Bush's FEC Nominee Undermined Voting Rights
By US Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.l)
The Louisiana Weekly
Monday 15 October 2007
More than 40 years ago, John Lewis and Hosea Williams, along with hundreds of
everyday Americans, left their homes and churches to brave the blows of Billy
clubs and join a march for freedom across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Thousands
of anonymous foot soldiers - Blacks and Whites, the young and the elderly -
summoned the courage to march for justice and demand freedom. A few months later,
the Voting Rights Act was signed into law.
It's because of the sacrifice of these American heroes that we've come so far
today. But there's more work to be done. Recent elections have shown unprecedented
intimidation of African-American, Native American, low income and elderly voters
at the polls. We've seen political operatives purge voters from registration
rolls for no legitimate reason, distribute polling equipment unevenly, and deceive
voters about the time, location and rules of elections.
So today, more than ever, we need to have confidence that those in government
responsible for overseeing our voting system will uphold the right to vote for
every single American.
This is what's at stake in the United States Senate today. President Bush has
recently nominated Hans von Spakovsky to serve on the Federal Election Commission
(FEC). It's the job of the FEC to regulate elections and disclose campaign finance
contributions. So it goes without saying that the FEC needs strong, impartial
leadership that will promote integrity in our election system.
Hans von Spakovsky is not the right person for this job, and I strongly oppose
his nomination. From 2001 to 2005, von Spakovsky served as an official at the
Justice Department's Civil Rights Division where he amassed a record of undermining
voting rights, creating restrictions that would make it harder for poor and
minority communities to vote, and putting partisan politics above upholding
our civil rights.
Take what happened in Georgia. In 2005, Georgia was trying to require photo
identification to be presented by all voters. Even though Georgia's voter ID
law was being reviewed by von Spakovsky's office at the DOJ for violating the
Voting Rights Act, he anonymously published an article supporting the restriction,
arguing it did not affect minority voters disproportionately. Von Spakovsky
undoubtedly drove the DOJ's decision to approve the law - a law later overturned
by a federal judge.
In 2000, while sitting on the Fulton County Registration Board in Georgia,
von Spakovsky endorsed the idea of "purging" election rolls of felons
and joined a Republican group called the "Voting Integrity Project."
This group helped remove voters from election rolls in Florida - denying countless
legitimate Democratic voters in Florida their right to vote.
This year, a group that worked with von Spakovsky at the Justice Department
wrote a letter to the Senate Rules Committee expressing their concern about
his nomination. In it they called him the "point person for undermining
the Civil Rights Division's mandate to protect voting rights." History
proves them right. In 2003, von Spakovsky overruled the career professionals
on his staff and upheld Tom DeLay's 2003 Texas redistricting plan - a plan the
U.S. Supreme court determined violated the rights of Latino voters.
Hans von Spakovsky's record speaks for itself. He should not serve on the panel
responsible for protecting the integrity of federal elections. The United States
Senate must stand firm in our commitment to fighting the disenfranchisement
of minority voters and reject this nominee.
And we should go further. We need to undo the work of the partisan operatives
like von Spakovsky and protect our citizens from deception and voter intimidation.
I have introduced a bill that would prohibit and criminalize practices that
seek to intimidate or mislead voters to keep them away from the polls on Election
Day. This bill also requires the Attorney General to take corrective action
by providing the public with accurate information about the time and place of
elections and the rules of voter eligibility.
We must ensure that all eligible voters can vote - and that their votes will
be counted. Our brave civil rights leaders gave too much for partisan nominees
to chip away at this right.
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