Judge: Mich. can't reject voters with bad address

[cal04]

Source: Associated Press

A judge has ordered Michigan election officials to stop automatically canceling a voter's registration if the card is returned as undeliverable.

Federal Judge Stephen Murphy in Detroit ruled Monday in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and a group representing college students.

More than 1,400 voters in that category have been disqualified so far in 2008. The judge says it's unclear how many cancelations actually are wrong but it's a violation of federal law.

Murphy says those people shouldn't be prevented from voting if they can produce more proof of residency at the polls.

Read more: http://www.syracuse.com/newsflash/index.ssf?/base/politics-1/1223928254149090.xml&storylist=topstories

[yellerpup]

1. If the judge didn't see this challenge, voters would be disenfranchised.

Thanks to those working on the ground to keep these tactics visible. K&R! :dem:

[Leftist Agitator]

2. Jesus, 15 Recs and only one kick??!!

Come on, DU, show a little love, this is GREAT news!

[Triana]

3. KICK!! &R too n/t

[elleng]

31. It is INDEED GREAT NEWS!

.

[WillyT]

4. Big K & R !!!

:kick:

[jacobfloyd]

5. Good News!

[Hansel]

6. Wow where was CNN's hang wringing marathon about this injustice?

[stillcool]

8. You can bet Lou Dobbs won't..

go near this one with a 10 foot pole. I'm sure when ACORN is officially cleared on any wrong doing he won't be going near that one either.

[Hansel]

14. Nor the picture of McCain at the

2006 event where he endorsed ACORN.

[PassingFair]

16. They LOVE the ACORN issue.

Where are they getting it from, Rush?

[stillcool]

22. They go after them every election..

I think I read the reason why David Inglesias got fired was because he refused to go after them.

[sonias]

33. Aboslutey right on point

Lou Dobbs is a winger on people voting. He doesn't like certain people voting - like Democrats for example.

F*ck Lou Dobbs! And hooray for ACORN, ACLU, the Advancement Project and all other non-profits working to protect our voting rights and civil liberties.

:kick:

Sonia

[lonestarnot]

7. Oh HELL YEAH! K & R!

:applause:

[proud2BlibKansan]

9. OMG!! BEST NEWS IN WEEKS

This is wonderful!!!

[DrPresident]

10. HALLELULIAH!!!!

[valerief]

11. kickety do dah!

:kick:

[BeatleBoot]

13. Day!

:dem:

[Lefty48197]

12. Michigan GOP has been trying to stifle voter turnout for years

After hearing about this case, it's a pretty safe bet that the Michigan GOP has been working overtime to get their co-conspirators installed as Township and County election officials, so that they could do the state and national party's bidding when it came time to squash voter turnout in Michigan. A few years back, when King John Engler was Governor, he wrote and signed the legislation that banned Michigan college students from voting where they live. That's right, they said that college students could only vote in their parents' voting districts, even though they lived in the college towns for up to nine months out of the year. We really need a "Nuremburg" type set of trials after Bush is out of office to convict all the Republicans of all the crimes they have been committing over the decades. They are a disgrace to humanity.

[HPD]

46. it's why it's important

to change your license to whatever college town you live in. the problem with this is for those living in college dorms.

is this law still in effect?

[sutz12]

60. I'm pretty sure it's nation-wide, to a greater or lesser degree, maybe..

But the rule is, voter turnout favors Democrats. Been that way for a long, long time.

Repubs are always for restrictions on voting rights, and reducing the rolls.

[MichiganVote]

15. K&R

[MasonJar]

17. Thank you, ACLU!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Anticon]

18. KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIK!

:kick: :kick: :kick:

[Sequoia]

19. Kick

[helderheid]

20. THANK GOD. They CANNOT STEAL THIS AGAIN!!!

[sarcasmo]

21. Finally, some good news from Michigan.

[DissedByBush]

23. Don't understand, please help

Logically you want to make sure someone voting in an election is eligible to vote in said election. Wouldn't a registration returned as undeliverable be a pretty good indicator that a person is not eligible to vote in that election due to not living in the district anymore? If you moved and stayed within the district, you simply contact the appropriate people to give them your new address. I'm not sure you really care about voting if you can't even bother to do that.

So where's the problem?

[Starlight]

27. One reason: the post office makes mistakes. Another: people move, but not out of the district. r/o

Whether or not you believe people "really care about voting," if they're eligible to vote, it's illegal to cancel their registration.

[MountainLaurel]

32. No kidding

We had repeated problems with our mail being declared undeliverable in Maine, despite the fact that we were right there the whole time.

[DissedByBush]

43. Thanks

Makes sense. This came from me having an extremely strict view when it comes to voting. It's our most precious right so I think those who abuse it should be punished severely, and every effort should be made to catch them. I'm all for felony convictions with 5-7 mandatory hard time for each instance of voter fraud, whether it's voting outside your district (hello Anne Coulter), voting more than once, falsely registering voters or rigging electronic voting machines.

Take it to the top. If an organization overall promotes, condones or repeatedly allows any of this to occur, RICO with 15-20 for the execs plus dissolution of the criminal organization. The Diebold CEO would be going down for a long time in my book.

[AlbertCat]

45. voting more than once, falsely registering voters

So rare as to not be worried about.

Now voter supression....like striking people from the eligible list just because some mail was returned... is another story.

[DissedByBush]

50. I did some digging a while back

Diebold can make you vote many times. Unfortunately, it's hard to prove with their poorly designed systems.

In 2004 Ohio got far more absentee ballots than there were absentee voters, Republicans at work.

Someone in Florida was requesting multiple absentee ballots for others in Florida in 2000 and sending them in.

The Republican AG in Texas in 2006 was selectively enforcing absentee ballot laws, effectively committing voter fraud.

The McCain campaign is mailing absentee request forms to heavily Democratic voters that if sent in basically guarantee that their votes won't be counted.

ACORN has submitted a lot of fraudulent voter registrations in this and past elections. They help with the investigations, and some have gone to jail, but there's obviously a systemic problem there that either needs to be fixed or the whole activity eliminated to prevent further occurrences.

And if you ever let someone at a store or such register you, make sure to get his name, who he's working for and contact info, and check up on your registration status. Your registration may just disappear if he's from the other party. It's happened around where I live.

[Nevernose]

36. Several more reasons:

Off the top of my head:

1. Mail placed in wrong mailbox, especially in apartment complexes. Resident marks "return to sender -- wrong address"
2. Homeless person w/o fixed address has mail delivered to library he frequents, which is valid under federal law but little known to both homeless people and library employees.
3. Registrant forgets to mark unit number, so 1313 Mockingbird Lane, apt #666 becomes "1313 Mockingbird Lane" and -- while still the person's address, is undeliverable.
4. Address is to a semi-permanent residence, such as a weekly apartment, notoriously difficult to accurately send & receive mail from.
5. College dorm. With new residences coming and going en masse 2 or 3 times a year, also notoriously difficult to get reliable mail service.
6. Moved within the same district but after registration period is over.
7. Data entry person at the county office makes a human error. The address in 1422 Smith Street looks like 1922 Smith Street, making the mail undeliverable.
8. At this point, there is not enough time to rectify legitimate problems, which is why under the 2002 law, registration rolls cannot be purged within 90 days of an election.
9. Americans don't have to care about voting -- they still have the right to vote.
10. As long as the person only votes once, is it really that big of an issue?

[dalus]

51. Great list of points

Notice that such problems overwhelming affect people who are:

1. young
2. poor
3. students

That doesn't exactly sound like the Republican base, no wonder they're trying to suppress those votes.

Also, the young and poor are the most likely to be discouraged from voting if it requires re-registering.

[jkd]

49. undeliverable mail

Mail is undeliverable as addressed when the Post Office does not deliver mail for the addressee at the given address. Many people do not receive mail at their residence but at some other location, such as a business or a P O Box. Because mail is returned doesn't mean that the addressee has moved. They just don't receive mail where they live.

[barbtries]

24. great news!

i hope the dems have lots of feet on the ground there to keep the bastards honest!

[ProgressiveReb]

25. Awesome news!

But let's remember: they will try again. If history is any guide, then Republican operatives will try in other states, in other ways, to keep legitimate voters from casting their ballot.

We should all remain vigilant and, wherever possible, stand up and let GOP leaders know that we won't tolerate voter suppression.

Not this time.

[annabanana]

26. Excellent... can we get Colorado to do the same thing?. . n/t

[Starlight]

28. The judge ordered them to stop, but will they be reinstating the ones they already cancelled?

[TheModernTerrorist]

29. This is GREAT news

I was afraid that my absentee ballot would be rejected due to a change of address.

[Barb in Atl]

30. Kickin'!

[april]

34. This is something GOOD ! Kick IT!!

[Crowman1979]

35. Even the Tigers worst season...

...will be nothing compared to what the GOP has in store for them! :D

[jeff30997]

37. K&R !

Great news indeed !

[KalicoKitty]

38. That is great news!

:kick:

[JPZenger]

39. One PA. County tried to disqualify college students who changed dorm rooms

I just read an account of what happened several years ago in Delaware County, PA. At the time it was a Republican machine-controlled county. It is west of Philadelphia. There was a hotly contested race for congress by Dem. Bob Edgar (now head of the National Council of Churches). The county refused to let college students vote if they had changed dorm rooms from the address on their registration. Activists had to carpool the students down to the courthouse to emergency hearings so they could vote.

[SharonRB]

40. Hallelujah!

[LaStrega]

41. Yet another reason I'm proud to contribute to the ACLU k+r n/t

[DallasNE]

42. This Judge Is Correct About Federal Law

I worked as a polling supervisor for 3 decades. The law states that the voter may be marked "challenged" when a card is returned as undeliverable. Whether that individual receives a ballot at the polling place depends on being able to provide proof of residency at the polls, just as the Judge says. Even if the proof is missing the voter can only be turned away from receiving a ballot at the local polling place. The voter should be instructed that they may report to the County election office and receive a ballot with only Federal candidates listed and vote that ballot. They cannot be denied a ballot listing Federal offices for simple failure to reregister after moving. That is the Federal law, at least when I last worked as a polling supervisor some 15 years ago. Attempts to cage voters violates Federal election laws so one wonders why they are tolerated. But make no mistake, the Judge ruled correctly.

[trickyguy]

44. Way to go Judge Murphy. Standing up for the voters.

:bounce:

[colsohlibgal]

47. Yes, They'll Keep Trying But...

I'm beginning to think Carville was right, this is looking over more and more every day. That said I'm still paranoid, these people are evil and capable of anything.

[cal04]

48. Advancement Project And ACLU Hail Decision Blocking Unlawful Voter Purging

http://www.aclumich.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=596
more at link

In a major victory for voting rights, a judge today ruled that Michigan’s voter removal program violates federal law and ordered the state to stop illegally purging voters from the rolls. The decision comes in a lawsuit filed last month by Advancement Project, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Michigan and the law firm of Pepper Hamilton LLP.

“We are gratified that the judge ordered the state of Michigan to halt its unlawful purge program," said Bradley Heard, senior attorney with Advancement Project. "This decision protects thousands of Michigan residents’ voting rights from being infringed upon during this important and historic presidential election, and beyond. It is now up to the state of Michigan to afford these voters the protections that federal law requires.”

Judge Stephen J. Murphy of the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Michigan ruled that one of Michigan’s voter removal programs violates the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA). In question was a Michigan state law requiring local clerks to nullify the registrations of newly-registered voters whenever their original voter identification cards are returned by the post office as undeliverable. Detroit elections officials report that nearly 30,000 voters per year in that city alone are removed from the rolls as a result of this state election law. The NVRA permits voters to remain on the voter rolls for at least two federal elections after voter registration cards are returned.

Judge Murphy ordered that state to “immediately discontinue their practice of cancelling or rejecting a voter's registration based upon the return of the voter's original voter identification card as undeliverable.”

“This is a major victory for Michigan voters and the integrity of our democratic process,” said Meredith Bell-Platts, staff counsel with the ACLU Voting Rights Project. “Today’s decision brings us one step closer to restoring confidence in a electoral system that has been poisoned by partisan maneuvering. As a result of the judge’s decision, fewer Michigan voters will be illegally purged and wrongly disfranchised – and that’s good for everyone.”

[newtothegame]

52. Thanks n/t

[Sunnyshine]

53. K & R - Certainly these students have a right to vote in these elections. Thanks ACLU! n/t

[RayStar]

54. Let the people vote

So pleased to read that Judge Murphy has made the correct decision in this lawsuit.

[OakCliffDem]

55. Kick

[crickets]

56. Thank you, ACLU & Judge Murphy! K&R -nt

[noonwitch]

57. I always voted with an absentee ballot when I was in college

I registered and kept my driver's license address at my parents' house, because insurance was cheaper that way.

[TooRaLoo]

58. K & R!!

This is GREAT news!

[cat2112]

59. Wow

I could see where this could lead to voter fraud. What do we want a ton of Republicans getting the chance to vote in more than one state.