The Washington Post is reporting this morning that the NRCC has "agreed to stop placing automated telephone calls to New Hampshire residents on the federal do-not-call list".

"Alex Burgos, the GOP committee's spokesman, said Monday that the group's automated calls would comply with 'all applicable laws.' He did not elaborate."

"The committee voluntarily agreed Sunday to stop calling homes on the registry after a citizen complained to the state attorney general's office, which then spoke with the GOP group's lawyer in Washington."

Why does it take a complaint to the State attorney General's office to get these people to grudgingly comply with the law? This is beyond disgusting!

The Chairman of the NRCC is Tom Reynolds. I called his Washington office to complain. The person who answered me directed me to the NRCC office.

I suggest more people begin calling his offices to complain.

Washington DC Office

332 Cannon House
Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-5265 - phone
(202) 225-5910 - fax

Greece Office

1577 West Ridge Road
Greece, NY 14615
(585) 663-5570 - phone
(585) 663-5711 - fax

Williamsville Office

500 Essjay Road,
Suite 260
Williamsville, NY 14221
(716) 634-2324 - phone
(716) 631-7610 - fax


NRCC Office
202-479-7029

Liars and Lars

Lars Larson, Oregon's equivalent to Limbaugh, was on Larry King last night with a group of other radio and blog pundits. Larson was asked whether he had faith in Oregon's voting system. He held forth with a stream of unfounded allegations of fraud that made it appear as though illegals had taken over the system.

KING: What's the machines like in Oregon?

LARSON: You know what? We have vote by mail, which is a fraud that is ongoing right now. Vote by mail is a disaster. The rest of the country is talking about it. Don't go there. You'll end up with fraud. That's what's happening. And illegal aliens voting.

Larson's remarks went completely unchallenged and unremarked.

The truth of the matter is that Oregon's system stands out as among the least fraudulent in the county. The ballots are mailed to the voters residence as a first check. Voters who have moved are automatically stricken from the rolls because ballots cannot be forwarded. Voters can call the county clerk in their new county to receive a new ballot. If a ballot is then received in their name from their old address, that ballot is discarded.

The voter marks the ballot and seals it in a privacy envelope, then in a mailing envelope that he or she signs. The voter then either mails the ballot or drops it in any of the designated drop sites. When the ballot gets to the Elections office, the signature is verified against the signature on file in the county clerk's office by the signature clerk. This is one way that dead people don't get to vote - they can't sign the ballot.

After the ballot is verified, a panel of four people with at least one person from the Republican and Democratic parties present inspects the ballot to make certain it can be scanned properly by the machine and that the voter's intent for each race is clear.

The optical scanners used to count the vote are stand alone machines not networked to any other machine. This means they are not susceptible to hacking, unlike electronic voting machines. The paper ballots are then kept in a fireproof safe in case a recount is called for.

Larson charged that illegals are voting. This is a bromide with no basis in reality. It comes from the fact that an illegal might be issued a driver license in Oregon. A driver's license is used as ID to get a voter ID, as in many other states under the Motor Voter Law. There is no evidence that Oregon is more susceptible to this than any other state, nor is there evidence that illegals are voting in any significant numbers anywhere.

If studies have shown that vote by mail is not more open to fraud and abuse, why is Mr. Larson so threatened by it?

Because it increases voter participation. Oh my! We can't have that!