FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: PRESS STATEMENT
Friday May 1, 2009
Republican National Committee has quietly filed a motion to dissolve consent decree prohibiting them from practicing voter caging and other voter suppression activities
WASHINGTON, DC – On the eve of the November election, while the focus of the nation and the media were on the next day’s voting, the Republican National Committee (RNC) was quietly moving to ensure that, in future elections, they could benefit from voter caging, voter intimidation, and other dirty practices. On November 3, 2008 the RNC filed a motion to dissolve an existing consent decree that restricts them from engaging in so-called “ballot-security” measures such as sending direct mail to voters for the purposes of compiling challenge lists: a practice known as “voter caging ” that has historically been used to deter thousands of Americans—largely low-income and minority citizens—from voting. A hearing is scheduled on Tuesday, May 5, 2009 at 9:00 A.M. in the U.S. District Court for New Jersey. Today Michael Slater, executive director of Project Vote, issued the following statement in response:
“The consent decree—originally entered in 1982 and modified in 1987—has helped constrain, if not wholly deter, partisan efforts to suppress the vote for almost thirty years. Now the RNC is asking to have its hands untied so they can openly resume these voter challenge and intimidation efforts, despite a continued pattern of attempts to suppress low-income and minority voters.
There is no basis for terminating the consent decree, which prohibits the RNC from engaging in voter suppression and intimidation tactics conducted under the guise of “ballot security” without prior approval from the courts. In fact, the history of GOP “ballot security” efforts—right up through the 2008 election—prove that the consent decree is still a vital protection for minority voters. The unfortunate truth is that the Republican Party has engaged, and continues to engage, in voter suppression tactics wrapped in the guise of fraud prevention.
In the original case that resulted in this consent decree, the RNC in 1981 mailed non-forwardable postcards to predominately Hispanic and African-American districts in New Jersey; the 45,000 cards that were returned were then used to create a “caging list” of voters for the GOP to challenge at the polls. By doing this, the RNC tried to skirt federal law that sets up a procedure to ensure that voter registrations are not erroneously cancelled on a mistaken belief that the voter has moved. The Democratic National Committee sued in DNC v. RNC, and in the resulting consent decree the RNC agreed not to engage in these and similar practices “where the purpose or significant effect of such activities is to deter qualified voters from voting.” Despite the decree, the RNC did the same thing in Louisiana in 1986, causing the case to be reopened and the consent decree amended to require the RNC to get court approval before conducting self-described ballot security programs.
Since that time, however, while the national committee was officially prohibited from cooperating in such activities, efforts by state GOP parties have repeatedly shown that the party’s national agenda of minority voter suppression remains unchanged. In the 2004 presidential election, for example, state Republican parties staged the most egregious and large-scale voter caging program to date, with caging operations that disproportionately targeted minorities in Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Florida, Michigan, Colorado, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Kentucky. Between 2004 and 2006, partisans challenged more than 77,000 American voters in targeted communities. E-mails between state party employees and the RNC suggested close cooperation between the national organization and state parties.
In 2008, only a strong public backlash and rapid response in courts of law prevented the unfounded mass challenges to voters that marred the 2004 election. In Montana, the Republican Party filed challenges against 6,000 voters on the basis of residence in counties that were historically Democratic strongholds. In Michigan, the Obama campaign and three individuals filed suit against the state Republican Party to enjoin the use of foreclosure lists as the basis for mass challenges against voters. The suit was triggered by statements from the Macomb County Republican Party chair that the party intended to challenge any voter who attempted to vote from a foreclosed address. The suit settled with an agreement not to use foreclosure lists as the basis of challenges.
Given the GOP’s long (and recent) history of voter caging, it is imperative that the consent decree remain in effect, and that the RNC not be allowed further license to target minority voters.”
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Today, Project Vote is also releasing an assessment of the GOP’s history of voter caging and suppression efforts from the civil rights era through the 2008 election.
The memo is available here or at www.projectvote.org.
Project Vote is a national nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that promotes voting in historically underrepresented communities. Project Vote takes a leadership role in nationwide voting rights and election administration issues, working through research, legal services, and advocacy to ensure that our constituencies are not prevented from registering and voting.