[Marxism] Michigan using mortgage foreclosure lists to disqualify voters

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

September 16, 2008
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/52638.html

Obama campaign sues Michigan GOP over alleged voter scheme By Greg Gordon |
McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON - Barack Obama's presidential campaign and the Democratic
National Committee filed a lawsuit Tuesday accusing Michigan Republicans of
a scheme to use mortgage foreclosure lists to challenge the voting
eligibility of lower-income people who're likely to back Democrats in
November.

Michigan Republicans denied the allegation. Chairman James Carabelli of the
Macomb County Republican Party blamed the suit on a "reckless" report on the
Michigan Messenger, a liberal-leaning Web site. Carabelli said that the
report misquoted him and that he'd take legal action Wednesday to clear his
name.

The federal suit, which Democratic lawyers acknowledged was based solely on
unconfirmed news and Internet reports, also alleges that Ohio Republicans
and the Republican National Committee have contemplated a similar "lose your
home, lose your vote" tactic in that battleground state. William Todd, the
chairman of the Ohio chapter of the Republican National Lawyers Association,
denied that allegation, calling the idea of using foreclosure lists "silly."

Michigan law permits political parties to appoint election-day poll watchers
who can challenge voters' credentials, and Democratic lawyers contended that
Republicans have served notice that they "are acquiring foreclosure lists
and intend to use them."

Plaintiffs in the suit include three Macomb County residents who're in
foreclosure or who've faced it.

Democratic lawyers argued that foreclosure proceedings can take more than a
year and don't always force a homeowner to change residences. Nor is there a
basis, they wrote, "for challenging the right to vote of all the renters who
reside in an apartment building that has been foreclosed."

They said the tactic is intended "to discourage, intimidate and suppress the
vote of individuals whom defendant Republicans believe are unlikely to vote
for them."

Bill Nowling, the chief spokesman for the Michigan Republican Party, said of
the alleged foreclosure scheme: "We're not going to do that, and we never
talked about doing it."

Carabelli demanded a retraction from the Michigan Messenger, saying his name
had been "besmirched" by the Web site, affiliated with the nonprofit Center
for Independent Media, which said it's standing by the story.

The suit comes amid an escalating ground war between Republicans and
Democrats over voter-eligibility rules, absentee-ballot procedures and
election-day procedures. Republicans are repeating a years-long outcry over
alleged Democratic voter fraud, while Democrats accuse the GOP of an array
of vote-suppression tactics.

The plan alleged in Tuesday's lawsuit is similar to alleged Republican
attempts dating back decades to use returned mail sent to African-American
neighborhoods as a basis for challenging the residency of likely Democratic
voters. A DNC suit led to a 1982 federal court order barring the strategy -
known as "vote caging" - if it focused on the race of potential voters. The
court order has been revisited multiple times since.

The latest allegations offer a new twist, springing from the subprime
mortgage debacle that's led to waves of mortgage defaults. Data from the
Mortgage Bankers Association shows that, as of the second quarter of this
year, 62,821 properties in Michigan and 71,030 properties in Ohio were in
foreclosure. Nationwide, the number of homes lost could reach 2 million.


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