A report on "liberal blog" The Michigan Messenger claimed this week that Macomb County (Michigan) Republicans have quietly gathered a list of foreclosed homes in their area and are planning to use it to challenge the addresses—hence, the eligibility—of voters on Election Day. (Macomb holds much of the middle class northern suburbs of Detroit.) There are also allegations of shenanigans between John McCain's campaign and a law firm that specializes in foreclosures. The county chairman says the charges are a complete lie and that his quotes in the original story are fabricated, but the reporter didn't tape the conversation (which is like, Journalism 101, right?) so who the hell knows what's going on? Still, this it brings to mind all the electoral problems that were supposed to be fixed eight years ago and somehow still aren't. This is how elections are rigged won these days. You don't stuff the ballot box or "misplace" one—you close it before anyone can put it a name in. In many ways, Michigan is the swingiest of swing states. It went blue in 2000 and 2004 (narrowly) and has a Democratic governor, but the state has been hit harder than any by recession and unemployment and Jennifer "Aunt Jenny" Granholm doesn't have a ton of fans right now. (She's also Canadian! And not the good moose-hunting kind.) It isn't generally mentioned as one of the key battleground states, but Michigan could easily become the one, especially with the local apparatus in Detroit a complete shambles right now. (What with Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick going to jail and everything.) If Ohio and Florida have taught us anything, it's that it doesn't take much to take away someone's voter card—but did they teach it to us too late? Or is simply no one listening? Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s famous Rolling Stone piece was a scathing indictment of local party politics, but it came two years after anyone could do anything about it. So is this the first of many shady stories we'll hear about in 2008? Or is it an outright lie that damages the media's ability to do its one civic duty—keeping people honest? Or will we wake up sometime in December and think, "Gee, how did that happen?" Lose your house, lose your vote [MichiganMessenger.com] GOP won't use foreclosure list to block voters [Detroit Free Press]