PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

Governor Rendell on Wednesday has vowed to investigate allegations that contractees hired by the group "Project America Votes" tricked students at at least three campuses -- the University of Pittsburgh, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and Montgomery County Community College -- into registering as members of the Republican Party, by asking them to sign petitions for a variety of causes, including a pro-marijuana legalization petition and a petition to lower auto insurance rates for young drivers.

In some cases, students who were clearly not eligible to register to vote were registered in the scam, including students who were citizens of other countries. The impact for the election today is not clear; for most students, the change in their registration will have no effect, although some students may have their polling place changed without being aware of it. In that case, they may be unable to vote.

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The Pennsylvania Department of State last week released the first look at updated figures on state-wide voter registration. Interest in the election, combined with the close race in Pennsylvania, led to a significant increase in voter registration totals. Overall, Democrats registered slightly more new voters than Republicans -- 108,000 -- since the primaries this summer.

In Pittsburgh, that trend was reversed, although the Post-Gazette attributed this trend to declining populations in Pittsburgh and slightly growing populations in the more conservative suburbs.

An analysis of a larger set of voter registration data conducted by Pittsburgh Indymedia reveals one thing that the Post-Gazette did not report: the only group of registered voters in Allegheny County that increased in absolute numbers from 2002 was the Pennsylvania Green Party; as a proportion of the overall voter registration rolls, it more than doubled. The number of independent and other-third party voters also increased during that time, while the absolute numbers of Democrats and Republicans both decreased.

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On Friday, October 22, People Against Police Violence led about sixty people, many dressed in black, from Freedom Corner in the Hill District to the Federal Building then to the Allegheny County Courthouse to demand justice for local victims of police violence. The march was part of the October 22nd Coalition's National Day of Action to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation: similar actions happened in 32 cities across the country.

[ stories 1 2 | video | photos 1 | PAPV | October22 ]
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The Kerry/Edwards campaign made a visit to Carnegie Mellon's campus on Wednesday, October 20th. They organized a rally that brought huge crowds to the campus, creating problems for students trying to get to classes. Protests and counter-protests marked the event, with one account of a banner drop published to Pittsburgh Indymedia.

The next day, Thursday, October 21st, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice gave a private address to the campus community. Banners were dropped from the building that she spoke at, questioning the War with Iraq and the repression of civil liberties at home.

[ Kerry Visits Carnegie Mellon | Banner drop for Kerry | Banner Drop for Condoleezza Rice]

The Bangladesh Workers' Tour stopped in Pittsburgh this past weekend on the US tour organized by the National Labor Committee (a US group) and the National Garment Workers Federation (NGWF) of Bangladesh. They're touring the US to bring attention to the nearly 1.8 million women who work in the sweatshops of Bangladesh to produce apparel for export.

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