Author Archives: ELECTIONLAWCENTER.COM
Redistricting mistakes blamed for Dem loss of Virginia Senate
At Blue Virginia, their post-mortem “Six Keys to a Devastating Defeat” notes: “The biggest strategic mistakes Virginia Democratic leaders made in 2011 were their adoption of a flawed, hyper-partisan Senate redistricting plan combined with very poor candidate recruitment for both the Senate and House of Delegates.”
The Democrats in the Virginia Senate were in the majority and drew the plan specifically to their liking.
Obomination: How Obama’s federal agencies are disenfranchising military voters
At RNLA Blogs:
Today we celebrate Veterans Day, which was first proclaimed in 1954 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Yesterday was the 236th birthday of the United States Marine Corps. Tuesday was Election Day. This week, it’s important to ask: “How have we treated our military voters?” The answer is not something to be happy about. According to the Federal Voting Assistance Program, over 112,000 military voters never received their absentee ballot this year.
U.S. Navy Commander Eric Eversole, an RNLA member and JAG officer who served on active duty from 1999 until 2001, spoke in Houston on Monday about the horrible way agencies have been treating military voters. Eversole worked as an attorney in the Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, and is now executive director of the Military Voter Protection Project. His dedication to protecting military voting rights started when he first served as a unit voting assistance officer.
In the 2010 elections, 14 states, including New York, Maryland and Illinois, failed to meet the deadline to have absentee ballots to military voters at least 45 days ahead of time. Eversole noted, “The one provision that was supposed to increase was not implemented by Department of Defense until two weeks after the 2010 election and is still not implemented.”
Eversole called military voting a “second class issue” of the Department of Justice and criticized the Department of Defense for not implementing military voting rights laws consistently. Unfortunately, Obama has not made military voting a priority for his administration, and thus his agencies do not follow through either.
President Obama issued a
proclamation for Veterans Day “[w]ith respect for and in recognition of the
contributions our service members have made.”
What better way to show our respect and recognition than by making
protecting the rights of military voters a priority?
CNN: Controversy over voting rules and security focus primarily on Photo ID requirements
CNN blogs on photo identification election requirements and Heritage Scholar Hans Von Spakovsky points to the bipartisan report by the Commission on Federal Election Reform for support of the law. While the left-leaning media often provide a platform to the minority that are radically opposed to photo identification, they rarely bring up that the Supreme Court majority and the bipartisan Commission endorsed the idea as an necessary improvement in election administration. The media also ignores the fact that the Department of Justice has already established precedent by the preclearance approval of various other ID laws in states and are now intent on simply ignoring the law and this precedent. As they conform to the political dictates of the Obama Administration, DOJ is looking for ways to delay and object to these new photo ID laws.
Von Spakovsky cited the 2005 report by the Commission on Federal Election Reform,
headed by former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State
James Baker, which said, “The electoral system cannot inspire public
confidence if no safeguards exist to deter or detect fraud or to confirm
the identity of voters. Photo IDs currently are needed to board a
plane, enter federal buildings, and cash a check. Voting is equally
important.”
Before photo identification was deemed by the Left to be a return to Jim
Crow discrimination laws and outright suppression of minority voters, the Commission on Federal Election Reform recommended a Real ID photo ID card for voter identification. The Commission report suggested
that the outreach and education process of providing these free ID’s would actually enfranchise more
voters. This sounds like a familiar argument and accurately reflects the increase in turnout found in Georgia and Indiana. Ultimately, the Supreme
Court cited to this bipartisan report in much of its analysis upholding
the constitutionality of the Indiana photo identification law.
NAACP rally for accused voter fraud criminals
Reposted from PJ Media Rule of Law. The civil rights industry madness is happening again, this time in Florida. A voter fraud sweep in Madison County Florida caught widespread absentee ballot fraud, aided allegedly by the Madison County Supervisor of Elections to the benefit of an arrested school board member. (details and perp shots here.) Instead of shame, the “civil rights” activists in the community held an obscene and disgusting rally in support of the accused. Also appearing was the local president of the NAACP to support the accused. He reports that the Florida state president of the NAACP “have their eyes on the situation. That is a warning. They don’t like what has happened just like you don’t like what has happened.” The video must be seen to be believed. All the corrupt rot of the modern civil rights industry is on full display. The rally begins by singing revered hymns such as “We Shall Overcome.” The speakers claim the accused were arrested because of “racism.” Like the German Army belt buckle, the speaker says the accused will be victorious “because God is on our side.” The bloody shirt is waved – “they thought they forever would be in charge.” The criminal accusations are “nothing but mud thrown on the wall,” followed by a disturbing call and response evidencing genuine lawlessness beyond just the speakers. Madison County Florida isn’t the first time that voter fraud criminals have been arrested and a rally resembling a civil rights protest follows. In my book Injustice, I describe how the modern civil rights industry has become an intellectual smokescreen for criminal activity, particularly voter fraud. In one Alabama county, multiple people were arrested for voter fraud. The reaction among the “civil rights” leadership in the community? Exactly like Madison County, Florida. Behold from Injustice: As the investigation wrapped up, Attorney General King described “a systemic problem of corruption” in Hale. “It is a culture problem, an elite believing they have the right to decide who holds office,” he declared. Eventually three women active in the all-black political faction would face justice. Two of them, Valada Paige Banks (who had previously been convicted of welfare fraud) and Rosie Lyles, were indicted on multiple felony voter fraud counts in August 2007. In a stunning display of racial solidarity, more than 200 people, almost all black, packed their arraignment hearing and loudly applauded when not guilty pleas were entered. In a corrupt appropriation of the moral authority of the civil rights movement, they wore t-shirts that said, “Greensboro 2: Injustice Anywhere is a Threat to Justice Everywhere.” Outside the courthouse, supporters held hands in a huge circle, sang songs from the civil rights movement, and prayed for the defendants’ legal deliverance. See the pattern? Bear in mind, the Justice Department turned a blind eye toward the illegal conduct for years because the DOJ attorney on the case explicitly refused to investigate wrong doing by black criminals in Alabama as I describe in my book. [Our many fans who read ELC from USDOJ.gov servers know precisely of whom I write.] In Alabama, they called them the Greensboro 2, and they all eventually entered guilty pleas. At the rally in Florida, they are the “Madison 10.” Make sure you watch the whole video to where the crowd breaks out in “Go Tell it on the Mountain.” So when voter fraud deniers like Justin Levitt, Tova Wang or Jon Greenbaum attack efforts to ensure the integrity of American elections, never forget the lengths that their ilk will attempt to appropriate the noble orgins of the civil rights movement to advance their rotted cause.
Deceased and non-citizens on the voting rolls prompt review by New Mexico Secretary of State
here and here In a letter to county clerks last week, Duran said her office is trying to determine why an automated program isn’t working properly to match voter registration information with monthly lists of deaths from the state’s vital records office. Ortiz said it’s possible the coding of the death records is causing problems. Duran said the state can’t purge its voter registration files of inactive voters this year or in 2013 because her predecessor didn’t follow procedures that allow for that under federal law, such as sending out notices to determine whether a voter’s address remains valid.
A review of election records has found 641 dead New Mexicans remain on voter registration rolls, a top official in the secretary of state’s office said Wednesday. That information will be part of a report to the Legislature on preliminary findings of a review of voter registration records, said Ken Ortiz, chief of staff for Secretary of State Dianna Duran. The report may be released as early as Thursday. He said the office hasn’t been able to determine if any ballots were cast using the names of dead voters because it is still trying to get the dates of deaths.
and this:
Duran’s office has been examining voter files, including checking that against personal information in driver’s license and Social Security records. Ortiz said that review continues and the report to lawmakers will provide an “update of where we are at, what we’ve been able to identify and what we are working on.”
Duran also said that some New Mexicans are being asked to complete new registration applications because of possible irregularities in their voter information. That includes possible errors on names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers, according to Ortiz.
Denise Lamb, who runs the elections bureau in Santa Fe County and is a former state elections director, said county elections officials check death notices published in local newspapers to try to update voter files.
Ohio Poll worker who head-butted and tried to bite voter’s nose off surrenders to authorities
update here. A poll worker suspected of trying to bite off the nose of a voter during an Election Day argument surrendered to sheriff’s deputies on Wednesday. James N. Williams turned himself in at the Justice Center, which houses police headquarters and the courts, and was jailed to await possible charges, police spokesman Sgt. Sammy Morris said. The case was investigated as a suspected felonious assault. Williams, 53, is accused of trying to bite off the nose of a voter who helped a campaign volunteer in an argument over signs posted near a Cleveland polling place on Tuesday. The head-butting and nose-biting landed voter Greg Flanagan, 49, in a hospital for treatment, authorities said, and he was still feeling dizzy hours after his release.
Christie blames redistricting for GOP’s failure to gain in New Jersey Legislature
At the link, an example of legislated gerrymandered stalemate.
The GOP actually lost a seat in the Assembly to redistricting, one held by Dominick DiCicco (R-Gloucester), a one-term lawmaker who grabbed a spot usually held by a Democrat two years ago.
The Democrats now control the Assembly 48 to 32 and their majority in the Senate is unchanged at 24 to 16.
Addressing reporters in Newton Wednesday, the governor said, “The fact is, they won one seat that they really won back in April,” Christie said. “The map pretty much did what we thought the map would do… I was no guarantor of results here.”
“There were no competitive races last night – none,” he said.
Exclusive Breaking: Michigan Bypasses DOJ on Redistricting
Here is the complaint. I have learned from the Michigan Secretary of State’s office that Michigan has joined the list of states bypassing the Eric Holder Justice Department and is filing Michigan’s redistricting plan with the United States District Court in D.C. Smart move. The Justice Department has exhibited profound bias in the enforcement of federal voting law – which of course I cover in detail in Injustice. Columnists at PJ Media have been calling for states to bypass DOJ. Arizona, Alabama, Texas, North Carolina, and Georgia have all gone to federal court instead of giving the bureaucrats inside the DOJ power to approve or reject their new redistricting plans under the Voting Rights Act. Michigan is the first northern state to bypass DOJ. The reason states are bypassing the Holder Justice Department is the Holders Justice Department’s reputation for Civil Rights Division overreach. Left wing academics sought unsuccessfully to scare states off of pursuing the option of federal court, but those efforts have failed. The Justice Department has a history of court sanctions and fines when it comes to bad behavior in redistricting. States want neutral judges instead of partisan Voting Section bureaucrats deciding these issues.
Reposted from PJ Tatler.
NAACP, Unions, La Raza intend nationwide protests over Voter ID laws
At the link, groups ranging from the Urban league, teacher and health care unions and Hispanic activist groups intend to bus in 10,000 members to the Mid-Atlantic region to protest voter ID laws. The protests will culminate in a “day of action” on December 10, 2012 at the United Nations on international human rights day.
The NAACP is joining with minority and labor groups for a series of protests around the country meant to move discussion of voter identification laws out of policy circles and onto street corners, the organization’s president said Tuesday.
Benjamin Todd Jealous appeared on the steps of New York City Hall with the Rev. Al Sharpton, U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel and community and labor leaders to announce plans for nationwide protests on Dec. 10 and across the South in the following weeks, decrying what they described as a nationwide voter suppression effort.