The folks in the DOJ Press shop should check in with the very competent Voting Section Chief.  There is an error in the press release announcing election monitors.

The press release incorrectly states:

“In the days leading up to and throughout Election Day, Civil Rights Division staff members will be available at a special toll-free number to receive complaints related to ballot access including allegations of voter intimidation or coercion targeted at voters because of their race, color, national origin or religion.”

Huh?  Section 11b of the Voting Rights has nothing to do with voter intimidation targeting voters “because of their race, color, national origin or religion.”  The law specifically does not include a racial intent requirement.  For example, white voters who are intimidated are protected if their race had nothing to do with the intimidation.  Black voters are protected from voter intimidation even if done by another black person.

Why would the Department have written in a requirement, a hurdle to protecting voters, that simply doesn’t exist in the law?  The Voting Rights Act of 1965 intentionally removed such requirements.  The 1957 Civil Rights Act, still has them, and surely they don’t seek to monitor the elections under the higher hurdles of the 1957 act.

And Religion?  This is literally the first time I have ever seen religious affiliation cranked into a voting rights act question.  This is surely a mistake.  A Civil Rights Division Macro that gets hit in drafting press releases, perhaps.  Wherever it comes from, it is wholly inaccurate.  Once again, voter intimidation is voter intimidation.  No suspect motive need be present to implicate federal protections.  The press release, as written, would exclude fact patterns, and potential complaints, about voter intimidation that have nothing to do with a racial motive or, for heavens sake, a religious one.  A cynic might question why the the voter intimidation standards keep getting screwed up by the Office of Public Affairs.