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October 28, 2003

Republicans to challenge voters in Kentucky

When I first read about the Republican plan to have electoral challengers at several precincts in Kentucky for the upcoming gubernatorial election, I honestly didn't think much of it. I had read that the Republicans typically have a hard time finding enough people to serve as poll workers, and that these challengers would likely be used to help fill in some of those slots. It appears now, though, that there may be more to it than that.

When the plan was first announced, several complaints were posted saying that the GOP was targeting minorities in largely black neighborhoods. The Republicans, of course, deny this.

Jefferson County GOP Chairman Jack Richardson IV said the precincts were chosen at random or because the Republican Party has had trouble finding registered voters in those areas to serve as election workers. The challengers, who will receive the same training as precinct workers, could fill in if needed.

Richardson said the precincts weren't chosen because of their racial makeup or voting patterns. Using challengers is a "legal, proper and permissible" way to ensure that voters are bona fide, he said.

"It is in the best interest of everybody and the responsibility of both parties to protect the ballot integrity," Richardson said. "That is the bottom line."

Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo has found a memo sent out in July from Mike Czerwonka seeking volunteers to work at polls in the upcoming election. Czerwonka is a Republican activist who had run for office last year. He had alleged that there were voting irregularities in his race which cost him the election, but the Jefferson County Election officials said that they found no improprieties.

This memo makes it quite clear that the precincts where the Republicans are planning to install challengers were specifically chosen because they are heavily populated by both minorities and Democrats. The memo reads (in part) as follows. Some lines in the memo itself are highlighted by the use of a larger font. I have reproduced those lines in bold type. Otherwise, I have typed this as exactly as I can based on the copy of the memo available at TPM:

Gubernatorial Election Integrity Call to Arms

What do the 1994 Lary Forgy/Paul Patton Gubernatorial Race, the 2002 narrow victory of Congresswoman Anne Northup over Jack Conway, the 2002 Mike Czerwonka/Paul Bather Kentucky State Representative and the 2002 Louisiana US Senate race have in common???

All were adversely impacted by the presence and influence of the Democratic National Committee, the A. Phillip Randolph Institute (the black militant division of the AFL-CIO and funded in part by the DNC), and the NAACP and their efforts to marshal the Get Out To Vote efforts targeted toward the black, poor voters in selected communities and selected targeted races of national impact.

Their tactics are [illegible] in nature, encouraging people sometimes who aren't registered to vote and commit voter fraud by voting or sometimes engaging in illegal election practices (i.e. vote buying, etc.). All for the sole, singular intent of getting the Democratic nominee in Gubernatorial, and National Congressional and Senatorial races elected.

In Jefferson County alone during the 2002 General Election Fifty=Seven (57) Republican Precinct Poll positions went unfilled by Republicans and in the 2003 Primary Election One Hundred and Fifty (150) Republican Precinct Poll positions went unfilled by Republicans. During this same period the Democrats had a surplus of four hundred and fifty (450) Democratic Precinct Poll Workers. What this means is that we, as Republicans, have failed our civic responsibility and consequently a fair and honest election cannot be guaranteed. Fund Raising is incredibly important, it is the life-blood of a campaign; however, it is not enough.

We must protect the integrity of the voting process.

I have been asked by the Fletcher Campaign for Governor to serve in the capacity of insuring the integrity of the election process in the West End / Portland areas of Louisville. We will require approximately Three Hundred (300) Republican Precinct Poll Workers to achieve this goal. However, I cannot do it alone. I need the Associated Builders & Contractor members, staff, friends and families in Kentucky to step up and volunteer to help achieve the goal of a fair and honest election. With Ernie Fletcher, we have a real opportunity to bring honesty, integrity and dignity to the Governor's Office of the Commonwealth of Kentucky; a chance to end the corruption of many previous Democratic administrations and the rampant abuse of personal service contracts; and a gentleman who is conservative in nature, pro-business and who will put us on a level playing field.

Our goal is within reach. Let's make it happen now!

Your commitment as a Republican Precinct Poll Worker is to attend a Board of Elections training seminar and to work at the assigned precinct poll on Election Day, November 4, 2003 from 6:00 A.M. till 6:00 P.M.

The pay is not great but the reward is incredible. This is our civic responsibility.

Please join Ernie Fletcher and me for an informational meeting at the ABC Office's in Louisville, KY on Monday July 21, 2003 at 9:00 A.M. to learn more about this more important and vital issue.

We need your help!!!

Thank you
Mike Czerwonka

This memo clearly states that their concern is related to the Democrats encouraging poor blacks to vote illegally. Their solution is to bring in poll challengers who are empowered to challenge any voter they believe may be voting improperly and put that voter in the position of having to sign an oath swearing that they are who they say they are and that they are eligible to vote before that voter can be given a ballot. While signing the oath isn't necessarily a difficult thing to do, the prospect of being challenged at the poll over your eligibility to vote is something many people might find intimidating. There are many people who would be so indignant at being challenged that they would choose to leave rather than vote, and others who would be so concerned about the possibility of being challenged that they won't go out and vote at all. This, presumably, is the entire point behind the exercise - finding ways to prevent minority and Democratic voters from going to the polls is a charge that is frequently leveled against the Republicans. For example, last year, in Baltimore, flyers were distributed in an area known for having a large number of blacks and Democrats, which read:

"URGENT NOTICE. Come out to vote on November 6th. Before you come to vote make sure you pay your parking tickets, motor vehicle tickets, overdue rent and most important any warrants."

The goal there was to discourage anyone who might owe money or have minor tickets from voting, even though it would be perfectly legal for them to do so, and the information in the memo was entirely false. Even the Internet has gotten into the act, with e-mail messages being sent around stating that due to "concerns about poll crowding" (or something of that nature), Republicans were to vote on Tuesday - the actual voting day - and Democrats were to vote on Wednesday - after the polls had closed and the winners had been declared.

(When searching Google for this, I used the phrase " "Republicans vote on Tuesday" "Democrats vote on Wednesday ". Just to check and see if it really was more widespread on the part of Republicans than Democrats, I then tried " "Democrats vote on Tuesday" "Republicans vote on Wednesday" " to see how the result totals compared. Neither brought up a lot of hits - and all that did come up were from various Yahoo! Groups, but there were several more "Republicans on Tuesday" than there were "Democrats on Tuesday".)

To help poll workers better understand what poll challengers can - and cannot - do, poll workers were recently given a training session. Among other information, they were told:

Challengers can only question a voter's eligibility if they believe the voter:

• Is not a duly registered voter in a precinct;



• Is not a resident of the precinct;



• Is a felon;



• Is not whom he or she claims to be.

"The law requires that the challenger has to have reason to believe the basis for his objections or his challenge," Cato said.

Challenges must be issued to election workers before a voter receives a ballot, Cato said. Challengers can't confront voters directly.

A challenged voter must sign an oath verifying his or her identity and right to cast a ballot in that precinct. The challenger must sign the same oath and write down the reason for the challenge.

Even if election workers know the challenge isn't correct, "they have to go ahead and make his challenge," Cato said. "It's not a case where the election officers can assume that they have the power to determine whether a challenge is valid or not. They don't have that power."

A challenged voter will be allowed to vote — and that vote will be counted in the election. Voters' oaths are collected later by the election office and forwarded to the commonwealth's attorney for investigation.

Kentucky Democrats have called on Ernie Fletcher, the Republican Gubernatorial candidate and President Bush to condemn the practice, especially in a situation where it appears to be a blatant attempt to intimidate minority voters, and DNC chariman Terry McAuliffe has called on John Ashcroft to do likewise. In addition, many black ministers in the area are planning to speak from the pulpit on Sunday, encouraging their congregations to be sure and vote in the election and not let the prospect of poll challengers intimidate them.

While the practice is certainly legal and the Republicans are within their rights to make use of poll challengers, I have to agree that the way these challengers are being placed specifically at polls in areas that are predominately black and Democratic smacks of dirty politics. Just because something is legal doesn't automatically make it right or ethical. In my opinion, the Republicans plan is neither.

Posted by thorswitch at October 28, 2003 05:46 AM

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Posted by: Brad Beam at October 28, 2003 10:11 AM