There will be a lot of stuff written, both pro and con, about what the United States Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals did in its en banc ruling affirming U.S. District Court Judge George Smith's temporary order in Ohio Republican Party v. Jennifer Brunner. The most interesting, though, comes in the dissent written by Judge Helene White. Here is her dissent:
HELENE N. WHITE, Circuit Judge, dissenting.
I am not prepared to challenge the motivations of the parties, the district court,or my colleagues. I dissent because I find the record made in the district court wholly inadequate to support the district court’s TRO. In a fraction of the time spent by all in pursuing, opposing and ruling on plaintiffs’ petitions, the district court could,and should, have conducted an evidentiary hearing enabling the parties to develop the factual predicates of their arguments.
The judges of this court have been forced to opt for one or the other version of the facts, or to defer to the district court’s conclusions, without record support. The affidavits and arguments submitted below are inadequate to establish either that defendant failed to comply with Help America Vote Act (HAVA), or that plaintiffs or the public will suffer irreparable harm unless defendant is compelled to develop a program that enables county election officials to avoid having to access voter verification information by checking a voter it seeks to verify in the database. I note that it appears that the county boards of elections are the entities responsible for entering the new voter registration information in the system in the first place. Nor does the record show that ineligible votes will actually be cast and counted for failure of defendant to create the software ordered by the court.
In sum, notwithstanding the exigencies involved, the court should have put plaintiffs to their proofs. I am aware of no case law that supports that a district court has authority, even in cases of emergency, to forego the development of an adequate factual record and grant relief based upon speculation, or that this court is obliged to defer to that speculation. To the extent the court’s decision was based on affidavits, they were insufficient to support the court’s conclusions. I am
unable to agree with the majority on this record that defendant has failed to comply with HAVA,or that plaintiffs or the public will suffer irreparable harm.
Apparently, judging from Judge White's dissent, Judge Smith issued his order without taking any evidence, but relying instead on affidavits and other information. So here we have a Federal Judge issuing an order that could jeopardize the votes of up to 200,000 Ohioans, and he doesn't take the time to conduct a hearing? What the hell is that about?
This is what we think that Republicans are trying to do: They generate news stories about supposed "fraudulent" schemes involving voting by demographic groups that lean Democratic and then use those news stories to justify Federal court action by Republican appointed judges. All without having to conduct evidentiary hearings.
If Barack Obama wins the presidency, which we think he will, the Democrats ought to think about passing a law that requires judges to actually hold evidentiary hearings before issuing rulings that could prevent people from voting. It seems to us that it is the least a judge could do.
Showing posts with label voter fraud. Show all posts
Showing posts with label voter fraud. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Friday, October 10, 2008
GOP vs. ACORN
ACORN is a group that is dedicated to registering young and minority voters. It claims to have registered 250,000 in Ohio alone. The Republicans hate ACORN because, quite frankly, it is effective in registering millions of voters who aren't Republicans. As part of their anti-ACRON smear campaign they are spreading charges that ACORN is submitting fraudulent voter registertion forms in order to commit voter "fraud."
Now, what's interesting about this claim is that in Ohio, as well as other states, the GOP got the state to pass voter idenfication laws. In Ohio, when you vote, you have to produce identification. If a person is registered fraudulently, then they won't be able to produce a proper id and they won't get to vote.
The GOP, of course, doesn't point this out, nor do they point out how rare voter fraud is in Ohio or any other state. Instead, led by McCain and Palin, they just keep throwing crap against the wall of public opinion, hoping that some of it will stick.
Because Democrats are going to be hearing more and more about ACORN as the GOP gets more and more desparate, here is a statement from ACORN in the form of a political memo they recently sent out to their political allies:
To: Interested Parties
From: Bertha Lewis and Steve Kest
Date: October 9, 2008
Re: The Truth About ACORN's Voter Registration Drive
Election Day is less than a month away, and our efforts to make sure that low-income and minority voters have a voice and vote on November 4th are in full swing. Unfortunately, just as we've seen in previous election cycles, the more success we have in empowering these voters, the more attacks we have to fend off from partisan forces making unfounded accusations to disparage our work and help maintain the status quo of an unbalanced electorate. We want to take this opportunity to separate the facts of our successes from the falsehoods of our attackers.
On Monday, October 6, as voter registration deadlines passed in most states, ACORN completed the largest, most successful nonpartisan voter registration drive in history. In partnership with the nonpartisan organization Project Vote, we helped register over 1.3 million low-income, minority, and young voters in a total of 21 states. Highlights of this success include:
We collected over 151,000 registrations in Florida, 153,000 in Pennsylvania, 215,000 in Michigan, and nearly 250,000 in Ohio.
An estimated 60-70 percent of our applicants are people of color.
At least HALF of all are registrations are from young people between 18-29.
We are proud of this unprecedented success, and grateful to everyone who supported us in this massive effort, from our funders and partners to the literally thousands of hardworking individuals across the country who dedicated themselves to the cause and conducted the difficult work of registering 1.3 million Americans, one voter at a time.
And this work is far from over: now begins our effort mobilize these new voters around local and national issues, getting them to the polls and helping to channel their commitment and conviction into an ongoing movement for change in our communities.
As The Nation pointed out recently, ACORN's success in registering millions of low-income and minority voters has made it "something of a right-wing bogeyman." Though ACORN believes that the right to vote is not, and should never be, a partisan issue, attacks from groups threatened by our historic success continue to come, motivated by partisan politics and often perpetuated by the media without full investigation of the facts. As a result, there have been a few recent stories about investigations of former ACORN workers for turning in incomplete, erroneous, or fraudulent voter registration applications. Predictably, partisan forces have tried to use these isolated incidents to incite fear of the "bogeyman" of "widespread voter fraud." But we want to take this opportunity to set the record straight and tell you a few facts to show how these incidents really exemplify everything that ACORN is doing right:
Fact: ACORN has implemented the most sophisticated quality-control system in the voter engagement field, but in almost every state we are required to turn in ALL completed applications, even the ones we know to be problematic.
Fact: ACORN flags incomplete, problem, or suspicious cards when we turn them in, but these warnings are often ignored by election officials. Often these same officials then come back weeks or months later and accuse us of deliberately turning in phony cards.
Fact: Our canvassers are paid by the hour, not by the card, so there is NO incentive for them to falsify cards. ACORN has a zero-tolerance policy for deliberately falsifying registrations, and in the relatively rare cases where our internal quality controls have identified this happening we have fired the workers involved and turned them in to election officials and law-enforcement.
Fact: No charges have ever been brought against ACORN itself. Convictions against individual former ACORN workers have been accomplished with our full cooperation, using the evidence obtained through our quality control and verification processes.
Fact: Voter fraud by individuals is extremely rare, and incredibly difficult. There has never been a single proven case of anyone, anywhere, casting an illegal vote as a result of a phony voter registration. Even if someone wanted to influence the election this way, it would not work.
Fact: Most election officials have recognized ACORN's good work and praised our quality control systems. Even in the cities where election officials have complained about ACORN, the applications in question represent less than 1% of the thousands and thousands of registrations ACORN has collected.
Fact: Our accusers not only fail to provide any evidence, they fail to suggest a motive: there is virtually no chance anyone would be able to vote fraudulently, so there is no reason to deliberately submit phony registrations. ACORN is committed to ensuring that the greatest possible numbers of people are registered and allowed to vote, so there is also NO incentive to "disrupt the system" with phony cards.
Fact: Similar accusations were made, and attacks launched, against ACORN and other voter registration organizations in 2004 and 2006. These attacks were not only groundless, they have since been exposed as part of the U.S. Attorneygate scandal and revealed to be part of a systematic partisan agenda of voter suppression.
These are the facts, and the truth is that a relatively small group of political operatives are trying to orchestrate hysteria about "voter fraud" and manufacture public outrage that they can use to further suppress the votes of millions of low-income and minority Americans.
These tactics are nothing new, and history has shown that they will come to nothing. We'll continue to weather the storm, as we've done for years, and we'll continue to share the truth about our work and express pride about our accomplishments.
Most importantly, we want to assure you that this good work continues, unabated and undeterred. ACORN will not be intimidated, we will not be provoked, and in this important moment in history we will not allow anyone to distract us from these vital efforts to empower our constituencies and our communities to speak for themselves. If the partisan political machines are afraid of low-income and minority voters, they're going to have to do a lot better than coming after ACORN.
After all, there are now at least 1.3 million more of them, and they will not be silenced. They're taking an interest, and taking a stand, and they'll be taking their concerns to the voting booth in November.
And ACORN will be here, to make sure that the voices of these Americans are heard, on Election Day and for every day to come.
Now, what's interesting about this claim is that in Ohio, as well as other states, the GOP got the state to pass voter idenfication laws. In Ohio, when you vote, you have to produce identification. If a person is registered fraudulently, then they won't be able to produce a proper id and they won't get to vote.
The GOP, of course, doesn't point this out, nor do they point out how rare voter fraud is in Ohio or any other state. Instead, led by McCain and Palin, they just keep throwing crap against the wall of public opinion, hoping that some of it will stick.
Because Democrats are going to be hearing more and more about ACORN as the GOP gets more and more desparate, here is a statement from ACORN in the form of a political memo they recently sent out to their political allies:
To: Interested Parties
From: Bertha Lewis and Steve Kest
Date: October 9, 2008
Re: The Truth About ACORN's Voter Registration Drive
Election Day is less than a month away, and our efforts to make sure that low-income and minority voters have a voice and vote on November 4th are in full swing. Unfortunately, just as we've seen in previous election cycles, the more success we have in empowering these voters, the more attacks we have to fend off from partisan forces making unfounded accusations to disparage our work and help maintain the status quo of an unbalanced electorate. We want to take this opportunity to separate the facts of our successes from the falsehoods of our attackers.
On Monday, October 6, as voter registration deadlines passed in most states, ACORN completed the largest, most successful nonpartisan voter registration drive in history. In partnership with the nonpartisan organization Project Vote, we helped register over 1.3 million low-income, minority, and young voters in a total of 21 states. Highlights of this success include:
We collected over 151,000 registrations in Florida, 153,000 in Pennsylvania, 215,000 in Michigan, and nearly 250,000 in Ohio.
An estimated 60-70 percent of our applicants are people of color.
At least HALF of all are registrations are from young people between 18-29.
We are proud of this unprecedented success, and grateful to everyone who supported us in this massive effort, from our funders and partners to the literally thousands of hardworking individuals across the country who dedicated themselves to the cause and conducted the difficult work of registering 1.3 million Americans, one voter at a time.
And this work is far from over: now begins our effort mobilize these new voters around local and national issues, getting them to the polls and helping to channel their commitment and conviction into an ongoing movement for change in our communities.
As The Nation pointed out recently, ACORN's success in registering millions of low-income and minority voters has made it "something of a right-wing bogeyman." Though ACORN believes that the right to vote is not, and should never be, a partisan issue, attacks from groups threatened by our historic success continue to come, motivated by partisan politics and often perpetuated by the media without full investigation of the facts. As a result, there have been a few recent stories about investigations of former ACORN workers for turning in incomplete, erroneous, or fraudulent voter registration applications. Predictably, partisan forces have tried to use these isolated incidents to incite fear of the "bogeyman" of "widespread voter fraud." But we want to take this opportunity to set the record straight and tell you a few facts to show how these incidents really exemplify everything that ACORN is doing right:
Fact: ACORN has implemented the most sophisticated quality-control system in the voter engagement field, but in almost every state we are required to turn in ALL completed applications, even the ones we know to be problematic.
Fact: ACORN flags incomplete, problem, or suspicious cards when we turn them in, but these warnings are often ignored by election officials. Often these same officials then come back weeks or months later and accuse us of deliberately turning in phony cards.
Fact: Our canvassers are paid by the hour, not by the card, so there is NO incentive for them to falsify cards. ACORN has a zero-tolerance policy for deliberately falsifying registrations, and in the relatively rare cases where our internal quality controls have identified this happening we have fired the workers involved and turned them in to election officials and law-enforcement.
Fact: No charges have ever been brought against ACORN itself. Convictions against individual former ACORN workers have been accomplished with our full cooperation, using the evidence obtained through our quality control and verification processes.
Fact: Voter fraud by individuals is extremely rare, and incredibly difficult. There has never been a single proven case of anyone, anywhere, casting an illegal vote as a result of a phony voter registration. Even if someone wanted to influence the election this way, it would not work.
Fact: Most election officials have recognized ACORN's good work and praised our quality control systems. Even in the cities where election officials have complained about ACORN, the applications in question represent less than 1% of the thousands and thousands of registrations ACORN has collected.
Fact: Our accusers not only fail to provide any evidence, they fail to suggest a motive: there is virtually no chance anyone would be able to vote fraudulently, so there is no reason to deliberately submit phony registrations. ACORN is committed to ensuring that the greatest possible numbers of people are registered and allowed to vote, so there is also NO incentive to "disrupt the system" with phony cards.
Fact: Similar accusations were made, and attacks launched, against ACORN and other voter registration organizations in 2004 and 2006. These attacks were not only groundless, they have since been exposed as part of the U.S. Attorneygate scandal and revealed to be part of a systematic partisan agenda of voter suppression.
These are the facts, and the truth is that a relatively small group of political operatives are trying to orchestrate hysteria about "voter fraud" and manufacture public outrage that they can use to further suppress the votes of millions of low-income and minority Americans.
These tactics are nothing new, and history has shown that they will come to nothing. We'll continue to weather the storm, as we've done for years, and we'll continue to share the truth about our work and express pride about our accomplishments.
Most importantly, we want to assure you that this good work continues, unabated and undeterred. ACORN will not be intimidated, we will not be provoked, and in this important moment in history we will not allow anyone to distract us from these vital efforts to empower our constituencies and our communities to speak for themselves. If the partisan political machines are afraid of low-income and minority voters, they're going to have to do a lot better than coming after ACORN.
After all, there are now at least 1.3 million more of them, and they will not be silenced. They're taking an interest, and taking a stand, and they'll be taking their concerns to the voting booth in November.
And ACORN will be here, to make sure that the voices of these Americans are heard, on Election Day and for every day to come.
Monday, May 21, 2007
GOP Speak: "Voter Fraud" is Code for Let's Stop Black & Poor Folk from Voting
If you click on the link in this entry's title, you can read a great piece from the McClatchy Newspapers about the GOP efforts to stop minorities and poor people from casting ballots. They did this by having politically appointed lawyers at the Department of Justice bring charges of "voter fraud" against organizations trying to register minorities and poor people as voters; by pushing for adoption of voter identification requirements such as photo ids; by trying to influence the Federal Election Assistance Commission in conclusions it reached about such registeration requirements; and by trying to get rid of one of the Republican commissioners.
This article is interesting for two reasons. The first is that the article comes right out and states that the Republican operatives in the Justice Department were interested in suppressing voting by minorities and the poor. Usually mainstream media outlets are two scared of the right-wing noise machine to be so straight up in their reporting. The second is that it illustrates that progressive complaining about these tactics is beginning to influence how the media reports this story. Both are significant developments and long overdue.
This article is interesting for two reasons. The first is that the article comes right out and states that the Republican operatives in the Justice Department were interested in suppressing voting by minorities and the poor. Usually mainstream media outlets are two scared of the right-wing noise machine to be so straight up in their reporting. The second is that it illustrates that progressive complaining about these tactics is beginning to influence how the media reports this story. Both are significant developments and long overdue.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
GOP Allegations of Voter "Fraud" are Purpose-Driven BS
The New York Times has an article about how the U.S. Justice Department has been going after so-called "voter fraud" cases across the nation. Not surprisingly, even though under Ashcroft and Gonzales, the Justice Department has been aggressively pursing these cases, very few prosecutions have taken place. No evidence of any conspiracies have been found and most of the cases that have been prosecuted seem to be examples of immigrants and convicted felons not knowing the rules.
The same thing was shown here in Ohio when an organization representing the homeless surveyed the local board of elections to find out how many instances they had of people voting illegally. The number was extremely small. Yet, despite little evidence, the Republican General Assembly passed a restrictive voter identification law that is clearly aimed at poor people, senior citizens, and minorities.
As we have pointed out before, while voters are required to show identification when they vote in person, they are not required to provide copies of such identification when they vote absentee. Why? Because Republicans in the General Assembly figured that their voters would vote a higher percentage of absentee ballots and they didn't want to disenfranchise the "right" kind of voters, only the "wrong" kind, ie, those that vote Democratic.
What the media doesn't get, though, is that Republicans in Washington and Columbus know the truth about their so called "voter fraud" theories. What they are looking for is a way to cloud the issue so that the media won't call them on their bs. If it was up to the mainstream media, they wouldn't, because most of those idiots are willing to parrot the GOP line. Unfortunately for them there is developing across America truly independent media in the form of websites and blogs that they can't control. Because of the pressure from these sites, like www.talkingpointsmemo.com mainstream media companies like the New York Times are beginning to pay attention.
The same thing was shown here in Ohio when an organization representing the homeless surveyed the local board of elections to find out how many instances they had of people voting illegally. The number was extremely small. Yet, despite little evidence, the Republican General Assembly passed a restrictive voter identification law that is clearly aimed at poor people, senior citizens, and minorities.
As we have pointed out before, while voters are required to show identification when they vote in person, they are not required to provide copies of such identification when they vote absentee. Why? Because Republicans in the General Assembly figured that their voters would vote a higher percentage of absentee ballots and they didn't want to disenfranchise the "right" kind of voters, only the "wrong" kind, ie, those that vote Democratic.
What the media doesn't get, though, is that Republicans in Washington and Columbus know the truth about their so called "voter fraud" theories. What they are looking for is a way to cloud the issue so that the media won't call them on their bs. If it was up to the mainstream media, they wouldn't, because most of those idiots are willing to parrot the GOP line. Unfortunately for them there is developing across America truly independent media in the form of websites and blogs that they can't control. Because of the pressure from these sites, like www.talkingpointsmemo.com mainstream media companies like the New York Times are beginning to pay attention.
Monday, April 02, 2007
U.S. Attorney Firings Had Origins in 2004 Presidential Election
Politico, an online website devoted to politics, has a story that claims that the origins of the firing of the U.S. Attorneys are to be found in the 2004 Presidential election and even perhaps in the 2000 election. The story claims that the Bushies were upset in 2000 when people questioned the black robed coup that led to his becoming President. In particular they were upset that Democrats were arguing that had all the votes of Afro-American voters been counted, Gore would have won Florida.
In order to make sure that such accusations were not made after the 2004 election, the Bushies wanted to use the U.S. Justice Department to gather evidence of what they call "voting fraud", targeting organizations that were registering poor and minority voters. According to the article Republicans kept pushing this theme with the media, but could produce little evidence of such activities. The Bushies hoped that the U.S. Justice Department could provide such evidence. Such evidence could then be used to push for voting restrictions that would make it difficult to register voters opposed to Bush. Restrictions such as voter identification requirements, limiting the activities of organizations engaged in voter registeration, while, at the same time, making sure that such restrictions didn't prevent Republican allies from carrying out their own voter registration drives.
Those U.S. Attorneys who didn't get on the program, especially in "swing" states made King Karl and Bubble-Boy angry. This anger probably intensified when they lost control of Congress in 2006. Lo and behold, we get a bunch of fired U.S. Attorneys for what appears to be crass political reasons.
Bush won by over 3 million votes. Although Democrats may wonder about what happened in Ohio, very few people have argued that the popular vote didn't show a clear Bush victory. Ironically, taking action to avoid so-called "voter fraud" has led to Bush and Rove looking like they are manipulating the U.S. Department of Justice for political reasons.
In order to make sure that such accusations were not made after the 2004 election, the Bushies wanted to use the U.S. Justice Department to gather evidence of what they call "voting fraud", targeting organizations that were registering poor and minority voters. According to the article Republicans kept pushing this theme with the media, but could produce little evidence of such activities. The Bushies hoped that the U.S. Justice Department could provide such evidence. Such evidence could then be used to push for voting restrictions that would make it difficult to register voters opposed to Bush. Restrictions such as voter identification requirements, limiting the activities of organizations engaged in voter registeration, while, at the same time, making sure that such restrictions didn't prevent Republican allies from carrying out their own voter registration drives.
Those U.S. Attorneys who didn't get on the program, especially in "swing" states made King Karl and Bubble-Boy angry. This anger probably intensified when they lost control of Congress in 2006. Lo and behold, we get a bunch of fired U.S. Attorneys for what appears to be crass political reasons.
Bush won by over 3 million votes. Although Democrats may wonder about what happened in Ohio, very few people have argued that the popular vote didn't show a clear Bush victory. Ironically, taking action to avoid so-called "voter fraud" has led to Bush and Rove looking like they are manipulating the U.S. Department of Justice for political reasons.
Friday, March 16, 2007
New York Times Calls Republican Allegations of "Voter Fraud" Bogus
If you click on the link in this entry's title, you can read an editorial in the New York Times that points out that when Republican party officials use the term "voter fraud" they really mean voter suppression. Since 1960 Republicans have argued that Democrats use "voter fraud" to win elections. This supposed "voter fraud" is how they justify passing legislation that suppresses the vote of minorities and poor people. Why? Because such voters don't vote Republican and Republicans think that such voters don't deserve the right to vote.
We have seen this in Ohio. Last year the Republican General Assembly passed requirements that voters show identification when they vote. Interestingly they made the requirements for voting absentee less onerous than the requirements for voting in person. Now if you stop and think about it, there would be more chance that a voter could commit voter fraud by mail than showing up in person at the polls. Yet, the Republican controlled General Assembly ignored that fact when passing its legislation. Why? Because Republicans believe that more Republicans vote absentee than Democrats. Therefore, they rigged the system to give themselves an advantage.
All of this is done because deep down inside a lot of Republicans think they are better than other people. Because they are better, their votes should count more than other people's votes. It really is that simple.
We have seen this in Ohio. Last year the Republican General Assembly passed requirements that voters show identification when they vote. Interestingly they made the requirements for voting absentee less onerous than the requirements for voting in person. Now if you stop and think about it, there would be more chance that a voter could commit voter fraud by mail than showing up in person at the polls. Yet, the Republican controlled General Assembly ignored that fact when passing its legislation. Why? Because Republicans believe that more Republicans vote absentee than Democrats. Therefore, they rigged the system to give themselves an advantage.
All of this is done because deep down inside a lot of Republicans think they are better than other people. Because they are better, their votes should count more than other people's votes. It really is that simple.
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