Salon put out a list of 6 states where vote suppression could cost voters their voices — Like the stuff that went down in Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004. What shocked me: California’s on the list.
Why? A federal govt mandate that requires states to match voter registrations with social security or driver’s license info went into effect this year. The problem: When the data doesn’t match for whatever reason, would-be voters are sorta fucked.
California’s been using this mandate to bar would-be voters. So Conny McCormack, LAC registrar, aired her concerns that 43 percent of all new registered voters in LAC are being disqualified. Her concerns loosened the matching requirements, “but 11 percent of L.A. County’s newly registered voters have been disqualified so far in 2006 — and it will get worse in November.”
Furthermore, voting machines aren’t being taken care of properly. Poll workers can take voting machines their unsecured homes. And these workers aren’t subject to background checks.
While Cali’s unlikely to become a red state for prez elections anytime soon, local elections — i.e. the gubernatorial election in Nov. — are causes for concern.
So what can we do? I’m not sure. Concludes the Salon article: “outside of filing lawsuits and telling some voters about their rights, it’s not at all clear whether progressives are going to offer enough practical help so that the victims of legalized Republican vote-robbing … can actually have their votes count.”
I wanna hear your ideas — How can we make vote-robbing stop in California? What orgs should we be working with?
Update, 8/26/06: What you can do about vote-robbing, here.
When did this law go into effect? During the primaries here they didnt check anything…nothing. I walked in, told them my name, and voted. It was strange.
Comment by David — August 17, 2006 @ 10:28 am
The Progressive Dems have been interested in this, and are particularly concerned about the Busby/Bilbray special election down in the San Diego area, where a worker took a polling machine home for the night.
Closer to my heart though, the Los Angeles Greens (www.losangelesgreens.org) are concerned about the issue and planning some voter education on the topic. This was actually a topic of discussion at last night’s meeting, so we’re reading your mind, Siel. We hope to have a town hall meeting before the election. If you’re interested, let us know: losangelesgreens@gmail.com
Comment by erin — August 17, 2006 @ 2:20 pm
I wrote the Salon piece, and I suggest contacting Common Cause and People for the American Way — and look at the list of groups linked to in the Salon article in this sentence : “The Democratic National Committee and nonpartisan voting rights organizations, including Common Cause, have launched an assortment of initiatives to increase voter participation and challenge onerous laws in court…”, for groups working on this issue for November. Go to Brad’s Blog for more information on machine-related issues. Good luck!
Comment by Art — August 17, 2006 @ 3:49 pm
David — I had the exact same experience! No ID necessary — What up with that?
Damn erin — The greens are way ahead of me, sorta :P We need to work across party lines on this issue, yes?! I’m def. interested in a town hall meeting about fair voting issues — Just lemme know when, and I’ll be there!
Art — Thanks both for your informative article and for stopping by to offer momre resources! I’ll be checking out everything you suggested and writing a followup post. You rock for making others aware of the issue :)
Comment by Siel — August 18, 2006 @ 7:49 pm