New York

Cross-posted at Project Vote's Voting Matter's Blog

Weekly Voting Rights News Update

By Erin Ferns

Partisan political operatives in Michigan are taking voter caging operations to depths that would surprise even the most cynical observers of American elections. If their plans are put into action, thousands of Michigan foreclosure victims may find that they will not only have lost their homes this year, but also their vote.

Operatives in the closely contested state, which is home to thousands of homeowners facing foreclosure, are “gearing up for a comprehensive voter challenge campaign,” according to Eartha Jane Melzer of the Michigan Messenger Wednesday. The state allows parties to send election challengers to polls to challenge the eligibility of voters if they “have good reason to believe” a voter is ineligible. In this case, the GOP of Macomb County—a “key swing county” with a foreclosure rate in the top three percent in the nation—has announced plans to challenge the voting eligibility of foreclosure victims based on residency.

“We will have a list of foreclosed homes and will make sure people aren’t voting from those addresses,” Macomb County GOP chairman James Carabelli told the Messenger.

J. Gerald Herbert, a former voting rights litigator for the U.S. Justice Department, questions what he calls a “mean-spirited” and possibly legally-baseless tactic: “You can't challenge people without a factual basis for doing so...I don't think a foreclosure notice is sufficient basis for a challenge, because people often remain in their homes after foreclosure begins and sometimes are able to negotiate and refinance.”

Teresa James, attorney for Project Vote, agrees. In a statement released today, James explains that Michigan law allows challenges at the polls only if the challenger “knows or has good reason to suspect” a voter is ineligible. According to James, the Michigan Secretary of State has clarified this to require that challenges should be based on “reliable sources or means.”

“Republican challengers with only a list of foreclosure notices will have NO evidence or reliable source to suggest that eligible voters have moved and are no longer eligible to vote,” says James.

“The Macomb County party's plans to challenge voters who have defaulted on their house payments is likely to disproportionately affect African-Americans who are overwhelmingly Democratic voters,” Melzer writes. “More than 60 percent of all sub-prime loans – the most likely kind of loan to go into default – were made to African-Americans in Michigan...”

Melzer points out that Republican presidential candidate John McCain's regional headquarters is in the office of the state's largest foreclosure law firm, Trott & Trott, whose founder has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the campaign. McCain “stands to benefit from the burgeoning number of foreclosures in the state,” Melzer writes.

“At a minimum, what you are seeing is a fairly comprehensive effort by the Republican Party, a systemic broad-based effort to put up obstacles for people to vote,” says Herbert. “When you are comprehensively challenging people to vote, your goals are two-fold: One is you are trying to knock people out from casting ballots; the other is to create a slowdown that will discourage others.” This type of disruption would be expected in areas with high foreclosure rates, particularly the Detroit metropolitan, where one in every 176 households received foreclosure filings during the month of July, according to Melzer.

“You would think [the Macomb GOP] would think, 'This is going to look too heartless,'” says David Lagstein, head organizer for Michigan ACORN, which has registered 200,000 new voters statewide and provides foreclosure-avoidance assistance.

“The Republican-led state Senate has not moved on the anti-predatory lending bill for over a year and yet have time to prey on those who have fallen victim to foreclosure to suppress the vote,” Lagstein says.

Michigan is not the only swing state at the risk of voter caging issues this election. At the urging of Project Vote and other voting rights advocates, Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner recently issued a binding directive to all county election boards, instructing them that parts of the state's challenge laws in relation to residency challenges based only on returned mail were unconstitutional. It is unclear, however, whether Brunner’s directive will prevent partisans from filing frivolous challenges anyway, which—however baseless—could have a chilling effect on voter turnout. And the Michigan Messenger reports that Franklin County, Ohio director of elections Doug Preisse and the chair of the local GOP have said they do not rule out challenging voters before the election due to foreclosure-related address issues.

In Project Vote’s statement, Teresa James says “The GOP’s plan is a cynical partisan attempt to suppress the vote of thousands of low-income and African-American voters, a replay of the 2004 threats of mass challenges...In America you get to vote even if you’re behind on your bills. All Americans—particularly those members of the community hit hardest by the economic crisis—deserve a voice and a vote on Election Day.”

Quick Links:

“Voter Caging.” Project Vote.

James, Teresa. “Caging Democracy: A 50-Year History of Partisan Challenges to Minority Voters.” Project Vote. September 2007.

In Other News:

'No-Match, No-Vote' Law Draws Criticism - Associated Press
TALLAHASSEE - Advocacy groups predicted Wednesday that thousands of people, mostly the poor and minorities, will be denied the right to vote through no fault of their own under a new Florida voter registration law.

Can young people actually make a difference this year? - Slate
In 2004, the "youth vote" was supposed to break all records. It did and it didn't-but either way, it didn't make a difference for John Kerry, even though he won 54 percent of voters under 29. So it is with this year's youth vote: Even if it exceeds that of four years ago-Barack Obama currently commands about 60 percent of the under-29 cohort-it will be nearly impossible to say whether it made a difference.

ACLU launches campaign to get former prisoners to register to vote – Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin [N.Y.]
ALBANY -- The New York Civil Liberties Union today kicked off a six-week campaign to educate county election boards and former prisoners on the voting rights of convicted felons.

Erin Ferns is a Research and Policy Analyst with Project Vote’s Strategic Writing and Research Department (SWORD).

Despite my unhealthy addiction to politics, and my fondness for pushing local groups like those that compose The Bus Federation, most of what I do is at the national level, and I know precious little about my local politics. I live in Brooklyn and what little I do know boils down to this:

• NY has one of the most gridlocked state legislatures in the country.
• Most people seem to think this is due to the fact that obstructionist Republicans control the legislature, and lazy, incumbent Democrats do a poor job organizing against them.
• The system is rigged to maintain this dynamic, which has been unchanged for about as long as I've had even an inkling of an interest in politics.
• NY has an interesting system for third parties that actually works, but it hasn't been enough to alter the fundamental dynamic in Albany.

All that makes it a bit hard to get motivated about local politics in NY (for me at least). Three men in a room and all that. Mostly what I do at the ballot box is vote for the "lefty" candidate using the Working Families party line (that's NY's major third party). Usually WFP endorses the Democrat in the race and the vote is tabulated in such a way that ticking the WFP line gives them political leverage without siphoning votes away from the Democrat in the race. There are no Nader/Florida upsets here in New York.

All that (gridlock) may be about to change. For the first time in a long time, the Democrats have a chance to take over the State Senate and break the gridlock. Friends of mine who are much more involved locally tell me that this is causing a lot of fresh young faces to come out of the woodwork to bring in not just more Democrats, but better Democrats and toss out some of the dead wood incumbents so that when we take the chamber, actual progressive policy can get through.

Turns out that all of this is happening in my backyard. Literally. Last night I attended a meet and greet for Daniel Squadron, a 28 year old former staffer for Chuck Schumer who is running a primary challenge to my state senator, Martin Conner. Conner is a 30 year incumbent (in office before Squadron was even born) and former Democratic Leader. From what I hear, he's not a terrible Senator, but he hasn't done all that much in recent years for the district or the party. Squadron is looking to replace him.

To do that, he says he needs to pull in 10,000 votes for the Primary in September. That sounds doable in a district that encompasses almost all of Manhattan below Houston St., Downtown Brooklyn through Cobble Hill and into Red Hook, and a tiny sliver of Williamsburg where they are building all the new condos by the waterfront.

These are young neighborhoods, and there's a lot of potential for youth in the community to get out those votes - as well as a number of students in the district from universities like Pace and Brooklyn Law. The primary is only a short few weeks away, though, and a vast majority of people probably don't even know there is a primary. That seems to be one of the biggest hurdles - turnout. Making sure people know when to vote. I was just on the Squadron site, and didn't see any info about when the primary was taking place. If I were running that web site, there would be a big button announcing it or a big clock counting down the minutes. I'd also try to hook it up with MoveOn's Vote Poke as a way to register and remind folks about the primary. There's also a ton of work you could do at local bars . . .

During his talk, Squadron described the race as being between a young turk and an old bull. Conner has the backing of a lot of incumbents, but Squadron has a few key endorsement as well so he's competitive. A lot could be done to create buzz around that dynamic in the neighborhoods of DUMBO, Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill and Carol Gardens . . .

Anyway, I won't armchair quarterback them anymore this late in the game. It's exciting to have something interesting happening at the local level in my community. Doubly so that it's such a young candidate making things happen. Squadron's got my vote.

Crossposted from Rock the Vote's Rock the Trail

I know we're working on getting Jon set up for a possible liveblog on Future Majority, but I thought I'd post my latest blog post at RTV about him from an interview I did at NN08.

Thirty year old Jon Powers never anticipated running for office, but after his military service in Iraq he knew that he needed to do something more. So, he started a non-profit that aimed to help keep kids from turning to extremist groups.

"War Kids Relief worked with Iraqi ministers to develop programs for the Iraqis to implement. It provided needed research on the state of Iraqi youth. It brought Iraqi youth to the attention of a Washington devoted solely to military tactics.

War Kids Relief worked to prevent a future generation of terrorists from growing in Iraq. It briefed Marine commanders on counterterrorism and the importance of engaging Iraqi youth." According to the site.

But Powers didn't stop there. He decided to run for Congress to continue his efforts to give back. One reason his site says he is running hit home with me. Evidently not all of New York is Manhattan or the Hamptons. Indeed there are many parts of New York that are just as rural as parts of Kansas and Oklahoma. Powers says that in his travels throughout Western New York he has met "folks who are worried that their sons and daughters are leaving the area because there are not enough job opportunities." Those are definitely tough issues that both parties work to navigate here in my home state.

Powers approaches issues in much the same way as people do around here. His enthusiasm as a young candidate brings something unique to the table. I caught up with him making care packages to send overseas to the soldiers as part of the Netroots for the Troops program.

My second guest post at TPM Cafe is now live - The Conservative Youth Factory. Go check it out.

While you are waiting for today's returns to come in, check out these quick hits.

• At The Albany Project, Phillip Anderson lets us know about two youthful primary challengers to New York State Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver.
• Marc Ambinder lets us know that Hillary Clinton appeared on the Daily Show last night.
• The College Republicans have launched a new website (that looks half decent). The blog seems to consist of repetitive bad puns about Barack Obama's name. Go join THE STORM!
• Rock the Vote alerts me to the fact that Larry King recently ran segments on the youth vote featuring Josh Groban and Wyclef Jean. Why is it that singers who are older than me (Wyclef) or appeal to my mother (Groban) get to speak for my generation? (Not to look a gift-horse in the mouth - celebrity involvement is better than no involvement, and this is really a critique of Larry King, not Rock the Vote, Groban or Wyclef).

Nekpen Osuan was a member of the inaugural class of DMI Scholars.

I am truly excited about the upcoming Presidential election, especially because it seems that the vote of young voters will prove to be a significant voice in selecting the best candidate - the best years are definitely ahead of us and it seems more young Progressives want to grab life by the horns. NO more waiting for the world to change, we are instead, being the change we wish to see in the world. Last summer I had the wonderful opportunity to learn more about politics and public policy, meet elected officials along with other college progressives in the wonderful city of New York. Each day was filled with exploration of power and strategies necessary for effective and sustainable public policy. The coursework and guest speakers gave maturity to my knowledge and understanding of the progressive movement I see shaping the world around me. I also enjoyed the opportunity to meet with other progressive
leaders and students looking to shape our country to the very best it can be. What is this amazing opportunity I speak of? Please consider this a personal invitation to apply to the DMI Scholars Program.

The DMI Scholars program trains progressive college activists from across the country for the public policy field. The networking opportunities and training sessions remain vividly in my mind as the most intense two weeks of my life! It was a rare opportunity to explore and challenge my ideas of what it means to be progressive among other phenomenal student leaders. At the same time, we got to visit and mingle with New York leaders from all walks of policy careers. It made me, without a doubt, more prepared to be a change agent.

MARK YOUR CALENDER - the application deadline is fast-approaching on Sunday, January 27, you can go to www.dmischolars.org for more information, or visit the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy Scholars page on Facebook.