Iowa's Schultz Faces Court Battle Over Voter Fraud Rules

[rurallib]

Our inept tea party SOS wants to purge the hell out of Latinos.
http://johnston-ia.patch.com/articles/iowa-s-schultz-faces-court-battle-over-voter-fraud-rules

"The American Civil Liberties Union and the United Latin American Citizens' district said that Secretary of State Matt Schultz plans to purge Iowa voter registration lists by checking them against sketchy state and federal lists of foreign nationals and unsworn voter fraud claims, several media outlets are reporting.

Schultz approved two emergency voter fraud rules July 20 that would allow him to challenge the registration of voters if their names are similar to names found on state and federal lists of foreign nationals and also approved a rule allowing people to file complaints of voter fraud without oaths, the organization's leaders said. Fraud tips would be accepted via email which doesn't require a sworn statement, the Ames Tribune reported.

The civil rights organizations have filed an injunction blocking the new rules that could cause many to have their voter registrations thrown out just before the general election."

more at link

[progressoid]

1. Damn. I was hoping IA would escape this crap.

I guess that was naive of me.



From the ACLU:

The first voter suppression rule allows Schultz to purge Iowa’s voter registration list by comparing with it unspecified federal and state agency lists. Schultz has not specified which lists he is using. “The public has no way to be sure he’s using accurate, up-to-date information to remove voters from Iowa’s voter lists,” said ACLU of Iowa Executive Director Ben Stone. “The potential for erroneous information is huge.”

The second voter suppression rule would create a new, unreliable way for people to make voter fraud complaints to the Secretary of State’s office. The new method would skirt Iowa law by removing a requirement that the person swear to the truth of their allegation, with criminal penalties for false reports.

The ACLU and LULAC also assert that under Iowa law, Schultz doesn’t have the legal authority to implement these rules and by doing so, is in violation of the law.

“This illegal effort by the Secretary of State to purge Iowa’s voter list threatens to deprive eligible registered Iowa voters of their constitutionally protected right to vote,” said Stone. “We want to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

...

More: http://www.aclu-ia.org/2012/08/08/aclu-of-iowa-latino-group-file-request-to-halt-secretary-of-states-voter-suppression-rules/

[rurallib]

2. thanks for this link

[IADEMO2004]

3. Rot starts at the head

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/24/iowa-felons-voting-rights-terry-branstad_n_1622742.html


Cut

On the day he took office, Branstad signed an order reversing a six-year policy started under Democrat Tom Vilsack in which felons automatically regained their voting rights once they were discharged from state supervision. The move flew in the face of a nationwide trend to make voting easier for felons, making Iowa one of four states where felons must apply to the governor to have voting rights restored. Branstad's new process requires applicants to submit a credit report, a provision critics call inappropriate and unique among states.

Since then, 8,000 felons in Iowa have finished their prison sentences or been released from community supervision, but less than a dozen have successfully navigated the process of applying to get their citizenship rights back, according to public records obtained by the AP. Branstad's office has denied a handful of others because of incomplete paperwork or unpaid court costs.

"Wow – that seems pretty low," said Rita Bettis, lobbyist for the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, which was posting a how-to guide online Sunday to help felons through a process that has confused some seasoned elections officials. Bettis said felons struggling to re-enter society may be less interested in voting than the general population because they have other concerns, but making it easier for them to do so is good public policy.

end cut