BOSTON — The mysterious Election Journalblog, which first released the infamous 2008 video of two bumbling New Black Panther Party members waving nightsticks outside of a Philadelphia polling place, is on the scene in Massachusetts. They haven’t quite got the goods yet. The big stories, so far, is that some Martha Coakley signs appear to be too close to polling places, and that a local community activist is “handing out blank absentee ballots” (she isn’t). I’m told that around 150 conservatives are in town, armed with cameras, looking for fraud–mostly in Boston. Conservative bloggers and activists are also making the rounds looking for fraud–or at least “fraud.” Eric Odom of the American Liberty Alliance and Ali Ackbar, who did some work for Doug Hoffman’s campaign in NY-23, are both here, and Odom informs me that there’s a lot of focus on the more poor, Democratic-leaning parts of Boston, like Dorchester.
They’re getting some results. A #voterfraud hashtag has been popping on Twitter to promote the bloggers’ scoops, like a videoof Lawrence, Mass., community activist Isabelle Melendezshowing off a copy of an absentee ballot as she explains how she told listeners of her radio show how to use them. Election Journal is pushing the video hard as evidence of “blank absentee ballots being handed out”–an eerie echo over the panic a sample ballot caused during the 2000 Florida Recount. Here’s how active the video is, after being promoted by Michelle Malkin.