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DNC Announces Unprecedented Election Protection Project « Th

Daily newsbrief journal for August 2007, also see http://www.usdemocrats.com/brief for a global 100-page perpetual brief and follow twitter @usdemocrats


DNC Announces Unprecedented Election Protection Project « Th

Postby admin » Sat Jan 28, 2012 3:18 pm

DNC Announces Unprecedented Election Protection Project « Thread Started on Aug 3, 2007, 9:01pm » --------------------------------------------------------------------------------DNC Announces Unprecedented Election Protection Project Democrats to conduct nationwide survey of administration of elections aspart of an ongoing commitment to protecting the rights of every AmericanWASHINGTON, Aug. 2 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As the 42nd anniversaryof the signing of the Voting Rights Act approaches, the Democratic NationalCommittee today announced its unprecedented 50-state election protectioneffort to prepare for the 2008 election. When signing the Voting Rights Actof 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson said that the "right to vote is thebasic right without which all others are meaningless. It gives people,people as individuals, control over their own destinies." But nearly 42years after the signing of this legislation, the right to vote is stillunder assault.Through its 50 State Strategy, Voting Rights Institute and NationalLawyers Council, the DNC is conducting an in-depth nationwide survey tocollect critical data on voting practices and procedures at the locallevel. The goal of the project is to map the often confusing and complexsets of administrative practices and decisions governing electionadministration in every state. Working with local election boards, the DNCis examining the election mechanics in each state, flagging potentialproblems and election administration issues that threaten to deprivecitizens of their right to register, vote and have their vote counted. Oncethese issues are identified, the DNC will work to resolve potentialproblems well in advance of the 2008 election. Election laws, while writtenon the federal and state level, are often subject to interpretation at thelocal level. This decentralized process results in varied administrationand supervision of the elections themselves, which can be potentiallyproblematic considering that in 2008, there will be at least 13,000elections run by localities.No organization has ever undertaken a project of this magnitude. Thisproject is made possible through the DNC's 50 State Strategy, which has hadstaff on the ground in every state for almost two years. With very specificquestions, the survey covers topics such as voter registration, centralizedvoter databases, voting systems and absentee voting, provisional balloting,polling place procedures and Election Day preparation. This survey is justone part of a comprehensive program on the part of the DNC to ensure thatevery American's right to vote and have that vote counted is protected.Data collected from the survey will be analyzed to determine the needs ofeach election locality and next steps for strengthening the electionprocess in that locality. In addition to this project, the DNC willcontinue its efforts to resolve the identified issues throughout next year,continue to organize its network of lawyers in the states through the DNC'sVoting Rights Institute/National Lawyers Council and will run the mostextensive voter protection program throughout the country for the 2008general election.While the Democratic Party continues to work to protect everyAmerican's right to vote and have that vote counted, Republicans have aimedto create roadblocks for Americans to exercise their right to vote throughrestrictive voter ID laws, voter purging, and voter intimidation tactics.Under the Bush Administration's politicized Justice Department, we haveseen an outright attack on voting rights. In their latest scheme, theRepublican Administration has manipulated the mission of the Department ofJustice, firing US Attorneys who were unwilling to pursue phony "voterfraud" cases, and politicized the Civil Rights Division -- both underscorethe GOP's utter disregard for the integrity of our nation's electionsystem.DNC Chairman Howard Dean and DNC Voting Rights Institute Chair DonnaBrazile issued the following joint statement on the DNC's effort tosafeguard the vote:"Protecting the right of every eligible American to vote is a toppriority for our party. We believe that it's good for America and good forour democracy when everyone votes. Every eligible American deserves theconfidence that when they go to the polls to cast their ballot they can doso without fear of intimidation or harassment, and that their vote will becounted fairly and accurately. Unfortunately, nearly 42 years after thesigning of the Voting Rights Act, Americans' right to vote is still underassault. From restrictive voter ID laws to voter intimidation schemes topoliticizing the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, theintegrity of our nation's voting laws has been undermined. The goal of thisunprecedented project is to protect and ensure our voting rights, byworking now to identify and attempt to resolve election administrationissues that threaten to deprive citizens of the right to register, vote andhave their vote counted."Republican Record of Denying and Suppressing Voting RightsBush Administration Politicizes Justice Dept., Twists Its Mission toUndercut Voting Rights for Partisan Purposes. The Bush Administration'spoliticized Justice Department, under the direction of political hacksplanted to twist its mission for partisan purposes, has launched anoutright attack on voting rights rather than promoting voting rights. TheBush Justice Dept has aimed to create roadblocks for Americans to exercisetheir right to vote by approving restrictive state voter ID laws, voterpurging, and voter intimidation tactics. And as is now well-known, topJustice Dept officials improperly, and illegally, pressured U.S. Attorneysto bring phony voter fraud cases against Democratic and progressiveorganizations and individuals, to influence the outcome of elections forthe Republicans. [Washington Post, 1/22/04; Boston Globe 6/6/07; CharlotteObserver, 5/31/07]GOP Suppression Tactics in 2006. In Maryland, just days before the 2006general election, copies of the Election Day manual for the MarylandRepublican Party were obtained; in that manual, Republican Party workerswere given false information about voters' rights, were told systematicallyto challenge voters and were advised to threaten election judges with jailtime. Also in Maryland, on Election Day, flyers were distributed in PrinceGeorge's County, by the Ehrlich/Steele Republican campaign, falsely statingthat African American elected officials had endorsed the Republicancandidates for U.S. Senate and for Governor and misleading voters about theparty affiliation of those candidates. [Washington Post, 11/3/06; BaltimoreSun, 1/20/07]Email from Bush Campaign in FL to RNC Includes List of Voters to BeChallenged From African-American Neighborhood. "Two e-mails, prepared forthe executive director of the Bush campaign in Florida and the campaign'snational research director in Washington, DC, contain a 15-page so-called'caging list.' It lists 1,886 names and addresses of voters inpredominantly black and traditionally Democrat areas of Jacksonville,Florida. An elections supervisor in Tallahassee, when shown the list, toldNewsnight: 'The only possible reason why they would keep such a thing is tochallenge voters on election day.'" [BBC Television News Online, 10/26/04]In 2005 RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman Vowed to Challenge Voters at thePolls. During an appearance on behalf of the GOP gubernatorial candidate inVirginia in 2005, RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman vowed to "do whatever we can tohelp make sure Jerry Kilgore becomes the next governor of the state" -including, according to the AP "having poll workers on hand to challengevoter eligibility." [AP, 05/26/05]RNC-Funded Company Trashed Voter Registration Forms in 2004: "Voter'sOutreach of America aka 'America Votes' is responsible for ripping updemocratic voter registrations in Nevada. According to the investigativereport, hundreds and perhaps thousands of individuals who think they areregistered to vote actually are not. The organization has reportedly leftNevada and gone to Oregon. Full transcript of story attached... Well, thecompany [Voter's Outreach for America, aka America Votes] has been largely,if not entirely funded by the Republican National Committee. We should alsopoint out that similar complaints have been received in Reno, where theregistrar there has asked the FBI to investigate. It's a complicated storyand we'll have a lot more tonight and I think in the days ahead." [KLAS LasVegas Channel 8, 4pm news, Oct. 12, 2004]Republican Admits Systematic Challenges of Black and Hispanic Voters in2002. "In the 2002 antifraud experimental run, hundreds of Republicanactivists slipped on their green vests and tested out the role of pollmonitor. In Milwaukee, the volunteers contested the residency of some blackvoters and in the Hispanic communities they questioned the nationalities ofothers. Overall, not much came of it. Even Mr. Graber [Wisconsin RepublicanChairman] concedes there were 'few reports of trouble.' But he says the"dry run" two years ago has better prepared the party for the challengestoday." [Wall Street Journal, 10/22/04]Republicans Tried to Scare Hispanic Immigrants From Voting. Stateinvestigators have linked a Republican campaign to letters sent tothousands of Southern California Hispanics warning them they could go tojail or be deported if they vote next month, a spokesman for the attorneygeneral said. In fact, immigrants who are naturalized U.S. citizens canvote. [USA Today, 10/19/06]Florida Election Officials Sought to Purge African-Americans From VoterRolls. Florida Officials Struck Over 2,000 Eligible Voters From VotingRolls, 62% Were Democrats, More Than Half Were Black. An analysis by theMiami Herald found that the Florida Division of Elections had improperlyincluded 2,119 voters who were on a list of more than 47,000 felonspotentially ineligible to vote in the November elections. Florida lawrequires convicted felons to request clemency in order to regain theirright to vote. Of the 2,119 people on the list, 62% were registeredDemocrats, almost half were Black and less than 20% were Republican. Onlysixty-one Hispanics were included on the list of over 47,000 felons thoughthey comprise 11% of the prison population, a politically significant factfor the November elections since Hispanics in Florida vote overwhelminglyRepublican while Blacks vote Democrat. [Miami Herald, 7/2/04; SarasotaHerald-Tribune, 7/7/04, 7/8/04; New York Times, 7/10/04]Native Americans Told "To Go Home" in June Primary. Poll workersdemanded identification from Native Americans in South Dakota's Juneprimary, and they illegally turned away Native American voters from thepolls when they did not have it. The state's elections auditor sent out amemo to state poll workers stating that all voters must have IDs, but didnot widely disseminate information that said that voters could sign anaffidavit in lieu of showing identification. State Democrats say that theactions by poll workers were an extension of a wider move by the GOPcontrolled state legislature to suppress Native American turnout. The lawrequiring voters to show identification was passed in 2004. One SouthDakotan voter turned away from the poll was told by an elections workerthat "if she didn't have a photo ID, she could just turn around and home."[Argus Leader, 6/11/04]Armed, Plain Clothes Police Officers Intimidated Elderly Black Votersin Orlando. Plain clothes police officers, revealing their side arms, madehouse calls to elderly, black voters who voted in Orlando's mayoral race inMarch 2003. The voters were in large part campaign workers or volunteersthat helped to organize and get out the vote, mainly using absenteeballots, for African- American Mayor Buddy Dyer. Dyer won with just under51% of the vote. His challenger, Ken Mulvaney and other defeated candidatealleged that Dyer aide, Ezzie Thomas, the 73-year old head of the OrlandoLeague of Voters, filled out multiple absentee ballots on behalf of blackvoters. These actions came in spite of the fact that in May 2003 theFlorida Dept of Law Enforcement had concluded "that there was no basis tosupport the allegations of election fraud."[Bob Herbert Column, New YorkTimes, 8/16/04, 8/20/04; AP, 7/17/04]Convicted Republican Phone Jammer Blamed GOP "Culture" and Was Afraidto Push Back on RNC Official. As he finished serving a prison sentence for"jamming Democratic phone lines in New Hampshire during the 2002 US Senaterace," Allen Raymond told the Boston Globe that the "scheme reflects abroader culture in the Republican Party that is focused on dividing votersto win primaries and general elections. He said examples range from somerecent efforts to use border-security concerns to foster anger towardimmigrants to his own role arranging phone calls designed to polarizeprimary voters over abortion in a 2002 New Jersey Senate race." The schemeled to "the convictions of Raymond and two top Republican officials, and aDemocratic lawsuit that seeks to determine whether the White House playedany role." Allen said "he got caught up in an ultra-aggressive atmosphere"and that "he had been reluctant to turn down a prominent official of theRNC, fearing that would cost him future opportunities from an organizationthat was becoming increasingly ruthless." [Boston Globe, 06/10/2006]Paid for and authorized by the Democratic National Committee,http://www.democrats.org. This communication is not authorized by anycandidate or candidate's committee. SOURCE Democratic National Committee
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Re: DNC Announces Unprecedented Election Protection Project « Th

Postby admin » Sat Jan 28, 2012 3:19 pm

unprecedented voter protection effort« Thread Started on Aug 3, 2007, 8:49pm » --------------------------------------------------------------------------------Last year, we put DNC staff on the ground all across the country to rebuild our party and stand up to the lies and failures of the Republican Party. The 50-State Strategy worked. Those organizers were key to our unprecedented victories up and down the ballot in 2006.Our organizers are still on the ground in all 50 states, preparing for 2008 in every way possible. And starting this month, they are kicking off an unprecedented voter protection effort, of a scale never attempted by any organization. While Democrats protect everyone's right to vote, Karl Rove and the Republican Party have a long history of threatening this right, working to make it harder for Americans to vote. We're going to stop them.Protecting the right of every eligible American to vote is our party's top priority because we know that it's good for America and good for our democracy when everyone votes.All Americans deserve to go to the polls confident that they won't be harassed or intimidated. That they won't wait hours for a ballot and that their vote will be counted fairly and accurately. Unfortunately, nearly forty-two years after the signing of the voting rights act, millions of American's are treated like criminals just for trying to vote.So we're going to meet with every election official in the country, visit every polling place, and make sure that every American will have their vote counted-and we will do it now, instead of waiting to hear about big problems on the news on Election Day 2008.We need your help. By giving $20, $50 or $100 you can help support the organizers working in your state and the vital work they are doing to make sure every vote counts.http://www.democrats.org/ProtectTheVoteUnder the Bush Administration's politicized Justice Department we have seen an outright attack on voting rights. In their latest scheme, the Republican Administration has manipulated the mission of the Department of Justice, firing U.S. Attorneys who were unwilling to pursue phony "voter fraud" cases, and politicized the Civil Rights Division.Over the past several years the GOP has tried everything from phone jamming schemes to vote purging to voter intimidation tactics to try and suppress the vote.That's why this effort is so necessary. Support our organizers on the ground and help us make sure we can fix voting problems now, instead of on Election Day 2008.http://www.democrats.org/ProtectTheVoteI've promised to build the infrastructure and develop the strategy Democrats need to fight everywhere, and this is exactly the kind of effort it takes. Our work may not be in the headlines right now, but it's how we are going to make an impact next year and in every election after that.We all know what happened in Florida in 2000. We all know what happened in Ohio in 2004.Help make sure it doesn't happen again in 2008.http://www.democrats.org/ProtectTheVoteSincerely,Gov. Howard Dean, M.D.
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