Earlier this month, I wrote about the Michigan Messenger allegations that Republicans planned to use foreclosure lists to exclude voters, especially in Flint and Detroit.
Ian Urbina of The New York Times reports on the Democratic response:
And as Urbina points out, Michigan isn't the only place where people who've already lost their home, may lose their vote as well:"Last week, Senator Barack Obama’s campaign filed a lawsuit in federal court, seeking to prohibit the Michigan Republican Party from using foreclosure lists to single out and challenge voters. The state Republican Party has denied having any such plans.
"Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., the Democratic vice-presidential candidate, sent a letter last week along with a dozen other Democratic senators to Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey asking him to ensure that voters facing foreclosure are not harassed or intimidated at polling places."
"More than a million people have lost their homes through foreclosure in the last two years, and many of them are still registered to vote at the address of the home they lost. Now election officials and voting rights groups are struggling to prevent thousands of them from losing their vote when they go to the polls in November.
"Many of these voters will be disqualified at the polls because, in the tumult of their foreclosure, they neglected to tell their election board of their new address. Some could be forced to vote with a provisional ballot or challenged by partisan poll watchers, a particular concern among Democrats who fear that poor voters will be singled out. That could add confusion and stretch out lines that are already expected to be long because of unprecedented turnout."
Update: The Michigan Messenger has posted the following clarification on their original story:
By Jefferson Morley 9/19/08 5:48 PMMichigan Messenger received a letter yesterday from Douglas J. Preisse, chairman of the Franklin County Republican Party in Columbus Ohio, disputing Eartha Melzer’s summary of remarks he made to a local newspaper about voter challenges.
Citing an article in the Columbus Dispatch, Melzer had reported in her story “Lose your house, lose your vote” that Priesse had said he had not ruled out voter challenges due to “foreclosure related address issues.” In his letter, Priesse said that he had not stated or implied any such thing.
While the ongoing dispute in Franklin County does concern voter challenges that are based, in part, on the eligibility of foreclosed homeowners, Priesse’s comments to the Dispatch did not specifically address the issue of foreclosed homeowners.
We have revised the article accordingly.
I was just wondering if this isn't getting blown out of proportion. I mean, when I go to vote, they only look at my signature. They require no ID or voter card or proof of residence or anything.
ReplyDeleteIn fact I question the efforts of many of the people who work at these voting places. Many of them look as if they've been trained that week... I doubt they could galvanize this bunch to check such a thing as foreclosed homes.
Am I missing something here...?
grumkin, I think the level of attention and voter suppression depends on where you vote. San Francisco isn't targeted because it's going to vote 85 percent dem. anyway. And New York state votes dem. by a larger majority in the presidential elections as well.
ReplyDeleteAnd, as these articles show, there are lots of other ways to suppress the vote.
The Republicans often counter that Dems. commit a lot of voter fraud as well, but there's just not much evidence of that. But there is evidence of voter suppression efforts.
http://www.alternet.org/rights/63574/
http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_republican_war_on_voting
Please note, I try, for the most part, to stay clear of partisan politics in the blog, but this is one case where I think the evidence is pretty clear: Republicans are working hard to keep some voters, namely newly registered voters and minorities, from voting. And I think most Americans, regardless of their political affiliation, would oppose those efforts.
The Messenger has backed away from their original article and posted a clarification:
ReplyDeletehttp://michiganmessenger.com/4777/messenger-clarifies-ohio-officials-remark
That said, I hope that there are a lot of new, young voters who show up at the polls. They can't do any worse than us old guys.
STEPHANIE,
ReplyDeleteI just hope people really do get out there and vote. Even more so with the young it is time they do their homework or else it is going to get worse than it is right now for them more so than the old.
STEPH,
ReplyDeleteI just hope people really do get out there and vote. Even more so with the young it is time they do their homework or else it is going to get worse than it is right now for them more so than the old.