League News and Publicity
Block the Vote
Editorial
New York Times, May
30, 2006
In a country that spends so much time extolling the glories
of democracy, it's amazing how many elected officials go out of
their way to discourage voting. States are adopting rules that
make it hard, and financially perilous, for nonpartisan groups
to register new voters. They have adopted new rules for maintaining
voter rolls that are likely to throw off many eligible voters,
and they are imposing unnecessarily tough ID requirements.
Florida recently reached a new low when it actually bullied the
League of Women Voters into stopping its voter registration efforts
in the state. The Legislature did this by adopting a law that
seems intended to scare away anyone who wants to run a voter registration
drive. Since registration drives are particularly important for
bringing poor people, minority groups and less educated voters
into the process, the law appears to be designed to keep such
people from voting.
It imposes fines of $250 for every voter registration form that
a group files more than 10 days after it is collected, and $5,000
for every form that is not submitted — even if it is because
of events beyond anyone's control, like a hurricane. The Florida
League of Women Voters, which is suing to block the new rules,
has decided it cannot afford to keep registering new voters in
the state as it has done for 67 years. If a volunteer lost just
16 forms in a flood, or handed in a stack of forms a day late,
the group's entire annual budget could be put at risk.
In Washington, a new law prevents people from voting if the secretary
of state fails to match the information on their registration
form with government databases. There are many reasons that names,
Social Security numbers and other data may not match, including
typing mistakes. The state is supposed to contact people whose
data does not match, but the process is too tilted against voters.
Congress is considering a terrible voter ID requirement as part
of the immigration reform bill. Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican
of Kentucky, introduced an amendment to require all voters to
present a federally mandated photo ID. Even people who have been
voting for years would need to get a new ID to vote in 2008. Millions
of people without drivers' licenses, including many elderly people
and city residents, might fail to do so, and be ineligible to
vote. The amendment has been blocked so far, but voting-rights
advocates worry that it could reappear.
These three techniques — discouraging registration drives,
purging eligible voters and imposing unreasonable ID requirements
— keep showing up. Colorado recently imposed criminal penalties
on volunteers who slip up in registration drives. Georgia, one
of several states to adopt harsh new voter ID laws, had its law
struck down by a federal court.
Protecting the integrity of voting is important, but many of
these rules seem motivated by a partisan desire to suppress the
vote, and particular kinds of voters, rather than to make sure
that those who are entitled to vote — and only those who
are entitled — do so. The right to vote is fundamental,
and Congress and state legislatures should not pass laws that
put an unnecessary burden on it. If they do, courts should strike
them down.
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