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  1. #1
    Senior Member concernedmother's Avatar
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    Justice Dept Seeks to Quell Voter Access Fears

    ACLU and MALDEF are concerned about voters feeling intimidated by the presence of federal observers at polling places. Audio of story available via link.

    http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...oryId=94386318
    Justice Seeks To Quell Voter Access Fears
    by Ari Shapiro


    Attorney General Michael Mukasey met with civil rights and law enforcement groups on Monday to discuss the Justice Department's plan for making sure the November elections go smoothly. AP


    Morning Edition, September 9, 2008 ยท The Justice Department is rolling out a national plan for dealing with civil rights issues at polling places in an effort to make sure the November elections go smoothly.

    To that end, Justice Department leaders are meeting with interest groups and congressional lawmakers.

    On Monday, Attorney General Michael Mukasey and Grace Chung Becker, acting assistant attorney general for civil rights, met with civil rights and law enforcement groups. On Tuesday, Becker is slated to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee; she will appear before the House Judiciary Committee soon.

    Civil rights leaders who attended Monday's meeting gave the Justice Department mixed reviews.

    Deborah Vagins of the ACLU said she was encouraged by "Mukasey coming in and indicating to us that it was his highest priority in the next two months to make sure that the election was a smooth one." Overall, Vagins said, the event "had an air of sincerity, but also real problems."

    One major complaint is that department officials left little time for dialogue with the audience. According to several meeting attendees, Justice Department representatives spent most of the two-hour meeting describing voting laws that the activists already knew. They left time for only about five questions at the end, civil rights advocates said.

    "Another hour or two probably would have allowed sufficient time for everybody to wrestle through the issues that they're concerned about," said Kristen Clarke of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

    In the past, civil rights groups have criticized the Justice Department's handling of voting rights issues.

    Peter Zamora of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund says "partisan politics have been more of a consideration than enforcement of the law" at the Justice Department.

    Meeting attendees were also concerned about some of the information Justice Department officials provided. For example, Becker said federal prosecutors will monitor polling places. Vagins said she fears that the presence of federal prosecutors in "some small towns that have had historic problems with intimidation" will keep away voters.

    Becker responded that prosecutors who monitor polling places will not wear badges, carry guns, or in any other way publicly identify as criminal prosecutors.

    Becker described 2008 as an unprecedented election year. "Record numbers of voters are expected at the polls this Nov. 4," she said.

    Civil rights activists note that although the Justice Department mobilizes poll monitors every election year, prosecutors have been less aggressive about investigating and prosecuting instances of voter intimidation and deception.

    "We've got to see the words backed up by action, backed up by substance. Otherwise, the meetings would have been meaningless," Clarke said.

    Becker told reporters in a conference call after the meeting that she intends this to be the first of many meetings with civil rights groups.

    "We provided all of our contact information," she said. "We certainly welcome speaking with them on other occasions, as we have in the past and expect to do so again in the future."
    <div>"True patriotism hates injustice in its own land more than anywhere else."
    - Clarence Darrow</div>

  2. #2
    Senior Member miguelina's Avatar
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    ACLU and MALDEF are concerned about voter's feeling intimidated by the presence of federal observers at polling places
    Oh please! Many of these people who claim they feel "intimidated" have no fear of marching in the streets, protesting, working at registering voters, etc. The only ones who would feel intimidated are the ones who do not have the right to vote!!!!
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    Senior Member agrneydgrl's Avatar
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    Why does he have to consult with any special interest groups before making his mind.

  4. #4
    Senior Member concernedmother's Avatar
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    I welcome federal observers at polling places. Those who have no reason to fear have nothing to fear. There were UN observers during the 2004 elections because there was international concern about the fundamental fairness of our elections. Don't recall any ACLU brouhaha about the UN observing... See article below--no ACLU or MALDEF to be seen.

    http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/...ers/index.html
    International team to monitor presidential election
    Observers will be part of OSCE's human rights office
    From David de Sola
    CNN
    Monday, August 9, 2004 Posted: 9:08 AM EDT (1308 GMT)

    WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A team of international observers will monitor the presidential election in November, according to the U.S. State Department.

    The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe was invited to monitor the election by the State Department. The observers will come from the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights.

    It will be the first time such a team has been present for a U.S. presidential election.

    "The U.S. is obliged to invite us, as all OSCE countries should," spokeswoman Urdur Gunnarsdottir said. "It's not legally binding, but it's a political commitment. They signed a document 10 years ago to ask OSCE to observe elections."

    Thirteen Democratic members of the House of Representatives, raising the specter of possible civil rights violations that they said took place in Florida and elsewhere in the 2000 election, wrote to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in July, asking him to send observers.

    After Annan rejected their request, saying the administration must make the application, the Democrats asked Secretary of State Colin Powell to do so.

    The issue was hotly debated in the House, and Republicans got an amendment to a foreign aid bill that barred federal funds from being used for the United Nations to monitor U.S. elections, The Associated Press reported.

    In a letter dated July 30 and released last week, Assistant Secretary of State Paul Kelly told the Democrats about the invitation to OSCE, without mentioning the U.N. issue.

    "I am pleased that Secretary Powell is as committed as I am to a fair and democratic process," said Democratic Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, who spearheaded the effort to get U.N. observers.

    "The presence of monitors will assure Americans that America cares about their votes and it cares about its standing in the world," she said in a news release.

    Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee of California agreed.

    "This represents a step in the right direction toward ensuring that this year's elections are fair and transparent," she said.

    "I am pleased that the State Department responded by acting on this need for international monitors. We sincerely hope that the presence of the monitors will make certain that every person's voice is heard, every person's vote is counted."


    OSCE, the world's largest regional security organization, will send a preliminary mission to Washington in September to assess the size, scope, logistics and cost of the mission, Gunnarsdottir said.

    The organization, which counts among its missions conflict prevention and postconflict rehabilitation, will then determine how many observers are required and where in the United States they will be sent.

    "OSCE-participating [nations] agreed in 1990 to observe elections in one another's countries. The OSCE routinely monitors elections within its 55-state membership, including Europe, Eurasia, Canada and the United States," a State Department spokesman said.

    The spokesman said the United States does not have any details on the size and composition of the observers or what countries will provide them.

    OSCE, based in Vienna, Austria, has sent more than 10,000 personnel to monitor more than 150 elections and referenda in more than 30 countries during the past decade, Gunnarsdottir said.

    In November 2002, OSCE sent 10 observers on a weeklong mission to monitor the U.S. midterm elections. OSCE also sent observers to monitor the California gubernatorial recall election last year.

    More recently, OSCE monitored the elections in Northern Ireland in November and in Spain in March.
    <div>"True patriotism hates injustice in its own land more than anywhere else."
    - Clarence Darrow</div>

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