http://minnesotaindependent.com/14422/rollins-not-bitter-clings-to-idea-that-dead-indians-voting-in-minnesota-stopped-84-sweep

Give up?

It was the REPUBLICANS. So when a REPUBLICAN campaign sends an e-mail like the one above; or when an excessive number of REPUBLICAN precinct challengers show up ILLEGALLY at the Brian Coyle Center in Minneapolis (as happened yesterday according to this online publication) or when REPUBLICAN backed organizations like Minnesota Majority or the Minnesota Voters Alliance come up with phony “concerns” about nonexistent “voter fraud” – and when REPUBLICANS try to pass a bill in our legislature to require photo ID’s to vote – you’re damn right we’re going to be alarmed. Get a clue, right-wingers. We progressives are rightly triggered when you try to muscle your way in and steal votes, suppress the vote, lie (like when the absentee ballots went out in New York with the name Barack Osama), and when text messages go out on election day saying democrats can vote on November 5th, we’re going to stand up and call you on the carpet for your unforgivable anti-democratic tactics.

And by the way, for all of you uber patriots who claim to have a monopoly on being American – there’s nothing more American than voting. So if you want to have a contest about who’s more patriotic – those of us who actually BELIEVE IN THE VOTE will go up against you any day.

Long live democracy!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You say: “And if you bring a valid Minnesota driver’s license or learner’s permit, a valid Minnesota photo ID, or a tribal photo ID with signature, you don’t need to also bring a bill.” This is true ONLY if your valid MN documents ALSO have your current address within the precinct in which you’re voting. If you’ve moved recently & haven’t changed your drivers licence (or other documents), the license is sufficient to prove WHO you are, but not WHERE you live, and you need a recent utility bill addressed to you at your current address OR a voucher.

A more complete explanation of “actual malice”: it means that the person made a statement knowing it was false or with reckless disregard regarding its falsity. It’s a fairly steep burden of proof, and that burden is placed on the party alleging libel. A third party doesn’t have the requisite standing to allege libel, I think.

The Independent made no claims of Republican intent, so I presume that the wing-nut was referring to a comment. I think most online comment sections are pretty clear opinion (vice fact) fora, making libel that much harder to demonstrate.

Re: all the “typo”, “mistake-not malice” excuses:

Voter suppression has been a Republican tactic since at least the 1950s. The late Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, William Rehnquist made his Republican Party bones suppressing the non-Anglo vote in the Southwest. Republican leaders to this day admit that low turnout favors their party. The ubiquity and commonality of the voter suppression efforts are no random event. I’m forced to paraphrase Arlo Guthrie, Alice’s Restaurant:
If one person does it, they may think s/he’s really sick….
If two people do it, they’ll think they’re weird….
If three people do it they’ll think it’s an organization….
And if fifty people do it, they may think it’s a movement….
That’s the Republican movement: denying people their fundamental right to vote.

I’m filled with hope today. Best of luck to my friend Al on the recount. It was a pleasure to meet you at South Nashua High School on a cold January afternoon in 2004.