Rove tricks? McCain absentee ballots raise questions

I received my absentee ballot from John McCain just last week (see photo of the mailer) and although I called to verify that unsolicited ballots were legal, I’d never looked at an absentee ballot before in my life, so I had no idea of the problems being caused across the country by McCain’s absentee ballot forms. This is all looking very reminiscent of the Rovian tactics used during the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections.

Ohio:

WLWT.com: The Ohio secretary of state ordered applications for absentee ballots sent out by Sen. John McCain’s campaign to be rejected if a box is not checked stating the person is a qualified elector.

The Columbus Dispatch reported the McCain campaign sent out a million of the applications statewide. Already, more than 740 ballots in Hamilton County have been invalidated because of the mistake.

“I think this is not only a problem in Hamilton County, I think this is a problem in the whole state of Ohio,” Hamilton County Board of Elections Deputy Director John Williams said.

Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida, Pennsylvania, Missouri:

Current.com: Another caller from Detroit. Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Florida: That’s where the absentee ballots are being sent to Obama voters. Add Missouri to that, per one of our commenters.

KSDK.com: The McCain campaign is targeting Missouri voters in a unique way, but if voters are not careful, they could be committing a felony. Remember the long lines from the last presidential election? Many voters would love to avoid scenes like that and simply vote by mail. That is why the McCain campaign is printing tens of thousands of absentee forms and sending them out to Missouri voters, regardless of party affiliation.

Colorado:

Booman Tribune: The McCain campaign recently called a relative of mine, who I’ll call “Sam,” to inform him that they would be sending an absentee ballot request. This is where the story gets interesting — the absentee ballot request arrived and was for Florida rather Colorado, where Sam has lived since 2005.

North Carolina, Oregon, Virginia:

The Political Carnival: In the phone book there’s a street address, but on the form, it’s a P.O. box, per the caller.

In comparison, this was included in one of the reports on absentee ballots:

From KSDK.com: The Obama campaign sent an e-mail statement to me saying: absentee ballots are not a top priority with our campaign our priorities are to reach Missourians in their communities.

While the McCain camp is well on their way to creating voting havoc across the nation during yet another presidential election year, Sen. Obama — and Sen. Biden — want to just get out and talk to people in person across the country. What a refreshing … change! Let’s just not forget to stay vigilant until safely after election day.