Louisiana Democratic vote drive has problems

By GottaLaff

You know that old lead-in, "I've got good news, and I've got bad news"? First, the good news:

A Democratic voter registration drive in largely black neighborhoods of Louisiana has swamped the state’s voter registrar offices, forcing them to hire new staff members and work 12-hour days to process thousands of applications.

Now the bad news:

Buoyed by the popularity of Senator Barack Obama, the drive has raised complaints from registrars about large numbers of duplicate, invalid or incomplete applications, and has led to an investigation by the Louisiana secretary of state, Jay Dardenne, a Republican.

Election officials have expressed concern that large numbers of people who believe they are registered will show up at the polls in November, only to find that they cannot vote because their application had been improperly submitted.

Much of the enthusiasm, and some of the chaos, may be repeated in the months to come in other states where Democrats and liberal groups are planning similar drives in an effort to change the demographics of the electorate.

So what do we do with all this news?

It remains unclear whether election officials will be prepared to handle more registrations and the potential for overwhelming turnout on Election Day, Mr. Slater said. “Party politics is driving up registration at unusually high rates,” he said.

That was no help at all, was it? Of course, the Republicans are there, as always, with kind and helpful words of encouragement:

Registrars have reported that as many as a third of the applications cannot be entered into the system, and many of the rest require more information. The state Republican Party called the operation “the Dems’ phony registration drive.”

Aren't they the supportiviest? I've made a decision. For tonight, anyway, I'm sticking with the good news.