Honesty in Elections: Obama, Schumer bill would make voter deception, intimidation a federal crime

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT Editorial
Honesty in Elections
Published: January 31, 2007

On Election Day last fall in Maryland, fliers were handed out in black neighborhoods with the heading “Democratic Sample Ballot” and photos of black Democratic leaders — and boxes checked off beside the names of the Republican candidates for senator and governor. They were a blatant attempt to fool black voters into thinking the Republican candidates were endorsed by black Democrats. In Orange County, Calif., 14,000 Latino voters got letters in Spanish saying it was a crime for immigrants to vote in a federal election. It didn’t say that immigrants who are citizens have the right to vote.

Dirty tricks like these turn up every election season, in large part because they are so rarely punished. But two Democratic senators, Barack Obama of Illinois and Charles Schumer of New York, are introducing a bill today that would make deceiving or intimidating voters a federal crime with substantial penalties.

The bill aims at some of the most commonly used deceptive political tactics. It makes it a crime to knowingly tell voters the wrong day for an election. There have been numerous reports of organized efforts to use telephones, leaflets or posters to tell voters, especially in minority areas, not to vote on Election Day because voting has been postponed.

The bill would also criminalize making false claims to voters about who has endorsed a candidate, or wrongly telling people — like immigrants who are registered voters in Orange County — that they cannot vote.

Along with defining these crimes and providing penalties of up to five years’ imprisonment, the bill would require the Justice Department to counteract deceptive election information that has been put out, and to report to Congress after each election on what deceptive practices occurred and what the Justice Department did about them....

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/31/opinion/31wed1.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

[illinoisprogressive]

1. thanks. I knew elections have been something of a cause for obama

Transparency in government and elections are big with him.

[truthisfreedom]

2. Very good. We've needed legislation like this ever since people like Rove were hatched.

Not born. Dude is a vulture.

[tom_paine]

7. While I am always loathe to call people subhuman or "not human"

because that is what Nazis and Busheviks have always said about their enemies, what I will say is that for all appearences, Karl Rove seems incapable of simple human decency of any kind, and is among the most corrupt individuals around.

He may be a human being...he probably is not an alien lizard masquertading as one of us, as in "They Live", but he lacks many of the things which make us human.

[Diane R]

3. But does *'s Executive Order mean he can appoint someone to make decisions on Federal elections?

Has bush effectively blocked any voter reforms with the Executive Order that he signed this past month giving himself control of regulatory agencies?

[Cobalt-60]

4. No

I'm sure he's in the way.
But the majority of the republicans cheating apparatus exists at the state and local levels.
Ripping out everything installed by the Blackwells or Bushes to facilitate voter suppression should be a top priority before the next election gets rolling.

[ShockediSay]

5. A Federal Election Libel, Slander and Fraud Statute - Long

Long overdue, way too long.

Time to put the dirty tricksters where they belong, OUT of the election process.

Guys like Segretti, Hunt and Rove, IMHO.

Remember when John McCain was the target of the smear he had fathered a black child? (running against *)

Remember when Ann Richardson was accused of being a Lesbian? (running against *)

Remember when Kerry (running against *) got hit by the Swift Boaters (funded, as I understand, by TB Pickens)

[LiberalFighter]

6. Make it retroactive to the 1960's

Then convict Rehnquist and put his body in prison.

[Vidar]

8. Good start.