Get-out-the-vote workers in Miami urged new US citizens to register after a Sept. 16 naturalization ceremony. The droves of new voters could be pivotal in a close election. (J. Pat carter/ap)
Battles rage over new voters
Legal disputes loom as the political parties spar over voter lists, new registrations.
By Amanda Paulson | October 7, 2008 edition
Reporter Amanda Paulson discusses how large numbers of new voters and the higher-than-normal turnout may raise voting issues on Election Day.
Chicago
Record numbers of new voters – including 4 million in 12 key states – have registered this year, and election officials are preparing for high turnouts on Nov. 4.
Questions remain, though, about whose votes will be counted. Less than a month before the presidential election, legal battles are brewing in multiple states over election laws, voter registration, and attempts to clean up state voter lists.
Democrats and voter-rights groups tend to cry foul over any effort that might disenfranchise legitimate voters, while Republicans challenge same-day registration and point to illegal behavior and potential fraud on the part of some voter-registration workers.
In a close election in which a battleground state can hinge on a few thousand votes, voter advocates are concerned that underhanded or even well-intentioned verification efforts may keep eligible voters from having their ballots counted, even as officials work hard to purge lists to make sure they contain legitimate voters.
“We’re now entering that phase of the election where all of the lawyering is going on,” says Michael McDonald, a political scientist at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., noting that the number of lawsuits around election law has jumped since Florida’s recount in 2000. “We’ve discovered that these things matter quite a bit, especially when we have close elections,” he says.
One high-profile concern this year involves a report that some states will use foreclosure lists to challenge voters’ registration status on Election Day – a tactic that could cause problems in states like Michigan and Ohio with large numbers of foreclosures. Republican officials in Michigan deny the report, but rumors have persisted, and the Obama campaign filed a lawsuit in September.
Other disputes have arisen, as well:
•In Florida, a new “no match, no vote” law invalidates voters’ registration if certain identification criteria – such as Social Security numbers or driver’s license numbers – don’t match with other state databases. Advocates say it ensures the identity of voters; critics say thousands of eligible voters may be disenfranchised due to typos and errors in data entry.
•In Ohio, the GOP challenged a new law that allows early voting within the voter-registration window, arguing that allowing someone to register and vote on the same day is counter to state law.
•In Montgomery County, Va., an official was questioned about statements that seemed to dissuade students from registering in Virginia, implying they might lose tax benefits or scholarship eligibility.
To some extent, such challenges and disputes are now a standard part of elections. But concerns have escalated this year because of high numbers of first-time registrants, expectations for high turnout, and tight races in numerous states.
Moreover, the Help America Vote Act, passed in part to address concerns after the 2000 Florida debacle, requires states to have statewide voter databases, which some are only now getting in place.
“At the same time the system is under stress, it’s also changing quite a bit,” says Doug Chapin of electionline.org, a project of the Pew Center on the States. On Election Day, Mr. Chapin says, he’ll be watching Florida, Ohio, and Colorado, swing states where disputes are already brewing. In Florida, many counties have new voting equipment along with the “no match, no vote” law, and in Ohio, concerns abound about absentee balloting, long lines, and techniques being used to get voters off the rolls. Colorado, among the last to get its database working, had problems in 2006 with its database and with new voting centers open to voters from any precinct.
As voter advocacy groups worry about disenfranchisement, many Republicans cite voter-fraud concerns, pointing to several convictions this year of registration workers submitting phony forms. The reality, says Chapin, is that little data support the notion that voter fraud occurs, just as little data support the notion that widespread disenfranchisement exists. “Each side has its tenets of faith and [they] end up talking past each other,” he says.
One challenge for states is how to keep voter-registration rolls up-to-date without inadvertently purging legitimate voters from the lists.
“You have to have proper checks and balances,” says Pedro Cortes, secretary of state in Pennsylvania and president of the National Association of Secretaries of State. “You want to make sure voter registration records aren’t clogged with voters who are no longer there, but at the same time we need to recognize the preeminent right to vote.”
Secretary Cortes says he tends to err on the side of leaving an inactive voter who is potentially no longer on the rolls, rather than purge a legitimate voter, but vote watchers say many states purge the rolls using little care.
A new study from the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University’s School of Law found multiple problems with how purges are done. It cited reliance on error-ridden lists, secret purges, lack of voter notification, and use of bad “matching criteria” to mistakenly eliminate voters who have similar identifying data but are in fact two different people.
“There’s no uniformity, no standards, for how these purges can be done,” says Wendy Weiser of the Brennan Center.
Comments
2. Avi Stein | 10.07.08
I hope Obama wins. The Republicans are trying to cut out the voters who can’t make all the laws, because they’ve never voted before. The never had such a chance at hope. Now, with a tanked economy, the presidential race is something to follow. One, to get your mind off the bills, and Two, to see who will fix it. This is a direct influence on you.
Avi Stein
3. Angelene | 10.08.08
This is something that needs to be address as soon as Obama walks into the WH. Too many times do we have to go through this mess. This year, I believe we have all arrived and awaken. We will do our jobs and watch things on election day. We need to be prepared with the number of the media and call attention as soon as something goes wrong in the polling place.
Let it be know that we are not going to sit down for this one. Obama will be our next president, I believe that in my heart.
4. Gerri | 10.08.08
Any attempt to disenfranchise a person’s right to vote is unpatriotic.
How can any party engage in a practice or create laws that will deny a person to vote. This is a major reason to vote against that party.
I would like to see the U.S.Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, do more to protect voter’ rights. If the federal government needs to do anything, they should be steping in to resolve and protect voters right. This should NOT be a state by state decision. If immigration laws are protected by the federal government, they should also protect every citizen’ right to vote.
5. Brightfame | 10.08.08
Here’s an example of how Obama’s fellow “community organizers” at ACORN are making sure that every vote for The One gets counted…many times:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/10/07/acorn_nevada_offices_raided.html
The Washington Post is reliably in the tank for Obama, so don’t expect to find too many discouraging words about ACORN at its website. However, a simple Google search would reveal that ACORN has been trying to submit duplicate and fraudulent voter registrations in over a dozen states during 2008. Never mind the phony claims of “disenfranchisement” that Obama advocates keep raising; the real voting issue of the 2008 election will be the massive voter fraud perpetrated by the Obama camp and encouraged by the Democratic Party. Let’s hope it will finally lead to an end to taxpayer support for ACORN and its ilk.
6. Ron Scheurer | 10.08.08
When will Republicans admit that no one in that party ever seems to tell the unvarnished truth. My hope is that McCain loses every state in the union, and that Republicans get dumped from Congress and the Senate completely. We’ve had a Bush dictatorship long enough. Let’s try the other side for a while.
7. Ron Williamson | 10.08.08
It is ironic that the party responsible for perpetrating voter fraud en masse in both 2000 and 2004 should be so concerned about a few stray fraudulent votes.
8. wildbill | 10.08.08
Liberals / Socialists will be in for the ride of their life if BO wins.
The Unions that have pension funds will be busted.
Unions are for losers/
9. Seattle | 10.08.08
There are lots of challenges with voter registration and purged lists. I come to CSmonitor, hoping to find a mixed audience and unbiased reports.
Thank goodness Mukasey says under no circumstances should voter fraud be pursued for political reasons. ACORN claims individual volunteers sometimes make mistakes, but that it’s not instutional. I am encouraged that the raid in Las Vegas has been conducted with the highest of ethical standards.
10. Seattle | 10.08.08
There are lots of challenges with voter registration and purged lists. I come to CSmonitor, hoping to find a mixed audience and unbiased reports.
Thank goodness Mukasey says under no circumstances should voter fraud be pursued for political reasons. ACORN claims individual volunteers sometimes make mistakes, but that it’s not instutional. I am encouraged that the raid in Las Vegas has been conducted with the highest of ethical standards.
11. Ken | 10.08.08
Unbelievable, I would like to think people vote their conscience. If we look at McCain and Obama’s voting record and how they acted in the past (from church to who they associated with to their states current condition). It should be easy to decide who to vote for. If you’re liberal, pro-choice, anti-gun, pro-government regulations Obama is your man, if you consider yourself conservative, pro-life, believe we’re doing the right thing in Iraq and Afghanistan, McCain is your man. I can pick many things Obama lied or mislead voters on just as I’m sure some backing Obama would try to make the same case about McCain the only difference is I’ve been to some of the places Obama is wrong about. I deployed in the first Gulf War in 1990, Iraq in 2003 and Afghanistan in 2006 and 2008. Weapons of mass destruction? How many people did Saddam have to murder before we consider him a WMD? Are we doing the right thing over there? If we weren’t I would have stayed retired in 1997 and I’d do everything I could to get our son’s (my Son is currently flying medi-vac missions in Iraq) and daughters home now. If you lay down with dogs you’ll get fleas. McCain is a hero and has proved himself as someone who puts our country first. Obama’s home state has some of the highest taxes in the country and their pension fund is deeper in debt then just about any other state and don’t get me started on his wife, the paper she wrote in college reminded me of the news clippings of college students giving returning vets from Vietnam a hard time. I don’t believe my country love it or leave it, but I’d like to think respecting it is not asking too munch.
12. shel | 10.08.08
Obama is Hitler made over. High-sounding, airy rhetoric, promising everybody everything, massing the least sophisticated people, putting local officials on this “truth squads.” If he wins, the United States is over, and if we are over, the world descends into a long, possibly eternal, Dark Age of totalitarianism. He wants to yank children out of the hands of their parents, put them into government schools at the age of three, run religion underground, or corrupt it into something Farrakhan and Wright would approve, overturn logic, reward his spies and thieves and “re-educate” his opponents. He lies, lies again, lies again. It’s horrendous. But, hey, at least he’s not a Republican!
These are dangerous, dangerous times and I fear for us.
Having been accosted by Obama’s brownshirts in the parking lot of the local grocery store, I can speak as one who has seen what the “truth squads” use our laws against us to suppress: totalitarianism looms large.
Has no one noticed the link between ACORN, the CRA, and the bank crisis? Come on, folks! Stop being partisans and use your heads for survival. No? I thought not.
God save us.
13. Susan | 10.10.08
This is such an important election.All that the “greatest generation” fought for is seriously at stake.Obama will lead us right down the socialist path and into the hands of international (UN) control. Taxes will choke business who in turn will have to lay off workers. He will literally throw out the baby with the bath water all to “CHANGE” things. He is aloof,and sneaky. Remember the Castro regime was all about “CHANGE”–look what change they got.This is the only country that has really prospered in the world and we did it on personal initiative and hard work while trying to keep “the wolf”(gov) at bay. Obama will issue in big gov. and taxes you only have nightmares about. Of course if you are a movie star making $20,000,000 a picture,what do you care if taxes go up? It is all the folks who make $1,000,000 and less that will struggle and suffer under the weight of taxes and gov. intervention. Besides I will NEVER vote for ANYONE named Hussein. Wake up America!
14. Diana | 10.12.08
The world has changed. America is lagging behind. We need rapid, meaningful changes. We do not need more ‘trickle down economics,’ more wars (McCain promised them in NH earlier this year) and disastrous isolation. Now he and his campaign have resorted to scare tactics and questionable last minute ‘legal battles’ do disenfranchise the voters. How pitiful and, most importantly, how dangerous.
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1. Rebecca O’Malley | 10.07.08
Any effort to keep properly registered citizens from voting is simply unAmerican.
Please sign Progressive Future’s petition telling McCain and Republican officials to renounce all instances of voter suppression. You can find it here:
https://www.progressivefuture.org/mccain-voter-suppression