Oct
30

Support HR 4463 (with eyes wide open)

Friends,

This is the House version of the Deceptive Practices and Voters Intimidation Act.
There’s also a version pending in the Senate.

Here’s the full text of the Senate legislation.

I’d like to note here that this bill, if it should pass, will likely have a limited effect,

at least as long as BushCo’s DoJ remains in place. As you will note, the bill relies
on the Attorney General to take remedial action–a rather naive expectation,
inasmuch as the Attorney General, and the DoJ’s entire voting rights division, is
right now busily disenfranchising as many non-Republicans as possible. (I’ve sent
you Steve Rosenfeld’s superb work on this all-important, although still neglected,
story.) Asking the AG to deal with vote suppression, therefore, is like asking some
fat fox to provide protection for a bunch of bleeding chickens.

Also, this bill stipulates that the AG will draft the appropriate regulations “in consultation
with … the Election Assistance Commission” (among other entities), which is no less
troubling, as BushCo’s EAC is yet another pack of foxes, put in place by the regime
to further limit our participation in elections.

Despite these qualms, however, I support the passage of this legislation, as it would
serve the very important purpose of criminalizing actions that the Bush Republicans
have been conducting with impunity–actions that, in fact, have helped to put the
Bush regime in power. These laws should be on the books, so that they might
eventually be used on our behalf, if and when we have a government that’s willing
to enforce them.

Tactically, moreover, it’s a wise idea to demonstrate, as vocally as possible, that we
won’t any longer tolerate the Jim Crow trickery now used nationwide by the
Republicans (and largely tolerated by the Democrats).

MCM

Dear Mark,

I wanted to forward you the email below from Eric Marshall, the Campaign Manager of the National Campaign for Fair Elections.

In short, in the last 48 hours, we’ve seen an outpouring of support for our Election Protection campaign to pass the Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act. Eric recommended that we extend our deadline, and I agree.

http://www.nationalcampaignforfairelections.org/dpdonate

As Eric details below, every donation allows us to fight for election reform in Washington, and protect the rights of voters in states across the nation. He puts it best – “We have the knowledge and the experience to protect elections – all we need now is the resources.”

Please donate today:

http://www.nationalcampaignforfairelections.org/dpdonate

Thanks for all your support,
Jonah

________________________________________

Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2007 9:04 AM
To: Jonah
Subject: Building momentum for fair elections

Jonah,

In the last 48 hours, we’ve gotten even closer to our fundraising goal! I think this is strong evidence that momentum is building around fighting for fair elections – and we should extend our deadline to accommodate it.

Are you willing to send another email out to supporters? I think you should highlight exactly how their support allows us to protect the rights of voters and fight for election reform. For instance, every dollar contributed allows us to:

* Run the Election Protection hotline, so voters can get accurate information and report voting problems and our volunteers can fix problems quickly;
* Send thousands of trained volunteers to make sure polling places operate fairly and smoothly;
* Fight for reforms like the Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act; and

* Inform citizens, lawmakers, and election officials about the problems some people face when they try to exercise their right to vote.

During our Election Protection work in 2004 and 2006, we learned exactly what needs to be done – in Congress, and around the country – to ensure that elections are free and fair and that voters can cast a meaningful ballot on Election Day.

We have the knowledge and the experience to protect elections – all we need now is the resources. With momentum building, we can’t stop now.

Best,
Eric

Eric Marshall
Campaign Manager, National Campaign for Fair Elections
Voting Rights Project
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law


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