US - Vote Suppression in 2006: Rule Changes Threaten to Disenfranchise Hundreds of Thousands of Eligible Voters

Tuesday, October 31st, 2006 - Democracy Now! News Program - It is not just electronic voting machines that are raising concern. Experts say that new computerized voter lists and new rules regarding voter registration and ID requirements have the potential to disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of voters.

The Brennan Center for Justice has a new report detailing the ways in which the vote could be suppressed in several states next week.

In an Op-Ed published in the New York Times on Monday, they write that some of the changes were "engineered by mischievous partisans who have passed laws and rules that would block many eligible citizens from voting."

AMY GOODMAN: Wendy Weiser is the Deputy Director of the Democracy Program at Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School. She joins us in our firehouse studio.

WENDY WEISER: Thank you.

AMY GOODMAN: Talk about this study and the states and what they’re finding.

WENDY WEISER: Well, unfortunately, over the past two years, we have seen a host of new rules being passed in states across the country that will actually make it a lot harder for many citizens to vote. In some cases, it’s creating a virtual obstacle course for voters. For example, one new set of rules that we’ve seen is, in response to the record increases in voter registration in 2004, with the assistance of nonpartisan voter registration groups, a number of states passed laws that actually, rather than praising the groups, crack down on their activities and expose them to criminal sanctions for often very harmless mistakes or things that make no difference to the integrity of the elections.

AMY GOODMAN: Give us examples.

WENDY WEISER: Well, for example, in Ohio, the state had a rule that would have subjected volunteers to criminal penalties if they turned in voter registration forms they collected to the supervisor of a voter registration drive to turn in, rather than personally going to the elections office themselves to turn in the voter registration forms. And that would have been a criminal penalty for civic volunteer activity.

AMY GOODMAN: And who passes this?

WENDY WEISER: Well, it’s been passed by legislatures. In some cases, it’s rules developed by secretaries of states. And it’s really having a chilling effect on voter registration drives, and other rules are having a chilling effect on a lot of voters, as well.

AMY GOODMAN: How about Pennsylvania?

WENDY WEISER: Well, in Pennsylvania there was an effort to push a serious photo ID requirement that actually was rebuffed and, in fact, was vetoed, and so Pennsylvania was saved from that onerous burden that now exists in other states, most notably Indiana. A number of courts have actually found that this is unconstitutional.

AMY GOODMAN: Why?

WENDY WEISER: Well, for a number of reasons. First, the kinds of IDs that these laws are requiring, it’s a very limited form of ID. It’s not just show who you are, who you say you are. It’s actually — you have to have one specific form of document that many citizens don’t have and that also costs money. So courts say that it’s been an unconstitutional burden on the right to vote, and it’s a poll tax. Some of these documents could cost up to $45. For proof of citizenship, naturalized citizen papers could cost over $200.

AMY GOODMAN: Colorado?

WENDY WEISER: Colorado has passed some serious voter registration restrictions that have made it very hard for voter registration groups to register voters.

AMY GOODMAN: How?

WENDY WEISER: Well, for example, it’s a criminal penalty to use the federally approved voter registration form instead of the form that — a special form that the Secretary of State approved. And they have other restrictions, like —

AMY GOODMAN: It’s a crime to use a federally approved form?

WENDY WEISER: That’s right. This is — the courts have not considered this yet, but under the new law, if you want to do a voter registration drive, you have to use a special form developed by the Secretary of State for voter registration drives, not the universal form that has been approved by the federal government for use nationwide.

AMY GOODMAN: Florida?

WENDY WEISER: Florida has had a host of new restrictions. They, too, have cracked down on voter registration drives, so much so that the League of Women Voters of Florida was forced to actually shut down their voter registration drives for the first time in 70 years. They have some new onerous ID requirements. Florida citizens should know that they’re actually — their ballots should count, even if they don’t have photo ID, if their signature matches the signature on the voter registration form. Unfortunately, the Secretary of State has not made this clear, and there’s at lot of confusion. So a lot of Floridians that’s don’t have photo IDs — and a lot of elderly voters, for example, don’t have driver’s licenses — you know, might end up disenfranchised, even though their vote should count under Florida law.

AMY GOODMAN: And is that only Florida, the issue of signatures?

WENDY WEISER: The issue of signature matching is something that is used in a variety of states as an alternative to identification requirements, and Florida is unique in that it has a photo identification requirement, which could be overcome by voters if their signatures match.

AMY GOODMAN: South Dakota?

WENDY WEISER: South Dakota is one of the few states that actually have passed a really serious barrier to voting, using their new computerized statewide voter registration lists. And what South Dakota is doing is it’s requiring the information on your voter registration application to match exactly, through a computer match process, information on other lists, like driver’s license or Social Security lists. And while that might sound reasonable, in reality up to 20% or 30% of eligible voters might not match, because these processes don’t work well. Typos, other maiden names, a lot of common glitches mean that eligible voters will not match and will be excluded from the voter registration list for no good reason.

AMY GOODMAN: Texas?

WENDY WEISER: Texas has that exact same rule. We understand that they are reconsidering it, but a lot of voters have been barred from the rolls because of that rule, as well.

AMY GOODMAN: What’s happening in Arizona?

WENDY WEISER: Arizona recently passed a very onerous identification requirement, and in particular they’re requiring citizens to provide proof of citizenship in order to register to vote. And many citizens register to vote online. Proof of citizenship is something that a lot of people don’t have, even when they think they have it. To have a valid birth certificate or a passport, which only 25% or 27% of citizens have, is something that not a lot of people can do. And this has already had a significant effect. The state’s largest counties earlier reported that they were rejecting up to 17% of registrations. Something like 22,000 of people that tried to register to vote this year were turned away. So it’s had a real serious impact in keeping registration rates down.

This interview was broadcasted during Democracy Now! TV News Program. The text published here is a rush transcript.

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