The six swing states seem to be in violation of federal law in two ways. Michigan and Colorado are removing voters from the rolls within 90 days of a federal election, which is not allowed except when voters die, notify the authorities that they have moved out of state, or have been declared unfit to vote.
Indiana, Nevada, North Carolina and Ohio seem to be improperly using Social Security data to verify registration applications for new voters.
In addition to the six swing states, three more states appear to be violating federal law. Alabama and Georgia seem to be improperly using Social Security information to screen registration applications from new voters. And Louisiana appears to have removed thousands of voters after the federal deadline for taking such action.
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Of course, this swings both ways. Indianapolis right now has more registered voters than it has eligible voters. Our voter rolls are clogged with out of date information and registrations that shouldn't be there -- some created deliberately by organizations like ACORN that have been indicted on multiple counts of voter registration fraud.
I'm wondering if a national database is going to be necessary to clean up this mess. States really have no clue as to who should and shouldn't be voting.
Ta-Nehisi, it's right that you should worry, but as despicable as this is, there are now simply too many states where Obama is competitive for this tactic to make much of a difference come November. Couple that with the fact that it seems like the Obama's got a good legal team in place on the ground and it's not as if the Dems are helpless on this one. Or, as it was put most succinctly on this blog: "Chill! I got this shit!"
It does go both ways, Mike, but when the Justice Department investigated voter fraud they found less than 40 individuals to go after. Mike, I know the right wingers are going after ACORN, but I haven't seen anything objective or legit seeming on them. Can you post something?
Ta-Nehesi, I've been so disappointed not only in the mainstream media but in the blogs, including yours, for not posting more on this. The Times ran a story on voter caging a few weeks ago, and few people picked it up. They also brought up problems with voter registration. There is clearly one party that is getting out the vote, and another that is working on keeping it in. And when the vote is kept in, poor people and people of color are disproportionately affected.
There is lots more to post on this issue, so where have you been?
yes, just say it! I can't wait for the Justice Department to start investigating. Oh no wait...
Seriously, is there anything the average citizen (dare I say it - Joe Sixpack?) can do to make sure the law is enforced?
mike's contention is misleading.
it is not unusual at all for cities or counties to have more registered voters than eligible voters. voters die or move and otherwise are rendered incapable of voting, and hardly anyone ever takes the affirmative step to REMOVE a name in that event.
therefore, voter rolls will typically become bloated and contain many voters who cannot or will not vote because they can't: they're dead or they are no longer living in the area, or there is some other reason that incapacitates them.
so until the act of examining rolls and removing names - via legitimate criteria and reasons - is taken by the agency in charge of maintaining voter rolls, that type of discrepancy will exist.
it is an easily explained matter and is only used by those wishing to justify the purging of legitimate voters.
the problems arise when partisans - usually republicans - try to use this, among other pretexts - to keep legitimate voters from voting.
republicans never want to acknowledge and deal with one simple fact: historically, from the very proposing of the voting rights laws in the '60's, they have attempted to keep as many minorities from voting as possible. they have routinely opposed legislation designed to insure that minorities can vote and they have routinely opposed laws that make it easier for minorities to vote.
it is an historical fact.
what is happening now, is merely another example of republicans attempting to keep legitimate voters from voting.
exactly frankie;
marriages, death, displacement, military service - there are countless reasons why there are an excess.
There is only one reason why it's being done, and being done now.
Mike says Of course, this swings both ways.
No. It doesn't swing equally in both directions; not even close. This is especially true with voter purging. From AlterNet:
"Unlike most of the "voter fraud" cases cited by GOP activists, where a handful of registrations -- usually in the single digits -- from big voter registration drives are found to be erroneous, purges can affect thousands of voters."
And then there's this bit of scary news:
"AlterNet found that some states facing Justice Department pressure to purge voters have long been targeted by GOP "vote fraud" activists, especially where concentrations of minority voters have historically elected Democrats -- such as St. Louis, Philadelphia and South Dakota's Indian reservations. One of those Republican activists who is now a Federal Election Commission member, Hans Von Spakovsky, started the department's purge effort in January 2005 when he was a political appointee overseeing the Voting Section's legal agenda, according to former Voting Section attorneys who worked with him then."
More here: http://www.alternet.org/rights/62133/
The problem is simple, in my book. The swing states are (coincidence) also relatively poor states. They by and large lack the resources to run effective governance. In an election like this, a lack of effective governance opens the door to all sorts of bullshit.
Just want to let everybody know: I am an attorney at a big fancy D.C. law firm. We are part of a nationwide non-partisan election protection effort that incorporates hundreds of private law firms, the ACLU, the NAACP, and the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights.
My firm alone will have hundreds of lawyers in five different states canvassing polling places on election day to make sure state and federal election laws are being followed, and to prevent voter intimidation. For the rest of this month we'll be in court and at state registrars bringing suits to enjoin state action in violation of election laws.
So everyone: We got this.