Guest Blogged by Steve Heller of VelvetRevolution’s Election Protection Strike Force…
Three recent stories have come to light about the Republican Party’s latest and sometimes illegal efforts at voter disenfranchisement. Unfortunately, these three stories are only the very tip of an enormous iceberg.
Before we go into details, please, if you’re registered to vote, check on the status of your registration NOW, before you get turned away from the polls this November. You can check your registration status here with our friends at VotersUnite.org. This is even more important if you are African-American, Hispanic/Latino, elderly, a college student, or low income; statistically and historically, Americans in those four categories are disenfranchised in greater numbers than any other segment of the American populace. PLEASE check on the status of your registration. This bears repeating: Check your registration status here.
And of course, if you’re not registered to vote, what in the hell are you waiting for??
First, Michigan… We’ve learned from the Michigan Messenger that James Carabelli, the Republican Party commissioner for Macomb County, is “planning to use a list of foreclosed homes to block people from voting in the upcoming election as part of the state GOP’s effort to challenge some voters on Election Day.”
Carabelli, as quoted in the Messenger, says, “We will have a list of foreclosed homes and will make sure people aren’t voting from those addresses.”
But J. Gerald Hebert, a former voting rights litigator for the U.S. Justice Department and currently the Executive Director and Director of Litigation for Campaign Legal Center, says the practice is simply illegal…
“You can’t challenge people without a factual basis for doing so. I don’t think a foreclosure notice is sufficient basis for a challenge, because people often remain in their homes after foreclosure begins and sometimes are able to negotiate and refinance,” said Hebert.
Based on the past efforts of the Republican Party to disenfranchise African American voters, it should come as no surprise that they are using home foreclosure lists in this effort. According to the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Growth, “[t]he foreclosure rate in Detroit is one of the highest in the nation, and 62 percent of the sub-prime loans have been made to African American residents.”
Michigan has been involved in the targeting of African American voters in the last few election cycles. In the fall of 2004, State Rep. John Pappageorge, R-Troy, said, ”If we do not suppress the Detroit vote, we’re going to have a tough time in this election.” Detroit is over 80% African American.
The old saying “the more things change, the more they stay the same” is certainly true in the Wolverine State.
In Florida… A controversial state law passed by the Republican controlled legislature in 2005, known as the “no match, no vote” law, requires an exact match between the information on a voter’s identification card and the information in the state’s voter registration database. If there is any discrepancy between the voter database and the voter’s ID, the voter will be given a provisional ballot and then have two days to come to the county registrar’s office to prove his/her identity.
There are a myriad of reasons why the voter database and a voter’s ID card might not perfectly match. Mistakes by data entry clerks such as transposing the first name/last name or the numbers on a voter’s street address or social security number, leaving out a hyphen in a name, a typo on the name of the street or the zip code, differences in the various databases used, and leaving off a “Sr.” or “Jr.” can all cause a “no match” and thus a “no vote.” There are also problems with flawed matching programs that search for differences between the voter’s ID and the voter’s registration information.
Honest mistakes by voters in filling out registration forms can also lead to disenfranchisement. For example, if a man named “Robert” uses the name “Rob” or “Bob” on his registration form, he won’t get to vote, even if all the other information on his driver’s license, passport, and/or military ID card matches the information in the voter database.
In December of 2007, the constitutionality of this law was successfully challenged by voter advocates with legal representation from the Brennan Center for Justice. In the decision placing a stay on enforcement of the law, Judge Stephan Mickle wrote that the law “makes it harder to vote by imposing a matching requirement that is a barrier to voter registration.” He concluded that Florida’s law “is resulting in actual harm to real individuals” and “causes damage to the election system that cannot be repaired after the election has passed” and that “even more people will be prohibited from registering to vote” and “the harm to a disenfranchised voter would be impossible to repair.”
Judge Mickle also found that the law would likely be in conflict with the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
But in July of this year, after the state made changes to the law (the provision giving non-matched voters two days to return to their county registrar’s office to prove their identity and requiring that voters be notified by mail before the election if there is a discrepancy between their ID card and the voter database) the stay on enforcement of the law was overturned by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida.
Now Secretary of State Kurt Browning (R) has announced that the state will begin enforcing the law as of September 8.
After the July decision allowing the law to be enforced, Myrna Pérez of the Brennan Center for Justice said, “This is another unnecessary impediment for voters being able to exercise their rights in Florida. This is such a foolish process. It’s a compounding problem at every step of the way. It’s hard for people to get on the registration list. It’s hard for third-party voters to register people. If they’re lucky enough to jump through these hurdles, they have a photo ID law. How far are you going to take this? How many barriers are you going to put in front of voters? How many obstacles are they supposed to go through?”
Elizabeth Westfall of the Advancement Project said, “It’s going to needlessly keep a lot of people off the rolls.” She said 16,000 people have already been affected in Florida and that “tens of thousands” will be challenged in the upcoming election. “That’s the scary part,” she said.
In April of this year, three voting integrity groups — Project Vote, The Brennan Center for Justice, and The Advancement Project named Florida “the most hostile state in the nation to new voters.”
And finally in Mississippi… there is a new method of trying to suppress votes. In a clear and indisputable violation of Mississippi law, Governor Haley Barbour, a Republican, and Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann, also a member of the GOP, issued, as required by state law, a sample ballot for the upcoming November election. The sample ballot illegally places the special U.S. Senate race between former Mississippi governor Ronnie Musgrove (D) and interim U.S. Senator Roger Wicker (R) near the very bottom of the ballot.
Make no mistake, Mississippi law is crystal clear on this matter.
(2) The titles for the various offices shall be listed in the following order:
(a) Candidates for national office;
(b) Candidates for statewide office;
(c) Candidates for state district office;
(d) Candidates for legislative office;
(e) Candidates for countywide office;
(f) Candidates for county district office.
We believe the ballot design is a blatant and unquestionably illegal attempt to “hide” the Musgrove/Wicker contest and thereby lessen the number of people who vote in that race. The GOP is concerned about the race because while Wicker is polling slightly ahead of Musgrove, an August 23 Rasmussen report shows that Wicker, the incumbent, is polling below 50% and that his approval rating is at 47%. Says Rasmussen, “While Wicker now has a modest edge in this race, any incumbent who polls below 50% is considered potentially vulnerable.”
Musgrove’s office issued a press release on the ballot matter, part of which reads “[Sec. of State] Hosemann could cite no statute supporting his decision to move the race from the top of the ballot. However, Attorney General Jim Hood did cite election law requiring federal races be placed at the top of the ballot.”
Says Mississippi attorney general Jim Hood, “There is absolutely nothing in the law that says you can put a special election at the bottom of the ballot.”
Assistant Attorney General Reese Partridge had sent letters to Hosemann and Barbour stating that the special election should be on the ballot alongside or immediately after the regular election for U.S. Senate, based on the law and past practices.
Hosemann and Barbour chose to ignore that legal advice.
It’s interesting to note that this November, both of Mississippi’s U.S. Senate positions are up for re-election because of the retirement of former Senator Trent Lott. In the other Mississippi Senate race, incumbent Thad Cochran (R) has a significant lead and will likely cruise to re-election.
And, no surprise here, that Senate race is near the top of the ballot as required by state law.
With a very high voter turnout expected this fall, and with the significant increase nationwide in new Democratic voter registrations (which have far outstripped new Republican registrations), and with Democratic enthusiasm running high due to excitement about the Obama/Biden ticket, the GOP is worried that black voters, who favor Musgrove 83% to 17%, will be out in force and will put him over the top for the Senate seat.
An election official in Mississippi is fighting back against this criminal act. Pike County Election Commissioner Trudy Berger filed a lawsuit in Hines County circuit court asking that this illegal ballot not be the one used in Mississippi this November.
Berger’s attorney, Sam Begley, stated, “My client’s responsibilities are to the voters and the law is clear. Elections for federal office should be at the top of the ballot. The proposed ballot buries the most prominent election in the state and will cause confusion on Election Day.”
Hinds County Circuit Judge Tomie Green issued a temporary restraining order barring the ballots from being sent to the printer until a hearing can be conducted on the matter. Judge Green set the hearing for 11:00 a.m. Thursday in her courtroom.
Let’s hope Judge Green actually has the cajones to make the state’s governor and secretary of state follow the law. That’s not asking too much, is it?
But even if Judge Green issues a decision in accordance with Mississippi law, we have little doubt that Barbour and Hosemann — I’m tempted to make a snarky comment about his name, but I’ll restrain myself — will appeal the decision. They’ll do so in an attempt to run out the clock and then claim that due to time constraints, they have no choice but to use the sample ballot with the U.S. Senate race at the bottom of the ticket.
Anything to “win”.
Cross-posted at Velvet Revolution…
UPDATE 9/13/08: The Judge in Mississippi has nixed the plan to place the Special Senate Election at the bottom of the ballot, ordering it to be at the top, as per state law. Gov. Barbour has vowed to appeal. Details here…
While checking to see if I had been scrubbed from voter rolls in my state which is allegedly going to go McSame in November because sadly I am in one of the stupid states.
I noticed that the registered voter rolls are as follows.
Voter Registration as of 09/11/2008
Democratic: 2,693,616
Republican: 1,943,590
So out of 4,637,206 registered voters there are over 750,000 MORE registered Democrats that is something like 17% MORE Democrats yet allegedly McSame is supposedly going to carry this state by a margin of 58% McSame Vs 38% Obama?
Some one want to explain to me how that works?
That would mean something like 35-40% of all Democrats would either have to not show up or vote for McSame while every single Rethug would show up and ALL vote for McSame?
Now to me that just does not add up.
Especially when all I see around my town is Obama stickers/pins/shirts/yard signs.
In the last few months I have seen exactly ONE McSame sticker on a car, was a big gas guzzling SUV with an idiot yakking on a cell phone with a little jesus fish next to the McSame sticker.
I have not counted all the Obama paraphernalia but I would say somewhere between 75-100 that I have personally seen.
Again this does not add up to McSame taking the state EV by a 20% margin.
“no match, no vote” in NJ – 300,000 N.J. Voters Told They Aren’t Registered
http://cbs3.com/local/Voting.Glitch.New.2.813238.html
Wisconsin AG just filed to force the election board to purge our lists of any inconsistencies between DOT, voter and Soc. Security. Not only are there insufficient resources, I know my license is missing the hyphen in my name as is my husband. Thankfully, we have same day registration, but it may be too late when people show up with out the forms of ID needed to register because they beleive their names are on the lists.
The Wisconsin news can be found here:
http://www.madison.com/wsj/topstories/index.php?ntid=304321
In Connecticut I recently observed an audit of a district in one town’s ballots in the race for the Democratic primary for US Congressional rep in the 4th CD.
In conversation with the Registrar of Voters, I learned some things that might be helpful to CT voters.
Here is a list of common issues — does your name fall into one of these categories?
1. does your last name have a spece between two parts of the name? the space, if removed, may change the order of your name in the list.
2. Does your last name begin with Mc or Mac? This may have been entered with an incorrect spelling, or with a space (or not space) between the “Mick” part of it and the rest of your name. This will change how it is alphabetized in the list.
3. Did you recently change party affiliation? If you change affiliation in CT I think less than 30 days from the election, your name may be on a separate section of the eligibility list, NOT in the main alphabetical list. Some poll workers may not know to look at the end of the list for this separte eligibility. Probably helpful to tell them this if they can’t find your name, or call the Registrar of Voters aboutt the issue in advance of the election, so you can avoid not finding your name and having to accept a provisional ballot.
4. Does your name have an accent mark of any kind over any of the letters? This may also change its order. Check in advance in the 30 days before the election , so you know how to find your own name on election day.
While it would seem to make it far easier to solve this problem if some of the accent marks were removed and the spaces between parts of two-word last names were removed, sometimes they provide distinctive identifiers about who’s who. Two people with similar last names “Van Doren and Vandoren” or an “N” in Spanish without a cedilla is a different letter than one with, so in some instances it may reduce clarity.
The take home message, especially if you are a new voter, new to a town or voting district, or with a recent name change, is DOUBLE CHECK IN ADVANCE.
And, because in some towns the conversion to statewide database may be very recent, people whose names in the past were fine might discover issues this time round.
ENOUGH!!! What in the world is wrong here! We were lied into a war that costs thousands of lives and billions of dollars, people are loosing their homes, hundred of thousands of jobs are going abroad, groceries and gas have doubled, yet people are actually going to vote for JM!! JM has offered no plan; just lies,sarcasm, smirks, and petty criticism. People, can’t you tell the Repub party is playing you like a piano??? They offer nothing to the average American, more tax cuts to the wealthy, and the guy admits he knows nothing about the economy! Amazing that anyone would want someone like this for a leader!!! I not only am not voting for this guy, I am running fast and far the other direction! Are the last 8 years a country you want for your children and grandchildren?? NOT ME!!! JM offers nothing different that gw – he voted for almost 90% of gw’s legislation. It is disgusting that JM vetoed legislation for our armed forces and veterans, yet parades around for being a pow..doesn’t that just turn your stomach??! He talks reform, what reform?? This isn’t a reality show people, it’s real life we have to live with! THINK!
No. 5, thank you CTWatcher, a good comment with excellent advice, many thanks.
“And finally in Mississippi… there is a new method of trying to suppress votes. In a clear and indisputable violation of Mississippi law, Governor Haley Barbour, a Republican, and Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann, also a member of the GOP, issued, as required by state law, a sample ballot for the upcoming November election. The sample ballot illegally places the special U.S. Senate race between former Mississippi governor Ronnie Musgrove (D) and interim U.S. Senator Roger Wicker (R) near the very bottom of the ballot.”
its not placed at the bottom to suppress votes…….my working theory is when a program is placed on a machine, generally its the top races that r affected and the bottom races serve as “dumps”…the “riggers” r just thinking ahead and giving themselves a “dump” they need
What about the McCain campaign’s absentee ballot applications that they’re sending out all over the country? They seem to be targeting veterans and Democrats with them, and the information on the applications is wrong. Some are sent to old addresses or have the wrong address for the election office. In Ohio:
“About one-third of the absentee ballot applications received at the Hamilton County Board of Elections have been ruled invalid because Republican Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign printed a version of the form with an extra, unneeded box on it.”
I’m surprised not to see anything about it on this site.
No. 9, Chimpeach – love that user name! You’ll be seeing something about the McCain/Ohio mess soon, we’re looking into it and gather facts.
I’m an independent voter in NM who received one of these bogus requests for an absentee ballot.
Why isn’t this a major story?
The GOP absentee ballot mailings to Democrats isn’t new. I think this is an attempt by the GOP to troll for inconsistencies in voter registration information. If the mailing comes back to the party with any indication that you’ve moved or that the address is erroneous, the GOP assumes you’re a fraudulent voter. In Wisconsin and elsewhere years past, GOP hired guns have showed up at polling places with a list of such names, and they challenge them. At best you might get a provisional ballot. At worst, you don’t get to vote. Either way, the voting lines are slowed way down. In short: GOP vote suppression.
As for the Wisconsin attorney general’s lawsuit, the state’s Government Accountability Board, which oversees elections, pointed out in a Sept. 4 news release that simple clerical errors such as typos and harmlessly different information on different official forms could result in citizens being denied the vote, if the kind of scrutiny proposed by the AG were applied. Indeed, according to the news release:
> In a test comparison of Statewide Voter Registration System (SVRS) data with state Department of Transportation (DOT) data, four of six members of the Government Accountability Board (GAB) failed the initial data cross-check, Elections Division staff said Thursday.
> Three Board members’ DOT data did not match exactly with their voter registration information due to differences in the first and last name or middle initial, and one member’s birth date did not match, according to Division Administrator Nat Robinson.
> The test was conducted after the Board last week decided against requiring retroactive checks of previously entered voter information back to January 2006. All new voter registration information is now matched against DOT records.
It’s been speculated that this kind of innocent defect could prevent the attorney general himself from voting. He goes by the name J. B. Van Hollen (by the way, he happens to be McCain’s Wisconsin campaign chair). If the punctuation in his name were to be slightly different on various bureaucratic forms, Van Hollen’s right to vote might be challenged at his polling place. Of course, as a Republican, he wouldn’t thereafter come under Wisconsin GOP fire for being a suspect in an alleged, massive vote-fraud conspiracy.
“We’ve learned from the Michigan Messenger that James Carabelli, the Republican Party commissioner for Macomb County….”
“Based on the past efforts of the Republican Party to disenfranchise African American voters, it should come as no surprise that they are using home foreclosure lists in this effort.”
Detroit is in Wayne County, not Macomb County, and Macomb County is predominantly white.
These transparent attempts to disenfranchise voters needs to go to the Supreme Court. These scams are clearly designed to discriminate based on racial, ethnic and economic status, using a phony concern about voter fraud as the subtrefuge to effect the scam. Seems to me that it violates equal treatment under the law provisions, and is especially egregarious, because the same group that is driving this discrimination is also complicit in creating a voting machine system which they control and which are notorious for enabling the theft of elections. All told, it is degrading and undermining democracy. Even as corrupt and dishonest as is the current Supreme Court, they are going to have a very difficult time upholding these kinds of laws, state’s rights provisions to manage their own elections or not.
Why in the world is it legal for anybody except for the Secretary of State to create an absentee ballot? How long have the political parties been printing their own? That seems the root of fraudulence right there – a ballot should be the most sacred government document. It’s illegal for anybody but the mint to print money. Why isn’t it illegal for anybody but the secretary of state to print a ballot?
I decided to run for congress as an independent and as soon as my Republican Landlord found out I was running against someone he worships (Duncan Hunter jr.), they evicted me during the signature gathering process. Then Republican judges screwed me in court (while visiting my campaign site), and the Republican Registrar left me off the candidate’s list all summer. I had to get the secretary of state involved to get on the candidate’s list. But it’s too late now because most voter organizations already planned their forums. I guess that’s what you do when you have a clueless 31 year old running on your ticket, and you have to shield Daddy’s little boy from any possible interference with his ascendancy. Joe Ryan
A website has been started that is tracking these dirty little tricks. Take a look at http://www.republicantricks.com So far they have at least four stories of this kind.