Hearing about the uproar over the voter registration efforts by the Association for Community Organizations for Reform Now, i.e. ACORN, made me just a little more ‘fearful for the republic’ as they say. Republicans allege that ACORN is engaged in voter fraud. There has been no proof of any systematic effort of this by ACORN. In some states there have been registration cards turned in with Mickey Mouse or the starting line for the Dallas Cowboys as new voter names, and since most every state they are required to turn in all computed applications, ACORN workers flag such cards.
The Constitution, along with the other supporting amendments, says that if you are 18, a U.S. citizen, and not declared mentally incompetent (as I might be soon if this election season does not end) you are eligible to vote. Early in our country's history it was not this way, the vote was limited to adult white males who owned property, in other words people who where well off financially. But even now the low income and minorities face disenfranchisement.
Congress did pass the National Voter Registration Act in 1993 that requires states to register voters at the state welfare offices. Many locations it seems are not complying with this law as shown by the numbers of people registering. When the law was first enacted 1995-96, the program registers 2.6 million people. The numbers for 2005-06, last year which data was available, showed only 500,000. Some locations do not have registration forms or trained staff onsite to assist with filling those forms out. You are able to register online or at motor vehicle offices but for lower income people, many do not have cars and or computers, so the welfare offices are often the only opportunity to register.
ACORN holds voter registration drives by going out into the community, either door to door in low and moderate income neighborhoods or at shopping centers, libraries and talking to high school seniors who are of age to vote. ACORN in the Houston area has had no big issues with registrations and the Harris County voter registrar says they have a healthy relationship with ACORN. Any problems that have come up have been minor or have been addressed - sometimes even before the registrar’s office has contacted the group.
Last Friday the U.S. Supreme Court overruled an attempt by Republicans to challenge the validity of 200,000 voter registrations in Ohio. They wanted to force the Ohio Secretary of State to provide county election officials with lists of registrants whose personal information did not exactly match Social Security or driver’s license data. This would leave those voters open to challenges if for example their address had street rather than drive or if a middle initial was on one and not the other yet the rest of the information matched. They might have to vote on a provisional ballot and those ballots are notorious for not being counted.
However now even with the Supreme Court ruling, President Bush forwarded a letter from House Minority Leader John Boehner requesting that the Department of Justice look into if the Ohio state voter rolls comply with the Help America Vote Act passed in 2002 after the 2000 presidential election debacle. Also today five former high ranking DOJ lawyers urged that the DOJ continue to look into ACORN activities. Yet there has been another letter to the DOJ a week ago from SIX former DOJ lawyers to make sure that the investigation does not keep eligible minority voters from the polls because the investigations would have a “chilling effect” (1) on voters.
This all comes down to in my opinion voter suppression on the part of the Republicans as traditionally low – moderate income people, young people and minorities tend to vote for the Democratic party.
(1)Former Justice Officials Press ACORN Investigation
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