As I noted in the Blogaround, early voting has started in Texas. So too, apparently, is the attempt by the Tea Party there to ensure that only the right people vote. And I do mean right. Via TPM:

A group trying to register voters in Houston received threats and emails containing racist slurs after being targeted by a local tea party group accusing it of “voter fraud.”

In emails obtained by TPM, the group Houston Votes was accused of being “a bunch of white guilt ridden assholes, NIGGERS and greasy mexican spics,” “fraudulent Marxist pigs,” and “American hating A-holes.”

“We received a couple of threats and several harassing e-mails,” Maureen Haver of Houston Voters told TPMMuckraker. “There have been several efforts, I think, just trying to race-bait and stir racial tension and part of that I think is just based on what we’ve received in messaging from them.”

“It’s really had a chilling effect on our office,” said Haver, adding that one of the e-mails was reported to the FBI.

There is a Tea Party group in Houston called the King Street Patriots that have put out a video called “True the Vote” complete with music and scary voice-overs about voter fraud. There’s no proof of any connection between these people and the e-mails, but stuff like that doesn’t happen in a vacuum.

One of the big differences between the Democrats and the Republicans is that the Democrats put a lot of effort into getting people to register to vote and making the process open to all who are eligible. The Republicans, on the other hand, spend as much effort, if not more, in trying to keep people from voting.