How the GOP Will Suppress Minority Votes on November 4 -- Legally

News reports that state officials in the crucial battleground states of Colorado, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Nevada and North Carolina were purging thousands from voter rolls illegally drew a flurry of media and public attention. The crude, dubious, if not outright illegal, stuff to suppress votes such as the absence of polling places in minority neighborhoods, ballot and vote machine irregularities, using lists of foreclosed homes to challenge voter's residences, rigid time lines for filing voter applications, the lack of information, misinformation or deliberate disinformation about voter registration forms and materials has also drawn plenty of media attention over the years.

Yet, the main ploys the GOP will use to damp down minority votes on November 4th have drawn virtually no media attention. They include letter writing challenges, residence and citizenship challenges of non-native born Latino voters, and reliance on a provision in the Help America Vote Act on provisional ballots. Worst of all, these tactics are all perfectly legal.

Federal court rulings flatly prohibit Republican organizations from sending letters to newly registered voters in solely low income, black and Hispanic neighborhoods to verify their address. If those letters aren't returned, the GOP contends that the recipient's address on their voter registration form is incorrect and the registration is fraudulent. When the voter shows up at the polls they are challenged. Republicans insist that the legal prohibition against this tactic applies only to the Republican National Committee and not to state and local Republican organizations and "volunteer groups." Since GOP groups have declared themselves exempt from the court rulings against the tactic, they fully intend to use the letter writing ploy to challenge the registrations of people in certain designated zip codes. The zip codes just happen to be those in predominantly black and Latino neighborhoods.

In April the Supreme Court handed the GOP an even more powerful weapon to water down minority votes. It upheld Indiana's rigid voter registration law which requires government-issued identification, such as a driver's license, a passport, or a state or military ID card. Though Indiana got much of the media attention when the court ruled, it's hardly the only state to require rigid proof of identity. Florida and Georgia require photo IDs. Eighteen other states require either photo or non-photo IDs. In four states polling workers can demand that voters produce a photo ID. Many will. And they'll likely have the blessing of nearly several dozen state election officials who were chosen in sharply partisan elections.

It's a stretch to think that many will rein in their political biases when it comes to making the narrowest interpretation of the Byzantine tangle of state voting laws that allow election officials wide latitude to disqualify or assign to provisional ballot anyone with even the slightest real or perceived registration glitch. Polling workers will take their cue from state officials and tightly scrutinize the IDs and registration cards of voters at countless numbers of local polling places. If the election is close the over scrutiny of minority voters will almost certainly ignite an endless and bitter round of legal and court challenges with little certainty that they'll be successful.

The other tact is to challenge non-native born Latino voters, mostly newly registered voters. They now make up about 10 to 20 percent of the Latino population in the Western battleground states of New Mexico, Nevada, and Colorado. The states have nineteen electoral votes. In a close contest their votes could be the make or break votes for Obama or McCain. Anti-immigrant rights groups with active or tacit support from local GOP organizations could station monitors, poll watchers, and volunteers at polling places in heavily Hispanic neighborhoods. Their presence would be a powerful disincentive for many non-native born voters to turn out. Polling officials will be on the lookout for any hint of impropriety in their registration.

Then there's the Help America Vote Act passed in 2002. It's supposed to help streamline the voting process and make registration easier. But the act is a two edged sword in that it permits voters who have been rejected for borderline legal reasons to cast provisional ballots. But these ballots are set aside and it could take days or weeks, not to mention court and legal challenges before determinations can be made which ballots can be counted. There will be thousands of these ballots and the overwhelming majority will be from black and Hispanic voters .

The aim of vote suppression is the same as it's been for a half century and that's to whittle down the vote total for the Democratic presidential contender, in this case Obama. Democrats will pull out all legal stops to fight voter suppression. They will nail the more blatant, patently illegal tactics. But their success in stopping them still won't prevent untold thousands of black and Latino voters from being shoved out in the election cold on November 4th. Unfortunately, the law will be on the side of those who shoved them out there.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His new book is The Ethnic Presidency: How Race Decides the Race to the White House (Middle Passage Press, February 2008).

Comments

[radical1]

I wonder, I wonder what is the problem with some people that they can still think McCain is honest and above board when he still allows tactics that could rob people of their right to vote. Have we heard of him trying to stop dishonest, thieving tactics of his fellow Repugs? NO, NOT SO FAR.
All who want to vote for McCaIn, get the brains recuperated and LEARN about purging and caging voter names & how McCain supports this. You can lose your freedom too if this continues.

[simplify]

They will try but with hundreds of lawyers on the ground in battleground states working for the Obama campaign. thats not going to happen. Not this time!!!!!

[rowzeer]

Illegal immigrants are going to risk exposure by going out and voting. That's the last thing they want to do. So it's not illegal immigrants whose votes you're taking away.

[cylindar]

That is some ugly stuff!

[laucarlson]

In Washington state they are claiming lots of "underage voters" are registered, must plan to challenge anyone looking younger than 18 when they arrive at the polls.

[Rjchinook]

I live in Washington & we have early voting. I live in Whatcom county and my daughter (age 19) is registered too and all we have to do is mail them in or drop them off at the county commissioners office. I love living in BLUE state!

[oldmilitant]

If Govt issued ID's were free (and you didn't have to spend three hours at the DMV) I wouldn't be too pissed off. But ID"s costs between 10 and 25 in most states. So, you move, money, move again, more money. Why do you have to pay for a constitutional right?

[RTIII]

The Supremes have said that the IDs can only be used to prove you are who you say you are - it has nothing to do with WHERE you are registered to vote. Passports don't even HAVE your current address listed on them and they are required to be accepted as proof of identity.... When in doubt, use your passport. Can only afford ONE ID, get a passport!
.

[DavidNOE]

And passports cost something on the order of $75 these days (I could look it up, but why don't you go do it yourself!). Sounds rather like "Let 'em eat cake!"

[Barrister2010]

this is the new poll tax. the right wing will try to steal this election kicking and screaming. IT WON'T WORK TIHS TIME!!!!!!!!!!!

[Buddy McCue]

Lord, I hope not. It is the only thing they're good at, though.

[dreamsmasher]

The Republicans would not even be challenging the validity of any of the voters identification if the Democrats did not fight so hard against voters having to show valid state issued ID and then you have the politically driven right arm of the Democrat party also known as ACORN which is totally corrupt and has been and is being questioned for voter fraud. I can't wait to see the outcome of this issue and I hope that each and every individual involved with this voter fraud goes to jail for a long long time, if this were the Republicans perpetrating this alleged fraud there would be total outrage similar to the blog you have written, it amazes me that the Democrats can perpetrate a fraud and when they get caught at it they try to blame the Republicans.
Mr. Hutchinson you and ACORN are not doing any good by committing this fraud then crying foul when complaints are lodged, you are in fact hurting those you claim to be helping.
If it were up to me, it would call into question every single registration brought by ACORN and each and every single one of them would be revoked. ACORN should NOT be able to seek to register ANYONE for voting this should be done ONLY by a state agency and the perfect agency for this is at the DMV, your picture is being taken anyway and they have already verified you are who you say you are.

[situationcritical]

You mean this ACORN?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/13/153851/92/91/629442

[WordPusher]

There has been NO FRAUD committed by ACORN. You are clearly just buying the GOP talking points, which have been thoroughly discredited.

Here is a link to BradBlog, which DEBUNKS the REPUBLICAN LIES about ACORN:
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6503

And here is a link that shows JOHN McCAIN LOVED THOSE ACORN folks until the election turned against him:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/13/mccain-camp-accuses-acorn_n_134277.html

Read 'em and weep, wingnuts.

[parvo63]

Really? No fraud committed by ACORN? Then why are they being investigated by the FBI as we speak of fraud in 12 (twelve) states?

[Luigi53102]

Karl Rove famously asserts that if you repeat a lie often enough it becomes perceived as the truth, but this only works when nobody repeatedly rebuts the lie. The falsehoods you use to condemn ACORN have been widely and definitively refuted, here and elsewhere. You may choose to avoid facts, or choose to ignore them when slapped in the face with them, but that does not make them less factual. The fuss over ACORN is just another stunning monument to the hypocrisy of the Republican Party in general and of John McC in particular; see the ACORN photo album released today, chock-full of Repubs endorsing ACORN!

Shame on you for trying to discredit this writer with your bogus assertions.

[Rjchinook]

There's BIG DIFFERENCE in hiring kids & homeless people to get voter registrations, who make up names to get more money then RIPPING OFF VOTES like the Repugs have been doing for years!
TO McSAME camp ACTUALLY MAILING FAKE absentee ballots & registration cards from Florida to Oregon? WHY HASN'T THE MEDIA COVERED THIS?

http://michiganmessenger.com/4282/rove-rove-rove-the-vote
http://www.ickypeople.com/2008/09/mccain-sends-out-fake-absentee-ballots.html
http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=aV1OkF6J
http://productshopnyc.com/htdocs/2008/09/mccain_sends_florida_residents.html

[Gidster]

Dreamsmasher...Revoke all of them? Remember Republicans used ACORN as well. They don't only register Democrats.

Try listening to some other news source than Limbaugh.

[RightWingMarine]

I'm lost. Why is it a bad thing to ensure that those who are voting really are citizens of the US? What is wrong with requiring state issued photo ID be presented in order to get to vote? I can't speak for every state but I have worked as an election poll worker in TX and in TX at least we do not allow poll watchers or any other group to remain in the polling place unless they are actively voting and then they have to leave. It almost seems as if you want there to be no ID requirements and no residency requirements to get to vote. It seems silly to tell this to an adult but not everyone out there is honest. Some people would seek to exploit your trust and would vote even though they aren't citizens or would vote more than once or in precincts that they don't live in.

[WordPusher]

Get serious. Most people in this country can't be bothered to get off their butt and vote ONCE, and you think there's some big conspiracy to enable people to vote TWICE? Sorry, but you're out of your mind.

[situationcritical]

Yes. I agree - but with your first two words only.

[TERRYKEITH4]

I see your point if we're living in California where I live or you living in Texas where undocumented people live in large numbers. But in middle America where illegals would stand out like a sore thumb. They don't vote there because they want to be on the down low in order to keep their jobs at the meat packing plants in Nebraska and Iowa. But denying some poor person who lives in Detroit, Kansas City, Chicago, etc. the right to vote because their address on their state ID doesn't match is going too far. I suggest using the address on their latest police report since most people (Black or White) living in the inner city have been arrested or at least stopped by the police for questioning. They have lived in these neighborhoods all their lives, and probably have moved many times since their state ID was issued to them. I live in Silicon Valley, but I am from Omaha. The only illegals there work at the meat packing plants that at one time was primarily a job that Black people had. Many of the older members of my own family were meat packers. I think this ID thing is elitist. It denies voting rights to people who were born and lived here all their lives. I think a birth certificate, welfare, or county ID should be enough. The birth certificate proves birth place.

[NoOneSpecial]

But for many senior citizens who were born in small USA communities before birth certificates were issued (or in some cases lost), this disenfranchises them as well.

The news profiled an elderly woman in Arizona this past summer who was born in the South, no birth certificate, and who has voted in every election since the 40s. She no longer has a driver's license.

Result? According to new Arizona state voter ID law she will not be allowed to vote since she can't show "proof of citizenship."

[Gidster]

Wow Terry. Not every minority person has been arrested! While I agree with your points your apparent naivete comes across as bigoted and small minded.

[pontiuspilate]

What makes one 'elite'?...I keep seeing this term over and over on this blogsite. Possessing and maintaining a valid photo ID is now considered elitist...I hope you guys know what is about to take place in this once respectable nation.
The people who want to vote have had a FOUR YEAR WARNING! The more you wipe a person's butt for them, the more they will expect it...Yes, my wife and I made the mistake of putting Johnson's Baby powder on my baby's butt. Now she is 4 yrs old AND STILL EXPECTS the butt powdering each day. She whines and cries when we tell her she is too old to have her butt powdered...At what age do we tell these U.S. citizens to go powder their OWN butts?
My only exception would be for the elderly and the mentally or physically handicapped...otherwise suck it up and go get a valid ID.

[ThePeacemakers]

I think they can only check the name and photo for matching...not address.

[StephenDedalus82]

Ever heard of the cure being worse than the problem?

[gretchenart]

Evidently 10% of the voting public does not have an ID because they do not drive and do not travel out of the country. An estimated 20% of blacks and other minorities do not have IDs. So the ID restrictions are aimed at denying those people their votes. I don't know if there is time to make sure those people all get IDs beforehand, as that would be a solution to counteract the planned disenfranchising of these voters, but it is a thought.

[pontiuspilate]

Time to make sure AN ADULT has TIME to get an ID? I'm 48 yrs old...I've had 32 long years to come up with a valid ID...to assert that someone may not have enough time to THINK in advance that they might need a valid ID to vote in a particular state is outrageous...I suppose, in the type of government we are destined for...an Obama run government, we will, for the next presidential election, first bus the people to get a valid ID, then bus them to a place for voter registration, then bus them to the voting booths, then bus them all back home...did I mention, we could blow their noses for them just as we pull up to the curb in front of their homes?
I find it very difficult to believe that 10% of the voting pop...wait a minute, voting population...you mean the general population of the U.S....legal and illegal residents...now that makes sense...but not 10% of registered voters....no, I would say that 99% of registered voters, who are LEGAL U.S.citizens DO HAVE a valid ID.

[ThePeacemakers]

I wonder if outside of mostly disabled or elderly people, those are the voting types without ID? If they do start to show up as Democrats and are rejected for lack of ID in large numbers, then we're looking at a historic turnout.

[RightWingMarine]

no one said life would be easy.

I am skeptical that someone could go their entire adult life and not be required to show proof positive of ID at some point. States have state IDs just for this reason and it is unrelated to a drivers license. At some point in their life the people with no ID would have wanted to cash a check, open a bank account, buy cigarettes or alcohol, get a job, rent a movie at the video store something would have come up.

Something else that has been pestering me is all this gnashing of teeth over voter rolls being purged of people who have had their homes foreclosed. Why is this a bad thing? Since the home was foreclosed clearly that person does not live at that address any longer. If that address is still the address on file with the county voter rolls thing then that should either be updated with the new addressor that person stricken from the rolls. Please explain (nothing against you Gretchen but anyone reading this) why someone should be permitted to vote who clearly does not have a valid voters registration card.