[Marxism] Civil rights groups protest attacks on voting rights

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The Republicans say that the attack on voting rights has nothing to do
with race, but is aimed at precincts that went heavily for Gore or Bush
in 2000.  The latter is being done for cover.  But the former is code
for "minority" and above all Black precincts.
Fred Feldman




GOP Challenging Voter Registrations

Civil Rights Groups Accuse Republicans Of Trying to Disenfranchise
Minorities



By Jo Becker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, October 29, 2004; Page A05


Republicans yesterday continued to challenge the validity of tens of
thousands of voter registrations in Ohio and other key states in the
presidential election while a coalition of civil rights and labor groups
sued the GOP, contending the Republican efforts were aimed at removing
eligible minority voters from the rolls.

After initially saying he would not contest a Wednesday ruling halting
the challenges, Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell (R) worked with
other election officials who asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th
Circuit in Cincinnati to allow GOP challenges to 35,000 voters from
mostly urban and minority areas to proceed before the election. As of
late last night, the court had not ruled.

Also yesterday, Republicans in Wisconsin attempted to challenge the
registrations of 5,600 voters in Milwaukee but were turned down in a
unanimous decision by the city's bipartisan election board.

The Republican challenges in Ohio, Wisconsin and other battleground
states prompted civil rights and labor unions to sue in U.S. District
Court in Newark, saying the GOP is violating a consent decree, issued in
the 1980s by Judge Dickinson R. Debevoise and still in effect, that
prevents the Republicans from starting "ballot security" programs to
prevent voter fraud that target minorities.

Judith A. Browne, acting co-director of the Advancement Project, which
filed the lawsuit along with the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights,
said the Republican "challenges were, and currently are, used to
disenfranchise minority voters."

But Republicans denied that they were targeting black voters. Bobby
Burchfield, an attorney for the Republican National Committee, told
Debevoise that "troubling reports" of fictitious names such as Mary
Poppins appearing on Ohio's rolls prompted the challenges.

Debevoise, who scheduled a hearing for Monday, expressed concern that
widespread challenges on the fear of fraud could unnecessarily disrupt
polling places.

The legal maneuvering is a testament to the legalization of presidential
politics that resulted from the bitterly disputed presidential contest
in 2000 between George W. Bush and Al Gore, which deadlocked in Florida.
Both parties have embarked on litigation over voting rules in many
states and have thousands of lawyers poised for Election Day.

The move in Milwaukee, a heavily minority and Democratic stronghold, is
part of a national effort by Republicans in many battleground states to
challenge voter registrations.

A similar effort by a former Nevada GOP operative to question 17,000
Democratic voters in Las Vegas was rejected earlier this month by
election officials there. Republicans have also filed plans in Florida
and Colorado to place watchers who can challenge voters in those key
states on Election Day.

Challenge rules vary by state. In general, challengers must supply
evidence that the voter may not be eligible. Grounds can include that a
voter is not a U.S. citizen, is not a resident of the state or county
where he or she is registered, or is younger than 18. The complaints are
settled by election board members or precinct judges.

Republicans argue that their program -- the most robust in recent
history -- is necessary because unprecedented voter registration drives
by Democratic-leaning interest groups have produced thousands of phony
registrations. But Democrats say that the GOP's Milwaukee challenges are
a perfect example of the party trying to imply fraud where none exists.
Lawyers for John F. Kerry's campaign successfully argued before the
election board there that the analysis the GOP used to challenge voters
was riddled with mistakes.

Courts in the past found that Republicans used tactics that were aimed
at intimidating minority voters and suppressing their votes. The consent
decrees in New Jersey stemmed from several incidents in the 1980s.

In 1981, the Republican National Committee sent letters to predominantly
black neighborhoods in New Jersey, and when 45,000 letters were returned
as undeliverable, the committee compiled a challenge list to remove
those voters from the rolls. The RNC sent off-duty law enforcement
officials to the polls and hung posters in heavily black neighborhoods
warning that violating election laws is a crime.

In 1986, the RNC tried to have 31,000 voters, most of them black,
removed from the rolls in Louisiana when a party mailer was returned.
The consent decrees that resulted prohibited the party from engaging in
anti-fraud initiatives that target minorities or conduct mail campaigns
to "compile voter challenge lists."

Undeliverable mail is the basis for this year's challenges in Ohio.
Republicans also sent mail to about 130,000 voters in Philadelphia,
another heavily black and Democratic stronghold.

The civil rights groups and labor unions, which are backed by the
Democratic Party, also charged that GOP plans to put challengers in
thousands of precincts nationwide on Election Day are race-based. In
several Florida counties, for instance, GOP challengers will
disproportionately be based in black precincts.

Republicans said their plans involve putting challengers in precincts
won handily by either Bush or Gore and has nothing to do with race.

Special correspondent Michelle Garcia in Newark contributed to this
report.

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