Hans von Spakovksy Fact Sheet
June 11, 2007
Von Spakovsky's Anti-Voting Rights Agenda
- In 2004, von Spakovsky prevented the Civil Rights Division from investigating serious allegations of voter discrimination against Native Americans in Minnesota with weeks to go in a very competitive November election.
- In 2005, he sped approval of voter ID laws in Georgia and Arizona, joining decisions to override career lawyers who argued the Georgia law would restrict voting by poor blacks and the elderly. The Georgia law was later invalidated by a federal court, which likened the law to a Jim Crow-era poll tax.
- In 2005, during Spakovsky's tenure, the Civil Rights Division filed a single complaint, alleging racial discrimination against white voters in Mississippi, the first time the Voting Rights Act has ever been used to do so.
Exploiting Enforcement of Voting Rights Laws
- In 2002, under von Spakovsky's leadership, the DOJ stalled making a determination under the Voting Rights Act on a pro-Republican Mississippi Congressional plan, causing the plan to go into effect by default and influence the outcome of a key House race.
- In 2003, he and other officials moved to approve a Tom Delay Texas Congressional redistricting plan that weakened minority voting power. In 2006, the Supreme Court held that parts of the plan violated provisions of the VRA by diluting minority voting strength.
- In 2003, von Spakovsky urged an election official in Maryland to deny voter registration applications if any of the information on the application failed to match what is in the DMV and Social Security databases. That approach exceeded federal law and led to California, Florida, Maryland, Texas, and others needlessly rejecting thousands of applications to vote.
Why He Is Wrong for the FEC
As a commissioner of the only body that enforces federal campaign finance laws, von Spakovsky has consistently exhibited partisanship and a contempt for the right to vote. With competitive races in 2008 on the horizon, von Spakovsky in a six-year term on the FEC could undercut fair elections and potentially and unjustly influence the outcome of numerous races across the nation.
