American Progress Action Fund
Oct. 21st, 2004

VOTING

Ashcroft's Partisan Assault

For more than 35 years – starting with the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965 – the Department of Justice has fought to protect the right of citizens to vote and have their vote counted. Then John Ashcroft became attorney general. Now, Ashcroft is marshalling the resources of the federal government in an attempt to prevent eligible, registered voters from having their votes counted. On Monday, the Justice Department filed an 11th-hour brief in Michigan district court opposing efforts by civil rights groups (including the Michigan National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) to ensure that registered voters who appear in the right city, township or village – but the wrong precinct – have their votes counted. (Read how to make sure your vote counts.)

PROVISIONAL BALLOTING EXPLAINED: In 2002, Congress passed the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) to address problems with the deeply flawed 2000 federal election. One central provision is the requirement to allow a voter who doesn't appear on the registration to cast a provisional ballot. Before casting a provisional ballot, voters must attest that they are eligible and appearing in the appropriate "jurisdiction." The provisional ballot is later reviewed by an election official to determine whether the vote should be counted.

JUDGE REJECTS ASHCROFT'S BOGUS ARGUMENT: In its brief, the Justice Department – arguing to restrict the use of provisional ballots – acknowledged the key to the case lies in the term "jurisdiction." The Department of Justice argued that "Congress did not define the term 'jurisdiction'" when it passed HAVA. Therefore, the term is defined by "the laws of each state." So, according to the Justice Department, if Michigan decides each precinct is a jurisdiction, that is permitted under the law. One problem: Congress made clear that HAVA should be consistent with the National Voter Registration Act, which defines a jurisdiction as a city or town. Yesterday, federal Judge David M. Lawson not only ruled against the Justice Department's position but said its brief added "nothing to the arguments."   

ASHCROFT WON'T PROSECUTE VOTER DISCRIMINATION: Since Ashcroft has taken the helm, the Civil Rights Division "has all but stopped filing lawsuits against communities alleged to have engaged in discrimination against minority voters." In more than three years, the Justice Department "has filed just one contested racial vote-discrimination case, in rural Colorado, which it lost."

ASHCROFT MANIPULATES REDISTRICTING LAW: The Justice Department is also tasked with passing judgment "on legislative redistricting in areas that have a history of discrimination." With Ashcroft in charge, the department's "actions have consistently favored Republicans." For example, in Mississippi the Justice Department "stalled the redistricting process for so long that a pro-Republican redistricting plan went into effect by default." In Texas, Tom DeLay (R-TX) "engineered passage of a revised congressional redistricting plan through the state legislature, which may mean a shift of as many as seven seats from the Democrats to the Republicans." Career officials in the Justice Department "produced an internal legal opinion of seventy-three pages, with seventeen hundred and fifty pages of supporting documents, arguing that the plan should be rejected as a retrogression of minority rights." Ashcroft overruled the recommendation and the new districts are in place for the 2004 election.

ASHCROFT POLITICIZES THE HIRING OF CAREER ATTORNEYS: In the past, the program for hiring new attorneys was "run by mid-level career officials, who were known for their political independence." At the insistence of Ashcroft, the program "has been run by political appointees." The new hiring method "has already had an effect" – especially in politically sensitive cases such as those involving voting rights. One current employee told the New Yorker, "Soon, there won't be any difference between the career people and the political people. The front office is replicating itself. Everyone here will be on the same page."

Under the Radar POLITICS – TAKING A BREAK FROM NATIONAL SECURITY: President Bush, in an unprecedented move, is sending members of his security team away from their jobs and out on the campaign trail. The Washington Post reports National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice is stumping for Bush in key battleground states, breaking the "long-standing precedent that the national security adviser try to avoid overt involvement in the presidential campaign." Rice was roundly criticized by Zbigniew Brzezinski, the former national security adviser under President Jimmy Carter, who "said the national security adviser is the 'custodian' of the nation's most sensitive national security secrets and should be seen as an objective adviser to the president. In addition, Brzezinski objected to Rice taking time from her regular duties to perform political chores. He said with the nation at war in Iraq and in the midst of trying to stabilize Afghanistan, Rice doesn't need the distractions associated with a political campaign." POLITICS – TAKING A BREAK FROM HOMELAND SECURITY: AP reports, "When Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge leaves the Washington area on official business, nearly three-fifths of his public events are in the 17 states considered the most hotly contested in the presidential election." Ridge has claimed his department would stay out of the fray, saying, "We don't do politics in the Department of Homeland Security." In fact, "Ridge and his senior executives, who have pledged that the department would not become entrenched in politics, did nearly half their public events in those 17 states." IRAQ – BUSH PREDICTED NO CASUALTIES: Right-wing religious leader and Bush supporter Pat Robertson yesterday said the president "dismissed his warning that the United States would suffer heavy casualties in Iraq" and told the televangelist before the war that "we're not going to have any casualties." The Bush spin team quickly tried to deny the reverend's claim by calling into question the religious leader's veracity. Adviser Karen Hughes said, "He must have misunderstood or misheard it." "Of course the president never made such a comment," said White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan. Karl Rove claimed he had been at that meeting and Bush had not made the remark. Robertson stood his ground yesterday, refusing to back away from the charge. ENVIRO – MERCURY RISING: A new national study conducted by the University of North Carolina shows a whopping 21 percent of all women of child-bearing age have mercury levels in their bodies that exceed federal health standards. That's almost double the rate of the last study conducted in 2000, which concluded 12 percent of women had levels which were too high. The Bush White House has relaxed mercury regulations in recent years. It also let industry lobbyists to write the regulations – the EPA's mercury emission rules, which were written this year, contained "at least a dozen paragraphs [that] were lifted, sometimes verbatim, from the industry suggestions." ENVIRO – SUPERFUND IN SUPER TROUBLE: Bad news for the environment: Thirty-four Superfund projects in 19 states will go unfunded this year. Superfund, the government's toxic cleanup program, is facing historic budget shortfalls which were exacerbated when the Bush administration ended the tax on corporate polluters that funded the program. Reps. John D. Dingell (D-MI) and Hilda L. Solis (D-CA), who demanded last August "that the EPA describe the full impact of the budget shortfalls, said yesterday that the agency has yet to give Congress a full accounting. 'EPA's failure to inform Congress and the public about the site specific needs of the Superfund program in a timely manner makes it much more difficult to get the support necessary to address this serious problem,' the two lawmakers said." CONSERVATIVE QUOTE OF THE DAY: "And guys, if you exploit a girl, it will come back to get you. That's called 'karma.'" - Bill O'Reilly, "The O'Reilly Factor for Kids"