Puerto Rico Dems "appalled" by accusations from Sanders camp

[pnwmom]

Source: The Hill

The head of the Democratic Party of Puerto Rico slammed the Sanders campaign on Saturday for accusing it of unfairly denying poll workers access to prisons to help inmates vote.

"I am appalled at the remarks from the spokesperson of the Bernie Sanders Campaign in Puerto Rico, Ms. Betsy Franceschini," local Democratic Party president Roberto Prats said in a statement.

Franceschini had accused party officials in Puerto Rico of witholding certifications from Sanders officials, initially preventing them from organizing voters in prisons.

"The claim that the Democratic Party is delaying the certification of the Sanders' poll workers is preposterous. The first complete set of pollworkers for tomorrow's primary we have certified were all from the Sander's Campaign."

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/dem-primaries/282237-puerto-rico-democratic-party-denies-wrongdoing-in-primary

---

If the original Bernie campaign accusation is "late breaking news" then so is this story from The Hill reporting the Democratic party response.

The truth is that the prison system, not the Democratic party, handles prisoner voting; and that the Sanders campaign had reps at the polling places.

The party is also accusing the Sanders campaign of "stealing two boxes of ballots that had been cast by prisoners before delivering them to an election office. "

[DemMomma4Sanders]

1. As appalled as they were in Nevada and Brooklyn Im sure

[MohRokTah]

2. So now we know it's the Sanders camp that is committing fraud.

Stealing two boxes of ballots. We know how that will turn out.

[MariaThinks]

26. Seems that way.

[newthinking]

3. Voting in the prison system started yesterday.

She is saying that they have (apparently) now cleared Sanders representatives for SUNDAY's voting places.

Good they did that the day before the full vote.

Spin fucking spin. And here I thought some weeks back you were trying to be somewhat balanced. But man you are off the rails lately in defending the indefensible.

[Liberalagogo]

29. Just FYI....

REASON FOR ALERT

This post is disruptive, hurtful, rude, insensitive, over-the-top, or otherwise inappropriate.

ALERTER'S COMMENTS

"...And here I thought some weeks back you were trying to be somewhat balanced. But man you are off the rails lately..."

This is aggressive personal abuse of a DUer. Argue issues, don't insult and mischaracterize people. It's "unbalanced" and "off the rails" to engage in personal insult and rudeness while making your case. THAT is what is "indefensible."

We need to not put up with this anymore.

You served on a randomly-selected Jury of DU members which reviewed this post. The review was completed at Sun Jun 5, 2016, 01:53 PM, and the Jury voted 2-5 to LEAVE IT.

Juror #1 voted to HIDE IT
Explanation: No explanation given
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Explanation: Get an effing grip.
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I wasn't #1 or #2.

[HeartoftheMidwest]

4. WOW.

So what of the closing of thousands of polling places? What of the scheduling of two primaries on the same day, at different locations, with greatly restricted hours? What of scheduling the vote on a Sunday, when public transportation is more limited? What of all the other legitimate complaints by Democrats in Puerto Rico? What about these clear-cut efforts to suppress the vote?
What of Democratic spokesmen who claim that of approximately 700,000 voters registered for the vote, voting restrictions put in place ( and NOT by the prison system ) will prevent around 400,000 people from voting?

Any candidate who resorts to these kinds of tactics is despicable. And any candidate who sees others doing this in his or her name, and doesn't speak out against it, is just as bad. To see the Rovian playbook being used in the Democratic primaries is infuriating.

[phazed0]

8. +1 Shhh..

Head in the sand and all that. One party gets away with murder while the other is pulled for Jaywalking... I tell ya. World is on its head.

[William769]

5. Same shit different day from the Sanders camp. nt

[phazed0]

6. This is blatant spin, spin, spin.. the article's main star Roberto Prats contradicts himself.

Prats says,

"The claim that the Democratic Party is delaying the certification of the Sanders' poll workers is preposterous. The first complete set of pollworkers for tomorrow's primary we have certified were all from the Sander's Campaign."

then he says,

"I have been told that the Sanders campaign submitted their prison pollworker list at 6:10 pm on the evening prior to inmate voting and began complaining early in the following morning that the Board had not completed their pollworker's certification. But in the end, despite the late submittal, the Sanders campaign had representatives at the prison voting places."

So if Sander's campaign had the "first complete set of pollworkers" that would mean Hillary was late too then, right? So why were Hillary pollworkers already inside if Hillary was not the first?

Roberto Prats, Puerto Rico Democratic Party president. More funny stuff on THEIR watch, not Bernies. Bernie does not run the elections over there, Prats does.

[pnwmom]

10. The party doesn't run elections in the prison. The prison officials do. n/t

[phazed0]

11. So why do they have pollworkers from the outside?

"Inmate voting is handled not by the Democratic Party but by the Commonwealth's Absentee and Advance Vote Administrative Board," Prats said.

Mmmmkay.

[pnwmom]

12. I don't know. Ask Bernie's poll workers what they did, besides possibly taking 2 boxes

of ballots . . .

[phazed0]

16. No, ask the accuser what they saw...

The burden of proof is often associated with the Latin maxim semper necessitas probandi incumbit ei qui agit, the best translation of which in this context is: "the necessity of proof always lies with the person who lays charges."

So now you want Bernie poll workers to prove they're innocent? Unbelievable.

[pnwmom]

17. I didn't say they had to prove anything. You wanted to know why the prisons

have poll workers from the outside, and I said Bernie had poll workers who could answer that question. They were there.

[MariaThinks]

27. Seems pretty obvious

If we could manipulate elections, I wonder why bush could steal it from us in 2000.

Or why Hillary couldn't take it from Obama in 2008.

[bjo59]

7. You're on a roll tonight. Are you getting worried about California?

[pnwmom]

13. No, but I'm tired of Bernie complaining voter fraud whenever he loses. nt

[Pauldg47]

14. Do you think we and open minded people trust any crap that is written by the Clinton group?....

....fraud is always the case w the Clinton's.

[Chicago1980]

18. What fraud?

[Pauldg47]

34. Do I have write a book to appease someone who is mainstream or doesn't research anything?

[Chicago1980]

35. yes you do...

[SunSeeker]

9. K & R for exposure. nt

[UtahLib]

15. Thanks for the info. eom

[JNelson6563]

19. It amazes me that whenever Bernie doesn't win it's due to fraud.

Huge, widespread, blatant fraud!1!

[Stuckinthebush]

21. It's pathetic

He keeps burning bridges.

Meh. It's almost over. On to the GE

[yardwork]

24. Definitely a pattern here. But never any fraud when he wins!

[Sunlei]

20. only primary delegates for Puerto Rico, their citizens areNOT allowed to vote in the Pres. election.

Like other territories, Puerto Rico can participate in the presidential primary process. It holds a primary election in the spring of each presidential election year. Then the parties choose delegates to the Republican and Democratic National Convention, who are pledged to vote at that convention for the winners of Puerto Rico's primary. But that's the end of their participation in the presidential election.

[SansACause]

22. I weary of the Sanders antics.

Thankfully, this will all be over Tuesday night.

[Norman Conch Quest]

25. It's called "Desperation"

[Gregorian]

23. Haha.

How disingenuous. Good lord. It's hard to watch this election it's so pathetic.

They decide to close so many polling places that citizens must travel to two separate polling places just to perform their election duty? On top of that they decrease the hours so significantly that if one works, they can't really vote.

WTF is wrong with people who support this, or condone it, or at the very least don't condemn it.

The estimated result is that up to 600,000 voters may be disenfranchised. Yay! Go Hillary.

[askeptic]

28. This is a diversion - real story: Puerto Rico Slashes Polling Places For The Democratic Primary

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2016/06/03/3783185/puerto-rico-polls-closed/

In early May, Puerto Rico’s Democratic Party announced that more than 1,500 polling places would be available for the island’s June 5 Democratic primary. A few weeks later, they slashed that number to just over 430 — a reduction of more than two thirds.
In 2008, the island’s last competitive Democratic primary, there were more than 2,300 polling places.

...
Worse, many voters will have to visit two separate locations to cast ballots in the presidential primary and the local primaries held the same day. Voter turnout and engagement has for years been much higher on the island than in the 50 U.S. states, but these changes may present too heavy a burden for low-income residents who lack transportation options or who need to work.
Supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) are up in arms about the polling place reductions, calling it a “fix” and drawing parallels to Arizona’s disastrous primary. Arizona’s most populous county closed two-thirds of its polling locations ahead of its April primary, forcing some voters to wait in line more than six hours to cast a ballot.

...
Yet the Democratic Party did not cite any of these reasons when it announced the poll closures. Rather, the head of the island's Democratic Party, Clinton supporter Roberto Prats, defended the move by arguing there would still be four times as many polling places than were open during the Republican primary back in March. But the island's population leans sharply Democratic, so far more people will be voting Sunday than in March's Republican contest.

[pnwmom]

31. The same article explains that the population has plummeted and the budget

has been slashed in half.

Puerto Rico's population has dramatically plummeted over the last decade, as hundreds of thousands have fled high poverty and unemployment to the U.S. mainland. The island's debt crisis has also gotten so bad that the government can barely carry out its basic functions, like keeping schools and hospitals open.

The primary elections cost $15 million to administer in 2012. This year, the island's election commission received only $7.2 million.

[Gothmog]

30. The Sanders charges are getting sad and ridiculous

[mcar]

32. K&R

[Norman Conch Quest]

33. I KNEW This Thread was being Duplcated!

[alcibiades_mystery]

36. You can tell the Sanders campaign is OVER when their usual process complaints (only when they lose)

occasion little more than an eyeroll.

They are the most dishonest campaign I've seen in some time, and the rot starts at the top.