YES! How Voter Suppression Could Swing the Election

It won’t be easy to protect our votes from being sidelined and stolen this year, but here are a few simple things we can do.

posted Aug 01, 2012by Greg Palast

Photo by KSIVey.

In more than 100 years, there has not been a single case of voter identity fraud in the state of Indiana. Yet, in 2008, 145,000 legitimate voters there were turned away from the polls because they could not produce the photo IDs acceptable to state officials on a crusade against “voter fraud.”

Approximately two out of three of those voters were black. Ten of them were black and white (nuns from the Sisters of the Holy Cross). One nun, aged 98, had given up her driver’s license as had her “younger” sisters.

If someone steals your wallet, you don’t take the rest of  your money and throw it in the street. If someone steals your vote, don’t just hand them the next one.

Now, 16 states have passed voter ID laws similar to Indiana’s. The story is that legislators are trying to stop an epidemic of people voting under false names or casting the ballots of dead people. But nobody’s come up with more than a tiny handful of cases where that’s happened. Taking away the votes of hundreds of thousands of people to stop one or two fake votes is like killing a flea with a shotgun.

Moreover, no fewer than 68,029 Indiana citizens, and 488,136 voters nationwide, had their absentee ballots thrown out on nutty technicalities like using the wrong size envelope or crossing out a bubble instead of filling it in.

In all, my fellow investigator, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and I found that more than 5.9 million citizens were wrongly barred from voting or having their ballots counted in 2008.

Nonetheless, Indiana, birthplace of the Ku Klux Klan, was won by a black man, Barack Obama, despite the massive number of votes tossed and voters turned away.

That happened because in Indiana, and nationwide, a massive turnout of African-American voters and record registration of young voters—both groups that are hugely affected by voter ID laws—overcame efforts to block votes.

Because of all the attacks on voting I’ve reported, I’ve been asked, “Why bother? If they’re going to steal my vote, then why should I vote at all?”

The answer is, “That’s what the thieves want you to say.” If someone steals your wallet, you don’t take the rest of  your money and throw it in the street. If someone steals your vote, don’t just hand them the next one.

It won’t be easy to protect our votes this year—estimates say the new restrictions could again disenfranchise as many as 6 million people. But Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. protected the votes of African-Americans when voting while black meant risking your life. Our task in 2012 is far easier.

First and foremost, check your voting status. Think you’re registered to vote? Check again. Under new federal laws, secretaries of state have eliminated 22 million voters from the registries in the past two years. Check online right now. 

How To Ask Candidates Questions
That Make a Difference
Tips for spreading your ideas without getting the runaround.

Do you live in a state with new ID laws? Find out what ID you need, and figure out a way to get it. It may not be easy—but that’s the point. They’re hoping that people will just throw up their hands—and throw away their votes. Do you vote at one address and register a car at another? That’s asking for trouble. Have you added your middle initial to your signature? Well, don’t.

Read the instructions on your absentee or mail-in ballot. If they tell you to fill in a bubble, don’t cross it out. If they say to use a pencil, don’t use a pen. It may seem like trivial stuff, but it killed almost half a million votes last time.

The people who don’t want your vote to count are counting on you to give up easily. Don’t do it. We can work to fix the laws after the election. But right now, the most important thing is to find out what rules are in place and make sure you follow them.

Get informed—then get going. Voting is for We the People, not Them the Ballot Bandits.

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Greg Palast wrote this article for It's Your Body, the Fall 2012 issue of YES! Magazine. Greg is a widely published investigative reporter and author of several books. His latest, Billionaires & Ballot Bandits, a look at the role of big money in the current election, features comics by Ted Rall. BallotBandits.org

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http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/its-your-body/how-voter-suppression-could-swing-the-election?utm_source=august12&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=titleVoterSuppressionSwingElection

Voting Rights Advocates

‘A Lot Is At Stake’: Voting Rights Advocates Gear Up For Huge 2012 Battle

Image of Election Protection (EP) Volunteers at EP Command Center in DC

August 21, 2012, 6:00 AM 696

WASHINGTON — Two blocks from the White House, in a conference room on the fourth floor of a nondescript office building, voting rights advocates are fighting on the front line of the voting wars.
Welcome to the headquarters of Election Protection, a program run by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and a multitude of civil rights organizations that seeks to combat the wave of restrictive voting laws that have swept state legislatures in the past few years.

“I was here in 2000 when the debacle happened in Florida. That really led to civil rights groups coming together and saying we have to have a paradigm shift in the way that we view elections,” Barbara R. Arnwine, President & Executive Director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law told TPM in an interview at their office, which doubles as headquarters for the Election Protection’s hotline number.

“Our normal modus operandi was to always wait until after the election and then to bring lawsuits or whatever challenges were appropriate after that time. But for the first time we realized that voter suppression was being used as a tactic to really drive down the participation of African-Americans in that instance,” she said.

“We couldn’t wait until after the election, we had to do preventative election protection, and that’s how the whole concept originated,” Arnwine said. “The landscape has shifted on us, and we had to acknowledge that we had to shift our tactics.”

The Election Protection coalition consists of about 60 groups and partnerships with countless others. One key feature: a hotline that provides Americans with “comprehensive voter information and advice on how they can make sure their vote is counted.” A new addition this year: a SmartPhone application that Election Protection hopes will create countless advocates who sign up their friends.

Calls to Election Protection’s hotline have provided plaintiffs to groups filing suit against over various changes to voting laws, including at least one plaintiff in the suit against Pennsylvania’s voter ID law.
Eric Marshall, the co-leader of Election Protection, said groups that oppose voter ID have an uphill battle, with polls indicating public support for voter ID laws.

“We have to start changing the nature of the conversation, get out the fact that these laws are like cutting off your ankle to cure the flu,” Marshall said.

“I think this is a margins game for the right,” Michael Slater, executive director of Project Vote, told TPM. “They’re out there with very expensive ads, they’re playing to win, and this is just one prong of a multi-pronged strategy.”

With all of the new elections laws that are hitting his cycle, Marshall said Election Protection looks at a number of factors when deploying resources to various states.

“It’s a civil rights organization, so we care about particularly communities of color but also historically disenfranchised voters — language minorities, people with disabilities, and so on,” Marshall said. “So we tend to focus on areas with high concentrations of those voters and a history of problems. We want to make sure that we’re having the greatest impact.”

But the competitiveness of a particular race does factor into their calculations, Marshall said.
“Where there are highly-competitive elections, there’s higher turnout,” Marshall said.

“There are traditional battleground states like Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania that we work in, but there are states like Georgia, California, New York that aren’t necessarily, and there are states like North Carolina that we’ve worked in historically that are now considered to be battleground states,” Marshall said, adding that the group was especially active in about 20 states.

Arnwine noted that Election Protection worked recent Republican primaries, including Florida’s primary. She said the wide variety of threats to voting rights this year has made the Election Protection coalition very strong.
“The biggest barrier I see, the biggest headache and fight that we’re going to have is pure voter education — poor voters are going to be just so confused,” Arnwine said.

“I think the interactions are the best I’ve ever seen them, because everybody feels the weight of the threat of disaster that could really be a consequence of this voter suppression effort if it is successful,” Arnwine said.
Still, they could use more funding.

“I don’t think there’s a group out there that will say we’re at our ideal budgets,” Arnwine said. “I think it’s always frustrating that the non-partisan efforts are the last funded and the least funded, and that is always annoying.”

Arnwine said she’s frustrated when Democrats ask her why the group is “wasting time” in Mississippi or Georgia by spending resources in states that aren’t in play in November.

“People think only political. Well, peoples’ rights are being abridged in those states. African-Americans are being targeted in those states,” Arnwine said. “We’re not here to elect anyone into office, we’re here to make sure every voter has an opportunity to cast a ballot and have it counted. That is our role.”

Marshall said he believes the program can be on par with their efforts in 2008. They will raise somewhere in the $2 million to do the program and leverage about $30 million in pro bono legal representation.

“It could be devastating for years to come, decades to come. If it succeeds, those who are promoting voter suppression will only feel more embolden — they will feel like this is the best tactic — and for those who are harmed by those tactics, they will feel ‘well, why vote.’” Arnwine said. “So a lot is at stake here.”

Voter ID, Voter Identification, Voter Registration, Voter suppression, Voting, Voting Rights Act, voter fraud, voter intimidation, voting

Eric Marshall

Manager of Legal Mobilization

Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law

1401 New York Avenue, NW, Suite 400

Washington, DC 20005

emarshall@lawyerscommittee.org

http://www.lawyerscommittee.org

Insider Threat Awareness Virtual Roundtable. September 14, 2012

 

TO:                              Federal Senior Leadership Council

Sector Coordinating Councils

Government Coordinating Councils

Critical Infrastructure Cross-Sector Council

State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Government Coordinating Council

Regional Consortium Coordinating Council

                                   

FROM:                        National Protection and Programs Directorate / Office of Infrastructure Protection

SUBJECT:                  Insider Threat Awareness Virtual Roundtable

DISTRIBUTION:      Intended for Widest Distribution to Critical Infrastructure Partners

                                   

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) National Protection and Programs Directorate/Office of Infrastructure Protection is hosting a live, 60-minute virtual roundtable designed to increase awareness of and the ability to respond to insider threats.

What: Insider Threat Awareness Virtual Roundtable

Date: presented live Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Time: 2:00 – 3:00 pm (EDT)

Location: Please visit INSIDER THREAT to register

Registration closes September 14, 2012.

To help you prepare for the possibility of an insider threat, the Insider Threat Awareness Virtual Roundtable will raise awareness of common characteristics and indicators of insider threats and help you to understand:

·         What malicious insiders are and how they impact organizations;

·         What an organization can do to deter and detect insider threats; and

·         What defense and response strategies are available to mitigate the insider threat.

This free, online interactive session will include video, commentary by security experts, a question-and-answer session, and additional resources.

The target audience for this virtual roundtable is security staff, private sector owners and operators, government agencies and organizations, and employees from all industries.

If you are interested in participating in this event, please visit INSIDER THREAT to register.

Please feel free to forward this invitation to anyone who may benefit from this presentation. 

A limited number of phone lines will be available for participants, so please plan to listen online using either your computer’s speakers or headphones.

For additional information pertaining to this event, please email insiderthreatawareness@dhs.gov.

Voting News for Aug 21, 2012

• Editorials: The Fake Voter Fraud Epidemic and the 2012 Election | TPM
• Editorials: Judicial Elections and the Bottom Line | NYTimes.com
• Florida: Rick Scott, Democrats fight over Florida early voting | MiamiHerald.com
• Blogs: The Effects of Florida’s HB1355 Early Voting Law on Turnout | electionsmith
• Hawaii: Office of Elections cites ‘poor planning, implementation, and leadership’ | Hawaii 24/7
• Iowa: Secretary of State clarifies ineligible voter rules | The Des Moines Register
• Kentucky: Kentucky special election for Congress leaves questions over ballots | cincinnati.com
• Missouri: What Happens If Todd Akin Drops Out | Roll Call
• New York: New York Voters Crash Online Registration System | GovTech
• Ohio: Protesters defend voting rights and embattled Ohio election officials | Examiner.com
• Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania answers federal request for information on voter ID law | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
• Virginia: Justice Department upholds Virginia voter ID law | The Washington Post

Editorials: The Fake Voter Fraud Epidemic and the 2012 Election | TPM

Of all the developments in The Voting Wars since 2000, the lead story has to be the successful Republican effort to create an illusion of a voter fraud epidemic used to justify a host of laws, especially tough new state voter identification requirements, with the aim to suppress Democratic turnout and to excite the Republican base about “stolen” elections. Democrats sometimes have exaggerated the likely effects of such laws on turnout—we won’t see millions of voters disenfranchised by state voter id laws, for example. But in a very close presidential election, as we are likely to see in November, new voter id rules, voter purges in places like Colorado and Florida, cutbacks in early voting in Ohio, and other technical changes have the potential to suppress Democratic turnout enough to swing the election from Obama to Romney. How did we get here? Our story begins with what Josh has aptly referred to as “bamboozlement” by a group of political operatives, “The Fraudulent Fraud Squad.” Read More

Editorials: Judicial Elections and the Bottom Line | NYTimes.com

This year, 32 states will be holding contested elections or retention votes for judges on their highest courts. An ideological battle inFlorida, an expensive and partisan one in North Carolina and others are providing uncomfortable lessons about why judges on the highest courts should be appointed rather than elected. Elections turn judges into politicians, and the need to raise money to finance ever more expensive campaigns makes the judiciary more vulnerable to improper influence by donors.Special interests, like the casino, energy and hospital industries and others, have been heavily involved and sometimes find their ways around disclosure rules and exert their influence through independent expenditures, reducing race after race into a contest of slogans. In six states where spending has been especially heavy — Alabama, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas — the harm to justice is well documented. Read More

Florida: Rick Scott, Democrats fight over Florida early voting | MiamiHerald.com

The fight over early voting is escalating in Florida as Gov. Rick Scott seeks agreement among counties for eight days and Democrats demand 12 days. At issue is whether all 67 counties will operate under one early voting schedule, or five counties — including Monroe — will offer more days than all the others. Days after a federal court ruled that eight days of early voting could depress African-American turnout, Scott’s chief elections advisor tried to get five counties to agree to eight days of early voting anyway — for 12 hours a day. Court approval is critical. Because of past evidence of discrimination, election law changes need clearance from the federal government or federal courts before they taking effect in Monroe, Hillsborough, Collier, Hardee and Hendry counties. Because the judges rejected the shorter early voting schedule in those counties last week, the counties must provide up to 14 days of early voting under the old law. Read More

Blogs: The Effects of Florida’s HB1355 Early Voting Law on Turnout | electionsmith

As was reported widely in the press, if not entirely accurately, last Thursday night a Washington, DC, panel of federal judges handed down a unanimous ruling that restrictions placed on early voting in Florida should continue not to be implemented in the five counties covered by Section 5 of the 1975 amendments to the 1965 Voting Rights Act.  Florida, said the judges, “has failed to satisfy its burden of proving that those changes will not have a retrogressive effect on minority voters.” With respect to early voting, House Bill 1355–which was passed on party line votes by the Florida legislature and signed into law by Republican Governor Rick Scott in May 2011–is likely to have a differential impact it is likely to have on racial and ethnic minority voters in the 2012 general election.  In addition to my testimony before the US Senate on the topic, I’ve co-authored with Professor Michael Herron of Dartmouth College a soon-to-be published article in Election Law Journal that reveals the heavy reliance of early voting by minorities in the 2008 general election.  We found that in the 10 Florida counties that offered voting on the final Sunday of early voting in 2008, there was a surge in turnout among minority voters, especially African Americans.  That final Sunday of voting was eliminated under HB1355. Since then, Florida voters have participated in two statewide primary elections in 2012 under a dual system of elections, which very well may violate state law. Read More

Hawaii: Office of Elections cites ‘poor planning, implementation, and leadership’ | Hawaii 24/7

The state Office of Elections issued its report Thursday concerning how the County of Hawaii handled the Primary Election. In a six-page report, Scott Nago, head of the state election’s office, ripped into Jamae Kawauchi, who as County Clerk also serves as the Hawaii County election chief. Nago said he sent a state staff member to observe the election at the Hilo county building and found ” poor planning, implementation, and leadership by the County Clerk.” Nago, however, praised county staff and volunteers who “did their best under the circumstances and were able to get through the election.” He said while the public’s confidence had been undermine, but the problems did not meet the standards used to determine whether final results might have been impacted.

Read More

Iowa: Secretary of State clarifies ineligible voter rules | The Des Moines Register

Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz on Friday provided the fullest explanation yet of his office’s search for ineligible voters and picked up bipartisan support for the effort. Schultz, a Republican, was joined by Democratic Attorney General Tom Miller at a news conference to announce the state’s formal response to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and a Latino group challenging new administrative rules related to voter registration. Miller backed up Schultz’s actions and said the state would oppose the ACLU’s request to prevent the rules from taking effect.

Read More

Kentucky: Kentucky special election for Congress leaves questions over ballots | cincinnati.com

The special election spurred by U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis’ resignation in July has left questions for election officials about how the ballots will be handled. Gov. Steve Beshear has set the special election to fill the vacancy for Geoff Davis’ Fourth Congressional District seat on the same day as the general election on Nov. 6. Some, however, fear the two elections–one for the general election and the other special election to fill out the final months of Davis’ term that expires at the end of the year–will cause confusion. Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes and county clerks await on a Franklin Circuit Court judge’s decision on how to proceed with absentee ballots. Grimes filed suit to move the Oct. 9 deadline for candidates to file for the special election up to Sept. 10, when the state certifies the names on the general election ballot. Grimes has said it must send out ballots 45 days prior to an election for people overseas, such as the military, to have time to fill out and send back the ballots. An Oct. 9 deadline only leaves 28 days. Read More

Missouri: What Happens If Todd Akin Drops Out | Roll Call

If Rep. Todd Akin (R) does drop his Missouri Senate bid within the next 24 hours, as the GOP establishment is pressuring him to do, at least his timing will be impeccable. Missouri state law allows a nominated candidate to withdraw his or her bid for office by 5 p.m. on the 11th Tuesday before the election which, as it turns out, is tomorrow. If Akin does drop his bid before tomorrow’s deadline, the state’s GOP central committee would pick his replacement. This statutory fact alone is why Republicans — from National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn (Texas) to presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) — are coalescing around a 24-hour ultimatum. Read More

New York: New York Voters Crash Online Registration System | GovTech

When New York added the ability for voters to register online earlier this month, officials hoped it would add a lot of citizens to the state’s voter rolls. According to the office of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, fewer than 64 percent of eligible New York residents are currently registered to vote, which ranks the state 47th in the country in voter registration. The addition of the new online registration capability was especially timely, given the Aug. 19 deadline for those wishing to participate in the state’s primary election, scheduled for Sept. 13. “At the DMV, or in their own homes, New Yorkers will now have a convenient and secure way to ensure they are able to register and exercise their right to vote,” said Cuomo in a statement. And New Yorkers seem to have gotten the message. Twitter activity on Friday suggested that an influx of would-be voters brought the new system to its knees. Read More

Ohio: Protesters defend voting rights and embattled Ohio election officials | Examiner.com

"Our vote is our passport to democracy and freedom," said Charles Holmes, a retired pastor from the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Dayton, Ohio. He was speaking this morning to a group of 180 protesters in front of the offices of Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted in downtown Columbus. "In Ohio and all across the nation, there is an effort to take away your vote, by tricks like photo ID and reducing the number of early voting hours," Reverend Holmes said. "This is reprehensible." As the November election nears, the controversy over voting rights and voter suppression has been heating up in Ohio and other key battleground states. On Friday, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted suspended two Democrats on the Montgomery County Board of Elections for refusing to back down on a proposal to allow weekend early voting. Husted had issued a directive on Wednesday that all 88 Ohio counties would allow some weekday evening early voting hours, but no early voting on weekends. "Secretary Husted is wrong to punish Dennis Lieberman and Tom Ritchie for voting to extend weekend voting hours," Reverend Holmes said. "We owe these two men the debt of our gratitude for standing up for all voters, not just some. Jon Husted is supposed to be an impartial referee. But he's working in partisan ways to reduce the total vote count, just as his mentor, Ken Blackwell, did in 2004." Read More

Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania answers federal request for information on voter ID law | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Corbett administration has responded to a federal review of the new voter ID requirement in a letter suggesting the U.S. Department of Justice has overstepped its authority because of political opposition to the law. The Department of Justice last month notified the state that it is examining whether the voter ID law discriminates against minorities. It requested extensive documentation, including databases of voters and driver licenses, to aid in that inquiry. In a letter Friday to the Justice Department's top civil rights lawyer, General Counsel James Schultz said the state would be willing to provide the federal agency with the same information it shared with the groups who challenged the law in state court, provided the department signs a confidentiality agreement. Read More

Virginia: Justice Department upholds Virginia voter ID law | The Washington Post

The Justice Department has signed off on Virginia’s new voter ID law, Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) said Monday night, in a decision that clears the way for the bitterly contested measure to take effect in time for Election Day. “The legislation I signed into law is a practical and reasonable step to make our elections more secure while also ensuring access to the ballot box for all qualified voters,” McDonnell said. “It is welcome news that DOJ has recognized the compliance of this legislation with the Voting Rights Act.” The Justice Department review was needed because Virginia has a history of voter discrimination. It is one of 16 states that must receive federal approval before changing voting laws. The states must prove to the federal government that any new statutes would not discriminate against minorities. Read More

States Performance from The Council of State Governments

Four Ways to Use the Data COMPARE » PROFILE » CUSTOMIZE » TREND »     Measuring your state's performance and using that data to strategically place resources are key to implementing the accountable, transparent and results-focused governance policies citizens expect--especially as states are expected to do more with less. States Perform--an interactive database from The Council of State Governments--will help you do just that.  States Perform provides users with access to interactive, customizable and up-to-date comparative performance measurement data for 50 states in six key areas: fiscal and economic, public safety and justice, energy and environment, transportation, health and human services, and education. Compare performance across a few or all states, profile one state, view trends over time, and customize your results with graphs and maps.