Election Protection News: Michigan Republicans Admit Scheme to Steal Foreclosed Homeowners Right to Vote

emptywheel: MI Republicans Admit to Illegal Foreclosure Scheme, “Surrender” to Democrats

This is from the statement issued by the Michigan Democratic Party:

An agreement announced today by Obama for America, the Republican National Committee, the Democratic National Committee, the Michigan Republican Party, the Michigan Democratic Party, the Macomb County Republican Party, the Macomb County Democratic Party, and plaintiffs Duane Maletski, Sharon Lopez, and Frances M. Zick protects the voting rights of foreclosure victims. The settlement acknowledges the existence of an illegal scheme by the Republicans to use mortgage foreclosure lists to deny foreclosure victims their right to vote. This settlement has the force of law behind it and ensures that Republicans cannot disenfranchise families facing foreclosure. [emphasis added]

Republicans deny that the settlement acknowledges the vote suppression scheme. I will link to the settlement agreement if and when it comes online.

Chicago Tribune: GOP, Dems announce settlement in foreclosure flap

DetNews.com: Dems, GOP settle foreclosure lawsuit; debate over plan continues

Election Protection News, October 20, 2008

Brad Friedman breaks the story on the arrest of Republican vote suppressor in California, live on Fox yesterday.

A new article in Rolling Stone by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Greg Palast about the GOP's campaign to deter new voters and discard Democratic ballots.

In California, the head of the firm the Republican Party hired to register voters -- that has been charged with fraudulently getting voters to change their registration from Democratic to Republican -- has himself been charged with voter registration fraud.

Touchscreens in West Virginia switching Democratic votes for Obama to votes for McCain.

Ballot confusion in North Carolina. You vote for President at the top of the ballot, then your next choice is to vote a "straight Democratic ticket". Problem? You must vote separately for President. This trouble was caused by a racist 1967 law that was intended to prevent North Carolina Democrats from voting for a liberal Presidential candidate (like Kennedy, Johnson, or Humphrey) while voting for Democrats in local races.

To counter all this, Obama is assembling a team of thousands of lawyers (I'm one of them!) to monitor the election in every state.

Election Protection News, October 9, 2008

The New York Times reports today on vast purges of eligible voters from the voting rolls. Although the Times concludes that the purging does not appear to be coordinated by one party, since Republicans are always the party in favor of vote suppression, I doubt that this is just a coincidence. The Democrats have registered millions of new voters, and Republicans are carrying out a sustained campaign to disenfranchise as many as possible.

NYTimes: States’ Actions to Block Voters Appear Illegal

Tens of thousands of eligible voters in at least six swing states have been removed from the rolls or have been blocked from registering in ways that appear to violate federal law, according to a review of state records and Social Security data by The New York Times.

[]

States have been trying to follow the Help America Vote Act of 2002 and remove the names of voters who should no longer be listed; but for every voter added to the rolls in the past two months in some states, election officials have removed two, a review of the records shows.

The six swing states seem to be in violation of federal law in two ways. Michigan and Colorado are removing voters from the rolls within 90 days of a federal election, which is not allowed except when voters die, notify the authorities that they have moved out of state, or have been declared unfit to vote.

Indiana, Nevada, North Carolina and Ohio seem to be improperly using Social Security data to verify registration applications for new voters.

In addition to the six swing states, three more states appear to be violating federal law. Alabama and Georgia seem to be improperly using Social Security information to screen registration applications from new voters. And Louisiana appears to have removed thousands of voters after the federal deadline for taking such action.

Under federal law, election officials are supposed to use the Social Security database to check a registration application only as a last resort, if no record of the applicant is found on state databases, like those for driver’s licenses or identification cards.

The requirement exists because using the federal database is less reliable than the state lists, and is more likely to incorrectly flag applications as invalid. Many state officials seem to be using the Social Security lists first.

In the year ending Sept. 30, election officials in Nevada, for example, used the Social Security database more than 740,000 times to check voter files or registration applications and found more than 715,000 nonmatches, federal records show. Election officials in Georgia ran more than 1.9 million checks on voter files or voter registration applications and found more than 260,000 nonmatches.

Are You Registered to Vote?

This is the time to check. Voter registration deadlines differ among states, and many end this week.

Check your state's voter registration deadlines, how to register, where to vote, etc., here.

You may have voted before, but the Republican National Committee is making a concerted effort to knock voters off the rolls. It's worth your time to check to make sure you are still registered.

In Montana the Republicans are challenging everyone who filled out a change-of-address card in the last 18 months in seven Democratic-leaning counties. If you've filled out a change of address card recently, go check your registration.

In Virginia, the Republicans are challenging college student's residency, asking for tax returns for registration, and warning students (falsely) that they will lose their financial aid or health insurance if they vote in Virginia. If you're a college student, go check your registration.

In Mississippi, a local election official purged 10,000 voters from the rolls from her home computer. If you are not on a first-name basis with your local election officials, go check your registration.

In Georgia, 700 voters were purged from the voter rolls even though many of those 700 had never committed any crime, never even received a parking ticket. If you've never committed a crime, go check your voter registration.

Don't the ratfuckers prevent you from voting.


Senator Edward M. Kennedy, dailykos: Are you registered to vote?

Republican Vote Suppression Comes to Virginia

The RNC is sending fake "Vote by mail" applications to Virginia voters. The woman who received it took to a local election official, who told her this:

1. He had heard about similar fake applications being mailed out in other states.

2. The envelope contained the second part of the application for absentee voting, but not the first--a cover letter explaining exactly what the procedure was and who was eligible.

3. Most disturbing were the instructions on the inside flap of the envelope telling people to "vote early by mail." Virginia DOES NOT have either EARLY VOTING or VOTE BY MAIL. The envelope tells potential voters they can complete and sign a card, place a stamp on it, and drop it in the nearest mailbox.

I'm sending this to my sister who lives in Virginia (and who is leading the family contest to register new voters). Get the word out.

The official told my husband the RNC had been specifically told not to do this, and apparently they mailed them out anyway.

dailykos: Fake Vote-By-Mail Applications in Virginia

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Macomb County, Michigan Republican Party Chairman James Carabelli:
"We will have a list of foreclosed homes and will make sure people aren't voting from those addresses."

Time.com: Obama Team Files Suit Over Alleged Voter Suppression Plan

On afternoon conference call, Obama and Michigan Democratic officials say they are seeking an injunction to block alleged “caging” by the state GOP– using home foreclosure lists to seek to block residents from voting.

Obama counsel Bob Bauer: “It is an absolute attack on their right to vote” and a “completely false and completely illegal basis” to challenge votes.

“This is a standard operating procedure within the Republican party that’s been under legal challenge.”

A Democrat with a spine! Glory be.

Hans von Vote Suppressor Hired by US Commission on Civil Rights

His job, of course, will be to destroy civil rights and deny voting rights to any person who might vote for Barack Obama.

TPMMuckraker: He's Baaaack: Civil Rights Commission Hires Spakovsky to Work on Voting Rights

Action Alert: Don't Let The Fascists Steal The Election Again

dailykos: Call to Action: Voter Rolls in several States purged!!!

In swing-state Colorado, the Republican Secretary of State conducted the biggest purge of voters in history, dumping a fifth of all registrations. Guess their color.

In swing-state Florida, the state is refusing to accept about 85,000 new registrations from voter drives – overwhelming Black voters.

In swing state New Mexico, HALF of the Democrats of Mora, a dirt poor and overwhelmingly Hispanic county, found their registrations disappeared this year, courtesy of a Republican voting contractor.

In swing states Ohio and Nevada, new federal law is knocking out tens of thousands of voters who lost their homes to foreclosure.

Robert F. Kennedy and investigative journalist Greg Palast are teaming up to get this information out into the public eye. They're fundraising here; you can get copies of Palast's DVDs and books for certain levels of giving.

If giving money is not your thing, isn't this the perfect topic for your weekly letter to the editor of your local paper?

Hans von Vote Suppressor Steps Down

San Francisco Chronicle: FEC nominee withdraws name

President Bush's contentious nominee for the Federal Election Commission removed his name from consideration Friday, potentially ending a lengthy stalemate that had paralyzed the work of the agency.

Hans von Spakovsky, a former Justice Department official who never had Democratic support to win confirmation, withdrew his nomination, saying it was time for the protracted deadlock to end.

[]

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., welcomed von Spakovsky's withdrawal. Democrats have charged that von Spakovsky tried to suppress voter participation through new restrictions such as voter identification laws and voter roll purges.

"Democrats stood united in their opposition to von Spakovsky because of his long and well-documented history of working to suppress the rights of minorities and the elderly to vote," Reid said. "He was not qualified to hold any position of trust in our government."

Why he had to go (short version, via Talking Points Memo, go there for links to supporting articles):

To remind you of some of the lowlights of Spakovsky's career at the Justice Department: his attempt to disenfranchise thousands of voters in Arizona singlehandedly (and then his false testimony to Congress about that), his petty attempts to retaliate against Department employees who did not agree with his legal philosophy (and his contested testimony about that), and his advisory letters that led to restrictive voter roll policies in a number of states.

Hans von Spakovsky: Liar

McClatchy: Ex-Justice Department lawyer changes his testimony

WASHINGTON — A former senior Justice Department official has backed off sworn Senate testimony that he consulted with senior agency voting-rights lawyers before inaccurately advising Arizona officials they could deny thousands of voters their rights to provisional ballots.

Hans von Spakovsky, who hopes to win confirmation to a full six-year term on the Federal Election Commission, revised his statement in a recent letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee after former senior department voting-rights lawyers challenged his veracity.

[]

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the committee's chairwoman, has yet to schedule a vote on the nominations of von Spakovsky and three others to the bipartisan FEC. The committee is under pressure to act on the nominations, because vacancies have left the main election-regulatory agency limping along as it heads into a presidential election year.

Von Spakovsky couldn't be reached for comment.

Keep the pressure on the committee to reject this vote-suppressing loser:

ePluribusMedia: Keep Yer Vote Thievin' Hans Off (the FEC): Action Alert!

Stop Voter Fraud

FEC Commissioner Hans von Spakovsky wrote a law review article while he was a staff lawyer at the Justice Department supporting a photo identification program for voters in Georgia.
Photo Credit: By Charlotte B. Teagle -- Atlanta Journal-constitution

Stop the Republicans from putting one of their number one vote-challenging whores on the Federal Election Commision. Hans von Spakovsky is the guy who masterminded the 2000 Florida "felon" purge that prevented tens of thousands of legitimate, mostly African-American Florida voters from casting their ballots for Al Gore. He has been nominated to a four-year term on the Federal Elections Commision by the Chimperor, and there is a hearing on the nomination on June 13, 2007 by the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration. Please call your senator if they are on the list below; if he makes it through committee, all senators must be contacted.

dailykos: Keep Yer Vote Thievin' Hans Off (the FEC): Action Alert!

Hans Von Spakovsky will appear before the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration on June 13, 2007, at 10:00 a.m. for his confirmation hearing. []

Democrats
Dianne Feinstein (CA) - (202) 224-3841
Robert Byrd (WV) - (202) 224-3954
Daniel Inouye (HI) - (202) 224-3934
Christopher Dodd (CT) - (202) 224-2823
Charles Schumer (NY) - (202) 224-6542
Richard Durbin (IL) - (202) 224-2152
Ben Nelson (NE) - (202) 224-6551
Harry Reid (NV) - (202) 224-3542
Patty Murray (WA) - (202) 224-2621
Mark Pryor (AR) - (202) 224-2353

Republicans
Robert Bennett (UT) - (202) 224-5444
Mitch McConnell (KY) - (202) 224-2541
Thad Cochran (MS) - (202) 224-5054
Trent Lott (MS) - (202) 224-6253
Kay Bailey Hutchison (TX) - (202) 224-5922
Saxby Chambliss (GA) - (202) 224-3521
Chuck Hagel (NE) - (202) 224-4224
Lamar Alexander (TN) - (202) 224-4944

McClatchy: Efforts to stop `voter fraud' may have curbed legitimate voting

WASHINGTON - During four years as a Justice Department civil rights lawyer, Hans von Spakovsky went so far in a crusade against voter fraud as to warn of its dangers under a pseudonym in a law journal article.

Writing as "Publius," von Spakovsky contended that every voter should be required to produce a photo-identification card and that there was "no evidence" that such restrictions burden minority voters disproportionately.

Now, amid a scandal over politicization of the Justice Department, Congress is beginning to examine allegations that von Spakovsky was a key player in a Republican campaign to hang onto power in Washington by suppressing the votes of minority voters.

"Mr. von Spakovsky was central to the administration's pursuit of strategies that had the effect of suppressing the minority vote," charged Joseph Rich, a former Justice Department voting rights chief who worked under him.

He and other former career department lawyers say that von Spakovsky steered the agency toward voting rights policies not seen before, pushing to curb minor instances of election fraud by imposing sweeping restrictions that would make it harder, not easier, for Democratic-leaning poor and minority voters to cast ballots.

WaPo: Official's Article on Voting Law Spurs Outcry

What Is Voter Caging?

Cage him for stealing elections.

What the heck was Maniacal Goodling talking about when she testified about voter caging? It was a very confusing moment in her testimony. The Congresscritters seemed flummoxed. She said it was a direct mail term. That made no sense to me. Tonight I stumbled upon the answer.

Here's how reporter Greg Palast describes voter caging:

The Bush-Cheney operatives sent hundreds of thousands of letters marked "Do not forward" to voters' homes. Letters returned ("caged") were used as evidence to block these voters' right to cast a ballot on grounds they were registered at phony addresses. Who were the evil fakers? Homeless men, students on vacation and --- you got to love this --- American soldiers. Oh yeah: most of them are Black voters.

Why weren't these African-American voters home when the Republican letters arrived? The homeless men were on park benches, the students were on vacation --- and the soldiers were overseas. Go to Baghdad, lose your vote. Mission Accomplished.

Palast has 500 emails -- many of them Karl Rove's emails that the White House now claims are lost -- because they were sent accidentally to whitehouse.org, a domain that is owned by a friend of Palast. (They meant to send them to whitehouse.com -- Doh!)

So our soldiers registered to vote, then went to Iraq. The Republican party sends mail to their official address, but it is returned as undeliverable, because the soldier is in Iraq. So when that soldier's absentee ballot comes in, and the elections personnel go to count that ballot, they find that the ballot has been challenged as being from a phony address. Because the soldier was overseas in George W. Bush's war for democracy. And the guy who led this effort was Tim Griffin, Karl Rove's protege, who is now the USAttorney for the District of Arkansas. The chicken now guards the henhouse.

Some of the emails (SUBJECT: caging) are in the middle of this post on Palast's research.

I highly recommend watching all three Youtube clips, below, in which Palast lays out the caging scheme and how it related to the US Attorney scandal. These are felonies and impeachable offenses.


Part 1 (8:18)


Part 2 (4:58)


Part 3 (9:07)