Voter Suppression, the GOP's Not-So-Secret Weapon

More disturbing news that should make all lovers of freedom and equal voting rights sick has been reported by several news sources. The Washington Independent published an eye-opening article on the recent spate of voter registration laws being challenged by the Republican party on a state-by-state basis. It is entirely possible that we could be seeing a national replay of Florida 2000 all over again, unless either these challenges are stopped in the courts or the newly registered Democratic voters, independents, and youth voters come out and vote in record numbers for the Democratic Presidential ticket on November 4, 2008. These three groups of voters tend not to vote in numbers comparable to long-time voters because they are not in the habit of voting and may forget to vote or think that their "one" vote won't make much difference in the outcome of an election.

As my Pastor, Bishop Matthew Williams says about people's character, "A man will do what he has always done," meaning a person's character will cause him to do those things that he is accustomed to doing or in the habit of doing. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that the GOP--after successfully rigging the vote nationally by manipulating Diebold voting machines whose owner publicly committed to delivering Ohio to Bush in 2000 and conducting successful voter's challenges in 2000 and 2004 Presidential elections--would seek to gain advantage by doing the same thing again! It doesn't help that recently ACORN offices in Las Vegas were raided in a supposed voter registration fraud sting. The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, a popular national community organizing group was targeted because of allegations of submitting nearly 300 inaccurate voter registration cards in their voter registration effort. I believe this organization was purposely targeted because in this election cycle, the Obama campaign is said to have collaborated with ACORN to assist in it's Get Out the Vote efforts due to ACORN's reputation for helping register and turn out new voters. Also, new Democratic voter registration in Nevada has risen by record numbers this year, threatening to turn the state blue in November. See the connection? Republicans conveniently forget that John McCain was a 2006 keynote speaker at an immigration reform rally sponsored by ACORN, and that the organization enjoys bi-partisan support around the country. McCain has turned on the organization now that it is politically expedient.

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) seated with Congressman Kendrick Meeks (D-FL) at February 2006 ACORN Rally

One thing worth noting... voter fraud is only voter fraud if a person actually votes fraudulently! Since it is difficult to physically vote if one's name and address are not on the voter rolls of their local supervisor of elections office, such a charge would generally be baseless, though that fact hasn't stopped Republican operatives from targeting alleged fraudulent voters who voted legally. If one does not vote, there is no fraud whether intentional or actual. Think for a minute about what happened the last time you voted (at least in the Sunshine State, Florida, where most of my readers live). Like me, you probably received a letter from your county Supervisor of Elections possibly with a sample ballot and informing you of the address of your voter precinct along with voting rules (bring legal photo ID, etc.). When you walked into your precinct, you most likely walked over to a check-in or sign-in point, where you were asked to produce your ID. Your ID was then checked against the voter database either on a laptop or a voter printout. If your information matched the rolls AND you were at the correct precinct, you were then allowed to vote. Otherwise, you would be directed to the correct precinct (I had this happen earlier this year in the 2008 Florida primary elections because I had moved to a new neighborhood and forgot to inform the local SOE office) OR handed a provisional ballot which is not processed until the days following the election, and counted only if you are confirmed as a registered voter. Of course, the process may differ due to voting laws which vary by state.

Now down to the brass tacks as they say. There are several ways that the Republican Party under the guidance of Karl Rove, architect of the George W. Bush elections, have themselves been engaging in voter fraud & suppression leading up to the crucial 2008 elections. Caging which involves compiling lists of registered voters whose registration is challenged after an election, purging state voter rolls either randomly or by targeting groups of people more likely to vote Democratic such as former felons who have had their voting rights restored just before elections, etc. The good folks over at Inteldaily.com have posted an article detailing various voter suppression tactics:

Voter suppression also includes tactics like false notices announcing changes of election dates; police cruisers at intersections near voting places; threats that voters will be challenged; poorly trained poll workers who send registered voters away; special identification requirements proven to reduce the vote (e.g., photo identification); and much, much more. The newest rage is "cleansing" centralized registration databases. The Florida pre-2000 voter registration purge of tens of thousands of minority voters cost Al Gore the election and inspired federal policies supporting registration cleansing around the country.

Then there are the seemingly endless examples of electronic voting machines improperly recording and counting votes plus security problems. There are no real methods of checking electronic voting. Even if you could and proved fraud, state recount laws are very difficult to invoke and highly restrictive. In Virginia and Florida, for example, it is illegal to recount the paper forms for optical scan voting machines as part of a recount.

What a total mess and a complete mockery of the democracy that we deserve. But when you add up all of these strategies, based on past performance, they work at the margins - maybe a 3-4% shift in votes to the Republican candidate.

A telling NY Times article from April 2007, "In 5-Year Effort, Scant Evidence of Voter Fraud" discusses the alleged voter fraud problem and provides a useful graphic showing statistics of US government trials from 2002-2007 and the resulting convictions, acquittals, and dismissals of cases involving alleged voter fraud. The statistics clearly speak for themselves, and out of 95 total persons prosecuted for voter fraud in those 5 years, 25 people/cases were acquitted or dismissed. Of the convictions 26 cases involved individual voters, some of whom were simply people who forgot a minor detail on their application, 31 cases involved party or campaign workers, 10 involved government officials, and 3 involved election workers. Though to hear the GOP talk about it, one would think that the problem is so wide-spread that millions of people must be voting illegally, but NO that is not actually the case.

The final analysis is that we as individual voters must be vigilant when it comes to protecting our voting rights and immediately report any voting discrepancies to voter watchdog agencies, the ACLU, voting rights attorneys, etc. Thankfully the Democratic Party and Obama for America will have attorneys and certified poll watchers blanketing precincts throughout the entire state of Florida on Tuesday, November 4 to ensure that shenanigans don't occur. It will be one of the largest legal efforts in the history of US Presidential elections. Let's hope it helps. One of my current focuses in my blogging and voter awareness efforts is educating Tampa Bay voters about their rights as well as voting rules passed by the State of Florida. Later this week I will post information from the Obama campaign debunking several viral voting myths that have circulated online and on several radio stations in Florida.

Darren Hauck for The New York Times
Nashawna Prude, 9, with a family photo that includes her grandmother, Kimberly, second from left, jailed for more than a year for voter fraud.