The Guardian reports on the widespread corruption and "technical problems" which are alleged to have affected the recent American congressional elections:
The former first daughter Chelsea Clinton ran into polling trouble. Senator Clinton told reporters Chelsea had been turned away at a Manhattan polling site because her name did not appear in a book of registered voters. Investigators determined that her name had been sent to the wrong polling location, so she was unable to vote in the polling booth. She was offered an affidavit vote, which is similar to the provisional ballots used in other states.
In the very tight Virginia Senate race, the FBI said it was looking into complaints that callers had tried to intimidate or confuse voters in the contest, which pits the Republican George Allen against Jim Webb, the Democrat challenger.
The state board of elections secretary, Jean Jensen, said her office had forwarded several reports to the FBI of voters receiving phone calls intended to discourage them from voting or directing them to the wrong polling place.
Meanwhile, in Tennessee, our friend Ginny reports that she was also prevented from voting. Not only were her family, all of them Bush supporters, unwilling or "unable" to drive her to the booths, but there seem to be no provision to get blind people, and those with other disabilities, out to vote. I wonder why?
(Also, you might read her entry on overhearing a reference to "Obama bin Laden" at work recently. Not only are Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden obviously two different people, the former is not even a Muslim.)
Assalamu alaikum, actually, I'm not sure that my family's seeming unwillingness to get me to the polls had anything to do with a delberate attempt to keep me from voting. However, that htought has crossed my mind. To be honest, I think it mostly had to do with the fact that they just plain didn't feel like taking me to the polls. So I think it mostly boils down to laziness. Although, if they thought that I was going to vote straight Republican, I just wonder if maybe they'd have been more enthusiastic about getting me there. I also do not know if there is any transportation programs available to get blind and disabled citizens out to vote. There may be, but I didn't have time to try to find out about them, and it was on such short notice (around 4:30), that I found out that I'd not be albe to go to the polls, so I'm not sure that I'd even have been able to call anyone to get me to the polls. There's also the added can of worms of having to explain why, in a household with someone who has a car, and family members close by, why they, meaning my family, can't take me to the polls, instead of some volunteer worker or other agency. And by the time yesterday evening rolled around, I was just too tired to worry about it!
Asalamu alaykum,
The best thing to come out of the election thus far has been the resignation of Rumsfeld and the election of the first Muslim Keith Ellison to the House of Representatives.
In my state, the parties do organize free rides to polling stations for those that need them but why wait in long lines when you can vote via absentee ballot?
I don't know if Obama's father renounced his ancestors' religion (Islam) or not. What I know is that in Africa people tend to mix all kinds of religions, so that in Obama's family you find siblings who follow different religions, and his grandmother is a devout Muslim. You also find Christians with Muslim names like Amina and Saumu, quite common in countries like Tanzania and Congo.