Voter Suppression

[QueEx]

Thanks Camille. Not only is Florida a swing state, some early polling/analysis indicate a rather close race, but if Obama could take Florida, 2012 might be a lock.

[Upgrade Dave]

Originally Posted by QueEx

Thanks Camille. Not only is Florida a swing state, some early polling/analysis indicate a rather close race, but if Obama could take Florida, 2012 might be a lock.

Taking Florida makes other states like Ohio and Va or NC less urgent and Scott and the GOP know that.
Pay attention to what happens in Arizona where the polling is unexpectedly (to some) tight.

[QueEx]

Originally Posted by Upgrade Dave

Taking Florida makes other states like Ohio and Va or NC less urgent and Scott and the GOP know that.
Pay attention to what happens in Arizona where the polling is unexpectedly (to some) tight.

I agree in toto. You know Arizona bears watching when it damn near took an act of Congress for it to (reluctantly, begrudginly and kickingly & fucking screamingly) accept that Barack was born in the USA.

BTW, anybody know which was the last state to reluctantly, begrudginly and kickingly & fucking screamingly acknowledge the Martin Luther King Holiday ? ? ?

[Upgrade Dave]

Originally Posted by QueEx

I agree in toto. You know Arizona bears watching when it damn near took an act of Congress for it to (reluctantly, begrudginly and kickingly & fucking screamingly) accept that Barack was born in the USA.

BTW, anybody know which was the last state to reluctantly, begrudginly and kickingly & fucking screamingly acknowledge the Martin Luther King Holiday ? ? ?

It was either Arizona or Connecticut (they had a Civil Rights Holiday or some such, trying to be slick).
I've always thought that's what the "Papers Please" law was all about in the first place: an attempt to run off as many of the "Mexicans" as they could since they could see the demographics changing in their state.
I give Republicans credit: they see shit happening long before Democrats do.

[thoughtone]

Originally Posted by Upgrade Dave

It was either Arizona or Connecticut (they had a Civil Rights Holiday or some such, trying to be slick).
I've always thought that's what the "Papers Please" law was all about in the first place: an attempt to run off as many of the "Mexicans" as they could since they could see the demographics changing in their state.
I give Republicans credit: they see shit happening long before Democrats do.

I wasn't Connecticut. Connecticut is one of the more progressive/ liberal states, hence the high per capita income, high health standards, low unemployment and high educational rates. Even the republicans there are much more liberal as compared to the southern states.

[Camille]

It was Arizona. They only relented because the state was losing business.

[thoughtone]

Originally Posted by Upgrade Dave

It was either Arizona or Connecticut (they had a Civil Rights Holiday or some such, trying to be slick).
I've always thought that's what the "Papers Please" law was all about in the first place: an attempt to run off as many of the "Mexicans" as they could since they could see the demographics changing in their state.
I give Republicans credit: they see shit happening long before Democrats do.

Actually, I do remember that Republican (who else) Governor Evan Mecham canceled Dr. King's holiday in 1987 as he promised in his campaign and said King didn't deserve a holiday and Black folk don't need another Holiday they need a job. That led to all types of boycotts and remember Public Enemy's song, "By The Time I get To Arizona"? It was in protest to this incident. Mecham some time later kind of relented by declaring a non paid holiday instead of an office King holiday.

Ironically the, the former head of the DNC, Howard Dean was Governor of Vermont at the time he refuse to adopt Dr. King's holiday in Vermont. He claimed it was too expensive for the state to implement. It's still not officially recognized in Vermont.

And yes, my home state, Connecticut has recognized Dr King's holiday from it's inception.

[QueEx]

[Upgrade Dave]

My bad, I said Connecticut and it was New Hampshire that was the last state to recognize the federal King holiday. They were the ones celebrating "Civil Rights Day".

What happened to the voter suppression deniers?

[thoughtone]

source: Think Progress

EXCLUSIVE: Florida Telling Hundreds Of Eligible Citizens That They Are Ineligible To Vote


Florida Governor Rick Scott (R) has ordered the state to purge all “non-citizens” from the voting rolls prior to November’s election. But that list compiled by the Scott administration is so riddled with errors that, in Miami-Dade County alone, hundreds of U.S. citizens are being told they are ineligible to vote, ThinkProgress has learned exlusively.

According to data from the Miami-Dade County Supervisor of Elections obtained by ThinkProgress:

- 1638 people in Miami-Dade County were flagged by the state as “non-citizens” and sent letters informing them that they were ineligible to vote.

- Of that group, 359 people have subsquently provided the county with proof of citizenship.

- Another 26 people were identified as U.S. citizens directly by the county.

- The bulk of the remaining 1200 people have simply not responded yet to a letter sent to them by the Supervisor of Elections.

You can see a similar letter sent to alleged “non-citizens” by the Broward County Supervisor of Elections HERE. (“The Supervisor of Elections… has received information that you are not a citizen of the United States.”) If recipients of the letter do not respond within 30 days — a deadline that is mere days away — they will be summarily removed from the voting rolls. The voters purged from the list, election officials tell ThinkProgress, will inevitably include fully eligible Florida voters.

In short, an excess of 20 percent of the voters flagged as “non-citizens” in Miami-Dade are, in fact, citizens. And the actual number may be much higher.

An analysis of the state-wide list by the Miami Herald found that “Hispanic, Democratic and independent-minded voters are the most likely to be targeted” as ineligible by the list. Conversely, “whites and Republicans are disproportionately the least-likely to face the threat of removal.”

Late last year, Scott ordered his Secretary of State, Kurt Browning, to “to identify and remove non-U.S. citizens from the voter rolls.” Browning could not access to reliable citizenship data. So election officials attempted to identify non-U.S. citizens by comparing data from the state motor vehicle administration with the voting file. That process produced a massive list of 182,000 names, which Browning considered unreliable and refused to release. Browning resigned in February and Scott pressed forward with the purge.

The Fair Elections Legal Network, which is challenging the purge, noted that database matching is “notoriously unreliable” and “data entry errors, similar-sounding names, and changing information can all produce false matches.” Further, some voters may have naturalized since their license information was collected.

For example, Juan Artabe, a resident of Miami-Dade, was flagged as a “non-citizen” based on motor vehicle records from 2006. He became a citizen in 2008 but no one notified the state. He was able to retain his ability to vote only by sending his citizenship papers to the Supervisor of Elections.

The situation in Miami-Dade is also apparent in elsewhere in Florida. According to a local reports in smaller Polk County of the 21 voters flagged by the state “nine appear to be citizens, leaving 12 as questionable.”

The purge of fully eligible voters from the voting rolls by Scott could be enough to tip the balance in Florida and, perhaps, the presidential election. In 2000, the final (disputed) margin was just 537 votes.

[thoughtone]

source: Think Progress

Virtual Blackout From National Media On Voter Suppression In Florida

Florida Governor Rick Scott (R) has directed his administration to purge the state’s voting rolls of thousands of registered voters prior to the November election. But his list, which purports to include only “non-citizens,” targets mostly Democrats and Hispanics and, as ThinkProgress has documented, may disenfranchise hundreds of citizens who are eligible to vote.

The story of a sitting governor of a state with a history of presidential election shenanigans knowingly purging his own, eligible constituents from the voter rolls is the definition of major news, and yet remarkably, in the first five months of the year, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and USA Today have published a total of zero articles about Scott’s actions. The New York Times did slightly better, printing one story on page 16 of the Friday, May 18th edition. The article ran under the credulous headline: “Florida Steps Up Effort Against Illegal Voters.”


Florida’s local newspapers, led by The Miami Herald, have been far more diligent in reporting the governor’s effort to disenfranchise eligible voters. While it may be easy to dismiss this as local fare, the implications of Scott’s purge could potentially swing the presidential election come November. Remember, months before anyone had ever heard of hanging chads, Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris (R) conducted a similar cleansing of the voter rolls in 2000, which resulted in thousands of eligible voters being knocked off the rolls in time for the infamous Gore v. Bush election.

[QueEx]

Bill Internicola

- Age: 91

- Born: Brooklyn, N.Y., to an American-born mother and Italian-immigrant father.

- Military Service: Bronze Star for fighting in the Battle of the Bulge during World War II

- Resides: Retirement village, Broward County, Florida since 1980's

- Received letter: May 2012 from the Broward County Supervisor of Elections:

“The Broward County Supervisor of Elections Office has received information from the state of Florida that you are not a United States citizen; however you are registered to vote.’’

- Bill Internicola's reaction:

Internicola said he was "flabbergasted" by the suggestion that he wasn't a citizen. He called the county's election office and said, "Are you crazy?"

- Ted Deutch, (D. Fla.) and Alcee Hastings (D. Fla.):

Internicola is an example of Gov. Rick Scott's "misguided" effort to purge legal voters from the rolls before this year's presidential election.

The letter was part of a controversial state-led effort to rid the voter rolls of noncitizens. Similar letters were sent to other Broward County voters.

Broward was following the direction of the state Division of Elections, which initially identified roughly 180,000 potential noncitizens by searching a computer database from the state's Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. But the driver's license list doesn't automatically update when someone becomes a citizen.

The state whittled that list to more than 2,600 voters and sent those names to the counties' election supervisors. A Miami Herald analysis of the list found that it was dominated by Democrats, independents and Hispanics. The largest number were from Miami-Dade, home to the state's largest foreign-born population.

Any effort to remove names from Broward's voting rolls draws particular scrutiny because it is the most Democratic county in the state. It has more than 500,000 registered Democrats and could play a pivotal role in the outcome of a close presidential or U.S. Senate contest in November.

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/05/2...#storylink=cpy

[Upgrade Dave]

So to the deniers

It's not about having an i.d., they are targeting groups that most likely won't vote for Republicans.

Are there any doubters now?

[thoughtone]

...and reinforced by Faux Snooze.

[QueEx]

Florida judge blocks parts of
"onerous" voter registration law

(CBS News) A Federal District judge in Florida placed a preliminary injunction on new Florida voter registration requirements on third-party organizations, calling parts of the law "onerous."


Judge Robert Hinkle said the law imposes "a harsh and impractical" metric for voter registration organizations, referring to record-keeping requirements and a 48-hour deadline to turn registrations in to the state. Failing to adhere to the "prompt" deadline could result in fines for organization.

The suit was brought by three third-party voter registration organizations: League of Women Voters of Florida, the Florida Public Interest Research Group and Rock the Vote.

Hinkle wrote in his 27-page order that the deadline makes voter registration efforts "risky business."


"If the goal is to discourage voter-registration drives and thus also to make it harder for new voters to register, the 48-hour deadline may succeed," Hinkle wrote.

Hinkle also blocked the part of the law that requires the voter registration organization submit the identification of its workers or employees signing people up to vote or handing out voter information pamphlets.

The new law was passed by Florida's Republican legislature and signed into law by Governor Rick Scott, who was elected in 2010. It is one of a wave of new laws passed in the past two years aimed at curtailing voter fraud.


According to The Palm Beach Post, Scott said he is "pleased that central parts of the voter registration law have been upheld by a federal judge," but he hasn't made a decision on how to move forward with the parts of the law struck down.


Groups working on increasing voter registration applauded the decision.

"Today's decision makes clear that laws that make it harder to participate in the political process should be rejected," said Wendy Weiser, director of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center, which represented the voter registration organizations in the case.


Scott is also being challenged on efforts to purge Florida's voting rolls of non-citizens. Civil Rights groups say it violates the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits removing voters from the rolls 90 days before an election. Florida holds an election in August.

SOURCE: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_1...istration-law/

[QueEx]

Feds to Florida: halt non-citizen voter purge

The Justice Department told Florida election officials
that they must stop their non-citizen voters purge.

Miami Herald
By Marc Caputo
mcaputo@MiamiHerald.com


The Justice Department ordered Florida’s elections division to halt a systematic effort to find and purge the state’s voter rolls of noncitizen voters.
Florida’s effort appears to violate both the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which protects minorities, and the 1993 National Voter Registration Act – which governs voter purges – T. Christian Herren Jr., the Justice Department’s lead civil rights lawyer, wrote in a detailed two-page letter sent late Thursday night.

Florida officials said they were reviewing the letter. But they indicated they might fight DOJ over its interpretation of federal law and expressed frustration that President Barack Obama’s administration has stonewalled the state’s noncitizen voter hunt for nine months.

“We are firmly committed to doing the right thing and preventing ineligible voters from being able to cast a ballot,” said Chris Cate, spokesman for Secretary of State Ken Detzner, who was ordered by Gov. Rick Scott to conduct the search for potentially ineligible voters.

DOJ’s written demand came hours after the agency refused to comment on the matter to The Miami Herald. It also followed a federal court ruling Thursday that struck down a Republican voter-registration law that a judge found too onerous.

So far, Florida has flagged 2,700 potential noncitizen voters and sent the list to county elections supervisors, who have found the data and methodology to be flawed and problematic. The list of potential noncitizen voters – many of whom have turned out to be lawful citizens and voters – disproportionately hits minorities, especially Hispanics.

About 58 percent of those flagged as potential noncitizens are Hispanics, Florida’s largest ethnic immigrant population, a Miami Herald analysis found. Hispanics make up 13 percent of the overall 11.3 million active registered voters.

Independent voters and Democrats are the most likely to face being purged from the rolls. Republicans and non-Hispanic whites are the least likely.

Under the Voting Rights Act, Florida needs federal approval before it makes changes to voting because five Florida counties – Monroe, Hillsborough, Collier, Hardee and Hendry – had minority-voting troubles decades ago

"Our records do not reflect that these changes affecting voting have been submitted to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia for judicial review or to the Attorney General for administrative review as required by Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act," Herren wrote.

"Accordingly, it is necessary that they either be brought before that court or submitted to the Attorney General for a determination that they neither have the purpose nor will have the effect of discriminating on account of race, color, or membership in a language minority group under Section 5."

He gave the state until next Wednesday to inform the Justice Department of its planned course of action.

“Specifically, please advise whether the State intends to cease the practice discussed above, so that the Department can determine what further action, if any, is necessary,” Herren wrote.

Herren also said that the National Voter Registration Act bans Florida’s effort because it says “a State shall complete, not later than 90 days prior to the date of a primary or general election for Federal office, any program the purpose of which is to systematically remove the names of ineligible voters from the official lists of eligible voters.”

FULL STORY

[thoughtone]

[QueEx]

Originally Posted by thoughtone

See, NAACP Voter Hotline

Originally Posted by QueEx

NAACP Hotline Puts the Focus on Voting

1-866-MY-VOTE-1

NAACP President and CEO Ben Jealous was joined by radio host Tom Joyner, American Urban Radio Networks Program Operations President Jerry Lopes and others on Tuesday to unveil a joint phone initiative to empower potential voters. 1-866-MY-VOTE-1 is a hotline that provides information on voter registration, polling locations and tools to report incidents at polling stations.

In light of voter-ID and other restrictive voting legislation, 1-866-MY-VOTE-1 may be an essential and easily accessible way to inform and protect black voters.

"What we've gone through in the past six months [is the] biggest wave of voter suppression since the wave following the Civil War," Jealous said. "We have to be prepared to make sure people get registered [and] turn out. We can only do that if we come together as one family."

1-866-MY-VOTE-1 received more than 300,000 calls in 2008 and helped to register almost 100,000 voters. And with several celebrities -- including Angela Bassett, Mary J. Blige, Robin Thicke and Kevin Hart -- on board to promote the hotline this year, 1-866-MY-VOTE-1 may shatter records as it takes on the 2012 presidential election.

For more information on the NAACP's voting initiatives, including 1-866-MY-VOTE-1, visit the organization's website.

[Camille]

In case anyone is interested cspan has the congressional black congress on now discussing voter suppression. Later there is to be a discussion on getting out the black vote.

-- Sent from my TouchPad using Communities

[thoughtone]

Your move Eric!


source: Huffington Post

Florida Voter Purge Will Continue, Defying Federal Warning

Florida will defy a federal warning to stop purging people the state suspects aren't U.S. citizens from voter registration rolls.

Despite a Justice Department letter, objections from county elections officials and evidence that a disproportionate number are voters of color, Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner's office planned to continue scrubbing the election rolls, a spokesman said Friday. Gov. Rick Scott (R) ordered the search for potentially ineligible voters.

“We have an obligation to make sure the voter rolls are accurate and we are going to continue forward and do everything that we can legally do to make sure than ineligible voters cannot vote,” said Chris Cate, a spokesman for Detzner. “We are firmly committed to doing the right thing and preventing ineligible voters from being able to cast a ballot. We are not going to give up our efforts to make sure the voter rolls are accurate."

Justice Department officials declined to comment on Florida’s plans.

In a letter issued late Thursday, T. Christian Herren Jr., who leads the Justice Department voting section, told Detzner that the state's plan to review the status of the 2,600 suspected non-citizens and purge them if the voters fail to prove citizenship appears to violate the 1964 Voting Rights Act and the National Voter Registration Act.

20130601 Florida Letter

Detzner has said previously that his agency has identified 182,000 voters who were not citizens by comparing voter rolls and driver's license databases. The state's driver's license data contains some citizenship information. Beginning in April, Detzner asked county election officials statewide to contact 2,600 suspect voters by mail. The letters said those who failed to provide evidence of citizenship within 30 days would be purged. They also warned that casting a ballot when ineligible constitutes a felony.

"The Florida Secretary of State is being recalcitrant," said Judith Browne Dianis, co-director of The Advancement Project., a Washington-based voting rights advocacy group that last month asked the Justice Department to investigate. "He wants to move forward despite federal notice of illegality and supervisors of elections' refusal to purge voters. He should just quit it."

Florida is among of a small number states, mostly in the South, covered by Section V of the Voting Rights Act, a landmark law that reinforces voting rights guaranteed in the Constitution. In five Florida counties and other states, election officials have a history of such of egregious and creative efforts to suppress black and Latino votes that any changes in voting–related policy or procedure must first be approved by the Justice Department or a panel of federal judges, Browne Dianis said.

Florida failed to get clearance for its purge or its methods to identify the people the state suspects are non-citizens.

Voting rights advocates have also pointed out the state motor vehicles database is an unreliable way to determine the citizenship of voters, because many people become citizens between license renewals.

Moreover, in an initial list of nearly 3,000 voters the state suspects are non-citizens, blacks and Latinos were disproportionately represented, a coalition of advocacy groups said in a statement Thursday. A Miami Herald analysis
found nearly 60 percent of the people on the list to be Latino. Hispanic voters constitute just 13 percent of the state's electorate, according to federal data.

The National Voter Registration Act requires states to make every effort to monitor and maintain clean and accurate voter rolls, Browne Dianis said. But the same law also says efforts must take place 90 days or more before a federal election begins. Florida voters are set to vote in a primary Aug. 14 that includes candidates seeking congressional seats -- meaning the state has missed the three-month deadline.

Florida interprets the laws governing voting differently, said Cate, the secretary of state's spokesman. And the state's efforts have already proven effective, he said. Cate pointed to Miami-Dade County, where warning letters were first mailed to suspect voters.

Miami-Dade County election officials issued 1,570 warning letters, said Christina White, the county chief deputy supervisor of elections. Of these, 13 people responded indicating they are not citizens and have been removed from the voter rolls. One of the voters cast one ballot in 1996. Another voted once in 2000 and again in 2004. Their names will be forwarded to the state’s attorney’s office for possible prosecution as required by law, White said.

However, Miami-Dade County said it will not purge other voters from the rolls because of the large number of citizens included on the state’s suspect voter list. Nearly 450 voters who received warning letters provided proof of citizenship and another 35 have made plans to do so. About 1,000 voters have not responded, White said.

“The law says that the supervisor, only on a preponderance of evidence, should be removing people form the rolls,” said White. “We just didn’t feel that we didn’t have the preponderance of evidence that the supervisor needs to make a call on someone’s eligibility at this time that we haven’t heard from.”

Election officials in other counties around the state -– both Democrats and Republicans -- have questioned the state’s suspect voter list and have expressed indignation about the purge.

In Broward County, a 91-year-old World War II veteran was forced to provide proof of his citizenship in order to remain on the voter rolls. And in Seminole County, an election official tweeted a picture of himself with one man who received a warning letter. In the picture, the two men stood side by side, holding the suspect voter’s U.S. passport.

State election officials in Colorado and New Mexico, states with significant Latino populations, have also launched efforts to identify and purge suspected non-citizens from voter rolls. Justice Department officials declined to comment Friday on those efforts.

"We all benefit when [voter] list maintenance occurs within the bounds of federal law,” said Myrna Perez, senior council at New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice. “Nobody benefits form inaccurate voter rolls. But it’s also certainly the case that you have wildly different things happening not only from state to state, but sometimes from county to county.”

States should make their methods for identifying and purging voters known and give voters time to object or correct errors before an election, said Perez.

[thoughtone]

source: Think Progress

All 67 Florida Election Supervisors Suspend Governor Rick Scott’s Voter Purge


On Thursday, the Justice Department demanded Florida Governor Rick Scott end his extensive purge of registered voters from the rolls because it was in violation of federal law. Scott still hasn’t formally responded but his county election supervisors have already taken action.

The Palm Beach Post reports:

Florida elections supervisors said Friday they will discontinue a state-directed effort to remove names from county voter rolls because they believe the state data is flawed and because the U.S. Department of Justice has said the process violates federal voting laws...

The Justice Department letter and mistakes that the 67 county elections supervisors have found in the state list make the scrub undoable, said Martin County Elections Supervisor Vicki Davis, president of the Florida State Association of Supervisors of Elections…

Ron Labasky, the association’s general counsel, sent a memo to the 67 supervisors Friday telling them to stop processing the list.

“I recommend that Supervisors of Elections cease any further action until the issues raised by the Department of Justice are resolved between the parties or by a Court,” Labasky wrote.

Previously, the State of Florida indicated they intended to accelerate the purge. Florida has until June 6 to respond to the Justice Department.

[thoughtone]

Republicans are against freedom

source: Think Progress

In Texas, 300,000 Eligible Voters Targeted In Purge


Florida voters are not the only ones who should be worried about whether their state has erroneously purged them from the list of eligible voters; the state of Texas also has a voter purge policy that erroneously targets eligible voters. The Houston Chronicle reports that, in a two year period, 300,000 eligible voters were warned that they may be removed from Texas voter rolls. Texas voter registration rates are already among the lowest in the nation, and one out of every 10 Texas voters’ registration is currently suspended. The almost 1.5 million voters who are suspended could be purged if they fail to vote in two consecutive general elections.

Texas has responded to state and federal laws that require voter rolls be reviewed to remove duplicates and ineligible voters by creating an error riddled process:

[A]cross Texas, such “removals” rely on outdated computer programs, faulty procedures and voter responses to generic form letters, often resulting in the wrong people being sent cancellation notices, including new homeowners, college students, Texans who work abroad and folks with common names, a Chronicle review of cancellations shows….

[E]ach year thousands of voters receive requests to verify voter information or be cancelled because they share the same name as a voter who died, got convicted of a crime or claimed to be a non-citizen to avoid jury duty. Those voters receive form letters generated by workers in county election offices that “therefore may be more subject to error,” said Rich Parsons, a spokesman for the Secretary of State in emailed responses to the newspaper. Voters who fail to respond to form letters – or never receive them – get dropped.

In the two years between November 2008 and November 2010, over 300,000 valid voters were warned that they may be removed from Texas voter rolls. Eligible voters were threatened with removal most often because they failed to respond to generic form letters or because they were mistaken for someone else, which is even more worrisome given that there is a high incidence of voters sharing a name in Texas, particularly among Hispanics. Across Texas, 21% of voters who received purge letters later proved that they were eligible to vote.

[thoughtone]

source: Think Progress

Fifteen Voters Removed In Rick Scott’s Purge Reinstated By Florida Elections Supervisors

Gov. Rick Scott (R-FL)

Last week, the Clay and Pinellas County Supervisors of Elections’ offices told ThinkProgress that they had already removed names from the voter rolls on the basis of not responding within 30 days to letters demanding proof of citizenship. But after the Justice Department demanded Florida Governor Rick Scott (R) end his extensive purge of registered voters from the rolls because it was in violation of federal law, all 67 county supervisors announced they would suspend the illegal removals.

But what of the 14 voters in Pinellas County and the one voter in Clay County who had already been purged?

According to spokeswomen for both offices, the voters in question have all been reinstated. The data processing manager for Clay County noted that the one woman removed from the rolls had already been restored. It turned out she provided documentation to the office over the weekend proving her citizenship — yet another piece of evidence that the Scott administration’s list of “sure-fire non-citizens” was riddled with an gigantic number of errors.

While the decision by the county supervisors to halt the purge and reinstate the improperly removed voters represents a victory for the right to vote, the Scott administration has still not announced whether it will defy the Department of Justice and continue to purge voter rolls.

[Camille]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/0...istration-laws

Alabama thumbs nose at federal voter registration laws


Add Alabama to Florida as a scofflaw state when it comes to voter registration laws. The Justice Department is suing Florida over Gov. Rick Scott's attempt to purge voters from the rolls in violation of the National Voter Registration Act. Via Think Progress, Alabama is about to be sued by a coalition of voting rights and civil rights groups because it is out of compliance with federal law by not providing voter registration materials as is required. The Act, more commonly known as the "motor voter" law, requires that states provide voter registration forms at any office providing public assistance.

In a letter sent to Alabama Secretary of State Beth Chapman and the commissioners of the Department of Human Resources and Alabama Medicaid Agency, the groups said an investigation and interviews found widespread failure to provide registration materials in DHR [Department of Human Resources] and Medicaid offices.

The New York-based civil rights group Demos and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and Project Vote, both out of Washington, D.C., said in a letter dated Wednesday that they want the state to develop a plan to comply with federal voting laws.

The organizations said they will gladly meet with state officials and want to be apprised of the voting plans, but if a plan is not developed, they will sue after a 90-day waiting period.

The state denies that it's not complying with the law, but it's rather hard to explain the numbers the investigation found, if not through negligence on the state's part. According to the letter the groups sent to Chapman, they found that "the number of voter registration applications submitted at Alabama public assistance offices decreased by more than 75 percent from its peak in 1995-1996 to the most recent reporting period of 2009-2010." During the same period, applications for food stamps increased by 60 percent. So there's been a huge increase in applicants for social services, but suddenly three-quarters of them aren't interested in voting? Alabama might be being a bit disingenuous on that one.

It's the same old story: Keep the people who are most likely to vote Democratic out of the polls, by whatever means possible. As usual.

[Camille]

Might need a 2012 Voter Suppression thread with all the mess going on this election...

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/0...ing-Rights-Act

More Than A Dog Whistle: Texas GOP Calls For Repeal of 1965 Voting Rights

The Republicans might as well wear their white robes and funny hats in the daylight down in Texas.

The Republican Party of Texas released its platform this month, calling on Congress to repeal the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965. “We urge that the Voter [sic] Rights Act of 1965 codified and updated in 1973 be repealed and not reauthorized,” the platform reads.

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/201...act/?mobile=nc

So what is this Voting Rights Act?

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. §§ 1973–1973aa-6) is a landmark piece of national legislation in the United States that outlawed discriminatory voting practices that had been responsible for the widespread disenfranchisement of African Americans in the U.S.

Echoing the language of the 15th Amendment, the Act prohibits states from imposing any "voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or standard, practice, or procedure ... to deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color."[3] Specifically, Congress intended the Act to outlaw the practice of requiring otherwise qualified voters to pass literacy tests in order to register to vote, a principal means by which Southern states had prevented African-Americans from exercising the franchise.[2] The Act was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson, a Democrat, who had earlier signed the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law

Why did we need such an act? Because African Americans were systematically excluded from voting for almost 80 years in the South.

The 15th Amendment, ratified on February 3, 1870, provided that, "The right of U.S. citizens to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.".[11] Additionally under the Amendment, the Congress was given the authority to enforce those rights and regulate the voting process.

Soon after the end of Reconstruction, starting in the 1870s, Southern Democratic legislators found other means to deny the vote to blacks, through violence, intimidation, and Jim Crow laws.

From 1890 to 1908, 10 Southern states wrote new constitutions with provisions that included literacy tests, poll taxes, and grandfather clauses that permitted otherwise disqualified voters whose grandfathers voted (thus allowing some white illiterates to vote), some with the aim and effect of re-imposing racially motivated restrictions on the voting process that disfranchised blacks.

State provisions applied to all voters and were upheld by the Supreme Court in early litigation, from 1875 (United States v. Cruikshank) through 1904. During the early 20th century, the Supreme Court began to find such provisions unconstitutional in litigation of cases brought by African Americans and poor whites. States reacted rapidly in devising new legislation to continue disfranchisement of most blacks and many poor whites. Although there were numerous court cases brought to the Supreme Court, through the 1960s, Southern states effectively disfranchised most blacks.

In 1909, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was created with the mission to promote blacks' civil rights, including to "secure for them impartial suffrage." The NAACP's success was limited: although they did achieve important judicial rulings by the Supreme Court and some legislative successes, Southern legislators quickly devised alternate ways to keep many southern blacks disfranchised through the early 1960s.

Following the 1964 election, a variety of civil rights organizations banded together to push for the passage of legislation that would ensure black voting rights once and for all. The campaign to bring about federal intervention to prevent discrimination in voting culminated in the voting rights protests in Selma, Alabama, and the famous Selma to Montgomery marches. Demonstrations also brought out white violence, and Jimmie Lee Jackson, James Reeb, and Viola Liuzzo were murdered. President Lyndon B. Johnson, in a dramatic joint-session address, called upon Congress to enact a strong voting rights bill. Johnson's administration drafted a bill intended to enforce the 14th and 15th Amendments, aiming to eliminate various previously legal strategies to prevent blacks and other minorities from voting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_Rights_Act

The Republican Party runs the State of Texas and now they want to disenfranchise non-whites again.

Bunch of fucking redneck racists.

[QueEx]

July 10, 2012
Texas Goes to Trial

The Brennan Center is urging a three-judge panel this week to reject Texas’ restrictive photo ID law. The Center represents the Texas State Conference of the NAACP and the Mexican American Legislative Caucus of the Texas House of Representatives (MALC) in a lawsuit arguing the law erects unnecessary barriers to voting. “Texas’ photo ID law could prevent hundreds of thousands of eligible voters from casting a ballot, including a disproportionate number of minorities,” said Democracy Program Director Wendy Weiser. Read our report showing how similar laws could make it harder for millions of eligible Americans to vote this November.

SEE: Texas NAACP, Mexican American Legislative Caucus: Federal Court Must Reject Texas' Restrictive Photo ID Law

[thoughtone]

source: Think Progress

Pennsylvania Republican: Voter ID Laws Are ‘Gonna Allow Governor Romney To Win’

This weekend, Pennsylvania Republican House Leader Mike Turzai (R-PA) finally admitted what so many have speculated: Voter identification efforts are meant to suppress Democratic votes in this year’s election.


At the Republican State Committee meeting, Turzai took the stage and let slip the truth about why Republicans are so insistent on voter identification efforts — it will win Romney the election, he said:

“We are focused on making sure that we meet our obligations that we’ve talked about for years,” said Turzai in a speech to committee members Saturday. He mentioned the law among a laundry list of accomplishments made by the GOP-run legislature.

“Pro-Second Amendment? The Castle Doctrine, it’s done. First pro-life legislation – abortion facility regulations – in 22 years, done. Voter ID, which is gonna allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania, done.”

Watch it:



Voter identification efforts disproportionately affect low-income voters of color, a typically Democratic demographic. Despite insistence by Republicans that the efforts are needed to prevent misconduct on election day, voter fraud is less likely than being hit by lighting.

[muckraker10021]

Pennsylvania Voter ID Law May Bar 9% From Presidential Election




by Romy Varghese | July 6, 2012

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/...-election.html


Three-quarters of a million Pennsylvanians may be denied a chance to vote in November unless they can come up with an acceptable form of identification, a tally released by the state suggests.

In a move lawmakers said would deter fraud at the polls, the Republican-led Legislature passed a law in March requiring voters to have a photo ID to obtain a ballot. A comparison of registration lists and state Transportation Department records showed 758,939 people don’t have either a driver’s license or an alternative state ID, the secretary of the commonwealth said.

Backed by Governor Tom Corbett, a Republican, the law was enacted as similar measures in Republican-led states drew criticism from Democrats who say they disenfranchise minority, poor and young voters. Those groups have tended to support Democrats. A voter ID law in Texas has been blocked by the U.S. Justice Department, while in Florida, which also has a photo ID requirement, federal officials have sued to halt state attempts to bar non-citizens from voting.

“There is a real risk that poor people and minority voters, among others, will be discouraged from participating,” said Daniel Tokaji, who teaches at Ohio State University’s law school in Columbus and helps direct its election-law center. “These laws are likely to have a greater impact on Democratic- leaning groups of voters. It’s pretty obvious that’s why Democrats oppose these laws, and Republicans support them.”

Swing State

In Pennsylvania, unless voters have an acceptable alternative, such as a military ID, or obtain an ID before Nov. 6, as much as 9 percent of the state’s electorate may be denied a chance to cast a ballot in the presidential election. The swing state went for President Barack Obama, a Democrat, 55 percent to 44 percent for Republican John McCain in 2008.

Almost 25 percent, or 186,830, of those who lack a driver’s license or an alternative transportation department ID are registered to vote in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania’s largest city by population, according to the state. Obama won 83 percent of the city’s vote in 2008. He carried the state by 620,478 votes, fewer than the number who may be barred from the polls Nov. 6.

Republicans taking control or boosting majorities in state capitols drove “more restrictive” election laws, Tokaji said yesterday by telephone. At the start of 2011, as legislatures elected in November 2010 took their seats, only Georgia and Indiana required a photo ID to vote, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures in Denver.

Spreading Requirement

By November, at least 30 states will require voters to show identification to obtain a ballot, according to the conference, a nonprofit research organization. Most won’t require a photo ID. Three more -- Mississippi, New Hampshire and Wisconsin-- have enacted such laws and are in varying stages of implementing them or litigating challenges.

Court action has barred enforcement of such laws in Wisconsin and Texas, where the Justice Department blocked a voter ID measure under the Voting Rights Act. The agency said the Texas statute would have a discriminatory effect on minorities. A South Carolina law that revised an earlier photo ID requirement was also rejected under the Voting Rights Act.

In Pennsylvania, the American Civil Liberties Union sued in state court to overturn the law. State Representative Frank Dermody of Oakmont, the Democratic leader in the House, wrote to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder July 2 asking him to block the statute. Dermody said it is designed “to suppress the vote of traditionally Democratic constituencies, such as minorities, the elderly and individuals with disabilities.”

Contacting Voters

Carol Aichele, Pennsylvania’s secretary of state, said all voters who aren’t in the transportation department’s database will receive letters informing them of the law and how to get free identification cards so they can vote. Dermody said to get the state ID, voters need documents proving who they are, and cited examples of several residents who haven’t been able to obtain birth certificates or other acceptable papers.

“The goal of this law is to allow every legal voter to cast a ballot, but detect and deter anyone attempting to vote illegally,” Aichele said in a statement. Acceptable forms of identification can be from accredited Pennsylvania colleges, state care facilities, U.S. passports and government employers.

Proponents of the law “have been unable to produce a scintilla of evidence that voter fraud -- and particularly voter impersonation fraud -- is a problem in Pennsylvania,” Dermody said in his letter to Holder. “We need your help to protect the most sacred right we have as American citizens -- the right to vote.”

---

[thoughtone]

source: Daily Kos


Florida gets access to Homeland Security database for voter purge



Gov. Rick Scott, still trying to decide 2012. (Reuters)


AP is reporting that the Department of Homeland Security has granted Florida access to its Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database, giving the state access to a list of resident noncitizens maintained by DHS. But there are some restrictions and some caveats, as explained by Election Smith. The key part:

First, the pending agreement with Homeland Security prohibits the state of Florida from using only the name and birth date of registered voters when requesting SAVE data to verify whether registered voters are noncitizens. Second, the Division of Elections may only access the SAVE database if it provides a “unique identifier"—such as an “alien number” or a certificate number on a Certificate of Naturalization or Certificate of Citizenship—for those who it suspects may be ineligible to be registered to vote.

The state doesn't—and shouldn't—require that information for voter registration. And the only information that might include a "unique identifiers" that the state has, the drivers license records, they admit is obsolete and shouldn't be used. Election Smith has this snippet from a letter Sec. of State Ken Detzner sent to the state's 67 county election supervisors, telling them not to use the existing list (which was culled from the out-of-date drivers list):

The process to identify potential non-citizens will include a carefully calibrated matching process between the Florida Voter Registration System and the driver’s license records of the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles before any records are verified through SAVE. The existing file of potentially ineligible voters which was created months ago, is now outdated and will not be used as the basis for further action by the Department of State. It should be considered obsolete.

So the only information the state can use to check against the SAVE database is from admittedly inaccurate and outdated information, the driver's license records. Detzner is suggesting it's only outdated because it's a few months old, but it's the same incorrect data that caught up eligible voters and citizens in its first iteration. That's supposed to be matched against a database, as Election Smith says, "created for vastly different purposes."
That's bound to lead to more false matches, and more eligible voters purged off the rolls, stripped of the right to vote. The best hope we have is that the county election supervisors, who called a halt to the purge when the initial problems with the list emerged, that they'll be extremely cautious in proceeding with any database "matches."

We need those elections supervisors to do the right thing, because the Republican administration in Florida is intent on continuing this purge and stealing the election.

[thoughtone]

source: Daily Kos


Florida gets access to Homeland Security database for voter purge



Gov. Rick Scott, still trying to decide 2012. (Reuters)


AP is reporting that the Department of Homeland Security has granted Florida access to its Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database, giving the state access to a list of resident noncitizens maintained by DHS. But there are some restrictions and some caveats, as explained by Election Smith. The key part:

First, the pending agreement with Homeland Security prohibits the state of Florida from using only the name and birth date of registered voters when requesting SAVE data to verify whether registered voters are noncitizens. Second, the Division of Elections may only access the SAVE database if it provides a “unique identifier"—such as an “alien number” or a certificate number on a Certificate of Naturalization or Certificate of Citizenship—for those who it suspects may be ineligible to be registered to vote.

The state doesn't—and shouldn't—require that information for voter registration. And the only information that might include a "unique identifiers" that the state has, the drivers license records, they admit is obsolete and shouldn't be used. Election Smith has this snippet from a letter Sec. of State Ken Detzner sent to the state's 67 county election supervisors, telling them not to use the existing list (which was culled from the out-of-date drivers list):

The process to identify potential non-citizens will include a carefully calibrated matching process between the Florida Voter Registration System and the driver’s license records of the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles before any records are verified through SAVE. The existing file of potentially ineligible voters which was created months ago, is now outdated and will not be used as the basis for further action by the Department of State. It should be considered obsolete.

So the only information the state can use to check against the SAVE database is from admittedly inaccurate and outdated information, the driver's license records. Detzner is suggesting it's only outdated because it's a few months old, but it's the same incorrect data that caught up eligible voters and citizens in its first iteration. That's supposed to be matched against a database, as Election Smith says, "created for vastly different purposes."
That's bound to lead to more false matches, and more eligible voters purged off the rolls, stripped of the right to vote. The best hope we have is that the county election supervisors, who called a halt to the purge when the initial problems with the list emerged, that they'll be extremely cautious in proceeding with any database "matches."

We need those elections supervisors to do the right thing, because the Republican administration in Florida is intent on continuing this purge and stealing the election.

[thoughtone]

Originally Posted by Dmain_Event

Voter is laws aren't racist. They just keep liberals, and conservatives for.that matter from cheeting. Good gravy you cats will turn everything into something racist.

[QueEx]

Pennsylvania Voter ID Law Trial Set To Begin

But State Concedes It Has No Proof Of In-Person Voter Fraud

Defendants in a case against one of the nation's strictest voter ID laws in Pennsylvania made a major concession to plaintiffs this week, just days ahead of the start of the trial over the measure.

In a stipulation agreement signed earlier this month, state officials conceded that they had no evidence of prior in-person voter fraud, or even any reason to believe that such crimes would occur with more frequency if a voter ID law wasn't in effect.

"There have been no investigations or prosecutions of in-person voter fraud in Pennsylvania; and the parties do not have direct personal knowledge of any such investigations or prosecutions in other states,” the statement reads.

According to the agreement, the state “will not offer any evidence in this action that in-person voter fraud has in fact occurred in Pennsylvania and elsewhere,” nor will it "offer argument or evidence that in-person voter fraud is likely to occur in November 2012 in the absense of the Photo ID law.”

The possibility of voter fraud has frequently served as the ideological underpinning for voter ID measures, whose supporters claim that the integrity of elections can't be preserved without requiring would-be voters to verify their identity at polling places. Reports on actual incidents appear to counter this contention, however, as figures suggest voter fraud is a highly infrequent occurrence.

Opponents of voter ID laws argue that such legislation is an effort to establish obstacles for potential voters, particularly college students, minorities and the elderly, who tend to vote Democratic. A recent report from the Brennan Center for Justice found that a variety of factors could seriously hamper the ability of a half-million Americans in 10 states that have passed voter ID laws to obtain the required documents they would need to cast votes in November.

Pennsylvania GOP House Majority Leader Mike Turzai fueled the concerns of anti-voter ID activists earlier this year when he claimed that the recently enacted [voter ID law] would "allow Gov. [Mitt] Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania."

SOURCE

[QueEx]

When I read this:

Originally Posted by QueEx

Pennsylvania Voter ID Law Trial Set To Begin

But State Concedes It Has No Proof Of In-Person Voter Fraud

"There have been no investigations or prosecutions of in-person voter fraud in Pennsylvania; and the parties do not have direct personal knowledge of any such investigations or prosecutions in other states,” the statement reads.

According to the agreement, the state “will not offer any evidence in this action that in-person voter fraud has in fact occurred in Pennsylvania and elsewhere,” nor will it "offer argument or evidence that in-person voter fraud is likely to occur in November 2012 in the absense of the Photo ID law.”


Pennsylvania GOP House Majority Leader Mike Turzai fueled the concerns of anti-voter ID activists earlier this year when he claimed that the recently enacted [voter ID law] would "allow Gov. [Mitt] Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania."

I thought about this:

Originally Posted by Upgrade Dave

So to the deniers

It's not about having an i.d., they are targeting groups that most likely won't vote for Republicans.

Are there any doubters now?

. . . and wonder what the answer is, now.

? ? ?

[Upgrade Dave]

They won't answer. It's hard to defend an indefensible position for too long. So they'll just be silent and hope this thread drops off and they can rehash that bullshit in another one like they haven't already been exposed.

[thoughtone]

Originally Posted by Upgrade Dave

They won't answer. It's hard to defend an indefensible position for too long. So they'll just be silent and hope this thread drops off and they can rehash that bullshit in another one like they haven't already been exposed.

I'm perplexed at how much the so called Black posters defend the conservative white political line. In light of how many Black folks were killed, maimed and intimidated in to not voting.

Again it's that confederate educational system.