FEMA refuses to Prevent Katrina Victims from being Disenfranchised

[AnnInLa]

http://www.fairvote.org/?page=1670

Brewing Election Problems:

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana voters and election administrators will face numerous challenges that threaten to undermine the state’s democratic processes. These issues include:

* The Federal Emergency Management Agency's refusal to allow its records of where Hurricane victims have relocated to be used to send voters notice of upcoming elections,
* Congressional and state legislative districts of wildly disparate sizes, and
* Thousands of displaced voters without stable absentee voting addresses.


FEMA's Unwillingness to Prevent Hurricane Victims from Being Disenfranchised:

Issue Summary: As noted above, thousands of southern Louisiana's voters have been displaced as a result of the hurricanes and flooding, but many of these (near 50%) intend to return to their home cities and retain their original legal domicile. The reality then, is that these voters should be treated as absentee voters for the time being. New Orleans has a February Mayoral election schedule, but right now the only comprehensive source of addresses for the displaced hurricane victims lies with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). FEMA, however, has refused to release the names and temporary addresses of evacuees to state officials who are attempting to facilitate voting in upcoming elections. Governor Kathleen Blanco is, in particular, seeking to use FEMA's records to make sure that hurricane victims receive absentee ballots, but FEMA has refused to do so, or to itself forward election information, ballots, or absentee request forms to voters. Such a refusal will effectively disenfranchise most of New Orleans' voters and unduly burden their right to vote.

Solution: FEMA should realize the unique situation that the hurricane victims face and should strive to ensure that they can transition back to normal lives in all respects -- including civic participation. To not do so would unnecessarily allow Hurricane Katrina to disrupt yet another aspect of their lives, without good reason. This, however, raises a larger issue about America's need to rethink its mechanisms for how voter rolls are maintained and how voter registration occurs. Clearly, a greater degree of information-sharing between databases is needed to ensure that voter rolls are clean and error-free and that as many eligible voters as possible can participate in our democratic processes.

In this worst-case-scenario, the point becomes very clear that the only usable address database for these citizens should be used to ensure that they can vote -- but in less obvious, but equally important scenarios, FairVote believes that elections administrators and policymakers must begin to embrace open information flow between state agencies, so that a better voter registration system and database maintenance system can be created. This would, in fact, eventually allow for a system of automatic, universal voter registration that would ensure all eligible voters would be automatically added to voter rolls. For example, information gleaned when students register for school or when citizens obtain drivers licenses could be used to automatically add voters to the voter roll and to update outdated addresses.

much more, plus solutions, at above link

[KamaAina]

1. I just contributed that little gem to one of the rebuilding forums

where this issue had come up. Excellent job, Ann! :bounce: