NYT editorial: "STRONG-ARMING THE VOTE"

[DeepModem Mom]

Editorial
Strong-Arming the Vote
Published: August 3, 2006

President Bush’s Justice Department has been criticized for letting partisanship guide its work on voting and elections. And party politics certainly appears to have been a driving force in a legal maneuver it just pulled off in Alabama, where it persuaded a federal judge to take important election powers away from the Democratic secretary of state and give them to a Republican governor. The Justice Department says it is trying to enforce the election law, but that is unconvincing. There are plenty of ways to enforce the law without creating the impression that it is tilting the electoral landscape in favor of Republicans.

Alabama is one of many states that have been late in meeting a federal requirement to create a computerized statewide list of voters. Secretary of State Nancy Worley says the delay is due to factors outside her control. Her critics disagree. But whatever the reason, the Justice Department has every right to try to speed things along. The trouble is, rather than work with Ms. Worley to get the job done, it decided to go to court to take away her authority and hand it to Gov. Bob Riley.

Sadly, a federal judge agreed yesterday to do just that, in a one-sided proceeding that felt a lot like a kangaroo court. The Justice Department and the Alabama attorney general, Troy King, both argued that Governor Riley should control the voter database. Mr. King, a Republican, was appointed to his job by Governor Riley after serving as his legal adviser, and when Ms. Worley realized that Mr. King would not represent her interests, she asked him to let her hire a lawyer to argue her side. He refused. The Alabama Democratic Party tried to intervene in the case, so it could argue against giving control of the voter rolls to the governor. The judge, who was recently named to the bench by President Bush, would not let the Democrats in.

The Justice Department’s request to shift Ms. Worley’s powers to Governor Riley is extraordinary. Normally, the government would seek an order telling a state official what to do, or it would ask to have a nonpartisan person appointed as a special master. And the Justice Department’s aggressive stance stands in stark contrast to the forgiving approach it has taken to Republican secretaries of state. After Katherine Harris removed eligible voters from the rolls in Florida in 2000, and Kenneth Blackwell tried to block eligible people from registering in Ohio in 2004, the Justice Department made no effort to limit their powers....

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/03/opinion/edit-1-thu.ht...

[WCGreen]

1. Fuckin' activist judges.....

[Swamp Rat]

2. Beat me to it!

[WCGreen]

3. Close.....

The Secretary of State is responsible for the voting data base....

[Pirate Smile]

4. O.M.G.

That is truly un.f@#king.believable!

Kangaroo court, indeed. Truly frightening and infuriating.

[Pirate Smile]

5. Kick - I can't believe this isn't on the Greatest Page yet.

Recommended.

[Beetwasher]

6. *Sigh* I Guess Democracy Was Nice While It Lasted

n/t

[lonestarnot]

7. In the streets in Alabama! I smell a cheat coming on!

[glitch]

8. The fact they they felt they needed to do this in Alabama is significant

They are losing it all over the place, aren't they? K & R

[tbyg52]

9. And the shame of it is

That not enough people know or care what is going on.

[mhatrw]

10. Running scared.

And fighting like cornered rats.

[MissWaverly]

11. with liberty and justice for all

except if you are a democrat, heh, heh, heh.

[w4rma]

12. Wow, this is looking like the BS they pulled back when they fought

against voting rights for blacks and women.

[Melissa G]

13. The ACLU needs to file suit on this (There is no ) JUSTICE dept

This is just another nasty way this administration is further eroding our constitutional rights!
Our right to vote being one of their favorites to attack!

[McCamy Taylor]

14. Just like California, another elected Dem SOS being stripped of power.

Al Gonzales needs to go to Club Fed for his misapplications of the law.

This will go down in history as the dirtiest election of all time, and Al Gonzales will be known as the dirtest Attorney General. I will bet that there is already a pardon with his name on it.

[Starfury]

15. I can't believe I'm going to say this:

I miss Ashcroft.

[McCamy Taylor]

24. Yeah, Ashcrap wanted a political career after Bush, plus he had God

looking over his shoulder.

[Kurovski]

16. Kick.(nt)

[upi402]

17. kick

dense sentence structure

give the folks the nut.

[EFerrari]

18. The TRUTH that the NYT WILL NOT SAY:

These computerized databases define who an eligible voter is! Not actual *eligibility* but *inclusion in the database*! Wtf is THAT?

That's the only reason the parties are struggling over them!

GONE is the illusion the databases "help Americans vote"!

And as usual, the New York Times is a party to the distraction!

I CALL YOU OUT AGAIN, NEW YORK TIMES!

[leftchick]

19. thank you for pointing that out sfexpat

I tell ya, these milk toast NYT editorials are making me sick.

[freedomfries]

20. you are right Melissa G

Let's think through this whole issue fast and clear. Ca. 51 million people move on a yearly basis in this country. With the database voter-purging machines, all non-home-owning voters are at risk. This is worse than the poll tax. We are back to voting rights as the sole privilege of the propriety-owning class!

[DallasNE]

21. Our Founding Fathers Can't Be Happy

They went to great lengths to assure that power was shared. Now the very people who should be sharing in that power refuse to accept the responsibility of that power and in fact go out of their way to concentrate all power in the executive.

Howard Dean got in trouble for using a quote by Stalin to make a point about the current state of our election accountability but the point was valid. It is all dirt all of the time, at least coming from Republicans.

<http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/2... >

[TankLV]

22. I said this before, I'll say this again: The Dems better watch and LEARN!

They had better ADOPT these new rules of the game, or be religated to the dustbin of history.

The best that would happen is that WE would "win" and keep control of what WE have.

The worst that could happen, is that this all goes to court, and the WHOLE STINKING THING is ended, once and for all, and truth and democracy wins.

Either way, we win.

I say - "bring it on"!...

[karlrschneider]

23. They don't even try to hide their nefarious activities any more.

"Thieves fear the light"?...or however that goes - apparently not any more, they're more than
willing to cheat and steal in broad daylight. I don't think my blood pressure will stand much more of this shit.

[McCamy Taylor]

25. Why hide? The DOJ is their ally.

[Nikki Stone 1]

26. There's no one to stop them

They can steal with impunity