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Voter suppression

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Voters at voting booths in the United States in 1945

Voter suppression is a strategy to influence the outcome of an election by discouraging or preventing people from exercising their right to vote. It is distinguished from political campaigning in that campaigning attempts to change likely voting behavior by changing the opinions of potential voters through persuasion and organization. Voter suppression instead attempts to reduce the number of voters who might vote against the candidate or proposition advocated by the suppressors.

The tactics of voter suppression can range from minor "dirty tricks" that make voting inconvenient, up to blatantly illegal activities that physically intimidate prospective voters to prevent them from casting ballots. Voter suppression could be particularly effective if a significant amount of voters are intimidated individually because the voter might not consider his or her single vote important.[citation needed]

Methods of voter suppression

Impediments to voter registration

Laws or administrative practices have made it more difficult for people to register to vote. In 2011, the state of Florida imposed a short deadline for the submission of voter registration forms, with stiff penalties for late filing.[1] The bill led to the end of voter registration work by one organization, the League of Women Voters, whose spokesperson said, "Despite the fact that the League of Women Voters is one of the nation’s most respected civic organizations, with a 91-year history of registering and educating voters, we will be unable to comply with the egregious provisions contained in [this bill]."[2]

Photo ID laws

See also: Voter ID laws (United States)

Photo ID laws require voters to present a government-approved photo ID before they may cast their ballots. Countries including Belgium, Spain, Greece, Italy, Malta,[3] and seven US states have such laws, including Indiana and Georgia.[4][dead link] Unlike in the United States, national identification is commonplace in these European nations and a longstanding infrastructure exists to ensure all voters are issued identification at no cost.[3]

Supporters of photo ID laws contend that the photographic IDs (such as driver's licenses or student IDs (in some states) from state schools) are nearly universal, and that presenting them is a minor inconvenience when weighed against the possibility of ineligible voters affecting elections. Opponents argue that photo ID requirements disproportionately affect minority, handicapped and elderly voters who don't normally maintain driver's licenses, and therefore that requiring such groups to obtain and keep track of photo IDs that are otherwise unneeded is a suppression tactic aimed at those groups.[5]

Indiana's photo ID law barred twelve retired nuns in South Bend, Indiana from voting in that state's 2008 Democratic primary election. The women lacked the photo IDs required under a state law that was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in April 2008. John Borkowski, a South Bend lawyer volunteering as an election watchdog for the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said, "This law was passed supposedly to prevent and deter voter fraud, even though there was no real record of serious voter fraud in Indiana."[6][7]

Proponents of a similar law proposed for Texas in March 2009 also argued that photo identification was necessary to prevent widespread voter fraud. Opponents respond that there is no evidence of such voter fraud in Texas, so no remedy is required, especially if such a remedy would decrease voting by senior citizens, the disabled, and lower-income residents. Opponents cited a study asserting that 1 million of the state's 13.5 million registered voters do not have a photo ID.[4][dead link]

State Sen. Troy Fraser (R-Horseshoe Bay) said, "Voter fraud not only is alive and well in the U.S., but also alive and well in Texas. The danger of voter fraud threatens the integrity of the entire electoral process." Democratic Caucus Chairwoman Leticia Van de Putte (D-San Antonio) said the proposed law "is not about voter fraud. There is no voter fraud. This is about voter suppression." Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott (R) spent $1.4 million investigating voter fraud and from 2002 - 2012 brought 311 accusations of voter fraud to the attorney general's office. 57 cases have been resolved, and among the many convictions were four cases of voter impersonation - arguably the type of fraud that photo ID laws would prevent.[8][9]

Legislation to impose restrictive photo ID requirements has been prepared by the conservative organization ALEC and circulated to conservative state legislators.[5] This legislation includes provisions to provide photo IDs free of charge for those who do not currently have them.

In 2011, more than 100 Democratic members of Congress urged the Department of Justice to oppose such legislation, arguing that it "has the potential to block millions of eligible American voters, and thus suppress the right to vote."[10]

In 2011, Texas enacted a photo-identification requirement modeled after Indiana's which was struck down in the courts.[11]

Purging voter rolls

In 2008, more than 98,000 registered Georgia voters were removed from the roll of eligible voters because of a computer mismatch in their personal identification information, leading registrars to conclude that they were no longer eligible Georgia voters at their registered addresses. At least 4,500 of those people must prove their citizenship to regain their right to vote, but opponents say that could be an impossible burden to meet. For example, the state of Georgia gave college senior Kyla Berry one week to prove her citizenship in a letter dated October 2, 2008. Unfortunately, the letter was postmarked October 9, 2008. However, Berry is a U.S. citizen, born in Boston, Massachusetts with a passport and a birth certificate to prove it. Commenting on Berry's case and those like it, Wendy Weiser, an elections expert with New York University's Brennan Center for Justice, said, "What most people don't know is that every year, elections officials strike millions of names from the voter rolls using processes that are secret, prone to error and vulnerable to manipulation."[12]

Jim Crow laws

Main article: Jim Crow laws

In the United States, voter suppression was used extensively in most Southern states until the Voting Rights Act (1965) made most disenfranchisement and voting qualifications illegal. Traditional voter suppression tactics included the institution of poll taxes and literacy tests, aimed at suppressing the votes of African Americans and working class white voters.[13][14]

Felon disenfranchisement

Further information: Loss of rights due to felony conviction and Felony disenfranchisement

In 2004, 5.3 million Americans were denied the right to vote because of previous felony convictions. Thirteen states permanently disenfranchise convicted felons; eighteen states restore voting rights after completion of prison, parole, and probation; four states re-enfranchise felons after they have been released from prison and have completed parole; thirteen allow felons who have been released from prison to vote, and two states do not disenfranchise felons at all.[15] Some states require felons to complete a process to restore voting rights, but offender advocates say such processes can be very difficult.

The United States is the only democracy in the world that regularly bans large numbers of felons from voting after they have discharged their sentences. Many countries including Denmark, France, Germany, Israel, Japan, Kenya, Norway, Peru, Sweden, and Zimbabwe allow prisoners to vote (unless convicted of crimes against the electoral system).[16] Some countries, notably the U.K., disenfranchise people for only as long as they are in prison.

In Florida during the 2000 presidential election, some non-felons were banned due to record-keeping errors and not warned of their disqualification until the deadline for contesting it had passed.

This form of vote suppression in the United States disproportionately affects minorities including African-Americans and Latinos.[16] Disenfranchisement of felons is opposed by some as a form of the medieval practice of civil death.[17]

Disinformation about voting procedures

Voters may be given false information about when and how to vote, leading them to fail to cast valid ballots. For example, in recall elections for the Wisconsin State Senate in 2011, Americans for Prosperity (a conservative organization that was supporting Republican candidates) sent many Democratic voters a mailing that gave an incorrect deadline for absentee ballots. Voters who relied on the deadline in the mailing would have sent in their ballots too late for them to be counted.[18] The organization said that the mistake was a typographical error.[19]

Partisan election administration

While the majority of the world's democracies use independent agents to manage elections, 33 of 50 state election directors in the United States are themselves elected partisans. Those party affiliations can create conflicts of interest, or at least the appearance thereof, while directing elections. Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris served as state co-chair of the Bush-Cheney campaign during the 2000 presidential election, and Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell served as his state's Bush-Cheney co-chair during the 2004 presidential election.[20]

Inequality in Election Day resources

Elections in the United States are funded at the local level, often unequally. In the 2004 elections, Wyoming spent $2.15 per voter while California spent $3.99 per voter. In contrast, Canada spends $9.51 per voter. Underfunded election areas can result in long lines at polling places, requiring some voters either to wait hours to cast a ballot or to forgo their right to vote in that election. Voters who cannot wait the required amount of time are therefore disenfranchised, while voters in well-funded areas with sufficient voting capacity may face minimal or no waiting time.

Delays at polling places are widely regarded as being a greater problem in urban areas.[20][21]

Caging lists

Main article: caging list

Caging lists have been used by political parties to eliminate potential voters registered with other political parties. A political party sends registered mail to addresses of registered voters. If the mail is returned as undeliverable, the mailing organization uses that fact to challenge the registration, arguing that because the voter could not be reached at the address, the registration is fraudulent.[22]

Examples in the United States

2002 New Hampshire Senate election phone jamming scandal

In the 2002 New Hampshire Senate election phone jamming scandal, Republican officials attempted to reduce the number of Democratic voters by paying professional telemarketers in Idaho to make repeated hang-up calls to the telephone numbers used by the Democratic Party's ride-to-the-polls phone lines on election day. By tying up the lines, voters seeking rides from the Democratic Party would have more difficulty reaching the party to ask for transportation to and from their polling places.[23][24]

2004 presidential election

In the U.S. presidential election of 2004, the American Center for Voting Rights, a Republican group that pushed for Voter ID laws (widely cited as a form of voter suppression), alleged that Republican voters got phone calls with false information intended to keep them from voting—saying that their voting place had been changed or that voting would take place on Wednesday as well as on Tuesday. Voters who believed this misinformation would go to the wrong polling place, or worse, not attempt to vote until after the election had ended.[25]

Other allegations surfaced in several states that the group called Voters Outreach of America had collected and submitted Republican voter registration forms while inappropriately discarding voter registration forms where the new voter had chosen to register with the Democratic Party. Such people would believe they had registered to vote, and would only discover on election day that they were not registered and could not cast a ballot.[26][27][28][29]

Michigan Republican state legislator John Pappageorge was quoted as saying, "If we do not suppress the Detroit vote, we're going to have a tough time in this election.".[30]

Note: All of the above allegations were investigated by attorneys from the Justice Department in G.W. Bush's administration. When they attorneys said there no evidence these things ever happened but there was plenty of evidence that republican groups were doing this, several of them were fired to stop the prosecution and suit filing of several republicans and republican groups.

In 2006, four employees of the John Kerry campaign were convicted of slashing the tires of 25 vans rented by the Wisconsin state Republican Party which were to be used for driving Republican monitors to the polls. At the campaign workers' sentencing, Judge Michael B. Brennan told the defendants, "Voter suppression has no place in our country. Your crime took away that right to vote for some citizens."[31][32]

2006 Virginia Senate election

During the United States Senate election in Virginia, 2006, Secretary of the Virginia State Board of Elections Jean Jensen concluded that incidents of voter suppression appeared widespread and deliberate. Documented incidents of voter suppression include:[33]

  • Democratic voters receiving calls incorrectly informing them voting will lead to arrest.
  • Widespread calls fraudulently claiming to be "[Democratic Senate candidate Jim] Webb Volunteers," falsely telling voters their voting location had changed.
  • Fliers paid for by the Republican Party, stating "SKIP THIS ELECTION" that allegedly attempted to suppress African-American turnout.

The FBI has since launched an investigation into the suppression attempts.[34] Despite the allegations, Democrat Jim Webb narrowly defeated incumbent George Allen.

2008 presidential election

A review of states' records by The New York Times found unlawful actions leading to widespread voter purges.[35]

A dispute between the Social Security Administration commissioner and the National Association of Secretaries of State about the use of the Social Security database to test the validity of voters led to the shutdown of the database over the Columbus Day holiday weekend.[36]

Georgia

Wait times of between 2 and 10 hours were reported during early voting at multiple Georgia locations[37]

Michigan

Prior to the 2008 United States Presidential Election, on September 16, 2008, Obama legal counsel announced that they would be seeking an injunction to stop an alleged caging scheme in Michigan wherein the state Republican party would use home foreclosure lists to challenge voters still using their foreclosed home as a primary address at the polls.[38] Michigan GOP officials called the suit "desperate."[39] A Federal Appeals court ordered the reinstatement of 5,500 voters wrongly purged from the voter rolls by the State:[37]

Minnesota

The conservative nonprofit Minnesota Majority has been reported as making phone calls claiming that the Minnesota Secretary of State had concerns about the validity of the voters registration. Their actions have been referred to the Ramsey County attorney's office and the U.S. Attorney are looking into Johnson's complaint. [40]

Montana

On October 5, 2008 the Republican 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.[22]

Ohio

Wait times of six hours were reported for early voting in Franklin County leading to people leaving the line without voting.[37]

Wisconsin

The Republican Party attempted to have all 60,000 voters in the heavily Democratic city of Milwaukee who had registered since 1/1/2006 deleted from the voter rolls. The requests were rejected by the Milwaukee Election Commission with Republican commissioner Bob Spindell voting in favor of deletion."[41]

2010 Maryland gubernatorial election

In the Maryland gubernatorial election in 2010, the campaign of Republican candidate Bob Ehrlich hired a consultant who advised that "the first and most desired outcome is voter suppression", in the form of having "African-American voters stay home."[42] To that end, the Republicans placed thousands of Election Day robocalls to Democratic voters, telling them that the Democratic candidate, Martin O'Malley, had won, although in fact the polls were still open for some two more hours.[43] The Republicans' call, worded to seem as if it came from Democrats, told the voters, "Relax. Everything's fine. The only thing left is to watch it on TV tonight."[42] The calls reached 112,000 voters in majority-African American areas.[43] In 2011, Ehrlich's campaign manager, Paul Schurick, was convicted of fraud and other charges because of the calls.[42][43] In 2012, he was sentenced to 30 days of home detention, a one-year suspended jail sentence, and 500 hours of community service over the four years of his probation, with no fine or jail time.[44]

Examples in Australia

In Australia, it is mandatory for citizens to enrol to vote and it is their responsibility to update their enrolment when they change their address. Even so, it is estimated that about 6% of eligible Australian voters are not enrolled, or enrolled incorrectly. These are disproportionately younger voters, many of whom might neglect to enrol when they attain voting age.

In 2006, the Howard Government legislated to close the electoral roll much earlier once an election was called. While previously, voters had been allowed seven days of grace after an election had been called to arrange or update their enrolment, new voters were now allowed only until 8:00pm on the day that the electoral writ was issued to lodge their enrolment form, while those who needed to update their addresses were allowed three days. In Australia, the Prime Minister effectively has the right to determine the date of the election, so long as constitutional rules regarding the maximum term of the parliament are adhered to. This measure was therefore likely to result in many newer voters being precluded from voting in the first election for which they were eligible because the time to arrange their enrolment once an election is called had been greatly reduced.

The measure was widely seen as an attempt at voter suppression aimed at younger voters,[45] who surveys had shown are more likely than the general population to vote for the then opposition, the Australian Labor Party, or the Greens.[46] The Government denied that they were trying to suppress some voters, insisting that the purpose of the reform was to smooth the administration of elections and to reduce the possibility of electoral fraud. This was in spite of the fact that the Australian Electoral Commission had requested no such reform, there was no evidence of significant electoral fraud and that the Australian Electoral Commission had been dealing with hundreds of thousands of late enrolments without significant problems for decades.

In July 2010, the left-leaning lobby group GetUp! launched a challenge to this law. The High Court of Australia expedited the hearing so that a ruling could be made in time for the 2010 Federal Election. The majority ruling struck down early closing of the roll, reinstating the old rule allowing voters seven days grace to arrange or update their enrolment.

See also

References

  1. ^ Deslatte, Aaron (May 5, 2011). "Legislature passes broad overhaul of elections law". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved 2011-07-16. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  2. ^ Deslatte, Aaron (May 9, 2011). "Elections bill prompts League of Women Voters to stop registration". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved 2011-07-16.
  3. ^ a b Schaffer, Frederic Charles; Wang, Tova Andrea (Summer 2009). "Is Everyone Else Doing It? Indiana's Voter Identification Law in International Perspective" (PDF). 3 (2). Harvard Law & Policy Review: 397–412. Retrieved 2012-10-06. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. ^ a b Stutz, Terrence (March 11, 2009). "Texas Senate sharply debates voter ID bill". The Dallas Morning News.
  5. ^ a b Reilly, Ryan J (July 14, 2011). "House Dems Slam 'Racist,' 'Rovian' Voter ID Laws; Says DOJ Isn't Doing Enough". Talking Points Memo. Retrieved 2011-07-16. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  6. ^ "Retired nuns barred from voting in Indiana". London: McClatchy Newspapers. May 7, 2008. Retrieved May 27, 2010.
  7. ^ Editorial (May 6, 2008). "Voting Rights? Nun for You!". New York Times.
  8. ^ "Greg Abbott claims 50 election fraud convictions since 2002". Retrieved 8 September 2012.
  9. ^ "List of trial outcomes for voter fraud in TX". Retrieved 8 September 2012.
  10. ^ Reilly, Ryan J. (July 27, 2011). "House Dems Join Senate In Urging DOJ To Fight Voter ID Laws". Talking Points Memo. Retrieved 2011-07-28.
  11. ^ Abbott, Greg (March 19, 2012). "Opposing view: In Texas, there is little evidence of voter fraud. And after months of battling the courts decided to strike down the law because of evidence of minority voter suppression". USA Today.
  12. ^ Boudreau, Abbie; Bronstein, Scott (October 26, 2008). "Some voters 'purged' from voter rolls". CNN.
  13. ^ Techniques of Direct Disenfranchisement, 1880-1965, University of Michigan
  14. ^ Davis, Ronald L. F. "Creating Jim Crow: In-Depth Essay" (PDF). The History of Jim Crow.
  15. ^ "Felony Disenfranchisement Laws in the United States" (PDF). Sentencing Project. July 2005.
  16. ^ a b Restoration of Voting Rights Q&A, ReformElections.org
  17. ^ Greenhouse, Linda (July 29, 2010). "Voting Behind Bars". The New York Times.
  18. ^ Catanese, David (August 1, 2011). "AFP Wisconsin ballots have late return date". Politico. Retrieved 2011-08-03.
  19. ^ Kleefeld, Eric (August 1, 2011). "Koch Group Mails Suspicious Absentee Ballot Letters In Wisconsin". Talking Points Memo. Retrieved 2011-08-03.
  20. ^ a b Overton, Spencer (2006). Stealing Democracy. W. W. Norton. p. 224. ISBN 0-393-06159-0.
  21. ^ Powell, Michael; Slevin, Peter (December 15, 2004). "Several Factors Contributed to 'Lost' Voters in Ohio". Washington Post. p. A01. In 2004, the Franklin County board of elections (Columbus, Ohio) determined they needed 5,000 voting machines, but decided to move machines from urban areas to suburban areas and conduct the election using only 2,866 machines. On Election Day 2004, Tanya Thivener waited four hours in line to vote in Columbus, Ohio. Tanya's mother waited just 15 minutes to vote in a Columbus suburb.
  22. ^ a b Bohlinger, John (October 5, 2008). "Republicans crossed line with voter purge attempt". The Montana Standard.
  23. ^ "Former RNC New England Regional Director Indicted in New Hampshire Phone Jamming Case" (Press release). US DOJ. 2004-12-01. Retrieved 2007-05-25.
  24. ^ "Former GOP Official Gets Prison Term for Phone Plot". Associated Press. 2006-05-17. Retrieved 2007-05-25.
  25. ^ "Ohio Election Activities and Observations" (PDF). American Ctr for Voting Rights. March 21, 2005. p. 22. Retrieved 2007-05-25.
  26. ^ Knapp, George (2004-10-13). "Investigation into Trashed Voter Registrations". KLAS-TV.
  27. ^ "Nevada investigates voter registration, Probe also under way in Oregon on fraud allegations". CNN. 2004-10-14. Retrieved May 27, 2010.
  28. ^ David Paul Kuhn (2004-10-14). "Voter Fraud Charges Out West". CBS News.
  29. ^ Dennis B. Roddy (2004-10-20). "Campaign 2004: Voter registration workers cry foul". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
  30. ^ Chip Reid (2004-10-13). "Voter suppression charges on the rise". MSNBC.
  31. ^ Ehlke, Gretchen (2005-01-24). "Congresswoman's son, four others charged with slashing Republican van tires on Election Day". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 2005-08-29. Retrieved 2007-05-25.
  32. ^ Ehlke, Gretchen (2006-04-26). "Men Get Jail Time In Milwaukee Tire-Slashing Case". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 2006-05-03. Retrieved 2007-05-25.
  33. ^ "Sec. of Virginia State Board of Elections Finds Widespread Incidents of Voter Suppression". American Chronicle. 2006-11-06. Retrieved 2008-09-07.
  34. ^ "FBI launches probe of Virginia pre-election calls". CNN. 2006-11-07. Retrieved 2008-09-07.
  35. ^ Urbina, Ian (October 9, 2008). "States' Actions to Block Voters Appear Illegal". New York Times. p. A01.
  36. ^ Haynes, Brad (October 10, 2008). "Voter Registrations Spark Testy Exchange". Wall Street Journal.
  37. ^ a b c "Voter Problems – CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs". CNN. Retrieved May 27, 2010.
  38. ^ Trygstad, Kyle (September 16, 2008). "Obama Camp, DNC File Lawsuit Against Michigan GOP". Time.
  39. ^ Halperin, Mark (September 16, 2008). "Michigan GOP: Obama Camp Suit "Desperate"". Time.
  40. ^ Duchschere, Kevin (October 29, 2008). "Callers question registered Minnesota voters' eligibility". Star Tribune.
  41. ^ Associated Press reported in Green Bay Press Gazette 10/10/2008
  42. ^ a b c Broadwater, Luke (December 6, 2011), "Schurick guilty of election fraud in robocall case", The Baltimore Sun, retrieved 2011-12-07
  43. ^ a b c Wagner, John (December 6, 2011), "Ex-Ehrlich campaign manager Schurick convicted in robocall case", The Washington Post, retrieved 2011-12-08
  44. ^ Brumfield, Sarah (February 16, 2012). "GOP Aide Sentenced for Md. Robocall Scheme". ABC News. Retrieved 2012-02-24.
  45. ^ Orr, Graeme "Court by surprise: the High Court upholds voting rights", 6 August 2010.
  46. ^ Brooker, Ron "Youth Federal Election Voting Intentions: A Statistical and Graphical Analysis of Newspoll Quarterly Data 1996-2010", The Whitlam Institute, June 2011
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