Denver, CO, a reliably blue city, is being f***ed over.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

Why on earth are there three hour lines everywhere?

My experience here.


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2600685&mesg_id=2607249

Double challenges and only four machines with verifiable paper trails (out of twenty, in downtown Denver)

I talked to our local Democratic HQ and the man I spoke with said, "Denver is a mess."

Fellow DU'ers, this state was going steadily from red to blue...now, this progressive, highly populated urban center is experiencing voter disenfranchisement on an unbelievable scale.

I just want this front and center. I don't know if this has to do with the races in other districts, the governor's race or the amendments/referendums.

BTW, I called all three numbers on Skinner's post and reported this.

When I finished voting and saw the two hundred or so voters waiting in line, my heart sank.

I thought I'd be thrilled by active participation, however, the look I saw in my fellow citizens' eyes was one of despair.

The young man behind me in line said it best..."They've made this prohibitively difficult."

MKJ

edited to add: link to story about judge denying extension of voting hours today.
http://www.9news.com/acm_news.aspx?OSGNAME=KUSA&IKOBJECTID=c3d7d080-0abe-421a-0036-5b4430a25c34&TEMPLATEID=0c76dce6-ac1f-02d8-0047-c589c01ca7bf

[Hawkeye-X]

1. Dad reported long lines to voting

at nearby Augusta Lutheran Church - 1 hour or more.

Certainly getting fucked over here in Denver.

(Fortunately Mom and I were smart - we voted early last week)

[Hav]

2. .

Another thread about Denver.
I just read that a judge decided that there is no extension in order to give people a chance to vote who couldn't do it earlier due to problems with the machines.
Many long lines, many had to wait forever. Yeah, mess sounds right :(.

[MUAD_DIB]

11. How is that exactly legal?

Oops, sorry. Better luck next time?

[sass29429]

3. Reliable Blue City??

Then why are things fucked up? If we are in charge, things should be going smoothly.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

6. Makes one wonder, doesn't it. n/t

MKJ

[survivor999]

12. My experience at the Denver airport

has ALWAYS been that of being in redneck-land. Sorry. Starting from the relentless "Orange Alert" voice from Homeland Security (nothing like that in Boston, NYC, or DC).

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

21. Denver, the city, is very blue. The rest of the state, except Boulder, is quite

red. (edited to add, although headed toward purple)

DIA is some kind of weirdness in and of itself. MKJ

[DoYouEverWonder]

23. Good point

but there are a lot Teresa LePore's that have run for SOE's around the country, who are Repugs in DEM clothing.

[Selatius]

4. Won't they extend voting times to allow all those people to cast ballots? n/t

[yebrent]

9. judge denied the extension of voting times.

however, it is my understanding that anyone in line at the time the polls close should be allowed to vote.

[mconvente]

5. This just in - CNN. Judge denies extension of polling times in Denver

That FUCKER! What a fucking asshole. Someone find out if he/she's a repug judge - like we need to ask though...

[NaturalHigh]

7. Anyone in line by 7 PM...

will be allowed to vote. They can't just shut it down and tell everyone in line to go home.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

10. The request was an extension to 9 PM, in response the unprecedented

lines.

MKJ

[oasis]

8. Allard is senator because of Colorado voting treachery in 2002.(eom)

[survivor999]

13. I bet the judge is a REpub piece of shit.

[McKenzie]

14. this is UNBELIEVABLE - it is your RIGHT to vote

no-one, and I mean no-one, should be able to deny that basic tenet of citizenship. I am not even American but I'm thumping my desk in anger.

There should be serious consequences for disenfranchising the people. Those poor people being denied their basic rights? I weep for them. Where is the sense of shame?

[Pachamama Temp]

15. PACHAMAMA Here - Working in the Working Assets War Room! NEED YOUR HELP ASAP!

Pachamama here....I'm under a temp name on DU because I forgot my password and my account is linked to a now discontiued email account!

I'm going to post a bunch of posts until I can post a thread, but I am here in our War Room organized by the theMMOB, Working Assets, True Majority and Election Protection.

The reports are awful from all over the country, but in particular Denver. I'll report more in a moment, but they need help in Denver - badly. I'm with a bunch of gals right now and we are posting on DailyKos and elsewhere trying to get out the word for help. We need people in Denver who are available to go bring Drink and food to people standing in line. A judge declined a request to keep the polls open till 9PM, so they are closing at 7PM. Anybody in line at 7PM will be allowed to vote after that. But we need people to go down and encourage people who have already been standing for a few hours to stay.

I'll post more details in a minute.

Namaste

Pachamama

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

18. Please do. Just tell me where you need me and I'm there. n/t

MKJ

[Pachamama Temp]

24. Call friends - Pick a Denver Voting Center - Adopt a Center and spread out!

Hi Bleedingheart! :hi: Hi Sister Patriot!

Here are the Vote Center sites:

http://www.denvergov.org/councildistrict10/template116966.asp

We need folks to go down and bring water, food and your positive energy and encourage those people standing in line to stay there until their vote is counted! The polls close at 7PM (the request for keeping them open longer was declined by a Judge) but anyone still there at 7PM can still vote! Many people have been leaving in droves and we need to keep people's spirits up and if they need food and drink that they can manage to stay it a little longer.

We are desperately getting the word out right now on Bradblog, DailyKos etc. and telling people in Denver to please help....the situation is serious and based on what has happened today, there has been a huge disenfranchisement of voters going on.

Your awesome! Thank you for anyway you can help right now and get the word out!

Namaste

Pachamama

[Pachamama]

25. Pachamama back again - under my regular account!

Skinner just reset my password!

Anyway, I'm going to send a callout to folks in Denver right now to get out there ASAP!

[GardeningGal]

28. FYI - I drove by the location at Heritage Club around 3:00.

There were a bunch of cars, but I didn't see a line out the door.

[Pachamama]

29. Can you go down to one of the voting centers?

I can let you know from some of our pollworkers which ones need help the most.

[Lars39]

19. kick

[mom cat]

31. Bring food and drinks to the people in line and call all your friends in Denver to do the same!

[Lefty48197]

16. This is why we need early voting, voting by mail, and absentee by choice

voting. We Democrats should agree to push strongly for early voting nationwide. We should also push for election day registration. If we want to help our chances in the future, we have to work to increase turnout.

[Cascadian]

17. Denver voters. Don't put up with this garbage.

I cannot imagine how you all must be feeling. I would be angry and rightfully so. You're rights have been violated. I would raise a major stink about this. I am betting this judge is a righty.


John

[Uncle Joe]

20. Thanks for posting BleedingHeartPatriot

Kicked and recommended

[Cascadian]

22. Keep kicking this people n/t

[Morgana LaFey]

27. Yes, this is impt -- see Pachamama's post up-thread nt

[Rocknrule]

26. Wow I hope all my blue, left-voting relatives there are doing OK

[techtrainer]

30. Denver has no one to blame but themselves on this.

They obviously did not stress-test the system. When voting started this morning, the registration server quickly became overloaded. Only after they tripled the number of servers did the system become usable.

[AspenRose]

32. "They" know the west has a good chance of turning blue

so it looks like "they" have focused their sights on trying to destroy that.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

33. I went to help out at the Convention Center.

My experience here...


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2938218

:hi: I'm feeling very good about this right now. MKJ

[bobbieinok]

34. REMEMBER Denver went from ca 800 polls to ca 50 vote centers

This was discussed at DU. As I recall, the decision was made without citizen input and in such a way that there was no opportunity to challenge the decision and go back to ca 800 polls.

There was speculation that this was deliberate to mess up a predominately democratic area.

CO DUers (and others) should demand an investigation and a return to a more reasonable system.