Boots On The Ground

Hello, everyone. I'm out here in Sin City helping do the earnest work of getting people out to vote. Ok,ok. I may have done a teeny tiny bit of gambling when I arrived late last night, but that's just because I was feeling lucky. Very lucky.

Blogger is bloggered as usual, so I don't know how much I'll be able to post. I'll try to check in several times today.

Las Vegas is Kerry country, that's for sure. There is a much bigger presence of signs and buttons in the environs around here than Bush signs. There's lots of public talk among strangers and it's intense but doesn't seem to be particularly acrimonious.

Yesterday ACT had some star power in --- Sean Penn and others were walking the precincts. I'm not sure anybody gives a damn, but all citizens have a right to participate so I'm for it.

As you know, Nevada has been a hotbed of voter suppression activity. The Sproul lawsuit was denied by the Nevada Supreme Court yesterday so the people who's votes were thrown in the trash are out of luck:

The Nevada Supreme Court refused Monday to grant an order to allow a Sparks couple that suspects their registrations were discarded by a company hired by the Republican Party to vote in today's election.

The court ruled 5-0 that Eric Amberson and Traci Amberson should have first taken their case to a District Court. The justices ruled against the couple, although the Ambersons had copies of receipts for the voter registration forms they filled out last month. The Ambersons are Democrats, according to their lawyers.

"This court is ill-equipped to resolve factual issues, such as whether petitioners are qualified electors and whether they submitted properly completed voter registration forms," the court stated in a brief decision.

The Ambersons registered on Oct. 2 with a canvasser outside a Reno Wal-Mart, according to court documents. When they didn't get sample ballots by mail they became alarmed and contacted the Washoe County registrar's office. They learned they were not registered.

The couple has receipts for the registrations that indicate their forms were among the batch given to Voter Outreach of America, a firm operated by Sproul & Associates of Chandler, Ariz. Sproul was hired by the Republican National Committee to register voters..

The company is under investigation in Nevada and Oregon over allegations that workers destroyed Democrats' voter registration forms.

Former state Supreme Court Justice Charles Springer, who represented the Ambersons, said he asked the court late Monday to rehear its decision. He said there is still a remote chance the court could reconsider and allow the couple to vote today.

"There are no questions of fact," Springer said. "They got receipts. No one has ever denied that. They should be entitled to vote. But it may be futile now."

Springer said it would be irresponsible to deny the couple the right to vote unless it can be shown they are lying.

According to Springer, Voter Outreach was given 4,000 voter registration forms in Clark County and 1,500 in Washoe County.




There are recent reports of bogus phone calls telling people their polling places have ben changed, for instance. Jim Crow crap in Nevada in 2004.

However, the observations of most people here is that it hasn't deterred turn-out one iota. Most of the poeple I've talked to are on to this bullshit and it's just made them more inclined to do whatever it takes to cast their vote. I'm not seing a lot of shrinking violet Democrats. The voters here are extremely well informed and they are very motivated. I'd like to see the flaccid GOP doughboy who tried to prevent these people from voting.

Wearing my Kerry button in the hotel last night (where the employees are obviously discouraged from talking politics with the paying customers) I got winks, high fives and whispers in my ears from several people --- a bellman, a cocktail waitress and the desk clerk who just pointed at my button and winked. One guy just gave me a hard look and said "I feel it." These are working people and they are engaged.

So, far I haven't heard of any serious delays, but my knowledge is extremely limited. However, even if there are, these voters will stand in line as long as it takes. Las Vegas in the fall is just grea --- clear, cool and sunny. It's not a hardship to wait in line. Indeed, the ones I've observed so far seem downright jovial. There's a bit of a party atmosphere --- not surprising in the party capital of the world.

My coffee is cold and it's time to get back out there. I'll try to catch up on the national scene in detail later today. But, from what I'm hearing, it's looking good. Let's just say you couldn't feel a lot of magic watching FOX News this morning.

They know.