Author Archives: J Christian Adams

DOJ ok’s Mississippi redistricting, elicting response from white Dem: “Welcome to a new decade of racial polarization”

Republicans were handed the keys to redistricting for the first time since Reconstruction.  The result?  Republicans increases the number of Black representatives in both chambers.  Instead of dysfunction and reliance on a federal court to redraw the lines as previous legislatures, DOJ approved both the Mississippi state Senate and state House redistricting plans put forward by the Republicans without any objection.  And, according to this article, there are some very unhappy white Democrats with harsh words towards DOJ as they apparently expected the Voting Rights Act to protect their power.


Dorsey Carson, a Democrat who ran unsuccessfully against Denny in 2011,
sent a letter to the Justice Department on Sept. 5, asking it to reject
the redistricting plans. Carson said rural and black voting power would
be weakened in several House and Senate districts. He posted a sarcastic
criticism to Facebook on Friday: “The most racially segregated
Legislative map in Mississippi history has been approved by DOJ: welcome
to a new decade of racial polarization!”

Two Indicted for Voter Fraud in Indiana, Including Democrat Mayoral Candidate

Sure, voter fraud is “irrational” and a “foolish way to attempt to win an election,” and yet:


According to the indictment, Paul Etheridge, a candidate in the New Albany Democratic mayoral primary, knowingly forged or falsely made the official endorsement of the ballots of two women in March 2011. The indictment also alleges Etheridge solicited one of the women to complete the ballot, knowing she was ineligible to register to vote or to vote. 


 


Separately, Joshua Clemons was indicted on charges he solicited two others to complete an absentee ballot knowing they were ineligible to register to vote or to vote and delivering the ballots to them to vote. 

Guess Etheridge and Clemons don’t read Brennan Center policy briefs. 


 


Story and video here.

Partisanship at FVAP?

Election Law Center has obtained a many page letter sent to a prominent Senator with oversight authority over the Pentagon’s FVAP.  It notes that FVAP is now tainted by a partisan slant which may manifest itself in either lackadaisical mission execution this fall, or worse, outright partisan shenanigans.  We will report more on this once we have more details, but a portion of the letter is below:

“Mr. McGuire, who is a self described political hack, served as a political appointee, Deputy Secretary of State, for six years in Oregon, and notably promised Al Gore in 2000, “I will deliver you the State of Oregon.”  Mr. McGuire’s background would not be an issue if FVAP were successful and in compliance with the MOVE Act. Under the previous Director, Bob Carey, who hired Mr. McGuire, FVAP was run with an iron fist.  Mr. Carey insisted on a strict chain of command. . . . . There has been an utter lack of leadership at FVAP, as I stated, since inception.”

“Souls to the Polls” Rejected

The Section 5 fight over early voting in Florida has ended.  Florida will no longer have Sunday voting but will keep the same number of early voting hours.  After a federal court indicated that is a non-discriminatory change, the DOJ quietly precleared the changes that the NAACP spent so much money in a failed effort trying to stop.  Al Sharpton held rallies. Jim Crow was said to have returned.

But the federal court was having none of it.  The court rejected the central argument of the NAACP – souls to the polls.  The court held that Sunday has no special place in Section 5 jurisprudence.  Souls to the polls was not a credible theory under Section 5. 

There is no telling how much money the NAACP spent in donor money on this failed theory.  Too bad they can’t use it for rides and gas and vans and get souls to the polls Monday to Saturday.

Anoter Reason for Voter ID: Wendy Rosen and Double Voting

The Baltimore Sun today claims that Voter ID wouldn’t have stopped Maryland political candidate Wendy Rose from voting twice.  Rosen is the Maryland congressional candidate registered in both Florida and Maryland, and who voted twice in the same federal elections.  (Paging Eric Holder, get to Baltimore, stat).  It might be true that the requirement to show ID would not have prevented her from voting.  But it is also true that a Voter ID requirement would make it easier to prosecute Rosen.

A defense to double voting might be – “the person who voted wasn’t me!  They had to have been an imposter.”  A jury might be persuaded by this defense, but not if there is a voter ID requirement.  If there is a voter ID requirement, an election official could testify to the jury that such a requirement exists.  They could testify that nobody is allowed to vote unless the photo id matches the registration information.  In fact, in Florida, the election officials have sophisticated photo ID readers at check in some (perhaps all?) counties that is linked into the DMV database. 

If Eric Holder ever gets around to prosecuting Wendy Rosen for violating federal law, if she was double voting in states with voter ID laws, she’d have no way out.