HomoQuotable - Peter Tatchell

"The US presidential election will not be free and fair, because millions of electors will either not be allowed to vote or will not have their votes properly counted. It could cost Barack Obama the White House, even if he wins most of the votes on November 4. This sensational claim is based on research by the New York Times (NYT) and BBC Newsnight, which found that in some states for every new voter registered in the last couple of months, two voters have been removed – negating Obama's massive voter registration drive. This voter purging could mean fewer people voting next month than voted in 2004.

"In Colorado, for example, which has seen a significant population increase since the last presidential election, the state has recorded a net loss of nearly 100,000 voters from its rolls since 2004. Louisiana, Michigan and Colorado are deleting registered voters from the rolls within 90 days of a federal election, which is illegal except when voters die, notify the authorities that they have moved out of state, or have been declared unfit to vote.

"This widespread electoral malpractice is independently corroborated by a Newsnight investigation by Greg Palast. He reminds us that in the 2004 presidential election, between 1.6 and three million votes were cast but never counted, according to the US Election Assistance Commission. This is easily enough votes to have changed the outcome of the poll and put John Kerry in the White House.

"Palast says that almost three million voters have already been purged from the voter rolls – mostly poor and black voters who are more likely to vote Democrat. During elections in New Mexico earlier this year, one in nine voters found that their names had disappeared from the voter rolls. In Colorado, the disenfranchisement is even greater, with 20% of voters being purged.

It has happened before. During the 2004 presidential election one in four registered Ohio voters turned up at the polling booth only to discover that their names were not on the voter roll, an exclusion rate of 25%.

"Democrat leaders are too high on their "Yes we can" hype to kick up a fuss about this massive disenfranchisement of their voters. They naively assume that Obama's poll lead will give him victory, regardless of the election bias. It might. But then, again, it might not." - UK-based LGBT activist Peter Tatchell, writing in the Guardian UK. Read the full essay, it's quite worrying.