Voter caging

This article is about voter suppression. For Caging in the direct mail industry, see Caging (direct mail).

Voter caging refers to challenging the registration status of voters and calling into question the legality of allowing them to vote. Sometimes it involves sending direct mail to the addressees of registered voters, and compiling a list of addressees from which the mail is returned undelivered. This list is then used to purge or challenge voters’ registrations on the grounds that the voters do not legally reside at the registered addresses. In the United States, this practice is legal in many states. However, it has been challenged in the courts and due to its perceived racial biais, has been declared illegal under the Voting Rights Act. The term voter caging has also been applied to recent cases where increased requirements for proof of identity, residency and elegibility have been added with the intent to limit the number of eligible voters.

For example in the 2008 US Election, Terri Lynn Land, the Secretary of State of Michigan, was found to be purging thousands of voters from voting rolls based on Voter ID cards being returned as undeliverable. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) took Michigan to court over the purges. Judge Stephen J. Murphy ruled the purge illegal under the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) of 1993 and directed Land to reinstate the affected voters. (See full ruling here ).

Method

Typically what will happen is a party will send out non-forwardable, first class mail to voters or particular voters they want to target (often assumed to be a demographic that belongs to the opposing party). They compile a list of voters for whom mail has been returned as undeliverable. This list is called a caging list. In some cases such mail can be returned at a rate of 1 in every 15 letters sent out; this was shown in Ohio in 2008 when the Board of Elections had 600,000 letters of voter confirmation returned as undeliverable. The party uses caging lists created by themselves or by the Board of Elections to challenge the registration status of voters and potentially purge them from the voting rolls under state laws which allow voters whose registrations are suspect to be challenged. When the voter turns out to vote, he or she may be challenged and required to cast a provisional ballot. If investigation of the provisional ballot demonstrates that the voter has just moved or there is an error in their address and they are legally registered then their vote should be counted. If the investigation proves that they are not legally registered then their vote will not be counted.

Vote caging in the United States

See also: Voter suppression § United States

Legality

The clause in the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA) which has been interpreted to prohibit voter caging is:

"Pursuant to the NVRA, a voter may not be removed from the voters list unless (1) the voter has requested removal; (2) state law requires removal by reason of criminal conviction or mental capacity; (3) the voter has confirmed in writing that he has moved outside the jurisdiction maintaining the specific voter list, or (4) the voter both (a) has failed to respond to a cancellation notice issued pursuant to the NVRA and (b) has not voted or appeared to vote in the two federal general elections following the date of notice."

Under this clause, voter caging may be legal if the primary purpose is to identify those who are not properly registered to vote and prevent them from voting illegally, but not if the purpose is to disenfranchise legitimately registered voters on the basis of a technicality.

Examples of vote caging in the United States

1980s

In 1981 and 1986 the Republican National Committee (RNC) sent out letters to predominantly African-American neighborhoods. When tens of thousands of them were returned undeliverable, the party successfully challenged the voters and had them deleted from voting rolls. Due to the violation of the Voting Rights Act, the RNC was taken to court. Its officials entered a consent decree which prohibited the party from engaging in anti-fraud initiatives that targeted minorities or conducting mail campaigns to "compile voter challenge lists."

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

In Louisiana in 1986, the Republican National Committee tried to have 31,000 voters, most of them black, removed from the rolls in when a party mailer was returned. Again the action was challenged and dismissed. The court 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."

2004 US Election

BBC journalist Greg Palast obtained an RNC document entitled "State Implementation Template III.doc" that described Republican election operations for caging plans in numerous states. The paragraph in the document pertaining to caging was:

V. Pre Election Day Operations New Registration Mailing
At whatever point registration in the state closes, a first class mailing should be sent to all new registrants as well as purged/inactive voters. This mailing should welcome the recipient to the voter rolls. It is important that a return address is clearly identifiable. Any mail returned as undeliverable for any reason, should be used to generate a list of problematic registrations. Poll watchers should have this list and be prepared to challenge anyone from this list attempting to vote.

Shortly before the 2004 election, Palast also obtained a caging list for Jacksonville, Florida, which contained a high number of African Americans and registered Democrats. The list was attached to an email which a Florida Republican Party official was sending to RNC headquarters official Tim Griffin.

The Republican National Committee also sent letters to predominantly minority areas in Cleveland, Ohio. When 35,000 letters were returned as undeliverable, the party employed poll watchers to challenge the voters right to vote. civil liberties groups challenged the RNC in a case that went to the Supreme Court, but the RNC was not stopped from challenging those voters.

Similarly, the RNC sent out 130,000 letters to minority areas in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania hoping to cage voters there. Philadelphia is a city with a majority African American population that votes heavily Democratic. The Republicans were attempting to cage votes by people who were likely to vote for the Democratic candidates.

Journalists found evidence that the (RNC) attempted to use voter caging to also suppress or intimidate votes in New Mexico, Ohio, Florida, Nevada and Pennsylvania and other states. For example, in New Jersey RNC officials used caging lists to challenge absentee ballots and absentee ballot requests.

2008 US Election

• As noted earlier, the Republican Secretary of State in Michigan was found purging voters from voting rolls when voter ID cards were returned as undeliverable. In the court challenge, the federal judge ordered the state to reinstate the voters. The judge ruled that the state's actions were in violation of the NVRA. His decision noted that there was no way to prevent qualified voters from being disfranchised as their cards may be returned as undeliverable due to postal error, clerical error, inadvertent routing within a multi-unit dwelling, and even simple misspelling or transposition of numbers in an address.

• In December 2007, Kansas GOP Chair Kris Kobach sent an email boasting, "[T]o date, the Kansas GOP has identified and caged more voters in the last 11 months than the previous two years!"

• Republicans sent out fundraising mailers to voters in five Florida counties: Duval, Hillsborough, Collier, Miami-Dade and Escambia, with 'do not forward' on the letters. The mailers included inaccurate Voter ID numbers and ostensibly confirmed with voters they were registered as Republican. The RNC declined to discuss the mailer with the St. Petersburg Times. A representative denied the mailing had anything to do with caging. "Two top Florida elections officials, both Republicans, faulted the GOP mailing, calling it "confusing" and "unfortunate" because of a potential to undermine voter confidence by making them question the accuracy of their registrations." Some officials expressed concern that the RNC would try to use a caging list derived from the mailers.

• In Northern California reports of voter caging emerged when letters marked 'do not forward' were sent to Democrats with fake voter ID numbers. The description of the letters matches the letters that were sent out in Florida. See the caging letter that was sent out here. Many details on the letters were false; for example, the letters referred to a Voter Identification Division but RNC personnel said they had no such department. The RNC did not return calls from a news organization regarding the letters.

• On October 5, 2008 the Republican (but elected on the Democratic ticket) Lt. Governor of Montana, John Bohlinger, accused the Montana Republican Party of vote caging to purge 6,000 voters from three counties which trend Democratic. These purges included decorated war veterans and active duty soldiers.

• The New York Times found in its review of state records that unlawful actions in six states led to widespread voter purges, which could have impact on the 2008 elections. Some of the actions were apparently the result of mistakes by the states' handling voter registrations and files as they tried to comply with a 2002 federal law related to running elections. While neither party was singled out, because the Democratic Party registered more new voters this year, Democratic voters were more adversely affected by such actions of state officials.

External links

• NOW on PBS video report on Voter Caging, featuring an interview with Greg Palast
• BBC Newsnight report: New Florida vote scandal feared
• GeorgeWBush.org "Dead Letter Office" - Source of 2004 Bush Campaign caging lists
• Republican response to Florida vote story
• Newsnight response to Republican complaint
• African-American Soldiers Scrubbed by Secret GOP Hit List
• GOP Challenging Voter Registrations
• BBC Newsnight Report Oct 2004, The Florida caging list scam
• Greg Palast discusses his 500 "lost" Rove emails proving illegal caging by Republicans
• ePluribus Media analysis of the Voter Caging data Palast, Progressives and Investigative Journalism
• Jacksonville, FL 2004 caging list maps and analysis