UPDATED: Montana Dems File Federal Suit Vs. Montana SoS for Vote Caging
The Montana Democratic Party filed suit in federal court on Monday to bring a halt to an illegal "vote caging" scheme designed to place obstacles in the path of legally registered voters from Democratic areas of the state. The suit seeks declaratory and injunctive relief and that the court direct Republican Secretary of State Brad Johnson to comply with federal law protecting the legitimate rights of voters.
The scheme, which targets more than 6000 voters from traditional democratic strongholds, was hatched by the Montana Republican Party, which hired a third party, Integram, to check the state voter rolls in those areas against the US Postal Service's National Change of Address Database. The idea is to challenge the registration status of anyone from those communities who has, for any reason, had their mail forwarded.
But federal law specifically rejects the National Change of Address system, which records only changes in mailing address, not actual residency, as a basis for invalidating a voter's otherwise legal registration. The law also forbids mass challenges to the registration status of voters within 90 days of an upcoming election, for the reason that such efforts in the final days of an election invariably lead to chaos, confusion, and often to disenfranchisement of legal voters. This, of course, is the purpose of the effort now underway in Montana.
From the complaint:
"On the afternoon of Friday, October 3,2008, two days after Hill County started sending letters to challenged voters, Defendant Johnson finally provided formal guidance to the counties 'that may help you to process any challenge to a voter's registration.' Nowhere in this guidance does Defendant Johnson provide any means to resolve challenges that are unlawful when issued, without causing undue confusion among the electors unlawfully challenged. The Republican Defendants' scheme to threaten voters' registration status using the challenge procedure provided by state law. and Defendant Johnson's failure to instruct county election officials that they are prohibited from undertaking a last-minute mass review of the rolls of voters, has called into question the status of the 6,000 plus challenged voters on the eve of the election. This is precisely what the NVRA seeks to prevent."
Montana is not only a key state in this election, but it is a small state, meaning that the suppression of 6,000 votes there is a very big deal. In fact, in 2006, Democrat Jon Tester won his statewide election to the US Senate by just 3,562 votes. And it's an even bigger deal that the Republican Secretary of State is apparently enabling the efforts of his party's operatives to illegally disenfranchise American citizens.
With the election taking on a fevered pitch across the country, the national media probably sees a scheme to shut 6,000 Montana citizens out of the process as small potatoes. But when Secretaries of State, elected to insure fair and honest elections, and to protect the rights of citizens in a participatory democracy, are instead complicit in efforts to undermine those rights, then the very fabric of our system begins to fray and tear.
Fortunately, Brad Johnson is currently up for re-election, and he is vulnerable. Democrat Linda McCulloch, a former librarian and the current State Superintendent for Public Instruction is challenging Johnson, and she deserves all of our support.
The Secretary of State Project is dedicated to preserving the very nature of our democracy by supporting candidates, like Linda McCulloch in Montana, who will stand up to politically-motivated efforts at voter suppression. Because no one should have to file federal suit against a sitting Secretary of State to insure that they are following federal laws intended to protect our voting rights, and our democracy.
Updated 10/10:
In the face of the lawsuit by the Montana Democrats, state Republicans have apparently withdrawn their last-minute challenges to the 6,000 voters' registration status, and have indicated that contary to their previous claims to the media, they would not instigating additional, similar challenges.
According to the AP
In a letter sent to election officials in seven counties today (Tuesday), Montana Republican Party executive director Jacob Eaton said he was withdrawing the challenges and would be issuing no more.
Congratulations to the Montana Dems, but of course it shouldn't require a federal suit to protect the rights of citizens to vote in accordance with the law. That's supposed the job of the Secretary of State.
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.secstateproject.org/cgi-bin/mt/mt-t.cgi/48