Efforts to stop `voter fraud' may have curbed legitimate voting

[deminks]

Source: McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON - During four years as a Justice Department civil rights lawyer, Hans von Spakovsky went so far in a crusade against voter fraud as to warn of its dangers under a pseudonym in a law journal article.

Writing as "Publius," von Spakovsky contended that every voter should be required to produce a photo-identification card and that there was "no evidence" that such restrictions burden minority voters disproportionately.

Now, amid a scandal over politicization of the Justice Department, Congress is beginning to examine allegations that von Spakovsky was a key player in a Republican campaign to hang onto power in Washington by suppressing the votes of minority voters.

"Mr. von Spakovsky was central to the administration's pursuit of strategies that had the effect of suppressing the minority vote," charged Joseph Rich, a former Justice Department voting rights chief who worked under him.

He and other former career department lawyers say that von Spakovsky steered the agency toward voting rights policies not seen before, pushing to curb minor instances of election fraud by imposing sweeping restrictions that would make it harder, not easier, for Democratic-leaning poor and minority voters to cast ballots.

Read more: http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/17256012.htm

[Vincardog]

1. Duh did ja just figure that out?

[TygrBright]

2. And just WHY do they think the oh-so-altruistic GOPpies were so "concerned" about it?

Being as how they've already demonstrated that they value the Constitution less than used toilet paper.

contemptuously,
Bright

[seafan]

3. Von Spakovsky is a December, 2005 recess appt to FEC, set for a confirmation hearing June 13.

This guy needs to be rejected out of hand for this bitter display of partisanship at DOJ. And there are many more like him that we are going to identify.

In interviews, current and former federal officials and civil rights leaders told McClatchy Newspapers that von Spakovsky:

-Sped approval of tougher voter ID laws in Georgia and Arizona in 2005, joining decisions to override career lawyers who believed that Georgia's law would restrict voting by poor blacks and who felt that more analysis was needed on the Arizona law's impact on Native Americans and Latinos.

-Tried to influence the federal Election Assistance Commission's research into the dimensions of voter fraud nationally and the impact of restrictive voter ID laws - research that could undermine a vote-suppression agenda.

-Allegedly engineered the ouster of the commission's chairman, Paul DiGregorio, whom von Spakovsky considered insufficiently partisan.

Von Spakovsky, who declined to comment on these allegations, is among more than a dozen present and former Justice Department officials drawing congressional scrutiny over the administration's alleged use of the nation's chief law enforcement agency for partisan purposes.

Congressional committees investigating the firing last year of nine U.S. attorneys are looking into allegations that prosecutors nationwide were urged to pursue voter fraud to build a basis for tougher ID laws.

Von Spakovsky, who had been a longtime voting rights activist and elections official in Georgia before serving at Justice, accepted a presidential recess appointment to a Republican slot on the Federal Election Commission in December 2005. He is scheduled to appear at a June 13 confirmation hearing before the Senate Rules and Administration Committee.

.....

[Stargleamer]

4. This is what it is designed to do. n/t

[Up2Late]

5. NO! REALLY!?!? Not really news here at DU...

We figured this out months, if not years ago.:silly:

[sabra]

6. k & r

:kick:

[Chemical Bill]

7. Who knew?

Oh yeah, we did. K&R

[Overseas]

8. May Have Curbed-- should read-- Were Designed to Curb Legitimate Voting

Just another day at the office for the new 21st century GOP. Gotta get those voting numbers down somehow. Clamp down on voter fraud-- not that electronic vote switching or dropping thousands from voter rolls because they have the same last name as a felon or putting broken machines in Democratic areas -- not that stuff, no no... Let's get those 0.0025% who register under the name of a dead person !