Polly, this wasn't voter intimidation (Genoa Township)

As a poll challenger in most elections for the past 10 years, I have a pretty good idea what was going on here. I know a little bit about elections. I shouldn't know more than the clerk, especially someone who used to be my municipal clerk as I used to live in Genoa Township for almost 25 years.


Long before this, I'm not impressed with the job done recently by Polly Skolarus. She was unopposed in the last election, but some normally GOP voters on my recommendation gave her what I call the "blank treatment" (voting for blank and skipping that race) for a reason. The write-ins for the primary were blundered, and a non-citizen was voting under her watch until that was cleaned up. From what I've heard, she was aware of the non-citizen voting previously as well and let it go. There are a few other things, but somebody needs a primary challenge here, which I've believed long before this. If I still lived in Genoa Township, I might have given it a go. If I was forced to pick between Todd Smith getting another term or Polly Skolarus getting another term, I'd go reluctantly with Smith, and I supported Smith's opponents in the primary, and one of the conservative independents in the general.  Polly was unopposed.

From the Argus.

Republican poll challengers attempted to intimidate voters in each of Genoa Township's 12 voting precincts this month, the township's GOP clerk said.
Township Clerk Polly Skolarus said the Republican challengers did not challenge voters' registration, but transmitted their data electronically to state party officials during the Nov. 6 election.

When you are a municipal clerk, you can't be ignorant. You need to know the laws and make sure the poll workers know them and the standard operating procedures. Prepare for everything, including the bad stuff like a broken tabulator. Poll challengers are used for making sure the polls are run properly. They are also sometimes used in GOTV efforts.

Genoa Township is a republican stronghold. We WANT a high turnout in Genoa Township. We DON'T want to supposedly "suppress" the vote there. The challengers wanted to GOTV. This was part of the infamous Project Orca. While Project Orca sounds like a giant clustermuck and failure from a software angle, the concept that was attempted here was not. If there were more challengers in Genoa Township than in Ann Arbor, East Lansing, or Lansing, that's the reason. Usually there's occasionally a challenger or two in the precincts around here, and it's more often a democrat. The Republican challengers are in 70%+ dem precincts.

I've seen what Polly's complaining about on a smaller scale. I challenged in a Southwest Lansing precinct back in 2010. Lansing is a democrat stronghold. The democrat challengers there were over the shoulder getting information about who voted, and getting that list back to the dems to find out who has not voted, so they can get those people to the polls and vote. There was a competitive state rep race that year between Barb Byrum and Jeff Osterle. It's a mostly rural district with part of South Lansing as well. Byrum needed a good turnout in South Lansing to survive that year. She did. This isn't some top secret operation that I'm describing. It's something democrats have done in urban areas for years.

Election challengers are appointed by political parties and organizations and can formally challenge a voter's registration and precinct practices. Poll watchers do not need those credentials, but can only observe the process.

They can also be behind the poll workers. Poll watchers can not. That's why the GOTV folks behind the poll book are challengers. Poll workers don't care for it, but they understand that it is part of the process and are professional. I'm usually an active challenger, although I haven't been given a list so I play it by ear and eye. Just being there and knowing what I'm doing is 1/2 of the battle. I haven't seen shenanigans, but you never know what may be the next Philly.

Township resident Barbara Shreve filed a formal complaint with the state. She called her voting experience on Nov. 6 "the worst I've ever experienced" in her complaint.
Shreve said a poll challenger wrote down her name when she questioned the challenger's role at the voter application table. She said she considered that an act of intimidation.
"As a citizen of this community, state and country, I am appalled to have any sort of political activist within the precinct. She was within a few feet of the people making their personal decision of who to elect and what proposals to support," Shreve wrote in her letter.

The challenger is not supposed to talk or gesture to voters and should be trained in that to avoid actual intimidation. I think what the person did was to write that down and report that as a potential issue. 95% of voters don't know about poll challengers or what they do. They aren't used to it in Livingston County especially.

With the exception of one or two challengers in the 2010 election, the township hadn't had a poll challenger in at least Skolarus' 26-year career with the township, she said.
A GOP challenger also monitored the township's absentee-voter counting board, Skolarus added.

 The AV watch was likely an active challenger, and someone should be always watching the AV's. The rest of it sounds like an attempt at the Project Orca operation to get out the vote so non-voters are contacted. 

This election will be won or lost with the ground game

This election I expect to be razor thin. I don't know how accurate the polls have been. Right now, voting has begun in several states. Absentees are out. Early voting is going on as well in some places. Who's winning? We don't know and we won't know until starting 11 days from now. National polls, if you believe them are starting to favor Romney. State polls for electoral votes, if you believe them, are still favoring Obama. Keep in mind that polling is, when done right, a snapshot in time of an accurate sample of the state's electorate. Some are disputing the R/D weight of the electorate based on a 2008 measurement. Some think due to racial demographics that the weights are more accurate than some would like to believe.

I think Michigan is in play, but if today was the election, Obama would take it by 3-4. That's TODAY, not necessarily November 6. I think a lot of the blame falls on our so called leader and liberal supposed republican Rick Snyder. Don't blame me, I voted for Mike Cox. People are still sore on Rick Snyder for his pension tax and his gas tax proposal. He vetoed election protection bills. He's also against the 2/3rds that would stop people like Snyder from enacting his gas tax proposal. This clown, who ran as a businessman, is making things tougher for Romney. The only good thing I'll say about Snyder is that he appointed Zahra to the Supreme Court and his push against the SEIU and MEA. However, with Romney's similar style in presentation to Snyder, it's not helping him here.

As for Romney, I'll say this. He's not Obama. That was enough for my vote. It buys us time until we get someone better (that's why we have primaries and time to build a farm club of governors like Mike Pence).  A worst case Romney presidency would be better than what we've seen with Obama. If Romney wins, at worst, we'll see this:

• Better Supreme Court picks than Kagan and Sotomayor
• Eric Holder - Janet Reno protege and Fast and Furious boss - gone from Attorney General
• Tim Geithner - Goldman Sachs guy and AIG buddy - gone as Treasury Secretary
• Hillary Clinton - Gone as Secretary of State
• Steven Chu - Foe of domestic energy development - gone as Energy Secretary
• Kathleen Sebelius -  Staunchly pro-abortion including late term abortion, and opponent of religious freedom - gone as Health and Human Services Secretary. 
• Janet Napoliantano - Gone as Homeland Security 
• Barack Obama - Record setting debt - Gone as the Peter Principle in Chief. 
• Green Energy scams, cronyism, and waste - Gone

If that's the worst case scenario - I'll take it. I'm not expecting Mitt to be the next Thomas Jefferson, or the next Mike Pence, but I'll even take George W Bush with his fiscal headaches (Obama is worse) than what's there now. I think Mitt will be better than Bush on fiscal issues (although no Pence or even Engler), and hopefully won't get in our way on social issues (but he won't be Joe Schwarz or even McCain). 

Back to the polls. Regarding the poll variance and predictions, the message I have is this. Control what you can control. Anything else is a guessing game. The dems are going to control what they control - up into including cheating. From Project Veritas





That's Patrick Moran. His dad is Jim Moran, controversial congresscritter from Northern Virginia. Jim Moran is known for plenty of shenanigans, and it apparently runs in the family. The question for us is this -  If the urban democrat machines go back to their Chicago or Tweed roots, what are we going to do about it?

The majority of people don't like politics. They are above politics. However, politics isn't above any of us. If we don't dictate politics, politics will dictate to us. During the last 11 days, there's actually a lot of things we can do.

1. Vote against Obama and that means Romney. That's the easiest part. (For those wanting other candidates, that's why we have primaries.)

2. Yard Signs - Finally, more signs are in. While I'm a strong vocal critic both publicly and privately of the sign policy this year, they are coming in. They are available at your local victory center. For those here in Livingston County, you can pick them up next to the Howell area Hungry Howies near the Great Escape. Grand River just east of Chilson in Genoa Township.

3. Volunteer work - There's a big push going on now. Last minute phones (I don't do that and understand why people won't), lit drops, doors, and other last minute campaign stuff.

4. Poll watching and challenging - If you want to stop the Patrick Moran shenanigans, there's a way we can help. Poll challenging and poll watching on election day. Anyone can be a poll watcher. Poll challengers have more powers (and must follow strict rules - do not talk to the voters). If you are interested in being a challenger, contact state party at 517-487-5413. They will give you necessary training needed. The more (good) challengers we have out there, the better the chances of everyone being on their best behavior. If you are a challenger, don't forget to vote absentee.

It's the ground game that will win this election, whether it be for defeating Obama, or whether we'll be stuck with the Peter Principle in Chief for another four years. There's things we can't control, but we can control what we can control. We have to make sure we can control what we can control.

Protect freedom. Defeat Obama.