Voter suppression... again!

The Advancement Project held a media briefing today concerning voting issues and victories around the country. Communications Director Sabrina E. Williams explained the need to remove obstacles for voters prior to election day because America has "over 13,000 separate systems and rules" based on states and counties that can confuse and distract voters. Judith A. Browne-Dianis is the Co-Director of the Advancement Project and stated that she was concerned about the "unprepared infrastructure" of the polling places because of the expected historical rates of turnout. She outlined the negative consequences of provisional ballots that are almost always not counted anyway, as well as the matching bills that show eligible voters as only those people whose registration form addresses match those of the Department of Motor Vehicles. In states like Michigan, foreclosure lists have become an issue where voters are being told that they are ineligible to vote because their house is in foreclosure. According to Browne-Dianis, in Virginia, Governor Tim Kaine has not requested help from the Department of Justice and the polling places and poll workers are not prepared for election day. In some polling places there are over 350 voters per machine, which will mean longer lines and that voters are more likely to leave without voting. Kaine has expressed that long lines should be expected, but the Advancement Project and its allies have asked for paper ballots and an extension of voting hours. The Republican National Committee has publicly stated that they oppose both of these measures.

Edward A. Hailes, Jr. is a senior attorney for the Advancement Project. He highlighted some of the victories in the past week for voters around the country. In Colorado, for example, thousands of registration forms were deemed incomplete because of an unchecked box. As election officials realized just how many voters were being unlisted, they realized it was because the applicants needed to give their social security number and check a box, but most people were just giving the number. Election officials have since sent letters to over 1,400 people telling them that they are still eligible to vote. Poll worker training was also examined by the Advancement Project and was found lacking. Instead, the Advancement Project has made "cheat sheets of information" that will be necessary for specific issues that may occur on election day.

Elizabeth Westfall is also a senior attorney for the Advancement Project and she discussed the legal battles that have been happening in battleground states like Ohio and Florida. The Secretary of State of Florida, specifically, has decided to enforce the "No Match Law" that requires accurate matches of address from the DMV and voter registration forms. This leaves more than 12,000 eligible voters without the ability to vote. However, since this law was passed, election officials in over five counties has "parted ways from the Secretary of State" and are allowing these disenfranchised voters to vote. Westfall called this an "encouraging step in the right direction."

Civil rights organizations fight “lose your home, lose your vote” efforts

“We’re seeing more voter suppression efforts and sophisticated tactics than ever before,” said Wade Henderson, President of the Leadership Conference of Civil Rights. Henderson continued “we’ve seen legal challenges to register voters in Ohio, fear tactics threatening that mortgage foreclosures or unpaid bills will thwart your right to vote, and may even result in arrest. There have been massive attempts to confuse voters with ‘robo calls’ and official looking websites and e-mails, especially in communities of color.”

J. Gerald Hebert, Executive Director of the Campaign Legal Center, explained several incidences of voter intimidation, such as “no match, no vote” cases in Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, Indiana, and Nevada. “No match, not vote” entails states refusing to register valid voters or purging them from voter rolls if they can’t match their voter information to other state voter records.

Hebert brought up an incident at Drexel University of Philadelphia where flyers were publicized claiming there will be undercover police officers at the polls on election day searching for voters who have outstanding warrants or parking tickets. Hebert claims the college community has especially had obstacles put in their way for being absentee voters or if “their parents claim them as independent on their tax returns.”

Jonah H. Goldman, director of the National Campaign for Fair Elections, said his organization will have “over 10,000 legal volunteers on and around election day, and over 750 call stations at 1-800-866-OUR-VOTE” in an effort to target voters affected by intimidation and suppression tactics, especially communities of color, young people, and seniors in key swing states.

Voter fraud and the threat to American democracy

The Heritage Foundation hosted John Fund, author of the new book "Stealing Elections: How Voter Fraud Threatens Our Democracy." John Fund is a member of the Wall Street Journal's Editorial Board and discussed recent voter fraud and voter suppression allegations and their effect on the upcoming election.

Fund began the talk describing the hypothetical scenario of the election resulting in a tie which would take the decision away from the voters "and put it into the hands of courts." Fund argued that this scenario undermines the legitimacy of the electoral system as well as of the new President. America "needs the next president to take office with full legitimacy." The discussion highlighted the concept that if Americans are seeing voter fraud and suppression become more prevalent before the election, it may be a clue to the problems that will take place on November 4.

House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties Holds Oversight Hearing on Voter Suppression

Today, Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D- Michigan) held a hearing to address the U.S. Department of Justice’s poor enforcement record in combating voter suppression. Present on behalf of the Department was Deputy Assistant Attorney General Asheesh Agarwal, Civil Rights Division.

Throughout the entire hearing there was a sense of hostility between Deputy Agarwal and the members of the committee. This could be largely attributed to the fact that Deputy Agarwal refused to answer questions in a straightforward manner. The vast majority of his responses were that he was unable to answer the question at the time, and he would need to speak with the Department before he could give an answer. The Committee did begin to lose their patience with Deputy Agarwal, as evidenced by the questioning of Representatives Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) and Keith Ellison (D-MN).

The main issue of contention for the Committee was that the Department continues to pursue voter fraud cases while entirely disregarding “flagrant examples” of voter suppression. In addition to this, Representative Ellison centered on the Department’s decision to support the controversial Indiana photo identification law requiring all voters to present said identification in order to vote. The committee was largely concerned with the fact that this law is problematic because it will disenfranchise minorities, the elderly, and the disabled. In addition to this, Representative Wasserman Schultz demanded that Deputy Agarwal report to the Committee in two weeks regarding letters that the Department sent to 10 states to pressure them to purge their voter rolls before the 2008 election, “which could adversely affect many voters.”