Voter suppression

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Voter suppression is a form of electoral fraud and refers to the use of governmental power, political campaign strategy, and private resources aimed at suppressing (i.e. reducing) the total vote of opposition candidacies instead of attempting to change likely voting behavior by changing the opinions of potential voters. This method is particularly effective if a significant amount of voters are intimidated individually because the voter might not consider his or her single vote important.

Contents 1 Voter suppression by governmental power 2 Voter suppression by campaign organizations 3 Voter suppression by front organizations 4 Voter suppression by unknown activists 5 Voter suppression distinct from other campaign tactics 6 See also 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Voter suppression by governmental power

In the United States, voter suppression was used extensively in some Southern states until the Voting Rights Act (1965) made most disenfranchisement and voting qualifications illegal. Traditional voter suppression tactics included the institution of poll taxes and literacy tests, aimed^{[citation needed]} at suppressing the votes of African Americans and working class white voters.

Measures in place in seven U.S. states ban released felons from voting; some allege that this is a tactic aimed at suppressing voter turnout. Occasionally, as in Florida in the 2000 presidential election, some non-felons are banned due to record-keeping errors and are not warned of their disqualification before they no longer have the right to contest it.

[edit] Voter suppression by campaign organizations

In the 2002 New Hampshire Senate election phone jamming scandal, Republican officials attempted to reduce the number of Democratic voters by paying professional telemarketers in Idaho to make repeated hang-up calls to block Democrats' ride-to-the-polls phone lines on election day.^[1][2]

In 2006, four employees of the John Kerry campaign^[3] were convicted^[4] of slashing the tires of 25 vans rented by the state Republican Party. The party planned to drive poll watchers to polling places by 7 a.m. the day of the 2004 presidential election, and then deliver any voters who didn't have a ride.^[3] At the campaign workers' sentencing, Judge Michael B. Brennan told the defendants, "Voter suppression has no place in our country. Your crime took away that right to vote for some citizens."^[4]

Caging lists have been used by political parties to eliminate potential voters from the other party's voting roll. A political party sends registered mail to addresses of registered voters. If the mail is returned as undeliverable the party uses that fact to challenge the registration, arguing that because the voter could not be reached at the address, the registration is fraudulent.

[edit] Voter suppression by front organizations

During the 2004 election allegations surfaced in several states that the group called Voters Outreach of America had collected and submitted Republican voter registration forms while inappropriately disposing of Democratic registration forms.^[5][6][7][8].

[edit] Voter suppression by unknown activists

In the U.S. presidential election of 2004, some voters got phone calls with false information intended to keep them from voting--saying that their voting place had been changed or that voting would take place on Wednesday as well as on Tuesday.^[9][10]

[edit] Voter suppression distinct from other campaign tactics

Unlike negative campaigning, which ordinarily seeks reduce the likelihood of someone voting for a candidate through disparaging arguments directed at a candidate, voter suppression prevents people from voting altogether. Thus if as in the U.S. presidential election of 1964 in the United States the Lyndon Johnson campaign depicted Barry Goldwater as a "right-wing extremist," such a depiction does not constitute voter suppression.

Negative campaigning, even if it goes as far as slander or libel, is not generally considered to be a form of voter suppression. Research has shown, however, that negative campaigning does indirectly make people less likely to vote.^[11]

Some kinds of vote fraud--such as bribery or intimidation of electors, or manipulation of voting results by tampering with the voting devices, paraphernalia, or tabulating machines with the result of falsifying, undercounting, or otherwise misrepresenting the vote--may result in depriving qualified electors of their legitimate voice in an election. The term "voter suppression," however, is usually reserved for attempts to keep voters away from the polls, not for other kinds of vote manipulation.

[edit] See also

• 2004 U.S. presidential election controversy, vote suppression
• Electoral fraud
• Caging list
• Voters Outreach of America
• American Center for Voting Rights
• Political corruption
• Voter turnout

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• NOW on PBS interview reviewing the likelihood and forms of Voter Suppression liely in 2008
• Vote Fraud, Intimidation & Suppression In The 2004 Presidential Election
• American Center For Voting Rights, August 2, 2005, report.
• Stealing democracy Spencer Overton, Stealing Democracy, June 5, 2006