The Republicans get more sickening with each passing day. From The Color of Change:

It's the ugliest attack on voting rights we've seen in recent history--if you live in Michigan and you're in danger of losing your home to foreclosure, Republicans will try to take away your right to vote.

McCain's response? Silence. Like Bush in 2000 and 2004, he's trying to keep a safe distance from these tactics, while benefiting from them. McCain could end this with a phone call. But he won't.

It's voter-suppression at its worst. They're taking advantage of folks falling on hard times and using it for political gain--kicking people while they're down. It's time to hold McCain publicly accountable for this strategy.

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For years, Republicans have engaged in "caging"--challenging the eligibility of voters on election day to suppress turnout and intimidate voters. They'll often try to reject voters by claiming they don't live at the address where they're registered. This year, they've taken it to a new low--the chairman of the Republican Party in Macomb County, Michigan said last week, "We will have a list of foreclosed homes and will make sure people aren't voting from those addresses."

In other words, they'll target every voter whose house is on a foreclosure list, and challenge their voting rights on election day. But just because your name is on a list, it doesn't mean that you've lost your home or moved. In fact, many homeowners stay in their homes for months after the foreclosure process has begun, and some people are able to catch up on their payments and reverse the process.

So why are Republicans illegally targeting homeowners who've had a tough time under Bush's economy? Because they know they're likely to vote for Democrats, and for Obama for President. In Michigan, over 60% of sub-prime loans were made to African-Americans.5 And in general, people who've been hit hard by the economy are less likely to vote for Republicans. This tactic won't just affect struggling homeowners--it will cause longer lines and delays at the polls for everyone that lives in a neighborhood with a high number of foreclosures. And that's the point.

The Color of Change has an online petition calling for McCain to condemn these tactics and for the RNC to put a stop to them.

Please Sign the Petition!

It isn't difficult to see why the GOP wants to keep people who have lost their homes from voting after nearly eight years of Bush's occupation of the White House. The fact that people defrauded in the mortgage crisis were disproportionately non-white plays a role as well.

One of the most common methods the GOP uses to steal elections is voter suppression. Fraudulent voter challenges are one method. Arranging things so that there aren't enough voting booths for students and people of color also is a common Republican tactic.

It's becoming obvious that election protection is just as much an issue this time as it was in 2000 and 2004. We better wake up and take what is happening seriously.