Fwd: Voter Intimidation

[Guest guest]

> " j

> Tue, 07 Sep 2004 16:15:31 -0000

> Voter Intimidation

>

> Fox News Interferes with Local Voter Registration

>

> Tucson voter registration target of harassment...

>

> August 31, students in the Women's Studies honorary

> society at the University of Arizona--in conjunction

> with the Feminist Majority Foundation--were engaging

> in a bit of civic participation on the UA lawn:

> registering voters. They called it " Suffrage 2004. "

> In registering voters, they were engaging in an

> activity in common with

> the Young Republicans, the Young Democrats, and

> student government here in recent weeks.

>

> But this time it was different. The local Fox News

> affiliate pulled up and, cameras rolling, accused

> feminist students of engaging in felony voter fraud.

> The reporters claimed that Arizona law prohibits

> students from out of state from registering here.

>

> Our students were formidable. They, of course, had

> consulted with the local registrar of voters on the

> law before they picked up voter registration forms,

> and insisted that state law requires only that

> someone live in Arizona for 29 days before the

> election. They called the Secretary of State's

> office, our local state rep, Raul Grijalva, the

> Feminist Majority Foundation, and others. The

> Secretary of State's office, shamefully, refused to

> back them up.

>

> They're a little scared they really will be charged

> with a felony. I find this hard to imagine [but then

> I find this whole thing hard to imagine], as the law

> really is on their side--the voter registration law

> says clearly that you only have to reside here for

> 29 days

> before the election. There's even a Supreme Court

> decision that says students have the right to vote

> where they live (although, and this may be

> apocryphal, one of our students reported that when

> she raised that with the Secretary of State's

> office, she was told--but that's

> the Supreme Court. That doesn't apply here. This is

> Arizona.) Anyway, they have lots of lawyers working

> for them now.

>

> But last night, a piece ran on the local Fox

> affiliate that was quite intimidating--it sounded

> like students would be arrested if they voted. Kelly

> Krauss, UA WS student, held the line in the piece

> that this wasn't true, but was contradicted by the

> secretary of state's office. (I'm trying to get

> someone to upload the videotape, and can make copies

> on request. Interestingly, Fox News/Channel 11

> doesn't have the story archived on their web site.)

>

> So this is scary as hell. The NAACP/People for the

> American Way Report that came out last month argues

> that intimidating people out of their voting rights

> is a Republican Party strategy. So I'm trying to

> understand what happened, and my mind reels. A memo?

> From people

> in the Republican Party to Fox News stations in

> swing states like Arizona? Telling them to halt

> voter registration drives by the Feminist Majority

> Foundation? I can't even imagine.

>

> Yet we know from a recent NAACP/People for the

> American Way report that student voter intimidation

> has happened on other campuses--most notably,

> Prairie View A & M, a predominantly African-American

> campus that has been at the center of voting rights

> controversies before.

> This year, a district attorney there, in Waller

> County, Texas, threatened in a letter to the local

> newspaper to arrest any student who tried to vote

> who did not have a " legal voting address. "

>

> Some other events from that report:

>

> Philadelphia, PA, 2003: Voters in African-American

> neighborhoods were systematically challenged by men

> carrying clipboards, driving a fleet of some 300

> sedans with magnetic signs designed to look like law

> enforcement insignia. [NAACP/PFAW 2004].

>

> Michigan, 2004: One of Bush's Michigan advisors,

> State Rep. John Pappageorge (R-Troy) was quoted as

> saying " If we do not suppress the Detroit vote,

> we're going to have a tough time in this election. "

> [Detroit Free Press, 7/16/04]

>

> Louisiana, 2003: Flyers were posted in public

> housing projects which read " Vote!!! Bad Weather? No

> problem!!! If the weather is uncomfortable on

> Election Day (Saturday December 7th) Remember you

> can wait and cast your ballot on Tuesday December

> 10th. " [Times-Picayune (New Orleans), 12/12/02]

>

> For the whole report, go to:

> http://www.naacp.org/news/releases/jimcrow.pdf

>

> So pass it on. Student voting rights are being

> challenged, as are African-American, Latino, and

> working-class voters'. If you advise student groups

> that might do voter registration, prepare them. If

> you don't, tell the story anyway. This can't go on

> being how voters get treated in this country.

>

> Laura Briggs

> Associate Professor

> Women's Studies

> University of Arizona

>

>