[Vision2020] 'Fraud' vs. 'Suppression'

[Chasuk]

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1008/Fraud_vs_Suppression.html?showall

The campaigns are sparring today over voter fraud and voter
suppression, with the McCain camp demanding that David Plouffe respond
to a letter proposing cooperation against "voter fraud" and the Obama
campaign saying he already wrote back (after the jump) in a letter
that raises fears about "suppression."

One thing to keep in mind as this fight continues over the next three
weeks: This sparring is ritualistic, and automatic. Republicans always
raise the fears of voting fraud, though there has yet to be evidence
of double voting. Democrats always raise fears of voter suppression
(as the Obama campaign did in the primary as well). Anecdotes of both
— ACORN's registration mess; a contested report in Michigan about
challenging voters who lost their homes — are wildly overblown.

What matters more than these media wars, though, is what's going on on
the ground: How many voters the Obama campaign has identified and
registered; and whether the Republican rhetoric about ACORN has been
matched by a large-scale legal effort to challenge new registrations
or disqualify masses of Democratic voters.

So far, it's been all talk — which could frame a recount battle or
raise doubts about a close outcome, but which isn't likely to affect
vote totals.

UPDATE: On the reality side, the Times report on what appears to be
illegal trimming of registration lists in some swing states is a real
story, though not what either campaign is talking about today.

ALSO: Obama counsel Bob Bauer downplayed the importance of the Times
story on a campaign conference call. "We are very confident that
election officials are working to solve these problems," he said. "To
the extent that the article left people with the impression that
tthere is a meltdown [that will prevent people from voting], that
would be the wrong belief to take away from that article," he said.

» Continue reading 'Fraud' vs. 'Suppression'

September 23, 2008



Honorable John C. Danforth

Honorable Warren B. Rudman

McCain-Palin 2008

P.O. Box 16118

Arlington , VA 22215



Dear Senator Danforth and Senator Rudman:



We have received your letter of September 15, 2008, informing us of
the formation of what you call the "Honest and Open Election
Committee" by the McCain-Palin Campaign.



However attractively labeled, this seems a starkly political maneuver
to deflect attention from the reality of the suppression strategies
pursued by national, state and Republican party committees. This has
been the shameful history of the party from the Goldwater "Operation
Eagle Eye" program to the present day—a history replete with instances
of systematically planned and executed programs to block access to the
vote for targeted communities of voters.



In 2004, the Republican Party, on the eve of the general election,
mounted challenges to tens of thousands of voters in Nevada, Ohio and
Wisconsin based on "caging lists," that is, lists of returned mailers
or based on similar information providing no legitimate grounds
whatsoever for such challenges. None of these challenges, to our
knowledge, was upheld and accusations of voter fraud by national
Republican Party leaders were proven utterly baseless.



Now, in 2008, the Republican Party again appears determined to engage
in tactics and strategies to deny the right to vote to qualified
citizens:



· In Michigan, the chairman of Macomb County Republican Party has
threatened to use lists of persons whose homes have been foreclosed to
challenge those persons at the polls. Only after public exposure, did
he deny that this was the plan for Macomb County, and this matter is
now before the federal district court for the Eastern District of
Michigan.



· In Florida, the RNC has mailed non-forwardable letters to Democratic
voters asking them to "confirm" their party affiliation as
Republican—thereby raising doubts about their registration status and
creating the basis for possible challenge lists. Even top Republican
election officials in Florida, including the Secretary of State, have
publicly condemned this tactic.



· In Wisconsin, the Republican Attorney General, who serves as
co-chair of the McCain-Palin campaign in the state, has filed suit
challenging the refusal of the state's own election administration
authorities to throw thousands of voters off the rolls based on
dubious and impractical matches of identifying information.



· In Ohio, Republicans are challenging the decision of the Secretary
of State to allow first-time voters to obtain an absentee ballot at
the time they register even though the law clearly affords this right.



Manifestly, the confusion, uncertainty, deprivations of rights and
interference with efficient election administration created by these
tactics, and similar ones that the Republican Party has used in recent
election cycles, cannot be effectively addressed by the creation late
in the day of "committees" with gloriously self-serving names. Rather,
the best way to address them is for responsible Republican leaders
like both of you to speak out, loudly and forcefully, to condemn these
tactics, to insist that they be shut down once and for all and then to
make sure that they are.



This is what we would hope that you could accomplish. If your concern
truly lies with 'Honest and Open Elections", then your work is
properly and effectively begins at home--with the Republican
operatives who are planning and running these suppressive programs and
who are being directed in these activities by the same national McCain
and party leadership that recruited you to this "Committee".







Sincerely yours,





David Plouffe,

Campaign Manager, Obama for America