Politics and Policy A lot of Democrats remain perplexed over some of the more creative aspects of Republican strategy recently. Why would they send out fraudulent sex offender notification cards when they knew they would be called on it? Why make blanket voter challenges only days before an election when most of them would be tossed out? To the Democrats such tactics seem merely malicious, or ill-considered. But perhaps that is because they are looking at such tactics through blue-colored glasses, not rose-colored ones. The campaigns are designed to create general fear in the population, to appeal to the suburban voter with whom the Republicans have been making the most inroads lately. They don’t care that dis-enfranching felons has a dis-proportionate impact upon the black population. That’s why they moved to the suburbs in the first place – to get away from black felons. They don’t believe a felon should EVER get the right to vote. The same applies to the sex-offender notices – they just want the suburban voter to associate the sex offender who “might” be “living next door” with democratic politicians. They do it because it works. But a more dangerous campaign may be planned. Remember the fraudulent postcard sex-offender scandal of last month? And the blanket challenges against voters prior to the last election? Combine the two, and you have Republicans sending out letters to likely Democratic voters, designed to arrive a day or two before an election, claiming that their voter's registration was improper, and that if they voted they would be "turned over" to the attorney general for “prosecution of a felony”. If I received such a notice it would get my blood up, and I would make sure I voted just to spite them. But what percentage of others, particularly elderly voters, would be dissuaded, especially if there was insufficient time for them to be assured that they could vote? And what impact would tens of thousands of telephone calls to the County election’s staff, on the day before an election (or the same day as the election itself), have upon the County's ability to manage the election? Even if it didn’t significantly reduce the Democratic numbers, it might give the Republicans more fodder to criticize King County for its management of the election process. And with the last governor’s election being decided by less than a couple hundred votes, how many people would it take to scare away from the polls? Posted by RHP6033        Copyright 2006-2007 - Brookridge Associates Inc. All rights reserved.