RNC fouls up get-out-the-vote effort for GA-SEN runoff

by: Jay Stevens

Mon Nov 24, 2008 at 13:30:44 PM MST

A Republican-generated effort to get out the vote for the Dec. 2 runoff election [for the Georgia Senate race] has hit a snag as thousands of requests for absentee ballots have been denied because the applications were not signed....

Many of the unsigned requests came in the form of cards printed by the Republican National Committee and mailed to voters. Republican U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss is in a tight battle to retain his seat by beating Democratic challenger Jim Martin.

The signature line on the RNC cards is easy to miss since it appears after an entry asking voters to enter an address different from their permanent one. Georgia doesn't require voters to give a reason for voting by absentee ballot.

Maybe if the Republican party had spent more time registering voters and getting out the vote instead of trying to suppress Democratic voters...

By the way...am I seeing this right? Is the RNC encouraging voters to request an absentee ballot for a second address so they can get an absentee ballot? Not that I care - it's more important that people vote -- but it seems the organization is, I dunno, encouraging people to falsify their residential addresses so they can vote early. Isn't that, you know, voter faud?