Fears of Vote Suppression Beginning to Materialize
Feature Story by Rob Randhava - 11/5/2002
In the days leading up to the 2002 elections, civil rights advocates are expressing concern that so-called "voting integrity" initiatives around the country, launched under the guise of preventing voter fraud, are thinly-veiled efforts to deter voters from coming to the polls on election day. The groups point to not only a growing number of instances where unlawful vote-suppressing conduct is taking place, but also to the fact that the Department of Justice appears to show little interest in solving the problem and may even be encouraging it.
- A number of voters in heavily black Jefferson County, Arkansas, which allows early voting, have already been confronted by poll watchers sent by the state's Republican Party as they attempted to cast their ballots. In some instances, voters were asked by the poll watchers to produce photo ID and told if they did not have it, they risked having their ballots challenged - even though ID is not required to vote under state law. In other instances, the poll watchers snapped photos of black voters entering and leaving the county clerk's office to vote.
- In the Baltimore, MD area, a flyer was distributed with the heading "URGENT NOTICE" in large bold lettering at the top. The flyer went on to remind voters to come out to vote on "November 6th"- the day after elections - and that "before you come to vote, make sure you pay your parking tickets, motor vehicle tickets, and overdue rent." Under current state law, failure to make such payments are irrelevant to one's eligibility to vote.
- The Republican Party compiled a nationwide "database" of 3,273 names of people that it alleges voted more than once in the 2000 elections. Claiming the database was compiled as part of an effort to prevent fraud, the GOP turned the list over to local authorities nationwide for investigation and possible prosecution. State election officials in Connecticut and elsewhere found that most of the information in the database was inaccurate, and could place many voters in fear of being wrongfully prosecuted for fraud.
Such "voting integrity" measures are, unfortunately, nothing new to many observers of voting rights issues. A similar incident occurred in the 1990 North Carolina Senatorial race between Republican incumbent Jesse Helms and his Democratic challenger, Harvey Gantt. Gantt was leading in most polls leading up to the election when 125,000 postcards were mailed to registered voters in 86 predominantly black precincts, falsely informing the voters that they were not eligible to vote and warning them that they could face criminal prosecution if they tried. The postcard mailing resulted in a lawsuit by the Department of Justice (DOJ) against the Helms campaign and the state Republican party, which eventually resulted in a settlement.
"Voting Access and Integrity Initiative"
This year, the DOJ, rather than focusing its efforts on fighting so-called "voting integrity" initiatives such as the ones above, is promoting one of its own.
In early October, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced the creation of a "Voting Access and Integrity Initiative," in which officers from each U.S. Attorney's office throughout the country would investigate and prosecute violations of election laws. While the initiative was touted by the DOJ as a means of not only preventing fraud but also enforcing voting rights laws, civil rights advocates were skeptical that resources would be directed towards ensuring voter access to the polls.
The DOJ initiative indeed appears to be focused mostly on investigating allegations of fraud. In South Dakota, for example, the FBI is currently targeting Native American reservations in a high-profile investigation of alleged voter registration fraud, with the likely impact that many lawful voters will be intimidated as well.
The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR) is especially concerned about the DOJ's apparent lack of concern about the potential impact of "voting integrity" initiatives on innocent voters. One DOJ spokesman, for example, claimed that "the only people intimidated [by "voting integrity" efforts] are the people who were going to cast fraudulent ballots, and that's the point here."
History has shown otherwise. Following the 1994 election in Alabama, the FBI - which initially claimed to be investigating a series of church burnings in the area - interrogated 1,000 people in majority-black counties about alleged fraud, even asking some of them to submit handwriting samples. While the probe resulted in few convictions, it had a profound impact on turnout, which decreased even though the number of registered voters had increased. Many African-Americans simply said they were too afraid to vote out of fear of being investigated.
In an October 25th letter to Attorney General Ashcroft, LCCR and more than twenty civil rights organizations noted that "historically, the Department of Justice was rightfully seen as a protector of minority voting rights," and urged the Attorney General to not let such an image be tarnished by its current, almost contradictory, activities in the year 2002.
Meanwhile, the LCCR is teaming up with the People For the American Way Foundation and a number of other civil rights organizations on more affirmative measures of their own. Entitled "Election Protection," the ambitious nonpartisan program is aimed at helping voters know, exercise and protect their rights on Election Day. The program provides voters with "Know Your Rights" information and informs them of legal resources if they run into problems trying to cast their ballots.
