs Bush-Cheney '04 campaign in Nevada [via Brown University Democrats/Atrios, a report from the Seattle Times and Talkingpointsmemo]: Karl Rove and Ralph Reed would be proud. Details in the Other Voting Irregularities/Fraud page.

51. Tens of thousands of absentee ballots go missing in Florida - adding to jeopardy that many votes will not get counted; internal postal service e-mail confirms that at least some absentee ballots were mishandled despite earlier denials by Florida officials. Additionally, outrageous absentee ballot delays in Broward County - ballots mailed OUT only on 10/30. Hundreds of voters disenfranchised [via various sources]: Details in the Florida page under Voting in Swing States. 

50. RNC funded firm Sproul and Associates strikes again - voter registration shenanigans extend to Minnesota [via Buzzflash, a report in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune]: Sproul and Associates, which has been in the news for shredding Democratic registrations in Nevada, and false advertising/misleading would-be voters in other states claiming they were non-partisan, has been up to the usual tricks in Minnesota. Details in the Minnesota page under Voting in Swing States. 

49. Three racist Whites in rural Georgia challenge Hispanic vote registrations purely based on race - most of those challenged had already proven they are legally allowed to vote; County Board dismisses complaint after race-based petition becomes evident and challengers declined to provide evidence in some cases [via Hungry Blues and Buzzflash]: Jim Crow continues, under a slightly different name. Details in the Georgia page under Voting in Red States. 

48. Demos Report: "Democracy at Risk - Challenges to Election Integrity" [via Votelaw]: I came across this Demos report which is in my must-read list (which I will hopefully get to after this election). Details in the Other Voting Irregularities/Fraud page.

47. A likely explanation for the GOP's minority-vote suppression efforts (other than the fact that it is easier to suppress than White votes): RNC poll shows Bush will lose otherwise. More details on GOP vote suppression plan become clear [via Kevin Drum, New Donkey]: Details in the Other Voting Irregularities/Fraud page.

46. Iowa Republican Party doesn't want to be left out when it comes to vote suppression [via taliesin at Dailykos, a report in the Des Moines Register]: Iowa GOP attempts to suppress votes of citizens who signed an affidavit certifying their eligibility to vote but forgot to check a box saying they are citizens; also attempts to suppress provisional ballots cast in the right county but wrong precinct. Details in the Iowa page under Voting in Swing States. 

45. Most powerful Republican in Philadelphia, in a moment of candor, expresses an intent to suppress the Democratic vote [via What Really Happened, a story from Campaign Extra]: Pennsylvania House Speaker John Perzel says, "The Kerry campaign needs to come out with humongous numbers here in Philadelphia. It's important for me to keep that number down." Details in the Pennsylvania page under Voting in Swing States. 

44. Republican officials across the country try to suppress votes by willfully misrepresenting Help America Vote Act (HAVA) to demand IDs when they are not required; other HAVA implementations disenfranchising voters reported by the Century Foundation. [via Alec Applebaum in TNR and reader radtimes]: Details in the Other Voting Irregularities/Fraud page.

43. Minnesota's Republican Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer hones the art of vote suppression [via MN Politics, Village Voice]: Multiple stories here - trying to reduce voter registration by Democratic-leaning groups, attempting to eliminate Independence Party candidate (running against GOP platform), rushing to use untested and unreliable voter registration system, issuing posters near voting booths warning of terrorists, placing highly misleading notices near driver's license stations that the voter registration deadline is past, etc. Hey, you can't blame her for not trying to catch up with her party colleagues nationwide! Details in the Minnesota page under Voting in Swing States. 

42. GOP plan to field thousands of "vote challengers" in Ohio exploiting a historical minority voter intimidation law dating back to 1953 (the pre-Civil-Rights era) - pushed by GOP Secretary of State and Bush Justice Department. Strongly conservative judges in the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals and the Ohio Supreme Court allow it. [via various sources]: Details in the Ohio page under Voting in Swing States. 

41. The potential promise and major perils of unchecked electronic voting (without paper backups): For almost everything you want to know about the promises and major perils of unchecked e-voting (without paper backups) go to Bev Harris' Black Box Voting. This article in the WSJ [via reader Radtimes] covers one of the e-voting machine vendors Diebold. This article in Time [also via reader radtimes] also covers the perils of e-voting machines, but also points out how the Bush administration and the Republican Congress didn't bother to set up unified national standards for new voting machines. More articles/details in the Other Voting Irregularities/Fraud page.

40. Dirty Tricks and Fraud against Democratic Senator Tom Daschle get real dirty in South Dakota [via Josh Marshall]: Specific wording ("S.T.D.") stands out in the mailer accompanying an offensive sticker ("Vote for Daschle & Vote for SODOMY") mass mailed to over a thousand churches statewide along with key Democratic supporters' homes. The mass mailing would have been quite difficult for a random individual or a small fry group to indulge in, prompting Sen. Daschle to suggest that College Republicans (who previously had sold T-shirts made with the words "Get Rid of Your STD") are behind this - potentially including those who were involved in the recent Jeff Thune absentee ballot scandal in the same state. He has filed criminal charges on the matter and the GOP denied they had anything to do with it and have asked for an investigation as well. Details in the South Dakota page under Voting in Red States. 

39. Trials and tribulations for overseas civilian voters and military voters continue [via Alix Christie in Salon.com and reader radtimes]: Details in the Overseas Absentee Voting page.

38. Low income, minority and elderly Florida voters (a Democratic leaning group) fraudulently asked to give away absentee ballots to strangers pretending to be election officials; others illegally asked to vote "at home" or provide information on parking tickets, debt or arrest records [via various sources]: Reports in multiple counties suggest a well-oiled operation aimed at Democratic vote suppression. It seems every day brings new lows. Details in the Florida page under Voting in Swing States.

37. E-voting machine nightmare begins: votes for one candidate show up repeatedly as votes for the opposing candidate in New Mexico [Via chicagoprogressive at Dailykos]: And what are the local election officials saying? That the voters are to blame! Details in the New Mexico page under Voting in Swing States. NOTE to Voters: Please make sure you triple check your vote when vote! 

36. Fraudulent calls made to Ohio voters to suppress their votes using wrong information on voting site [via Atrios and Logan's Lurch]: Details in the Ohio page under Voting in Swing States. 

35. Oregon GOP voter "observation manual" instruction on videotaping approaches borderline intimidation; false information on voting deadline reveals attempt at vote suppression [Via Hesiod, a report in The Oregonian]: My initial thought was to consider that the voting deadline issue was a possible error - but when I saw the state GOP's response when the error was revealed in their document it became clear this was no error. This was a wanton attempt to mislead their supporters into indulging in vote suppression. Details in the Oregon page under Voting in Swing States.

34. Christine Cegelis, Democratic challenger to longtime GOP Rep. Henry Hyde left off sample ballots printed in newspapers in Illinois [via reader SM]: As the article in the Daily Herald notes, the GOP controls the county election board which makes this quite fishy - but I'm not going to attribute intent to this yet without further evidence. If you want to help/contribute to Cegelis, here is her website. Details in the Illinois page under Voting in Blue States.

33. Three reports on Voting Rights in America: 
- PFAW Report: "The Long Shadow of Jim Crow - Voter Intimidation and Suppression in America Today" 
- Moving Ideas Report: "Voting in America: How Democratic Is It?"  
- Republican Ballot Security Programs: Vote Protection or Minority Vote Suppression- or Both?: A Report to The Center for Voting Rights and Protection by C. Davidson et al. 
More details in the Other Voting Irregularities/Fraud page.

32. More cases of students being fraudulently registered as Republican - this time in Pennsylvania [via Dailykos and reader radtimes]: Students who thought they were signing a petition on marijuana legalization (or other petitions/forms) discover they were falsely registered as Republican in the process. Details in the Pennsylvania page under Voting in Swing States.

31. Nevada's GOP Secretary of State rightly declares the Nevada Republican Party's attempt to "challenge" voters using overly broad definition of law as wrong [via Dailykos]: Secretary of State states that vote challenges should be based on a "good faith belief" that the person is not eligible to vote. Details in the Nevada page under Voting in Swing States.

30. Colorado's Help America Vote Act (HAVA) Compliance Director is a known racist - so much for helping America vote [RMPN via Atrios]: Details in the Colorado page under Voting in Swing States. 

29. Virginia GOP State Representative complains that Democratic Governor Mark Warner is re-enfranchising ex-felons too fast and plans to bring up this issue in next year's Gubernatorial campaign! [via Votelaw]: Someone actually believes ex-felons should NOT be re-enfranchised (as allowed by State Law) quickly - just unbelievable. Details in the Virginia page under Voting in Swing States. 

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