Legal Commentary

New Barriers to Voting

By TChris

The Help America Vote Act turns out to be the Stop Americans From Voting Act as it's being administered by some states.

[S]ix 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.

[more...]

In three states — Colorado, Louisiana and Michigan — the number of people purged from the election rolls since Aug. 1 far exceeds the number who may have died or relocated during that period.

States may be improperly removing voters who have moved within the state, election experts said, or who are considered inactive because they have failed to vote in two consecutive federal elections. For example, major voter registration drives have been held this year in Colorado, which has also had a significant population increase since the last presidential election, but the state has recorded a net loss of nearly 100,000 voters from its rolls since 2004.

The Times article suggests that some of the problem results from misunderstandings about how the federal law works. But Republicans hope to exploit the law to prevent voters from showing up to cast ballots for Democrats.

On Monday, the Ohio Republican Party filed a motion in federal court against the secretary of state to get the list of all names that have been flagged by the Social Security database since Jan. 1. The motion seeks to require that any voter who does not clear up a discrepancy be required to vote using a provisional ballot.

Republicans said in the motion that it is central to American democracy that nonqualified voters be forbidden from voting.

Actually, the Republicans who filed the motion got it backwards, as they often do. It's central to American democracy that all eligible voters be allowed to vote. Votes cast by ineligible voters are a negligible problem, not one that has even a remote chance of affecting a presidential election. Preventing thousands of eligible voters from casting ballots could, however, affect the outcome of the election in closely contested states.

This is yet another Republican-created problem that Democrats will need to fix next year. They should start by reforming the Help America Vote Act so that it actually helps Americans vote, rather than burdening their right to vote.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on October 09, 2008 (boomark / email).