Green party leader says Republicans Stole NAACP Letterhead & Told Black Voters to Vote on Wrong Day

In an exclusive interview with RAW STORY, Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb expressed concern about broad attempts made to disenfranchise voters in Ohio, and asserted that even Republican donors are concerned about the manipulating of voting machines. Some African American voters in Ohio received letters on NAACP letterhead telling them the wrong day to vote. "African American voters received letters on stolen NAACP letterhead claiming that because of the expected high turnout, Republicans were asked to vote on Tuesday Nov. 2 and all other parties were being asked to vote on Thursday Nov. 4," Cobb said. Similarly, some Florida seniors received a letter directing them to vote on November third. Republicans have largely denied all such letters and calls, blaming Democrats instead of dirty tricks. However, stealing letterhead and using it for political purposes mirrors a tactic of top presidential advisor Karl Rove. RAW STORY found that in a well documented incident in 1970, Karl Rove broke into the campaign office of Illinois Democrat Alan Dixon and stole Dixon's letterhead. He used the letterhead to print up to 1,000 party invitations promising "free beer, free food, girls and a good time for nothing." He then distributed the letter to homeless shelters. Cobb stressed that the bogus NAACP letter was part of a pattern to disenfranchise voters. "It's important to understand that the lines in the affluent, suburban white precincts were 15 to 20 minutes long," he said. "The lines in African American precincts and college campuses were four to six hours." "Why?" he queried. "Because of a decision on how to allocate machines. In some counties with African American counties, there were fewer machines in 2004 than in 2000. [more]