Will The Vote Of ‘Joe The Plumber’ Be Counted?
Will The Vote Of ‘Joe The Plumber’ Be Counted?
Since yesterday’s debate, Joe “The Plumber” Wurzelbacher has been warmly embraced by the right wing. Likewise, Wurzelbacher has adopted several of the movement’s talking points. However, Wurzelbacher may soon fall victim to one of the right wing’s favorite crusades — against so-called voter fraud.
On Tuesday, a federal court ruled in favor of the Ohio Republican Party, allowing Ohio poll observers to force all voters whose registrations don’t match other state databases to fill out provisional ballots, which are “used to record a vote if a voter’s eligibility is in question and the voter would otherwise not be permitted to vote at his or her polling place.” As a result, “more than 200,000 registered Ohio voters may be blocked from casting regular ballots on Election Day.”
Because Wurzelbacher is misregistered as “Worzelbacher,” he may be one of the voters caught up in the misguided system. As the Toledo Blade reports:
Linda Howe, executive director of the Lucas County Board of Elections, said a Samuel Joseph Worzelbacher, whose address and age match Joe the Plumber’s, registered in Lucas County on Sept. 10, 1992. He voted in his first primary on March 4, 2008, registering as a Republican.
Ms. Howe said that the name may be misspelled in the database.
Provisional ballots greatly increase the chance a voter’s ballot will not be counted. In Ohio’s March primary, the Cleveland Plain Dealer found that 20 percent of the provisional ballots — approximately 20,000 ballots — were rejected, even though “many people shouldn’t have lost their votes.”
Widespread voter fraud is a Karl Rove myth; voter disenfranchisement, however, is a real nationwide problem. The Sixth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals’s verdict chose to give weight to the Ohio Republican Party’s specious argument that voter fraud “drives honest citizens out of the democratic process and breeds distrust of our government.” But as Michael Waldman, the executive director of the Brennan Center for Justice, Joe the Plumber is a “perfect example” of why these voter fraud laws are more harmful than helpful:
Purging voters or blocking their registration because of data errors is disenfranchisement by typo. Joe is a perfect example. If he were a new voter, he would be being challenged right now as not eligible to vote. … Joe the Plumber is not committing voter fraud by having his name spelled differently on two different lists.
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No vote for Joe!
October 16th, 2008 at 6:26 pmJoe the plumber is a Republican plant.
October 16th, 2008 at 6:28 pm“Will The Vote Of ‘Joe The Plumber’ Be Counted?
– - Well, his name is Samuel and he’s not even a licensed plumber. Is he really a male?
October 16th, 2008 at 6:29 pmWho is the real Joe Whoopselblocker?
October 16th, 2008 at 6:30 pmThe fun has just begun for this dude….
Hope you don’t have too many monkey wrenches in your tool box, Joe…
Joe the plumber is a Republican plant.
– - And apparently is not related to Charles Keating:
October 16th, 2008 at 6:32 pmhttp://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/16/133831/42/1001/632600
Ruh-roh!
October 16th, 2008 at 6:32 pmBe kindda funny wouldnt it if john mccain wasnt allowed to vote cause his named was misspelled john mcloon or is it??
October 16th, 2008 at 6:33 pmWhat a surprise. The new GOP poster boy is a fraud. His vote was paid for by the same people who fed him his talking points.
October 16th, 2008 at 6:38 pmHeeeyy,,,,I recognize that bald head – IT’S JEFF GANNON!!!!!
October 16th, 2008 at 6:39 pmBadmoodman Says:
October 16th, 2008 at 6:32 pm
Thanks, Badmoodman.
October 16th, 2008 at 6:39 pmCindy is on her way over with a sixpack, Joe…. hope you like Bud…
October 16th, 2008 at 6:53 pmJoe the plumber, meet Joe the fraud.
October 16th, 2008 at 7:19 pmIn the wake of last night’s third and final presidential debate, a media frenzy has surrounded John McCain’s latest human shield, “Joe the Plumber.” But while reporters and bloggers continue to plumb the depths of Republican Joe Wurzelbacher’s voter registration, unpaid taxes, distant links to Charles Keating, business license and other miscellany, one useful nugget for voters has emerged. As it turns out, John McCain and his new best friend for life both hate Social Security.
For the details, see:
October 16th, 2008 at 7:20 pm“McCain and His Plumber Hate Social Security.”
Didn’t Nixon also have a plumber or two?
October 16th, 2008 at 7:23 pm???
October 16th, 2008 at 7:23 pmDoesn’t ANYONE on the McCain team do ANY vetting or backchecking on ANYTHING? And they take offense to being called erratic?
October 16th, 2008 at 7:33 pmOn the one hand, it is amazing how Americans can be so quickly and utterly distracted by something so stupid. This like “Sarah Palin II”. On the other hand, for how many more decades will we let Ohio make a mockery out of the democratic voting system? But I doubt Joe is gonna vote, anyhow. Shucks.
October 16th, 2008 at 7:52 pmJoe is a non-union scab outfit worker. He’s not licensed, obviously not bonded or certified. Therefore he has no credibility because he shouldn’t have his own plumbing business.
This is very sad though what my state(Ohio) is doing. Rove, Blackwell, and McCain are trying to hijack Ohio once again!
October 16th, 2008 at 7:59 pmServes him right.
October 16th, 2008 at 8:09 pmCheck out this link:
http://www.courtclerk.org/case_summary.asp?casenumber=DV0301377
If this is the same guy, that isn’t very flattering. Then click on the “New Name search” on the right and then on Comprehensive Name Search. Put in JOSEPH WURZELBACHER. Click on some of the cases. If this is the same guy, he’s in small claims court a lot. I wonder if it has something to do with his being unlicensed and not bonded and jobs he has performed.
McCain choosen a skinhead, tax evading, unlicensed plumber who doesn’t know jack about how taxes are applied (Gross vs Net) as his new poster child for the middle class. This is going to come back and bite McCain the way Sarah Palin has.
October 16th, 2008 at 8:15 pmI’ve also read this guy is a relative ocf Charles Keating. Wondering if anyone can attest to the accuracy of this and provide links to documentation if so? Truth seems stranger than fiction with this dude.
October 16th, 2008 at 8:38 pmWell, there IS a bright side to this.
Now that voter disenfranchisement has affected an almost-wealthy white guy instead of just poor black folk, perhaps they’ll start realizing that there’s a problem.
October 16th, 2008 at 8:48 pmwow…the repubelicans must have really leaned on those appelate judges to get an en banc hearing of this..
do any legal types recall the standard required to get an en banc hearing? is it totally up to the judges discretion? I dont recall…
October 16th, 2008 at 9:47 pmWonder if Joe the plumber can spell the three letter word jobs?
October 16th, 2008 at 10:17 pmOlberman had a great vignette on Joe the plumber tonight. Ends up he isn’t licensed as a plumber, the company he wants to buy makes only about 1/2 what McCain said, and apparently is under some tax liens.
October 16th, 2008 at 11:34 pmjoe’s mini-pep rally on “victory in iraq” and “spreading democracy in the middle east” was a little over the top.
not only was his initial topic of discussion (taxes) a stretch, but he’s really milked his 15 minutes for all it’s worth…
thing is, the vetting of these stooges doesn’t matter. the only goal was to get the 15 minutes and shape the initial opinion. you have to consider that these are kids running the mclame campaign. everything they’ve done has been half-cocked. this gig is spring break in ft. lauderdale for them.
October 17th, 2008 at 7:28 amIf he’s stupid enough to actually think he’d be better off under McCain, he’s not smart enough to vote, anyway.
October 17th, 2008 at 10:54 am