Young Political Majors is a GOP-linked consulting firm that has been accused of tricking California voters in to registering as Republicans under the guise of signing a petition to get tough on child molesters. Maybe YPM signature gatherers are just doing what ACORN reps probably did–artificially inflating their registration totals in order to get paid.
However, some observers speculate that the goal of YPM’s alleged trickery is to disrupt Democratic GOTV efforts. If a voter is no longer registered as a Democrat, they are less likely to be targeted for reminders and voting assistance on election day. I discovered that YPM is also advertising for signature-gatherers to register voters for Ralph Nader in Arizona. (See the ad from simply hired above, click to see a larger image.) Republicans have previously attempted to bolster the Green party in other races in order to siphon votes away from Democratic candidates.
Update: It’s not clear what YPM’s task was in Arizona. Were they trying to register folks as Independents to disrupt Democratic GOTV, a la California? Were they trying to get Ralph Nader on the ballot earlier in the election cycle? Was the task described in the ad just a cover story for some other objective?
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Thank you LB for the fresh Campaign Silo yumminess!
Digg!
Hi Lindsey
A quota system for gathering signatures will no doubt lead to some hanky panky,much like the trouble ACORN had with it’s people!
i’m confused. how does one register voters for a single candidate?
looks more like getting signatures to get him on the ballot – but hasn’t the time for that long passed?
A group of us drive around and challenge the petition gathers because they do not meet AZ law for gathering signatures…. We would call the attorney generals office to report these violations AND invalidate their petitions…
To gather signatures in AZ you have to be a registered voter in AZ…..OR clearly have the petitions to state the petition is from out of state IN BOLD AND to state that the petition signature gathers also clearly state on their petition that they are getting PAID to gather signature…..
can a voter who subsequently discovers that s/he has been conned into registering for the wrong party by an organization like ypm sue that organization for damages? might be a way to put a few of these guys out of business.
In Arizona you have to gather a specific number of signatures to be on the ballot for a specific election. For me to be an elected PC I had to walk my neighborhood and gather signatures from Democrats to be on the ballot. Each race has a different threshold of signatures….. for State Rep they need 250 signatures….. for state offices over 5-6000…..
Give it up Ralph, you were a marvel in your day but your actions and those “helping” you are making you nothing more than an embarrassment and trashing your good name.
In AZ we were able to keep Nader off the ballot in 2004 due to invalid signatures…… and the same with many of the wingnut ballot measures…. these groups parachute into the state and gather hundreds of thousands signatures with these paid gathers….. AND we spend hours and days checking the signatures to keep them off the ballot…..
OT: McCain has to win Ohio.
Per fivethirtyeight.com, if McCain loses Ohio, he has less than a tenth of a percent chance of winning the election. By contrast, If Obama loses Ohio, he still has a 77% chance of winning the election.
Ralph’s become nothing more than a sideshow , he should give it up!!!
Contact the AG of Arizona:
http://www.azag.gov/
Bah hahahahahahahahaha!
right – that’s what the ad looks like to me. not registering voters for nader.
Closing down schools on election day.
Are they afraid of what McPalin has unleashed?
if the signatures are invalid, then i agree they shouldn’t be on. but in general, i’d like to see people have more choices not less and i’d sign the petition in a heart beat. won’t sign the petitions of haters, but for anyone else i will.
It ads an additional hardship on parents who need to either drag their kids to vote or find child care…… ya…. another way to suppress the vote
looseheadprop up over at the Mothership
good point. election day should be a national holiday.
I figured they were registering people Independents to preempt them registering as Democrats. That would disrupt the Democratic GOTV effort.
the ad says “Collect Signature on Petitons” – and nothing about registration. accusing a group of registering people without letting them register for the party of their choice is a very serious accusation. one i don’t think we should be making without evidence (maybe there is some i’m not aware of?).
“Signatures on petitions” was YPM’s cover story for tricking non-Republicans to sign up as Republicans in California. They asked people if they wanted to sign something about tougher penalties for sex offenders and then tricked them into signing Republican voter registration cards.
I’m going to revise the headline because I think that you’re absolutely right: It’s not clear whether this is an ad for registrations or petitions or what.
GOP Voter Registration Fraud
From the LA Times
Wow! Why hasn’t this made the national headlines. This needs to be posted everywhere since McCain-Palin as well as other conservative organisations are screaming bloody murder. Where’s Hoax News!!
thanks. i’m not trying to defend them – just don’t want to make unjustified accusations (a la acorn) without the evidence to back it up. appreciate the response and the change.