Please see full article at the Orlando Sentinel
This article appeared in the Chicago Sun Times.
Please see whole article here:
http://www.suntimes.com/news/jackson/7617828-417/38-states-rigging-voting-rules-for-gop.html
38 states rigging voting rules for GOP
Jesse Jackson
September 13, 2011 | Chicago Sun Times
As the campaigns for the 2012 presidential election begin, Republicans are trying to rig the rules. In 38 states, they are pushing measures that will effectively lock millions of the young, the poor, the elderly and minorities out of the election booth. This is the most systematic rollback of voting rights since the segregated South invented literacy tests, poll taxes and intimidation to bar blacks from voting.
Their motivation is clear. Republicans are championing an agenda that they know lacks popular support — from lowering taxes on the rich to seeking to end Medicare as we know it. They have a stake in lowering voter turnout, not raising it. Paul Weyrich, a co-founder of the Moral Majority, used to warn Christians about what he called the “goo goo syndrome,” the good government types who wanted to make voting easier. “I don’t want everybody to vote;” he said in 1980. “Our leverage in elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.”
So Republican governors and legislators are introducing measures designed to curtail voting, particularly by constituencies likely to oppose their course. Their excuse is to combat voter fraud — but they have failed to produce any evidence that this poses any concern. Even when White House adviser Karl Rove pushed the Bush Justice Department to make voter fraud a focus, they could not dig up evidence of its existence. In a 2007 report, New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice summarized the evidence: “It is more likely that an individual will be struck by lightning than that he will impersonate another voter at the polls.”
(snip)
This is the real Ponzi scheme that does injury to the American promise of fairness and equality.
The irony is those that are willing to declare war for democracy abroad are too willing to declare war against democracy at home.
We cannot survive such a global contradiction. The whole world is watching and it must see the attorney general and Department of Justice take on a higher profile to protect voting rights.
(snip)
It is time for the Justice Department to rouse itself. It is time for citizens to mobilize.
Please continue reading at:
http://www.suntimes.com/news/jackson/7617828-417/38-states-rigging-voting-rules-for-gop.html
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-gop-war-on-voting-20110830
In a campaign supported by the Koch brothers, Republicans are working to prevent millions of Democrats from voting next year
As the nation gears up for the 2012 presidential election, Republican officials have launched an unprecedented, centrally coordinated campaign to suppress the elements of the Democratic vote that elected Barack Obama in 2008. Just as Dixiecrats once used poll taxes and literacy tests to bar black Southerners from voting, a new crop of GOP governors and state legislators has passed a series of seemingly disconnected measures that could prevent millions of students, minorities, immigrants, ex-convicts and the elderly from casting ballots. “What has happened this year is the most significant setback to voting rights in this country in a century,” says Judith Browne-Dianis, who monitors barriers to voting as co-director of the Advancement Project, a civil rights organization based in Washington, D.C.
Republicans have long tried to drive Democratic voters away from the polls. “I don’t want everybody to vote,” the influential conservative activist Paul Weyrich told a gathering of evangelical leaders in 1980. “As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.” But since the 2010 election, thanks to a conservative advocacy group founded by Weyrich, the GOP’s effort to disrupt voting rights has been more widespread and effective than ever. In a systematic campaign orchestrated by the American Legislative Exchange Council – and funded in part by David and Charles Koch, the billionaire brothers who bankrolled the Tea Party – 38 states introduced legislation this year designed to impede voters at every step of the electoral process.
All told, a dozen states have approved new obstacles to voting. Kansas and Alabama now require would-be voters to provide proof of citizenship before registering. Florida and Texas made it harder for groups like the League of Women Voters to register new voters. Maine repealed Election Day voter registration, which had been on the books since 1973. Five states – Florida, Georgia, Ohio, Tennessee and West Virginia – cut short their early voting periods. Florida and Iowa barred all ex-felons from the polls, disenfranchising thousands of previously eligible voters. And six states controlled by Republican governors and legislatures – Alabama, Kansas, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin – will require voters to produce a government-issued ID before casting ballots. More than 10 percent of U.S. citizens lack such identification, and the numbers are even higher among constituencies that traditionally lean Democratic – including 18 percent of young voters and 25 percent of African-Americans.
Taken together, such measures could significantly dampen the Democratic turnout next year – perhaps enough to shift the outcome in favor of the GOP. “One of the most pervasive political movements going on outside Washington today is the disciplined, passionate, determined effort of Republican governors and legislators to keep most of you from voting next time,” Bill Clinton told a group of student activists in July. “Why is all of this going on? This is not rocket science. They are trying to make the 2012 electorate look more like the 2010 electorate than the 2008 electorate” – a reference to the dominance of the Tea Party last year, compared to the millions of students and minorities who turned out for Obama. “There has never been in my lifetime, since we got rid of the poll tax and all the Jim Crow burdens on voting, the determined effort to limit the franchise that we see today.”
Read the rest at link:
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-gop-war-on-voting-20110830
Orlando Weekly looks at restrictive new vote suppressing laws across the country with special mention of four provisions of Florida’s HB 1355 which have just been referred to a three-judge federal panel for consideration. Those provisions are:
Florida already requires photo ID in order to cast a ballot.
“We remain hopeful that the federal court will give these sections of HB 1355 a very close look, as we believe that these sections unfairly reduce opportunities for registration and voting and will have a particularly negative impact on Florida’s minority voters,” LWVF First Vice President Pam Goodman said in a statement.
There is cause for concern. Democrats fear that one of the law’s already approved sticking points – that voters must present photo identification like a driver’s license at polling places – carries with it the stigma of Jim Crow laws, which pushed literacy tests and poll taxes upon minorities in the South. Also, the requirement that the address on that license be current could cause trouble for traditionally more mobile minority populations and for students – both of which tend to vote for Democrats – and the elderly who are less likely to drive.
“It is increasingly apparent that there are forces within the state government that will try any means possible to suppress the minority vote,” the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida said in a statement. The ACLU filed a federal lawsuit against the controversial portions of the law in June and a subsequent federal complaint just last week. “As Jesse Jackson has stated, we fight wars for democracy abroad and then declare war on democracy at home.”
See the rest of the article here: http://orlandoweekly.com/news/suppressing-the-vote-1.1196228
http://aclufl.org/news_events/?action=viewRelease&emailAlertID=3944
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
MIAMI – The American Civil Liberties Union, together with Project Vote, today filed a Motion to Intervene in the United States District Court’s review of the Voter Suppression Act (formerly House Bill 1355) which, if approved, will make it harder for Floridians to register to vote, harder to vote and harder to have that vote counted.
Governor Rick Scott and Secretary of State Kurt Browning withdrew the most discriminatory and regressive portions of the Voter Suppression Act from review by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) under the Voting Rights Act. With just days remaining before a decision deadline, the state chose instead to initiate a legal review of the provisions by the US District Court in the District of Columbia – a process which will take longer, cost more and continue the confusion, uncertainty and lack of uniformity of Florida’s voting laws.
“We’ve strongly objected to these voter suppression schemes from the beginning,” said Howard Simon, Executive Director of the ACLU of Florida. “After the state’s latest round of legal hide-and-seek, we’re asking the court to allow us to join the case on behalf of impacted Floridians who will see the right to cast their vote rolled back by these regressive and unnecessary changes to Florida’s voting laws.”
The four provisions of the Voter Suppression Act subject to review by the Court are:
- Limiting access to early voting by decreasing the number of early voting days including a new outright ban on early voting the Sunday before an election
- A new requirement that voters changing their address between counties on Election Day must use provisional ballots which are easier to challenge and only counted about half the time
- Strict new rules on “third party” voter registration groups including fines, registration requirements and time limits on non-partisan civic groups conducting voter registration efforts
- Restricting access to amending the Constitution by cutting by 50% the time a citizen’s signature is considered valid on an initiative petition
As the DOJ would have done, the District Court will determine whether the voter suppression provisions are allowed under the Voting Rights Act which protects racial and language minority voters in five Florida Counties (Hillsborough, Collier, Monroe, Hendry and Hardy) known as covered jurisdictions.
By taking the issue to the District Court, the State of Florida has named the United States and Attorney General Eric Holder as defendants. The ACLU and Project Vote are asking the Court to join a group of racial and language minority voters in the covered jurisdictions as well as Project Vote and its affiliate Voting for America as additional defendants. The parties in the request include State Senator Arthenia Joyner, State Representative Janet Cruz, Monroe County Supervisor of Elections Harry Sawyer, Leon County Supervisor of Elections Ion Sancho, Project Vote and Voting for America.
“Project Vote and Voting for America are dedicated to bringing voter registration opportunities to minority communities,” added Estelle Rogers, Director of Advocacy for Project Vote. “We are uniquely positioned to tell the court just how damaging this law will be to those efforts.”
The ACLU and Project Vote have a pending request in the United States District Court in Miami for an injunction to block implementation of the new law until it is approved under the Voting Rights Act. The ACLU and Project Vote sought the injunction because the Secretary of State has maintained that the voter suppression provisions of the new law are already in effect in the non-covered jurisdictions (62 of Florida’s 67 Counties) – effectively creating two sets of election laws.
“The Governor and Secretary of State have created a new, confusing and bizarre web of laws for Florida with one set of rules if you live in Pinellas County and a different set if you live on the other side of the bridge in Hillsborough, for example.” Simon said. “It’s bizarre that our state’s highest officials not only find this acceptable but are willing to spend more money to keep it in place longer. It’s almost as if they want voters to be confused and not vote.”
Like the DOJ, the District Court may only review the submitted provisions for their compliance with the federal Voting Rights Act – not their merits overall. The DOJ already approved many of the uncontested provisions of the Voter Suppression Act as not violating the Voting Rights Act. Any appeal of the findings by the District Court may be appealed directly to the Supreme Court of the United States.
“The costly legal course the Governor and Secretary of State have chosen proves without question that they will do anything – spend anything – to stack the deck in upcoming elections,” Simon said.
A copy of the motion to intervene is available here:
http://www.aclufl.org/pdfs/2011-08-25-ACLUMotiontoInterveneFLHolder.pdf
A copy of the documents submitted for filing today is here:
http://www.aclufl.org/pdfs/2011-08-25-ACLUInterventionSupportMemo.pdf
http://www.aclufl.org/pdfs/2011-08-25-ACLUProposedAnswer.pdf
http://www.aclufl.org/pdfs/2011-08-25-ACLUProposedInterventionOrder.pdf
Statement from Monroe County Supervisor of Elections, Harry Sawyer:
“Several of the election changes adopted by the Legislature will limit voter turnout and threaten the right of voters, including African-Americans in Monroe County and other ethnic and language minority voters.
“Monroe County has 5 early voting sites, one of which is in an African-American neighborhood. In the 2008 general election, 27 percent of Keys voters voted early, and nearly 8 percent of Keys registered voters voted early in the November 2010 general election. Limiting early voting options is a dangerous path which will only make it more difficult to vote.
“If this law is approved and people moving to Monroe are required to use a provisional ballot, it has the potential to disenfranchise many voters in our community.”
Statement from Representative Janet Cruz (Tampa):
“Florida’s effort to suppress the vote for 2012 and beyond needs this complete review and we hope that the federal court will see what we see – that the provisions under review hurt racial and language minorities in Hillsborough County and across Florida.”
Statement from Leon County Supervisor of Elections, Ion Sancho:
”The new voting legislation passed by the Legislature and signed by the Governor is a thinly veiled effort to deny legitimate voters their right to vote. Restrictions to early voting, requiring more voters to vote by provisional ballots, and shutting down 3rd party voter registration drives will have a retrogressive impact on all of Florida’s voters without providing any benefit whatsoever – including reducing fraudulent voting.”
Statement from Senator Arthenia Joyner (Tampa):
“In six weeks this ill law was conceived, drafted behind closed doors, jammed through the Legislature, signed by the Governor and is being rushed to a speedy and illegal implementation. Floridians are entitled, by law, to have these changes reviewed before they are used to deny people the right to vote.”
Statement from Former Senator Helen Gordon Davis (Tampa):
“Public officials should be encouraging voting and making voting more accessible. I am proud to be part of this lawsuit that challenges the actions of the Governor and the Legislature that make voting more difficult, particularly for working people and minorities in our community, when they should be doing the exact opposite.”
Statement from Reverend and former Tampa City Councilman, Thomas Scott:
“The new, outright ban on early voting the Sunday before Election Day is an obvious attempt to shut down ‘Souls to the Polls,’ the effective, church-based voter mobilization efforts in African-American communities across Florida. This Voter Suppression Law will do exactly that – keep legal, qualified voters away from the ballot box.”
Contact: ACLU of Florida Media Office, (786) 363-2737 or media@aclufl.org August 25, 2011
On July 15 of this year, Ryan Reilly at TPM Muckraker reported on the Florida League of Women Voters decision to quit registering voters in Florida. A new, radically restrictive law rushed through the state legislature by Republicans, puts third-party voter registration groups at risk of heavy fines which is too great a liability for the non-profit voter education group.
“When we looked at the laws, we felt that this would put our thousands of volunteers across the state who have registered voters for 70 years in Florida at a grave disadvantage,” said president of the Florida League of Women Voters, Deirdre MacNabb.
Volunteers would have to have “a secretary on one hand and a lawyer on the other hand as they registered voters,” MacNabb said.
“We did not feel that we as an organization could ask our volunteers to undergo that kind of vague, restrictive and punitive restriction which the legislature has tried to impose,” MacNabb said….
“I think the outcome will very clearly be much less opportunity to new eligible voters to have access to third-party registration groups,” MacNabb said. “We think it will make it likely we will see far more use of provisional ballots, and it will be much less convenient, especially for working citizens, to get to the polls for early voting.”
Ch. 2011-40, Laws of Florida, which amended s. 97.0575, Florida Statutes, is not being implemented by or in Collier, Hardee, Hendry, Hillsborough, and Monroe Counties. Third-party voter registration activities in these counties are governed by s. 97.0575, Florida Statutes (2010) until preclearance occurs for these counties.
A third-party voter registration organization means any person, entity, or organization that solicits or collects any voter registration application, but does not include:
What are the responsibilities of a 3PVRO?
A 3PVRO must comply with all statutory (see s. 97.0575, Fla. Stat.) and regulatory (see Rule 1SER11-02) requirements. Some specific requirements: • Timely submit allvoter registration applications to the Division or the Supervisor of Elections, including
incomplete applications (see question “Are There Penalties?” below, for timeliness requirements). • Serve as a fiduciary for the applicants from which it collects voter registration applications. • Ensure its assigned ID # is on every voter registration application provided to and received by the 3PVRO. • Keep its registration and registration agents’ information updated within 10 days of any change. • File monthly reports on Form DS-DE 123 with the Division NLT the 10th of each month reflecting an accounting of all registration forms provided to and received from its registration agents during the preceding month. The form must be e-mailed as an attachment in pdf format to 3PVRO@dos.state.fl.us or transmitted to the Division’s facsimile machine at 850-245-6291.
Penalties for returning forms after 48-hour period range from $50 to $1,000
A 3PVRO which collects voter registration applications serves as a fiduciary to the applicant, ensuring that any application entrusted to the 3PVRO shall be promptly delivered to the Division or the Supervisor of Elections. If a voter registration application collected by any 3PVRO is not promptly delivered to the Division or the Supervisor of Elections, the organization is liable for the following fines:
– The date the applicant signed the voter registration application is presumed to be the date the 3PVRO received the application. However, the 3PVRO is responsible for printing the date and time the applicant completed the application in a conspicuous space on the bottom portion of the reverse side of any voter registration application in a manner that does not obscure any of other entry.
– The aggregate fine which may be assessed against a 3PVRO, including affiliate organizations, for violations committed in a calendar year is capped at $1,000.
How do I register?
Prior to engaging in any voter registration activities, a third-party voter registration organization must register by submitting Form DS-DE 119 (eff. 06/2011) as an e-mail attachment in pdf format to3PVRO@dos.state.fl.us or transmitting it to the Division’s facsimile machine at 850-245-6291. The Division must approve the registration and assign the third-party voter registration organization an ID # before the third-party voter registration organization can conduct voter registration activities. Also, before any of its registration agents solicit or collect voter registration applications, the third-party voter registration organization must list the person as a registration agent on Form DE-DE 119 and the registration agent must have Form DS-DE 120 on file with the Division. See s. 97.0575, Florida Statutes, and Rule 1SER11-02, Florida Administrative Code.
Should I Register if I am Only Handing Out Voter Registration Applications?
Distributing voter registration applications by itself does not make a person a 3PVRO. An organization must only register when it solicits a person to return voter registration applications to the organization or if the organization collects the voter registration applications from the applicants.
Must Each Person “Helping” Me Register as a Third-Party Voter Registration Organization?
No, as long as the entity registered as a 3PVRO is actually controlling those persons (registration agents) helping to solicit for collection or collect voter registration applications and the voter registration applications are returned to the controlling entity for delivery to the applicable Supervisor of Elections or Division. However, again, each registration agent must complete Form DS-DE 120 before engaging in voter registration activities on behalf of a 3PVRO.
Must a Candidate, Political Committee, or Political Party Register as a Third-Party Voter Registration Organization?
Any candidate, political committee, or political party (or anyone else) who solicits for collection or collects voter registration applications must register as a 3PVRO.
Must Affiliates or Subsidiaries of a Third-Party Voter Registration Organization Register?
Each subsidiary or affiliate of a registered 3PVRO that also solicits for collection or collects voter registration applications must also register as a 3PVRO. Affiliate organization means any person, group, or entity associated with the 3PVRO as a subordinate, subsidiary, member, branch, chapter, as a central or parent organization, or through direct or indirect ownership or control. Ownership or control means substantial and effective, though not necessarily predominant, ownership or control.
Is a Registered Agent Required and What is a Registered Agent?
3PVROs must designate on Form DS-DE 119 an agent (person or entity) that the organization authorizes as its agent to accept service of legal process on its behalf. The registered agent must accept the appointment by signing Form DS-DE 119; forms without the designated registered agent’s signature will be considered incomplete. The Division interprets “registered agent” of a 3PVRO to mean an individual resident in the state or a domestic or foreign corporation or a not-for-profit corporation authorized to transact business in the state with such person or corporation being authorized to accept legal service of process for the 3PVRO.
How does an organization update or withdraw it’s registration as a Third-Party Voter Registration Organization?
A Third-Party Voter Registration Organization must submit Form DS-DE 119 reflecting the update or withdrawal. The form must be submitted as an e-mail attachment in pdf format to3PVRO@dos.state.fl.us or transmitted to the Division’s facsimile machine at 850-245-6291.
Note: If a Third-Party Voter Registration Organization’s registration agent terminates his or her employment or volunteer service, the agent must immediately notify the Third-Party Voter Registration Organization, which must file an amended Form DS-DE119 reflecting the termination.
List of Third-Party Voter Registration Organizations at Florida Division of Elections website
To view a list of all active and withdrawn organizations, please click here
For more formation, please contact Peggy Taff, Chief, Bureau of Voter Registration Services, Division of Elections at (850) 245-6290.
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