Voter Suppression: Stories from the South

Take a look at some of these stories from Facing South about voting problems in the South:

• http://southernstudies.org/facingsouth/ - VA, GA and FL are the "ground zeros" of today's election – specifically VA. In VA, there has been: votes of college-aged students blocked, precincts overwhelmed and dirty tricks like flyers robo-calls with misinformation. The piece includes links on stories for each.

• http://southernstudies.org/facingsouth/2008/11/voting-rights-watch-virginia-tech.asp - Earlier this election season, the voting registrar for Blacksburg, Va. issued a statement threatening a loss of student aid and other serious repercussions if students at Virginia Tech registered to vote using an on-campus address. Though the registrar eventually retracted the statement, students at the school are facing other problems this Election Day – the major polling precinct in the area has registered 5,000 voters, double the legal limit for a single polling location.

• http://southernstudies.org/facingsouth/2008/11/voting-rights-watch-voter-protection.asp - Because of the various issues in the state (including massive machine failures, more than two dozen precincts opening late, voters turned away from the polls, and voter intimidation) Election Protection will extend its hours in Virginia tonight.

• http://southernstudies.org/facingsouth/2008/11/voting-rights-watch-fl-and-ga-leading.asp - 80,000 voters so far have called the Election Protection hotline -- 1-866-OUR-VOTE -- the national number set up by non-profits to handle voter problems, according to the Huffington Post. Election Protection reported yesterday that Florida and Georgia have been leaders nationally in complaints. The piece goes on to detail some of the issues facing the states.

• http://southernstudies.org/facingsouth/2008/11/voting-rights-watch-gas-inconsistent.asp - Details of the massive voter purging in Georgia that are thought to have lead to the large number of callas to the Election Protection hotline today.