From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Voter suppression
Voter suppression
Voter suppression is a strategy to influence the outcome IDs that are otherwise unneeded is a suppression tactic
of an election by discouraging or preventing people from aimed at those groups.[5]
exercising their right to vote. It is distinguished from Indiana’s photo ID law barred twelve retired nuns in
political campaigning in that campaigning attempts to South Bend, Indiana from voting in that state’s 2008 De-
change likely voting behavior by changing the opinions mocratic primary election. The women lacked the photo
of potential voters through persuasion and organization. IDs required under a state law that was upheld by the U.S.
Voter suppression instead attempts to reduce the num- Supreme Court in April 2008. John Borkowski, a South
ber of voters who might vote against the candidate or Bend lawyer volunteering as an election watchdog for
proposition advocated by the suppressors. the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said,
The tactics of voter suppression can range from mi- "This law was passed supposedly to prevent and deter
nor "dirty tricks" that make voting inconvenient, up to voter fraud, even though there was no real record of se-
blatantly illegal activities that physically intimidate rious voter fraud in Indiana."[6][7]
prospective voters to prevent them from casting ballots. Proponents of a similar law proposed for Texas In
Voter suppression could be particularly effective if a sig- March 2009 also argued that photo identification was
nificant amount of voters are intimidated individually necessary to prevent widespread voter fraud. Opponents
because the voter might not consider his or her single respond that there is no evidence of such voter fraud
vote important.[citation needed] in Texas, so no remedy is required, especially if such
a remedy would decrease voting by senior citizens, the
Methods of voter suppression disabled, and lower-income residents. Opponents cited a
study asserting that 1 million of the state’s 13.5 million
registered voters do not have a photo ID.[4]
Impediments to voter registration State Sen. Troy Fraser (R-Horseshoe Bay) said, "Voter
Laws or administrative practices have made it more dif- fraud not only is alive and well in the U.S., but also alive
ficult for people to register to vote. In 2011, the state of and well in Texas. The danger of voter fraud threatens
Florida imposed a short deadline for the submission of the integrity of the entire electoral process." Democratic
voter registration forms, with stiff penalties for late fil- Caucus Chairwoman Leticia Van de Putte (D-San Antonio)
ing.[1] The bill led to the end of voter registration work said the proposed law "is not about voter fraud. There is
by one organization, the League of Women Voters, whose no voter fraud. This is about voter suppression." Texas
spokesperson said, "Despite the fact that the League of Attorney General Greg Abbott (R) spent $1.4 million in-
Women Voters is one of the nation’s most respected civic vestigating voter fraud but did not report any cases
organizations, with a 91-year history of registering and where a person tried to impersonate an eligible voter at a
educating voters, we will be unable to comply with the polling place—arguably the only kind of fraud that photo
egregious provisions contained in [this bill]."[2] ID laws would prevent.[4]
Legislation to impose restrictive photo ID require-
Photo ID laws ments has been prepared by the conservative organiza-
Photo ID laws require voters to present a government- tion ALEC and circulated to conservative state legisla-
approved photo ID before they may cast their ballots. tors[5].
Belgium,[3] Spain,[3] Greece,[3] Italy,[3] Malta,[3] and seven In 2011, more than 100 Democratic members of
US states have such laws, including Indiana and Geor- Congress urged the Department of Justice to oppose such
gia.[4] legislation, arguing that it "has the potential to block mil-
Supporters of photo ID laws contend that the photo- lions of eligible American voters, and thus suppress the
graphic IDs (such as driver’s licenses or student IDs from right to vote."[8]
state schools) are nearly universal, and that presenting
them is a minor inconvenience when weighed against the Purging voter rolls
possibility of ineligible voters affecting elections. Oppo- In 2008, more than 50,000 registered Georgia voters were
nents argue that photo ID requirements disproportion- removed from the roll of eligible voters because of a com-
ately affect minority and elderly voters who don’t nor- puter mismatch in their personal identification informa-
mally maintain driver’s licenses, and therefore that re- tion, leading registrars to conclude that they were no
quiring such groups to obtain and keep track of photo longer eligible Georgia voters at their registered address-
es. At least 4,500 of those people must prove their citi-
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Voter suppression
zenship to regain their right to vote, but opponents say Americans and Latinos.[13] Disenfranchisement of felons
that could be an impossible burden to meet. For example, and ex-felons is opposed by some as a form of the me-
the state of Georgia gave college senior Kyla Berry one dieval practice of civil death.[14]
week to prove her citizenship in a letter dated October
2, 2008. Unfortunately, the letter was postmarked Octo- Disinformation about voting procedures
ber 9, 2008. However, Berry is a U.S. citizen, born in Bos- Voters may be given false information about when and
ton, Massachusetts with a passport and a birth certifi- how to vote, leading them to fail to cast valid ballots. For
cate to prove it. Commenting on Berry’s case and those example, in recall elections for the Wisconsin State Se-
like it, Wendy Weiser, an elections expert with New York nate in 2011, Americans for Prosperity (a conservative
University’s Brennan Center for Justice, said, "What most organization that was supporting Republican candidates)
people don’t know is that every year, elections officials sent many Democratic voters a mailing that gave an in-
strike millions of names from the voter rolls using correct deadline for absentee ballots. Voters who relied
processes that are secret, prone to error and vulnerable on the deadline in the mailing would have sent in their
to manipulation."[9] ballots too late for them to be counted.[15] The organiza-
tion said that the mistake was a typographical error.[16]
Jim Crow laws
Main article: Jim Crow laws Partisan election administration
In the United States, voter suppression was used exten- While the majority of the world’s democracies use inde-
sively by conservatives in most Southern states until the pendent agents to manage elections, 33 of 50 state elec-
Voting Rights Act (1965) made most disenfranchisement tion directors in the United States are themselves elected
and voting qualifications illegal. Traditional voter sup- partisans. Those party affiliations can create conflicts of
pression tactics included the institution of poll taxes and interest, or at least the appearance thereof, while direct-
literacy tests, aimed at suppressing the votes of African ing elections. Florida Secretary of State Katherine Har-
Americans and working class white voters.[10][11] ris served as state co-chair of the Bush-Cheney campaign
during the 2000 presidential election, and Ohio Secretary
Ex-felon disenfranchisement of State Ken Blackwell served as his state’s Bush-Cheney
Further information: Loss of rights due to felony convic- co-chair during the 2004 presidential election.[17]
tion and Felony disenfranchisement
In 2004, 5.3 million Americans were denied the right to Inequality in Election Day resources
vote because of previous felony convictions. Thirteen Elections in the United States are funded at the local lev-
states permanently disenfranchise convicted felons; el, often unequally. In the 2004 elections, Wyoming spent
eighteen states restore voting rights after completion of $2.15 per voter while California spent $3.99 per voter.
prison, parole, and probation; four states re-enfranchise In contrast, Canada spends $9.51 per voter. Underfund-
felons after they have been released from prison and ed election areas can result in long lines at polling places,
have completed parole; thirteen allow felons who have requiring some voters either to wait hours to cast a ballot
been released from prison to vote, and two states do not or to forgo their right to vote in that election. Voters who
disenfranchise felons at all.[12] Some states require ex- cannot wait the required amount of time are therefore
felons to complete a process to restore voting rights, but disenfranchised, while voters in well-funded areas with
offender advocates say such processes can be very diffi- sufficient voting capacity may face minimal or no wait-
cult. ing time.
The United States is the only democracy in the world Delays at polling places are is widely regarded as be-
that regularly bans large numbers of felons from voting ing a greater problem in urban areas.[17][18]
after they have discharged their sentences. Many coun-
tries including Denmark, France, Germany, Israel, Japan, Caging lists
Kenya, Norway, Peru, Sweden, and Zimbabwe allow pris-
Main article: caging list
oners to vote (unless convicted of crimes against the
Caging lists have been used by political parties to elimi-
electoral system).[13] Some countries, notably the U.K.,
nate potential voters registered with other political par-
disenfranchise people for only as long as they are in
ties. A political party sends registered mail to addresses
prison.
of registered voters. If the mail is returned as undeliver-
In Florida during the 2000 presidential election, some
able, the mailing organization uses that fact to challenge
non-felons were banned due to record-keeping errors
the registration, arguing that because the voter could
and not warned of their disqualification until the dead-
not be reached at the address, the registration is fraudu-
line for contesting it had passed.
lent.[19]
This form of vote suppression in the United States
disproportionately affects minorities including African-
2
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Voter suppression
Examples of voter suppression • Widespread calls fraudulently claiming to be
"[Democratic Senate candidate Jim] Webb
in the United States Volunteers," falsely telling voters their voting
location had changed.
2002 New Hampshire Senate election • Fliers paid for by the Republican Party, stating "SKIP
THIS ELECTION" that allegedly attempted to
phone jamming scandal suppress African-American turnout.
In the 2002 New Hampshire Senate election phone jam- The FBI has since launched an investigation into the sup-
ming scandal, Republican officials attempted to reduce pression attempts.[31] Despite the allegations, democrat
the number of Democratic voters by paying professional Jim Webb narrowly defeated incumbent George Allen.
telemarketers in Idaho to make repeated hang-up calls to
the telephone numbers used by the Democratic Party’s 2008 presidential election
ride-to-the-polls phone lines on election day. By tying up A review of states’ records by The New York Times found
the lines, voters seeking rides from the Democratic Party unlawful actions leading to widespread voter purges. [32]
would have more difficulty reaching the party to ask for A dispute between the Social Security Administration
transportation to and from their polling places. [20][21] commissioner and the National Association of Secretaries
of State about the use of the Social Security database to
2004 presidential election test the validity of voters led to the shutdown of the data-
In the U.S. presidential election of 2004, some voters got base over the Columbus Day holiday weekend.[33]
phone calls with false information intended to keep them
from voting—saying that their voting place had been Georgia
changed or that voting would take place on Wednesday Wait times of between 2 and 10 hours were reported dur-
as well as on Tuesday. Voters who believed this misin- ing early voting at multiple Georgia locations[34]
formation would go to the wrong polling place, or worse,
not attempt to vote until after the election had ended.[22] Michigan
Other allegations surfaced in several states that the Prior to the 2008 United States Presidential Election, on
group called Voters Outreach of America had collected September 16, 2008, Obama legal counsel announced that
and submitted Republican voter registration forms while they would be seeking an injunction to stop an alleged
inappropriately discarding voter registration forms caging scheme in Michigan wherein the state Republican
where the new voter had chosen to register with the De- party would use home foreclosure lists to challenge vot-
mocratic Party. Such people would believe they had reg- ers still using their foreclosed home as a primary address
istered to vote, and would only discover on election day at the polls.[35] Michigan GOP officials called the suit
that they were not registered and could not cast a bal- "desperate."[36] A Federal Appeals court ordered the re-
lot.[23][24][25][26] instatement of 5,500 voters wrongly purged from the vot-
Michigan Republican state legislator John Pappa- er rolls by the State:[34]
george was quoted as saying, "If we do not suppress the
Detroit vote, we’re going to have a tough time in this Minnesota
election.".[27] The conservative nonprofit Minnesota Majority has been
In 2006, four employees of the John Kerry campaign reported as making phone calls claiming that the Min-
were convicted of slashing the tires of 25 vans rented by nesota Secretary of State had concerns about the validity
the Wisconsin state Republican Party which were to be of the voters registration. Their actions have been re-
used for driving Republican monitors to the polls. At the ferred to the Ramsey County attorney’s office and the
campaign workers’ sentencing, Judge Michael B. Brennan U.S. Attorney are looking into Johnson’s complaint. [37]
told the defendants, "Voter suppression has no place in
our country. Your crime took away that right to vote for Montana
some citizens."[28][29] On October 5, 2008 the Republican Lt. Governor of Mon-
tana, John Bohlinger, accused the Montana Republican
2006 Virginia Senate election Party of vote caging to purge 6,000 voters from three
counties which trend Democratic. These purges included
During the United States Senate election in Virginia,
decorated war veterans and active duty soldiers.[19]
2006, Secretary of the Virginia State Board of Elections
Jean Jensen concluded that incidents of voter suppres- Ohio
sion appeared widespread and deliberate. Documented
Wait times of six hours were reported for early voting in
incidents of voter suppression include:[30]
Franklin County leading to people leaving the line with-
• Democratic voters receiving calls incorrectly
out voting.[34]
informing them voting will lead to arrest.
3
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Voter suppression
Wisconsin [8] Reilly, Ryan J. (July 27, 2011). "House Dems Join
The Republican Party attempted to have all 60,000 voters Senate In Urging DOJ To Fight Voter ID Laws".
in the heavily Democratic city of Milwaukee who had reg- Talking Points Memo.
istered since 1/1/2006 deleted from the voter rolls. The http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/
requests were rejected by the Milwaukee Election Com- 2011/07/
mission with Republican commissioner Bob Spindell vot- house_dems_join_senate_in_urging_doj_to_fight_vote.php?ref=m
ing in favor of deletion."[38] Retrieved 2011-07-28.
[9] Boudreau, Abbie; Bronstein, Scott (October 26,
2008). "Some voters ’purged’ from voter rolls".
See also CNN. http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/
• Electoral fraud 26/voter.suppression/index.html.
• Caging list [10] Techniques of Direct Disenfranchisement,
• American Center for Voting Rights 1880-1965, University of Michigan
• Political corruption [11] Davis, Ronald L. F.. "Creating Jim Crow: In-Depth
• Voter turnout Essay" (pdf). The History of Jim Crow.
http://greely.msad51.org/Pages/
MSAD51_GHSEnglish/Deborah_Pinkham/
References English9HSupplementaryMaterials/
[1] Deslatte, Aaron; Kathleen Haughney (May 5, 2011). CreatingJimCrow.pdf.
"Legislature passes broad overhaul of elections [12] "Felony Disenfranchisement Laws in the United
law". Orlando Sentinel. States" (pdf). Sentencing Project. July 2005.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/ http://sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/
os-elections-bill-passes-20110505,0,5079742.story. fd_bs_fdlawsinusMarch2010.pdf.
Retrieved 2011-07-16. [13] ^ Restoration of Voting Rights Q&A,
[2] Deslatte, Aaron (May 9, 2011). "Elections bill ReformElections.org
prompts League of Women Voters to stop [14] Greenhouse, Linda (July 29, 2010). "Voting Behind
registration". Orlando Sentinel. Bars". The New York Times.
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/ http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/
2011/05/elections-bill-prompts-league-of-women- 29/voting-behind-bars/.
voters-to-stop-registration.html. Retrieved [15] Catanese, David (August 1, 2011). "AFP Wisconsin
2011-07-16. ballots have late return date". Politico.
[3] ^ http://polsci.umass.edu/uploads/profiles/sites/ http://www.politico.com/blogs/davidcatanese/
schaffer_frederic_c/Files/ 0811/
Vol3_2-SchafferWang_HLPR.pdf AFP_Wisconsin_ballots_have_late_return_date.html?fb_ref=.TjcP
[4] ^ Stutz, Terrence (March 11, 2009). "Texas Senate Retrieved 2011-08-03.
sharply debates voter ID bill". The Dallas Morning [16] Kleefeld, Eric (August 1, 2011). "Koch Group Mails
News. http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/ Suspicious Absentee Ballot Letters In Wisconsin".
dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/DN- Talking Points Memo.
voterid_11tex.ART0.State.Edition2.4ac6919.html. http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/
[5] ^ Reilly, Ryan J (July 14, 2011). "House Dems Slam koch-group-mails-suspicious-absentee-ballot-
’Racist,’ ’Rovian’ Voter ID Laws; Says DOJ Isn’t letters-in-wisconsin.php. Retrieved 2011-08-03.
Doing Enough". Talking Points Memo. [17] ^ Overton, Spencer (2006). Stealing Democracy. W.
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/ W. Norton. p. 224. ISBN 0393061590.
2011/07/ http://www.stealingdemocracy.com.
[18] Powell, Michael; Slevin, Peter
house_dems_slam_racist_rovian_voter_id_laws_says_doj_isnt_doing_enough_video.php. (December 15, 2004).
Retrieved 2011-07-16. "Several Factors Contributed to ’Lost’ Voters in
[6] "Retired nuns barred from voting in Indiana". Ohio". Washington Post: p. A01.
London: McClatchy Newspapers. May 7, 2008. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/07/ articles/A64737-2004Dec14.html. In 2004, the
uselections2008.usa. Retrieved May 27, 2010. Franklin County board of elections (Columbus,
[7] Editorial (May 6, 2008). "Voting Rights? Nun for Ohio) determined they needed 5,000 voting
You!". New York Times. machines, but decided to move machines from
http://theboard.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/06/ urban areas to suburban areas and conduct the
voting-rights-nun-for-you/. election using only 2,866 machines. On Election
Day 2004, Tanya Thivener waited four hours in line
4
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Voter suppression
to vote in Columbus, Ohio. Tanya’s mother waited [30] "Sec. of Virginia State Board of Elections Finds
just 15 minutes to vote in a Columbus suburb. Widespread Incidents of Voter Suppression".
[19] ^ Bohlinger, John (October 5, 2008). "Republicans American Chronicle. 2006-11-06.
crossed line with voter purge attempt". The http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/
Montana Standard. http://www.mtstandard.com/ 16105. Retrieved 2008-09-07.
articles/2008/10/05/opinion/hjjbijjejjigfj.txt. [31] "FBI launches probe of Virginia pre-election calls".
[20] US DOJ (2004-12-01). "Former RNC New England CNN. 2006-11-07. http://www.cnn.com/2006/
Regional Director Indicted in New Hampshire POLITICS/11/07/deceptivecalls.va/. Retrieved
Phone Jamming Case". Press release. 2008-09-07.
http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2004/December/ [32] Urbina, Ian (October 9, 2008). "States’ Actions to
04_crm_768.htm. Retrieved 2007-05-25. Block Voters Appear Illegal". New York Times:
[21] "Former GOP Official Gets Prison Term for Phone p. A01. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/09/us/
Plot". AP. 2006-05-17. http://www.foxnews.com/ politics/09voting.html.
story/0,2933,195914,00.html. Retrieved 2007-05-25. [33] Haynes, Brad (October 10, 2008). "Voter
[22] "Ohio Election Activities and Observations" (pdf). Registrations Spark Testy Exchange". Wall Street
American Ctr for Voting Rights. March 21, 2005. Journal. http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/10/
p. 22. http://www.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/ 10/voter-registrations-spark-testy-exchange/.
national/ohio_electionreport.1.pdf. Retrieved [34] ^ "Voter Problems – CNN Political Ticker -
2007-05-25. CNN.com Blogs". CNN.
[23] Knapp, George (2004-10-13). "Investigation into http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/category/
Trashed Voter Registrations". KLAS-TV. voter-problems/. Retrieved May 27, 2010.
http://www.klas-tv.com/Global/ [35] Trygstad, Kyle (September 16, 2008). "Obama
story.asp?S=2421595&nav=168XRvNe. Camp, DNC File Lawsuit Against Michigan GOP".
[24] "Nevada investigates voter registration, Probe also Time. http://time-blog.com/real_clear_politics/
under way in Oregon on fraud allegations". CNN. 2008/09/obama_dnc_file_lawsuit.html.
2004-10-14. http://edition.cnn.com/2004/ [36] Halperin, Mark (September 16, 2008). "Michigan
ALLPOLITICS/10/14/nevada.registration/ GOP: Obama Camp Suit "Desperate"". Time.
index.html. Retrieved May 27, 2010. http://thepage.time.com/2008/09/16/michigan-
[25] David Paul Kuhn (2004-10-14). "Voter Fraud gop-obama-camp-suit-desperate/.
Charges Out West". CBS News. [37] Duchschere, Kevin (October 29, 2008). "Callers
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/10/14/ question registered Minnesota voters’ eligibility".
politics/main649380.shtml. Star Tribune. http://www.startribune.com/politics/
[26] Dennis B. Roddy (2004-10-20). "Campaign 2004: 33551514.html.
Voter registration workers cry foul". Pittsburgh [38] Associated Press reported in Green Bay Press
Post-Gazette. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/ Gazette 10/10/2008
04294/398767.stm.
[27] Chip Reid (2004-10-13). "Voter suppression charges
on the rise". MSNBC. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/
External links
id/6242175/. • Problems Voting in the 2008 General Election?
[28] Ehlke, Gretchen (2005-01-24). "Congresswoman’s Report Your Issue Here
son, four others charged with slashing Republican • Voter Suppression Wiki
van tires on Election Day". AP. Archived from the • NOW on PBS interview reviewing the likelihood and
original on 2005-08-29. http://web.archive.org/ forms of Voter Suppression liely in 2008
web/20050829020422/http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/ • Vote Fraud, Intimidation & Suppression In The 2004
article.cgi?f=/news/a/2005/01/24/ Presidential Election
national1242EST0521.DTL. Retrieved 2007-05-25. • American Center For Voting Rights, August 2, 2005,
[29] Ehlke, Gretchen (2006-04-26). "Men Get Jail Time In report.
Milwaukee Tire-Slashing Case". AP. Archived from • Stealing democracy Spencer Overton, Stealing
the original on 2006-05-03. Democracy, June 5, 2006
http://web.archive.org/web/20060503003521/
http://wfrv.com/topstories/
local_story_116123954.html. Retrieved 2007-05-25.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_suppression"
Categories: Political campaign techniques, Political corruption, Election fraud
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Voter suppression
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