PREPARED TO VOTE: Voter Protection 2008
August 6, 2008 NAACP Legal Defense Fund Unveils New Strategy to Protect Voting Rights this November (New York, NY)
Today the NAACP Legal Defenseand Educational Fund, (LDF), unveiled its new comprehensive non-partisan voter awareness program, "Prepared to Vote". "Prepared to Vote is a program designed to raise every voter's awareness of the many obstacles in the electoral process that could affect their right to vote in the 2008 election. Through Prepared to Vote we hope to ensure that every eligible voter casts a vote that counts," said John Payton, LDF President and Director-Counsel. Inspired by the Freedom School Model from the Civil Rights Movement, the Prepared to Vote Campaign seeks to empower communities of color by providing essential information prior to Election Day. Program components include community-based workshops, the dissemination of user-friendly materials, meetings with election officials, and a dynamic educational website preparedtovote.org.
The Prepared to Vote program will help reveal and address voting barriers, such as voter ID requirements, voter purges, faulty voter rolls, poorly trained elections officials, felon disfranchisement statutes and a host of other potential obstacles. With record voter participation anticipated in the upcoming Presidential Election, the Prepared to Vote Campaign will help protect the rights of voters and ensure that America's democratic processes are administered uniformly and fairly in communitiesof color. LDF is proud to continue its long tradition of protecting the rights of voters across the spectrumof American life. LDF will be deploying attorneys to 10 states to conduct field operations in an effort to prevent actsof omission that could result in disfranchisement reminiscent of the 2000 election.
The Prepared to Vote Program covers: Alabama, Delaware, Indiana, Louisiana, Missouri, Maryland, Mississippi, Texas, South Carolina and North Carolina.
Monday, October 6, 2008
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE voter rights Fact Sheet
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEWednesday, July 2, 2008WWW.USDOJ.GOV
CRT(202) 514-2007TDD (202) 514-1888
Fact Sheet: Protecting Voting Rights and Preventing Election Fraud
One of the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) highest priorities is to protect voting rights and enforce specific federal laws that help to ensure that all qualified voters have an opportunity to cast their ballots and have them counted. The Ballot Access and Voting Integrity Initiative was established in October 2002 to spearhead the Department’s expanded efforts to address election crimes and voting rights violations. The initiative has two overarching goals: to ensure fair voting access and to protect the integrity of the election process.
As part of the initiative, on July 1-2, DOJ is holding its 7th annual Ballot Access and Voting Integrity Symposium at the Department’s National Advocacy Center in Columbia, South Carolina. The symposium provides for training of Department personnel in preparation for federal elections including the Nov. 4, 2008 general election. With the participation of attorneys from 93 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, the symposium strengthens the nationwide span of expertise related to enforcement of voting rights and prosecution of election crimes.
In addition, the symposium provides guidance on federal-state coordination matters to U.S. Attorneys who in the coming months will meet with state officials responsible for handling election matters in their respective districts.
On Nov. 4, 2008, under the programs implemented by the Criminal and Civil Rights Divisions, the Department will be working hard to ensure fair access for the nation’s voters, and to uphold the integrity of the nation’s democratic electoral process. The Justice Department enforces specific federal voting rights laws and has accomplished significant results in the past several years. These efforts include the following:
Civil Rights Division Enforcement:
The Civil Rights Division enforces the civil provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the subsequent amendments; the Uniformed and Overseas Citizen Absentee Voting Act of 1986 (UOCAVA); the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (Motor Voter or NVRA); and the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA). For Election Day, Nov. 4, 2008, the Civil Rights Division will implement a comprehensive program to help ensure ballot access which will include the following:
The Department will ensure the proper training of the District Election Officials (DEOs), in every U.S. Attorney’s Office across the country on ballot access laws.
The Civil Rights Division will send hundreds of federal personnel, including Justice Department employees, to posts in a wide scope of states across the nation.
In identifying locations where federal monitors may be needed, the Civil Rights Division has already sought out the views of many organizations, including advocacy groups for minority voters and voters with disabilities, as well as state and local officials.
The Civil Rights Division has been engaged in a major outreach effort to minority groups and election officials to inform jurisdictions of their obligations under the language minority provisions of the Voting Rights Act. The Division will continue to enforce the law that requires jurisdictions meeting certain criteria to provide bilingual access to elections.
On Election Day, voters will be able to file complaints online on the Voting Section home page http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/voting/index.htm. Civil Rights Division personnel will be available at a specially staffed toll free number, 1-800-253-3931, to receive complaints, and on a dedicated TTY line, 1-888-305-3228.
Civil Rights Division Record on Election Matters:
The Civil Rights Division’s commitment to ensuring voter access has resulted in an unprecedented scope of observer and monitor coverage during the past six years. Moreover, a majority of all federal court orders providing for federal observers were obtained or extended by this Administration.
In recent years, the Civil Rights Division has broken records with regard to enforcement of Section 208 of the Voting Rights Act, which assures all voters who need assistance in marking their ballots the right to choose a person they trust to provide that assistance. During the past six years, we have brought nine of the 11 such claims brought by the Department since Section 208 was enacted 26 years ago.
The Civil Rights Division’s commitment to enforcing the language minority requirements of the Voting Rights Act, reauthorized by Congress in 2006, remains strong, with nine lawsuits filed in fiscal year 2007. During the past seven years, the Civil Rights Division has brought more cases under the minority language provisions than in all other years combined since 1965.
The Civil Rights Division continues to work diligently to protect the voting rights of our nation’s military and overseas citizens under UOCAVA. In the last three fiscal years, the Division has taken legal action, or obtained relief without the need for litigation, in six states to ensure military and overseas voters’ rights are protected under UOCAVA. The Division will continue to make every effort to ensure that our citizens abroad and the brave men and women of our military are afforded a full opportunity to participate in federal elections.
In addition to the Voting Section’s efforts, the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division will be vigilant in its scrutiny of vote suppression or intimidation schemes that may target victims on the basis of race, color, or national origin. Accordingly, the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division will be working closely with the Public Integrity Section of the Criminal Division to identify possible violations of the statutes that prohibit intentional interference with the right to vote.
Criminal Division Enforcement:
The Criminal Division's Public Integrity Section and the Department's 93 U.S. Attorneys Offices are responsible for enforcing the election fraud laws passed by Congress and signed by the President. On Nov. 4, 2008, they will do so by ensuring the following:
Federal prosecutors in Washington, D.C., and throughout the nation will be readily available on Election Day to receive complaints and take any appropriate action.
Designated DEOs will be available in each U.S. Attorney’s district to receive and handle any complaints from the public.
Criminal Division attorneys will be on duty to assist with potential election crimes from the time the polls open on the east coast until the time they close on the west coast to provide consultation and coordination with the DEOs.
Criminal Division Record on Voting Fraud:
The Criminal Division and the Department's 93 U.S. Attorneys Offices enforce laws that prohibit the following: voter intimidation; voting by ineligible individuals; vote buying; destruction of valid ballots or registrations; fraud related to counting more votes then registered voters; altering vote tallies; voting in multiple counties; abuse of absentee ballots; malfeasance by election officials; the disappearance of ballot boxes; furnishing fraudulent voter registration forms to election registrars; and forging the names of voters on absentee ballot materials.
Since the Attorney General’s Ballot Access and voting Integrity Initiative was launched in 2002, over 140 individuals have been charged with election fraud offenses. Over 100 people have been convicted of voter fraud in that time frame.
Over 360 election fraud investigations have been started since the initiative began in 2002. There are now approximately 90 investigations ongoing throughout the country.
###
08-585
CRT(202) 514-2007TDD (202) 514-1888
Fact Sheet: Protecting Voting Rights and Preventing Election Fraud
One of the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) highest priorities is to protect voting rights and enforce specific federal laws that help to ensure that all qualified voters have an opportunity to cast their ballots and have them counted. The Ballot Access and Voting Integrity Initiative was established in October 2002 to spearhead the Department’s expanded efforts to address election crimes and voting rights violations. The initiative has two overarching goals: to ensure fair voting access and to protect the integrity of the election process.
As part of the initiative, on July 1-2, DOJ is holding its 7th annual Ballot Access and Voting Integrity Symposium at the Department’s National Advocacy Center in Columbia, South Carolina. The symposium provides for training of Department personnel in preparation for federal elections including the Nov. 4, 2008 general election. With the participation of attorneys from 93 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, the symposium strengthens the nationwide span of expertise related to enforcement of voting rights and prosecution of election crimes.
In addition, the symposium provides guidance on federal-state coordination matters to U.S. Attorneys who in the coming months will meet with state officials responsible for handling election matters in their respective districts.
On Nov. 4, 2008, under the programs implemented by the Criminal and Civil Rights Divisions, the Department will be working hard to ensure fair access for the nation’s voters, and to uphold the integrity of the nation’s democratic electoral process. The Justice Department enforces specific federal voting rights laws and has accomplished significant results in the past several years. These efforts include the following:
Civil Rights Division Enforcement:
The Civil Rights Division enforces the civil provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the subsequent amendments; the Uniformed and Overseas Citizen Absentee Voting Act of 1986 (UOCAVA); the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (Motor Voter or NVRA); and the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA). For Election Day, Nov. 4, 2008, the Civil Rights Division will implement a comprehensive program to help ensure ballot access which will include the following:
The Department will ensure the proper training of the District Election Officials (DEOs), in every U.S. Attorney’s Office across the country on ballot access laws.
The Civil Rights Division will send hundreds of federal personnel, including Justice Department employees, to posts in a wide scope of states across the nation.
In identifying locations where federal monitors may be needed, the Civil Rights Division has already sought out the views of many organizations, including advocacy groups for minority voters and voters with disabilities, as well as state and local officials.
The Civil Rights Division has been engaged in a major outreach effort to minority groups and election officials to inform jurisdictions of their obligations under the language minority provisions of the Voting Rights Act. The Division will continue to enforce the law that requires jurisdictions meeting certain criteria to provide bilingual access to elections.
On Election Day, voters will be able to file complaints online on the Voting Section home page http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/voting/index.htm. Civil Rights Division personnel will be available at a specially staffed toll free number, 1-800-253-3931, to receive complaints, and on a dedicated TTY line, 1-888-305-3228.
Civil Rights Division Record on Election Matters:
The Civil Rights Division’s commitment to ensuring voter access has resulted in an unprecedented scope of observer and monitor coverage during the past six years. Moreover, a majority of all federal court orders providing for federal observers were obtained or extended by this Administration.
In recent years, the Civil Rights Division has broken records with regard to enforcement of Section 208 of the Voting Rights Act, which assures all voters who need assistance in marking their ballots the right to choose a person they trust to provide that assistance. During the past six years, we have brought nine of the 11 such claims brought by the Department since Section 208 was enacted 26 years ago.
The Civil Rights Division’s commitment to enforcing the language minority requirements of the Voting Rights Act, reauthorized by Congress in 2006, remains strong, with nine lawsuits filed in fiscal year 2007. During the past seven years, the Civil Rights Division has brought more cases under the minority language provisions than in all other years combined since 1965.
The Civil Rights Division continues to work diligently to protect the voting rights of our nation’s military and overseas citizens under UOCAVA. In the last three fiscal years, the Division has taken legal action, or obtained relief without the need for litigation, in six states to ensure military and overseas voters’ rights are protected under UOCAVA. The Division will continue to make every effort to ensure that our citizens abroad and the brave men and women of our military are afforded a full opportunity to participate in federal elections.
In addition to the Voting Section’s efforts, the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division will be vigilant in its scrutiny of vote suppression or intimidation schemes that may target victims on the basis of race, color, or national origin. Accordingly, the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division will be working closely with the Public Integrity Section of the Criminal Division to identify possible violations of the statutes that prohibit intentional interference with the right to vote.
Criminal Division Enforcement:
The Criminal Division's Public Integrity Section and the Department's 93 U.S. Attorneys Offices are responsible for enforcing the election fraud laws passed by Congress and signed by the President. On Nov. 4, 2008, they will do so by ensuring the following:
Federal prosecutors in Washington, D.C., and throughout the nation will be readily available on Election Day to receive complaints and take any appropriate action.
Designated DEOs will be available in each U.S. Attorney’s district to receive and handle any complaints from the public.
Criminal Division attorneys will be on duty to assist with potential election crimes from the time the polls open on the east coast until the time they close on the west coast to provide consultation and coordination with the DEOs.
Criminal Division Record on Voting Fraud:
The Criminal Division and the Department's 93 U.S. Attorneys Offices enforce laws that prohibit the following: voter intimidation; voting by ineligible individuals; vote buying; destruction of valid ballots or registrations; fraud related to counting more votes then registered voters; altering vote tallies; voting in multiple counties; abuse of absentee ballots; malfeasance by election officials; the disappearance of ballot boxes; furnishing fraudulent voter registration forms to election registrars; and forging the names of voters on absentee ballot materials.
Since the Attorney General’s Ballot Access and voting Integrity Initiative was launched in 2002, over 140 individuals have been charged with election fraud offenses. Over 100 people have been convicted of voter fraud in that time frame.
Over 360 election fraud investigations have been started since the initiative began in 2002. There are now approximately 90 investigations ongoing throughout the country.
###
08-585
NEW YORK State Board of Elections Voting Information
New York State Board of Elections Voting Information
Voter Registration Deadlines
2008 GENERAL ELECTION DEADLINE
MAIL REGISTRATION - Sec. 5-210(3)Applications must be postmarked not later than October 10th and received by a board of elections not later than October 15th to be eligible to vote in the
General Election.
IN PERSON REGISTRATION - Secs. 5-210, 5-211, 5-212You may register at your local board of elections or any state agency participating in the National Voter Registration Act, on any business day throughout the year but, to be eligible to vote in the November general election, your application must be received no later than October 10th except, if you have been honorably discharged from the military or have become a naturalized citizen since October 10th, you may register in person at the board of elections up until October 24th.
CHANGE OF ADDRESS - Sec. 5-208(3)Notices of change of address from registered voters received by October 15th by a county board of elections must be processed and entered in the records in time for the general election.
Registering to Vote
Qualifications to Register to Vote:
be a United States citizen;
be 18 years old by December 31 of the year in which you file this form (note: you must be 18 years old by the date of the general, primary or other election in which you want to vote);
live at your present address at least 30 days before an election;
not be in jail or on parole for a felony conviction and;
not claim the right to vote elsewhere.
How and Where to register to Vote
You can register in person at your county board of elections
or at any New York State Agency-Based voter registration center.
You can enter your name directly into our mailing list database to have a New York State Voter Registration Form mailed to you. (NOTE: The same form can be downloaded, using the link below.)
You can call our 1-800-FOR-VOTE hotline to request a voter application.
You can download a PDF version of the New York State Voter Registration Form.
Download English Form ( 69KB)
Download Spanish Form ( 115KB)Print the form, complete and sign it, and mail it to your county board of elections.
Alternately, you can complete a PDF version of the New York State Voter Registration Form on-line by clicking on the link below, typing the necessary information and selecting the appropriate boxes. However, the file size of these forms are substantially larger than the above forms, so it may take quite a while for them to load on computers with slower Internet connections.
Complete English Form On-line ( 2,370KB)
Complete Spanish Form On-LIne ( 596KB)Once the form is completed, you need to print the form and sign it. Then, mail the form to your county board of elections.
Absentee Voting
Qualifications to Vote by Absentee Ballot:
unavoidably absent from your county or, if a resident of the city of New York absent from said city, on Election Day;
unable to appear at the polls due to illness or disability;
a patient in a Veterans’ Administration Hospital;
detained in jail awaiting Grand Jury action or confined in prison after conviction for an offense other than a felony;
How to Vote by Absentee Ballot
Applications for Absentee Ballots are available at your county board of elections.
You may also download a PDF version of the New York State Absentee Ballot Application Form. ( 55KB)
Upon completion, applications must be mailed to your county board no later than the seventh day before the election or delivered in person no later than the day before the election.
You may also request an Absentee Ballot by sending a letter to your county board of elections. The letter must be received by your county board no earlier than 30 days and no later than seven days before the election. The letter must contain the following information:
the address where you are registered
an address where the ballot is to be sent
the reason for the request, and
the signature of the voter
An application form will be mailed with your ballot. The application form must be completed and returned with your ballot.
If you cannot pick up your ballot, or will not be able to receive it through the mail, you have the right to designate someone to pick it up for you. Only that person designated on your application may pick up and deliver your ballot.
If you are permanently ill or disabled, you have the right to receive an Absentee Ballot for each subsequent election without further application. Simply file an application with your board of elections containing a statement which describes the particulars of your illness or disability. The Board will review the facts stated, and if satisfied, will mark your registration record. You will then automatically receive an absentee ballot for every election until your registration is canceled.
Military Voting
Persons serving in the military may vote from their designated 'home of record', regardless of where they may be stationed or for how long.
If that 'home of record' is in New York, you may register and vote in local, state and federal elections by completing an application and sending it to the board of elections in your 'home of record' county.
Your application will register you and also serve as your absentee ballot application, and will be valid for 2 federal elections.
Applications are available from your Voting Assistance Officer on base, or you can visit www.fvap.gov for forms and information.
Always be sure to share any change of address information with your Board of Elections.
Questions? Call the State Board of Elections at 518-473-5086 or the Federal Voter Assistance Program at 1-800-438-8683, or contact your Voting Assistance Officer or US Embassy office.
Federal Voting
United States citizens living outside of the United States are entitled to vote from their last United States address.
If that address was in New York, your completed application should be sent to the board of elections in the county in which you lived, prior to moving overseas.
Your application will register you and also serve as your absentee ballot application.
You may vote for federal offices:
President/Vice President
United States Senate
Congressional representatives
In years in which presidential conventions are held, you may also be eligible to vote for those convention delegates.
Once registered, you will receive ballots by mail for each of these elections in which you are eligible to vote.
Your application will be valid for 2 federal elections.
Once registered, you will receive forms directly from your board of elections, on which you must update your overseas address. Always be sure to share any change of address information with your Board of Elections.
If you move back to the US, contact your board of elections, to have your registration reflect that change.
Visit www.fvap.gov for forms and information.
Questions? Call the State Board of Elections at 518-473-5086 or the Federal Voter Assistance Program at 1-800-438-8683, or your United States Embassy office.
Voter Registration Deadlines
2008 GENERAL ELECTION DEADLINE
MAIL REGISTRATION - Sec. 5-210(3)Applications must be postmarked not later than October 10th and received by a board of elections not later than October 15th to be eligible to vote in the
General Election.
IN PERSON REGISTRATION - Secs. 5-210, 5-211, 5-212You may register at your local board of elections or any state agency participating in the National Voter Registration Act, on any business day throughout the year but, to be eligible to vote in the November general election, your application must be received no later than October 10th except, if you have been honorably discharged from the military or have become a naturalized citizen since October 10th, you may register in person at the board of elections up until October 24th.
CHANGE OF ADDRESS - Sec. 5-208(3)Notices of change of address from registered voters received by October 15th by a county board of elections must be processed and entered in the records in time for the general election.
Registering to Vote
Qualifications to Register to Vote:
be a United States citizen;
be 18 years old by December 31 of the year in which you file this form (note: you must be 18 years old by the date of the general, primary or other election in which you want to vote);
live at your present address at least 30 days before an election;
not be in jail or on parole for a felony conviction and;
not claim the right to vote elsewhere.
How and Where to register to Vote
You can register in person at your county board of elections
or at any New York State Agency-Based voter registration center.
You can enter your name directly into our mailing list database to have a New York State Voter Registration Form mailed to you. (NOTE: The same form can be downloaded, using the link below.)
You can call our 1-800-FOR-VOTE hotline to request a voter application.
You can download a PDF version of the New York State Voter Registration Form.
Download English Form ( 69KB)
Download Spanish Form ( 115KB)Print the form, complete and sign it, and mail it to your county board of elections.
Alternately, you can complete a PDF version of the New York State Voter Registration Form on-line by clicking on the link below, typing the necessary information and selecting the appropriate boxes. However, the file size of these forms are substantially larger than the above forms, so it may take quite a while for them to load on computers with slower Internet connections.
Complete English Form On-line ( 2,370KB)
Complete Spanish Form On-LIne ( 596KB)Once the form is completed, you need to print the form and sign it. Then, mail the form to your county board of elections.
Absentee Voting
Qualifications to Vote by Absentee Ballot:
unavoidably absent from your county or, if a resident of the city of New York absent from said city, on Election Day;
unable to appear at the polls due to illness or disability;
a patient in a Veterans’ Administration Hospital;
detained in jail awaiting Grand Jury action or confined in prison after conviction for an offense other than a felony;
How to Vote by Absentee Ballot
Applications for Absentee Ballots are available at your county board of elections.
You may also download a PDF version of the New York State Absentee Ballot Application Form. ( 55KB)
Upon completion, applications must be mailed to your county board no later than the seventh day before the election or delivered in person no later than the day before the election.
You may also request an Absentee Ballot by sending a letter to your county board of elections. The letter must be received by your county board no earlier than 30 days and no later than seven days before the election. The letter must contain the following information:
the address where you are registered
an address where the ballot is to be sent
the reason for the request, and
the signature of the voter
An application form will be mailed with your ballot. The application form must be completed and returned with your ballot.
If you cannot pick up your ballot, or will not be able to receive it through the mail, you have the right to designate someone to pick it up for you. Only that person designated on your application may pick up and deliver your ballot.
If you are permanently ill or disabled, you have the right to receive an Absentee Ballot for each subsequent election without further application. Simply file an application with your board of elections containing a statement which describes the particulars of your illness or disability. The Board will review the facts stated, and if satisfied, will mark your registration record. You will then automatically receive an absentee ballot for every election until your registration is canceled.
Military Voting
Persons serving in the military may vote from their designated 'home of record', regardless of where they may be stationed or for how long.
If that 'home of record' is in New York, you may register and vote in local, state and federal elections by completing an application and sending it to the board of elections in your 'home of record' county.
Your application will register you and also serve as your absentee ballot application, and will be valid for 2 federal elections.
Applications are available from your Voting Assistance Officer on base, or you can visit www.fvap.gov for forms and information.
Always be sure to share any change of address information with your Board of Elections.
Questions? Call the State Board of Elections at 518-473-5086 or the Federal Voter Assistance Program at 1-800-438-8683, or contact your Voting Assistance Officer or US Embassy office.
Federal Voting
United States citizens living outside of the United States are entitled to vote from their last United States address.
If that address was in New York, your completed application should be sent to the board of elections in the county in which you lived, prior to moving overseas.
Your application will register you and also serve as your absentee ballot application.
You may vote for federal offices:
President/Vice President
United States Senate
Congressional representatives
In years in which presidential conventions are held, you may also be eligible to vote for those convention delegates.
Once registered, you will receive ballots by mail for each of these elections in which you are eligible to vote.
Your application will be valid for 2 federal elections.
Once registered, you will receive forms directly from your board of elections, on which you must update your overseas address. Always be sure to share any change of address information with your Board of Elections.
If you move back to the US, contact your board of elections, to have your registration reflect that change.
Visit www.fvap.gov for forms and information.
Questions? Call the State Board of Elections at 518-473-5086 or the Federal Voter Assistance Program at 1-800-438-8683, or your United States Embassy office.
2008 NEW YORK state election Statute
The following link is the entire New York State election law statute. Know your rights!
http://www.elections.state.ny.us/NYSBOE/download/law/2008NYElectionLaw.pdf
http://www.elections.state.ny.us/NYSBOE/download/law/2008NYElectionLaw.pdf
LINK to Manhattan Polling Locations
The following link provides a complete list of all polling locations in Manhattan. This list is provided by the New York State Board of Elections.
http://www.vote.nyc.ny.us/pdf/documents/boe/pollsitelist/PollSiteListNY.pdf
http://www.vote.nyc.ny.us/pdf/documents/boe/pollsitelist/PollSiteListNY.pdf
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Justice Department Reaches Voting Rights Settlement with Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Justice Department Reaches Voting Rights Settlement With The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Last update: 6:34 p.m. EDT Sept. 22, 2008
WASHINGTON, Sept 22, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ --
The Justice Department announced today that it has reached a settlement agreement with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts resolving allegations that the Commonwealth violated the rights of Puerto Rican voters under Section 4(e) of the Voting Rights Act (VRA).
Section 4(e) requires that election materials, including ballots, be provided in Spanish for Puerto Rican voters who are limited-English proficient (LEP) and who were educated in an American school in which the predominant classroom language was Spanish. The Department alleged that the Commonwealth violated the VRA by failing to provide translated ballots and other election materials in Spanish, during state and federal elections, for LEP Puerto Rican voters in the City of Worcester, Mass. The City of Worcester has provided election materials in Spanish, in compliance with the law, during municipal elections since 2001.
According to the Department, the Commonwealth's failure to provide the translated materials to Worcester resulted in Puerto Rican voters not being able to access the polls or cast an informed ballot. According to the 2000 Census, the City of Worcester had a total population of 172,648, of whom 17,091 (9.9 percent) were persons of Puerto Rican descent and 9,197 (5.3 percent) were born in Puerto Rico. Moreover, there are 199,207 persons of Puerto Rican descent in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, comprising 3.14 percent of the total population.
Under the settlement agreement, whenever Massachusetts provides the City of Worcester with election materials, including ballots, sample ballots and voting instructions, the Commonwealth is required to provide those materials in both Spanish and English to accommodate its voting population.
"In reaching this agreement, Massachusetts officials have demonstrated a commitment to meeting the needs of Puerto Rican citizens in Worcester," said Grace Chung Becker, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. "This agreement reflects the Justice Department's commitment to protecting the voting rights and ballot access of all Americans."
"This agreement honors the promise of the Voting Rights Act by ensuring that language minority voters have meaningful access to the ballot in Worcester," said Michael J. Sullivan, U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts. "We recognize and appreciate the commitment of the Secretary of the Commonwealth to resolve this matter."
To file complaints about discriminatory voting practices, including acts of harassment or intimidation, voters may call the Voting Section of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division at 1-800-253-3931. More information about the Voting Rights Act and other federal voting laws is available on the Department of Justice website at www.usdoj.gov/crt/voting/index.htm.
SOURCE U.S. Department of Justice http://www.USDOJ.gov
Copyright (C) 2008 PR Newswire. All rights reserved
Last update: 6:34 p.m. EDT Sept. 22, 2008
WASHINGTON, Sept 22, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ --
The Justice Department announced today that it has reached a settlement agreement with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts resolving allegations that the Commonwealth violated the rights of Puerto Rican voters under Section 4(e) of the Voting Rights Act (VRA).
Section 4(e) requires that election materials, including ballots, be provided in Spanish for Puerto Rican voters who are limited-English proficient (LEP) and who were educated in an American school in which the predominant classroom language was Spanish. The Department alleged that the Commonwealth violated the VRA by failing to provide translated ballots and other election materials in Spanish, during state and federal elections, for LEP Puerto Rican voters in the City of Worcester, Mass. The City of Worcester has provided election materials in Spanish, in compliance with the law, during municipal elections since 2001.
According to the Department, the Commonwealth's failure to provide the translated materials to Worcester resulted in Puerto Rican voters not being able to access the polls or cast an informed ballot. According to the 2000 Census, the City of Worcester had a total population of 172,648, of whom 17,091 (9.9 percent) were persons of Puerto Rican descent and 9,197 (5.3 percent) were born in Puerto Rico. Moreover, there are 199,207 persons of Puerto Rican descent in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, comprising 3.14 percent of the total population.
Under the settlement agreement, whenever Massachusetts provides the City of Worcester with election materials, including ballots, sample ballots and voting instructions, the Commonwealth is required to provide those materials in both Spanish and English to accommodate its voting population.
"In reaching this agreement, Massachusetts officials have demonstrated a commitment to meeting the needs of Puerto Rican citizens in Worcester," said Grace Chung Becker, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. "This agreement reflects the Justice Department's commitment to protecting the voting rights and ballot access of all Americans."
"This agreement honors the promise of the Voting Rights Act by ensuring that language minority voters have meaningful access to the ballot in Worcester," said Michael J. Sullivan, U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts. "We recognize and appreciate the commitment of the Secretary of the Commonwealth to resolve this matter."
To file complaints about discriminatory voting practices, including acts of harassment or intimidation, voters may call the Voting Section of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division at 1-800-253-3931. More information about the Voting Rights Act and other federal voting laws is available on the Department of Justice website at www.usdoj.gov/crt/voting/index.htm.
SOURCE U.S. Department of Justice http://www.USDOJ.gov
Copyright (C) 2008 PR Newswire. All rights reserved
Groups Push to Expand Ex-Felon Voting
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Groups push to expand ex-felon voting
By John Gramlich, Stateline.org Staff Writer
Hoping to boost voter turnout in a historic presidential election year, civil rights groups and other advocacy organizations are trying to get as many ex-felons as possible to cast ballots in November.
The groups, ranging from grassroots get-out-the-vote organizations to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, are working to identify and register thousands of citizens with criminal records — many of them minorities — who may not know they are eligible to vote under often-complicated state voting laws.
Both in little-contested states such as Texas and in perennial presidential-election battlegrounds such as Ohio, activists are knocking on doors trying to find former prisoners and inform them of their voting rights, visiting state prisons and jails to speak with soon-to-be-released inmates and helping to register those who are interested and allowed to vote.
Looking beyond November, the American Civil Liberties Union is waging a broader campaign to persuade state legislatures to do away with so-called felony disenfranchisement laws, which keep an estimated 5.3 million Americans with felony convictions from the polls, including 2.1 million who no longer are in prison.
Only two states — Maine and Vermont — allow incarcerated felons to vote, according to a March analysis by The Sentencing Project, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that opposes voting restrictions on ex-felons. Voting laws in the rest of the states vary widely for those no longer behind bars.
Eleven states restrict ex-offenders’ voting rights even after their sentences are served: Kentucky and Virginia bar almost all ex-felons from going to the polls, unless they petition the governor to restore their rights, while nine states either ban some ex-felons from voting or have waiting periods before they can vote again. In addition, 35 states prevent parolees from voting, while 30 ban those on probation from casting ballots.
The ACLU this month filed a federal lawsuit claiming that elections administrators in Mississippi are ignoring a provision of the state constitution allowing some former felons to vote for president and vice president, even if they are banned from voting for other political offices. The organization is pursuing a separate legal challenge against Alabama.
“Once you get change in a couple of states, you can leverage that in other states,” said Laleh Ispahani, senior policy counsel with the ACLU in New York. Besides seeking changes to allow more ex-felons to vote, she said, the group also is pressing states to pass laws to guarantee that felons are notified of their voting rights before leaving prison. North Carolina approved such a law last year.
Still, efforts to restore voting rights to those convicted of felonies are controversial.
“If you’re not willing to follow the law, then you can’t claim a right to make the law for everyone else. And of course that’s what you’re doing when you vote,” said Roger Clegg of the Center for Equal Opportunity, a conservative think tank in Falls Church, Va.
The subject of ex-felon voting has been politically and racially explosive in the United States since the disputed 2000 presidential election. Then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush carried Florida by 537 votes amid claims of widespread voting irregularities, including allegations that minority voters were turned aside from the polls after being falsely identified as ex-felons.
Conservatives have charged that efforts to get former felons on the voter rolls are thinly disguised attempts to help Democrats at the polls and, this year, to help Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama win the White House. Studies have shown that former felons tend to lean Democratic.
Race also plays a major role in the debate. The NAACP and others claim that felony disenfranchisement laws unfairly target African-Americans, who are incarcerated at higher rates than other ethnic groups. But conservatives say the laws are racially neutral.
“There is a higher proportion of men in prison than (there are) women,” Clegg said. “That doesn’t make these laws sexually discriminatory.”
The governors of the three states widely considered to have the toughest felony disenfranchisement laws in the nation — Florida, Kentucky and Virginia — recently relaxed some of their rules or simplified the process for restoring voting rights. That has led advocacy groups to launch new efforts to register ex-felons in those states, potentially bringing tens of thousands of new voters into the political process.
In Florida, where ex-felons previously had to go through an often lengthy state review process before their voting rights were restored, Republican Gov. Charlie Crist has pushed through changes that have made 112,000 former convicts eligible to cast ballots this year.
But only a fraction of those newly eligible to vote — about 9,000 — have registered so far, as many former convicts were unaware of the recent changes. To get the word out, the ACLU and a group called the Florida Rights Restoration Council this month announced a print ad campaign, running in English and Spanish in eight cities around the state, to get ex-felons to vote.
In Virginia, the only state other than Kentucky that still bans ex-felons from voting unless they apply for a reprieve from the governor, Democratic Gov. Tim Kaine promised earlier this year to speed up his review of applications. As a result, the ACLU, NAACP and others have converged on the state to urge ex-felons to apply. Already, Kaine has approved a third more applications than were granted in the 2004 election cycle, according to media reports.
But the expansion in ex-felon voters is stirring political heat. Like Florida, Virginia is considered a key battleground state, and Republican legislators there have complained that Kaine is trying to give a boost to Obama, who is said to have considered Kaine as a possible vice-presidential candidate.
In Kentucky, Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear has eliminated state requirements that ex-felons write an essay, pay a $2 fee and obtain character references before applying to have their voting rights restored. Kentucky is not considered a battleground state, but advocacy groups there also are urging ex-felons to apply to vote and plan to push the Legislature next year to make sweeping changes to the law.
The Sentencing Project estimates that at least 16 states have eased voting restrictions on former felons since 1996. Other states, however, have toughened their rules. Voters in Massachusetts and Utah, for example, have stripped felons of their right to vote while behind bars, leaving Maine and Vermont as the only two states to allow those currently in prison to vote.
McCain and Obama have been noticeably absent from efforts to increase voter turnout by restoring the vote to ex-felons. Reflecting the sensitivity of the debate, political experts say the two candidates do not want to be seen vying for the votes of former convicts.
A development in the battleground state of Pennsylvania last month seemed to confirm that suspicion. After advertising on an Obama campaign office window in Pottstown, Pa., that “felons can vote,” campaign workers quickly removed the sign for fear it sent the wrong message, according to local media reports of the incident.
See Related Stories:With justices OK, voter ID moves ahead (4/29/2008)Partisan colors fly in voter ID case (1/9/2008)
Contact John Gramlich at jgramlich@stateline.org.
Groups push to expand ex-felon voting
By John Gramlich, Stateline.org Staff Writer
Hoping to boost voter turnout in a historic presidential election year, civil rights groups and other advocacy organizations are trying to get as many ex-felons as possible to cast ballots in November.
The groups, ranging from grassroots get-out-the-vote organizations to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, are working to identify and register thousands of citizens with criminal records — many of them minorities — who may not know they are eligible to vote under often-complicated state voting laws.
Both in little-contested states such as Texas and in perennial presidential-election battlegrounds such as Ohio, activists are knocking on doors trying to find former prisoners and inform them of their voting rights, visiting state prisons and jails to speak with soon-to-be-released inmates and helping to register those who are interested and allowed to vote.
Looking beyond November, the American Civil Liberties Union is waging a broader campaign to persuade state legislatures to do away with so-called felony disenfranchisement laws, which keep an estimated 5.3 million Americans with felony convictions from the polls, including 2.1 million who no longer are in prison.
Only two states — Maine and Vermont — allow incarcerated felons to vote, according to a March analysis by The Sentencing Project, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that opposes voting restrictions on ex-felons. Voting laws in the rest of the states vary widely for those no longer behind bars.
Eleven states restrict ex-offenders’ voting rights even after their sentences are served: Kentucky and Virginia bar almost all ex-felons from going to the polls, unless they petition the governor to restore their rights, while nine states either ban some ex-felons from voting or have waiting periods before they can vote again. In addition, 35 states prevent parolees from voting, while 30 ban those on probation from casting ballots.
The ACLU this month filed a federal lawsuit claiming that elections administrators in Mississippi are ignoring a provision of the state constitution allowing some former felons to vote for president and vice president, even if they are banned from voting for other political offices. The organization is pursuing a separate legal challenge against Alabama.
“Once you get change in a couple of states, you can leverage that in other states,” said Laleh Ispahani, senior policy counsel with the ACLU in New York. Besides seeking changes to allow more ex-felons to vote, she said, the group also is pressing states to pass laws to guarantee that felons are notified of their voting rights before leaving prison. North Carolina approved such a law last year.
Still, efforts to restore voting rights to those convicted of felonies are controversial.
“If you’re not willing to follow the law, then you can’t claim a right to make the law for everyone else. And of course that’s what you’re doing when you vote,” said Roger Clegg of the Center for Equal Opportunity, a conservative think tank in Falls Church, Va.
The subject of ex-felon voting has been politically and racially explosive in the United States since the disputed 2000 presidential election. Then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush carried Florida by 537 votes amid claims of widespread voting irregularities, including allegations that minority voters were turned aside from the polls after being falsely identified as ex-felons.
Conservatives have charged that efforts to get former felons on the voter rolls are thinly disguised attempts to help Democrats at the polls and, this year, to help Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama win the White House. Studies have shown that former felons tend to lean Democratic.
Race also plays a major role in the debate. The NAACP and others claim that felony disenfranchisement laws unfairly target African-Americans, who are incarcerated at higher rates than other ethnic groups. But conservatives say the laws are racially neutral.
“There is a higher proportion of men in prison than (there are) women,” Clegg said. “That doesn’t make these laws sexually discriminatory.”
The governors of the three states widely considered to have the toughest felony disenfranchisement laws in the nation — Florida, Kentucky and Virginia — recently relaxed some of their rules or simplified the process for restoring voting rights. That has led advocacy groups to launch new efforts to register ex-felons in those states, potentially bringing tens of thousands of new voters into the political process.
In Florida, where ex-felons previously had to go through an often lengthy state review process before their voting rights were restored, Republican Gov. Charlie Crist has pushed through changes that have made 112,000 former convicts eligible to cast ballots this year.
But only a fraction of those newly eligible to vote — about 9,000 — have registered so far, as many former convicts were unaware of the recent changes. To get the word out, the ACLU and a group called the Florida Rights Restoration Council this month announced a print ad campaign, running in English and Spanish in eight cities around the state, to get ex-felons to vote.
In Virginia, the only state other than Kentucky that still bans ex-felons from voting unless they apply for a reprieve from the governor, Democratic Gov. Tim Kaine promised earlier this year to speed up his review of applications. As a result, the ACLU, NAACP and others have converged on the state to urge ex-felons to apply. Already, Kaine has approved a third more applications than were granted in the 2004 election cycle, according to media reports.
But the expansion in ex-felon voters is stirring political heat. Like Florida, Virginia is considered a key battleground state, and Republican legislators there have complained that Kaine is trying to give a boost to Obama, who is said to have considered Kaine as a possible vice-presidential candidate.
In Kentucky, Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear has eliminated state requirements that ex-felons write an essay, pay a $2 fee and obtain character references before applying to have their voting rights restored. Kentucky is not considered a battleground state, but advocacy groups there also are urging ex-felons to apply to vote and plan to push the Legislature next year to make sweeping changes to the law.
The Sentencing Project estimates that at least 16 states have eased voting restrictions on former felons since 1996. Other states, however, have toughened their rules. Voters in Massachusetts and Utah, for example, have stripped felons of their right to vote while behind bars, leaving Maine and Vermont as the only two states to allow those currently in prison to vote.
McCain and Obama have been noticeably absent from efforts to increase voter turnout by restoring the vote to ex-felons. Reflecting the sensitivity of the debate, political experts say the two candidates do not want to be seen vying for the votes of former convicts.
A development in the battleground state of Pennsylvania last month seemed to confirm that suspicion. After advertising on an Obama campaign office window in Pottstown, Pa., that “felons can vote,” campaign workers quickly removed the sign for fear it sent the wrong message, according to local media reports of the incident.
See Related Stories:With justices OK, voter ID moves ahead (4/29/2008)Partisan colors fly in voter ID case (1/9/2008)
Contact John Gramlich at jgramlich@stateline.org.
Seeking Student Volunteers for Election Day Monitoring
FLAVR is getting student groups at Fordham geared up to send teams to the NYC polls on November 4. As part of an historic effort to protect voter rights during one of the most important elections in modern times, FLAVR anticipates a robust response to this call to action. All participating teams will receive poll monitoring training from a leading national voter protection group. The deadline for Fordham law school student groups to sign-up is October 11.
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