I thought you'd find this story of interest. S > > Bush Government to Poor Voters: We Don't Want You to > Vote > > By Steven Rosenfeld, > > AlterNet - Posted on July 17, 2007 > http://www.alternet.org/story/56957/ > > The Justice Department is pressuring 10 states > to purge their voter rolls, while states are > ignoring laws to help low-income Americans > register to vote > > State welfare offices across the country are not > offering millions of low-income Americans the > opportunity to register to vote when applying for public > assistance despite a federal law requiring them to do > so, according to an analysis of a recent federal voting > registration report and experts who say the Department > of Justice and states are to blame. > > "It's huge. It's another area where the administration > is failing us," said Donna Brazile, chair of the > Democratic National Committee's Voting Rights Institute, > speaking of the Department of Justice's oversight of the > nation's voter registration laws. "They are not pushing > states to recognize their voter registration > responsibilities." > > At the same time, the Justice Department's Voting > Section, which enforces voting rights and supervises > elections in some states, is pressuring 10 states to do > more to purge voter rolls -- or remove ineligible voters > -- before the 2008 presidential election, according to > letters sent to state election officials this spring. > > "We conducted an analysis of each state's total voter > registration numbers as a percentage of citizen voting > age population," wrote John Tanner, the Department of > Justice Voting Section chief, in an April 18, 2007, > letter to North Carolina's top election official. "We > write now to assess the changes in your voter > registration list ... and the subsequent removal of > persons no longer eligible to vote." > > Cynthia Magnuson, a Justice Department spokeswoman, > confirmed in an e-mail that similar letters had been > sent to 10 states, but did not list the recipients. "The > Department actively works with all states to comply with > all provisions of the statutes we enforce," she said. > > Voter lists are updated because people move, die or lose > their right to vote if convicted of felonies. But > because this process occurs out of public view and > without much regulation, it can be open to partisan > abuse or produce incorrect results, such as in Florida > in 2000 when more than 50,000 voters were incorrectly > removed from voter registration lists. > > The contrast of a Justice Department that apparently has > not enforced voter registration opportunities for poor > people -- who tend to vote Democratic -- and a > department that is pressuring states to more thoroughly > trim voter rolls has prompted some voting rights > advocates to accuse the agency of selective enforcement > and partisan bias. > > "I think it's pretty clear the Justice Department is > pursing a partisan agenda to get states to purge voters > while ignoring requirements to get states to register > voters," said Michael Slater, deputy director of Project > Vote, a national nonprofit specializing in voter > registration drives targeting low- and moderate-income > families. > > Voting Section chief John Tanner did return a telephone > call to discuss his office's priorities and > accomplishments. On Monday, July 16, the House Judiciary > Committee announced it was postponing a hearing > scheduled for Tuesday, July 17 "because the Department > refused to make Voting Section chief John Tanner > available to testify," its press release said. > > However, Hans A. Von Spakovsky, a former assistant > attorney general who served four years as a top Civil > Rights Division lawyer overseeing the Voting Rights > Section discussed accusations of changing "the > enforcement direction of the department" in a June 29, > 2007, letter to the Senate Rules Committee. He became a > federal elections commissioner in December 2005, and his > appointment is under review. > > Von Spakovsky's 18-page letter is a detailed defense of > some of the department's most controversial recent > rulings, such as approving a Texas congressional > redistricting plan and a Georgia voter I.D. law that > later was blocked in court as a violation of the > Constitutional amendment barring poll taxes. Nowhere in > the often-technical letter is any mention in section 7 > of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), which is > intended to help poor people vote by requiring state > welfare agencies to offer the chance to register. > > Instead, Von Spakovsky defended an aggressive stance > with enforcing the NVRA's voter purge provisions, which > fall under section 8 of the law. "The division could not > willfully ignore the list maintenance requirements of > the NVRA," he wrote. "It is the responsibility of DOJ to > enforce these laws." > > While the national media has followed the department's > firing of U.S. attorneys who, in some cases, did not > pursue voter fraud cases -- another priority of longtime > GOP lawyer-activists like Von Spakovsky -- the > department's oversight of the nation's voter rolls has > mostly gone unnoticed. The potential impact on the 2008 > election could be enormous, however, especially if > millions of disenfranchised people registered and voted. > > A just-released federal voter registration report > reveals the stakes. In late June, the Election > Assistance Commission issued a biennial voter > registration report to Congress for 2005 and 2006. The > report found that 16.6 million new registration > applications were received by state motor vehicles > agencies while only 527,752 applications came from state > public assistance offices -- a 50 percent drop from > 2003-2004. The report also found 13.0 million voters > were purged nationwide and 9.9 million were put on > "inactive" status, meaning these people have to provide > identification before receiving a 2008 ballot. > > The potential number of public assistance recipients who > could register runs into the millions. According to the > Health Resources and Services Administration's FY 2008 > budget, federally subsidized "health centers" will serve > an estimated 16.3 million patients, a population where > "91 percent are at or below 200 percent of the federal > poverty level, 64 percent are from racial/ethnic > minority groups and 40 percent are uninsured." This is > the same population who typically seek a variety of > federally subsidized public assistance, from food stamps > to fuel assistance to welfare. > > Another indication of how many poor people could > register is Tennessee, whose elections are federally > supervised. From 2005-2006, Tennessee registered 120,992 > people at public assistance offices -- nearly a quarter > of the national total, the EAC reported. Tennessee > registered more voters than the combined totals of > welfare office registrations from California, Colorado, > Florida, Illinois, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia > and Washington. > > Karen Lynn Dyson, EAC Research director, said there were > several reasons why many states have not made voter > registration more available through public assistance > agencies. First, the NVRA was passed in 1993, and many > state and county election officials have been paying > more attention to newer federal election mandates and > transitioning to new voting machines. Moreover, many > state welfare agencies don't see voter registration in > their job descriptions -- despite the federal law. The > same factors were also cited by Project Vote's Michael > Slater, who emphasized that low-income people tend to > move more often than better-off Americans. > > "Our organization exists to correct the problem that > voting is skewed toward upper-income folks," he said. > "We are trying to make voting more representative of the > population." > > Justice Department spokesperson Cynthia Magnuson cited > two department enforcement actions concerning increased > voter registration; suing New York in 2004 because its > state universities did not "offer voter registration > opportunities at those offices serving students with > disabilities," and the department's 2002 suit against > Tennessee, which led to federal oversight of its > elections. The New York suit is still pending. > > Scott Novakowski, a senior policy analyst at Demos, a > centrist public policy group based in New York that has > followed this issue for several years, said it was > ironic the Justice Department cited Tennessee because > that state's welfare office registrations reveal how > many potential voters could be involved if the > department enforced the law. > > "This is not a lot of numbers until you see Tennessee," > he said. "We have looked at how many people can feasibly > get on the rolls and it is enormous. Tennessee is under > a court order and is doing it right. If you look at the > number of people who go through public assistance > offices, in some states it is in the millions." > > The public interest groups that have tracked this issue > -- Demos, Project Vote, ACORN and the Lawyers Committee > for Civil Rights Under Law -- have issued reports citing > a steady downward trend in these voter registrations and > met with Justice Department officials in 2005 to present > their findings and concerns. > > "In January 2005, we had a 10-year report, which > documented the 59 percent decline from 1995 through > 2004," Novakowski said, adding follow-up letters cited > violations from Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, > Massachusetts, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, > Pennsylvania and Tennessee. "John Conyers (now the House > Judiciary Committee chairman) and 29 other > representatives asked Attorney General Alberto Gonzales > to look into this, and there was no response." > > This spring, after learning of Voting Section letters to > North Carolina and Kentucky pressuring those states to > more aggressively purge their voter lists, the same > coalition called on the House and Senate Judiciary > committees to investigate the "selective enforcement" of > voter registration laws. > > "We are concerned that the Justice Department's Voting > Section is ignoring the primary purpose of NVRA to > "establish procedures that will increase the number if > eligible citizens who register to vote in elections for > federal office."" it wrote in a May 8, 2007, letter. > "Instead, the Voting Section is concentrating its NVRA > enforcement priority on pressuring states to conduct > massive purges of their voter rolls." > > [Steven Rosenfeld is a senior fellow at Alternet.org and > co-author of What Happened in Ohio: A Documentary Record > of Theft and Fraud in the 2004 Election, with Bob > Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman (The New Press, 2006).] > > (c) 2007 Independent Media Institute. 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