« previous | TPM CAFÉ READER POSTS HOME | next »
Voter suppression: SC
I'm a volunteer for the Democratic effort in Charleston SC and am hearing that the State Election Commission is instituting a new rule and not publicizing it. They are taking all voters who haven't voted in the past 2 years off the active voter roles, requiring them to bring extra documents proving their legal residence to the polls.
A new development today: we've heard from the State Elections Commission that they've sent out postcards to those who haven't voted in the past two years requiring them to return the postcard confirming their residence or else removing them from the roles. As you can see below, if they show up (even with a voter registration card and ID) the poll worker has to phone the Election Commission before voting is permitted. This is not being publicized.
Comments (5)
My understaning is that this is 'caging' and is being done randomnly all over the place. Try to write something about it. Letters to the editors... local media. Call Local News stations... they might cover it as part of their election coverage to let people know that it's happening. If we can't stop something from happening we can only jump through the hoops and try to win regardless. I always ask everyone to check their voter registration and make sure that it is valid. It is a sad trick when they do this caging thing though. We can pass it on word of mouth but what is the 'proof' they will need to bring?
October 3, 2008 1:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
An important thing you can do about this is to report it to The National Campaign for Fair Elections. It is a program of the Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights under Law that is non-partisan and has run nationwide voter protection programs in past elections. The link to the page of their web site where one can report voting problems is http://www.866ourvote.org/.
The Obama campaign is setting up its own voter protection program using volunteer lawyers, law students, & others, but I don't think they are as far along or as experienced as the NCFE. (I worked on the NCFE program in 2004, and it was really well organized and supported.)
October 3, 2008 2:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks! I did contact the NCFE. Local media are also being contacted.
October 3, 2008 3:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey, I found some more broad voter supression info. Please see my blog. I wrote it Fri. evening so I may need to repost if it gets buried too fast but it includes a link to a couple of sources... I learned quite a bit and I am looking all sorts of actions I might take. As I said, I hope you will take a look at my blog:
Voter Supression Amped Up! We Need To Make Some Noise!
October 4, 2008 1:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
Here is the link to my blog:
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/10/voter-supression-amped-up-we-n.php
and www.stealbackyourvote.org
may be another resource that might be interested in hearing from you.
October 4, 2008 3:19 AM | Reply | Permalink
Post a Comment