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Election News BriefsInvestigation of State Voter Purge Goes PublicWritten by: MICHIGAN ELECTION REFORM ALLIANCE.ORGPosted On: 12/8/2009 December 2, 2009 A recently completed state program to cancel Michigan voter registrations was flawed and may have violated state law and the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA). Unprecedented in Michigan, the program was poorly planned, mismanaged, often hidden from local clerks, mostly invisible to the media, and unaccountable to the public. MERA is publishing these conclusions after an investigation that lasted for more than two years: THE 2006 MICHIGAN VOTER PURGE Conducted by the Michigan Bureau of Elections from July 2006 until June 2009, the state program sought to remove invalid voter registrations. It was the first voter list maintenance to be centrally administered in Michigan and began when the Bureau sent more than 7 million voters a purportedly “educational” postcard. When the U.S. Post Office returned cards and indicated a wrong address, the voters’ registrations were marked for possible cancellation. The report found that the Bureau's use of 'educational' postcards "effectively masked the fact that the postcards were part of a voter list purge." The investigation revealed that the state program was very likely a response to partisan political pressure from the Voting Rights Section of the Bush administration’s Department of Justice. "Under pressure from the Department of Justice, Michigan’s state-level election officials chose by mounting the program to participate in a partisan attempt to manipulate the election system with minimal regard for voters’ rights or the responsibilities of local clerks." In the end, the program was expensive, with limited effectiveness and a significant error rate. The $2 million cost was ten times higher per tagged record than previous efforts conducted in targeted jurisdictions with the cooperation of local clerks. The program tagged 230,000 registrations for possible cancellation. 122,598 were finally cancelled in June 2009. Of those, the report estimates that about 2,611 (2.1%) were cancelled erroneously. The program’s cost was $16.31 per tagged record, as compared to $1.58 per tagged record in the earlier targeted approach. The program conformed to NVRA requirements to give voters notice and observe a grace period before finally cancelling registrations. But it failed to treat voters uniformly and it did not keep adequate records. Both are required by the NVRA. The program also flaunted Michigan laws that give local clerks responsibility for voter list maintenance. The report makes several recommendations. To avoid costly purges, the report suggests a “dynamic” registration process that ties voter records to other governmental record-keeping activities. Voter registrations would be automatically added or updated when other milestones in life are reached, such as high school and college registration, employment changes, auto and driver’s license renewals, registration for health care, or death certificates. To improve government accountability, the Michigan Secretary of State should: * Publish pertinent policies on voter list maintenance * Educate voters on keeping their registration current * Announce all major list maintenance programs in advance and publish detailed results after completion * Provide a database with multilingual instructions for voters to check for errors and correct them Although it is unknown whether any election outcomes were affected by the state program, the investigation shows that Michigan’s election system is vulnerable to partisan manipulation. “The primary importance of the Michigan program,” the report concludes, “lies not in the very modest improvement in list accuracy that it may have accomplished, but rather in the examples it presents of what not to do and what practices to avoid . . . , if voting rights are to be respected and honored.” Contacts: Jan BenDor, State Coordinator, 734-484-1744, jan@bendor.org Phil Shepard, Report Editor, 517-332-0761, shepard@acd.net http://www.michiganelectionreformalliance.org/2006MIVoterPurge.pdf Contact Email: mmacm@macmu.com
Election News Related LinksAAUW Voting Records - Congressional voting records 110th congress, first session 2007 jan-dec Advancement Project - A nationally organized policy, communications and legal action group committed to racial justice Ann Arbor Voting Districts - Map of voting districts in Ann Arbor Black Box Voting - primary source for investigation of electronic voting Brad Blog - Bradblog closely follows elections and e-voting manipulations in particular Congress.org - Provides complete list of candidates and election dates statewide or according to the voters home district Conyers Blog - Rep.John Conyers, ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee and election reform hero, comments on significant events Election Issues Websites - A directory of websites concerned with election issues -vote fraud by electronic or other means-as well as voter education and "where to" look in government agencies How can Americans force the majority party to enfo - "Have you egistered to vote?" I asked a friend of mine. "No, my vote doesn't count anyway." Unfortunately, this is true. Read the article by our own Valerie Constance... Huron Valley Greens - Ann Arbor area Greens home page Local Elections - Lists candidates on the ballot in all local districts Michigan Courts - Provides links to Michigan judicial districts and more Michigan Democratic Party - State Democratic Party home page with links MICHIGAN ELECTION REFORM ALLIANCE - Coordinated state wide network formed to create integrity in Michigan elections; affiliated with Vote Trust USA Michigan Greens - State Greens home page with links Michigan Legislature - Comprehensive website for tracking legislation, finding senators and representatives, district maps, etc Michigan Liberal - Covers Michigan politics;reports on 2006 candidate races for state offices Michigan Representative Districts - Lists all Michigan representative districts, and provides district maps.Search enabled Michigan Republican Party - State GOP home page with links MIRS - Michigan's oldest daily capitol news service: covers political action at the executive and legislative levels Open Secrets-Michigan - Michigan-and nation wide campaign finance and related news Pam Byrnes - Rep Pam Byrnes, 52 district candidate, campaign website Poll Workers for Democracy - Organizes, recruits, helps to traing poll workers in all states, SE Michigan included Printable Maps - Clickable maps of US Congressional Districts--handy for locating US Representatives' habitat Rebekah Warren - Rebekah Warren is running for Michigan House of Representatives-District 53.She is a member of WPA and endorsed by WPA Secretary of State - Primary Elections 2006 information Sen Liz Brater - offical website includes feedback form The Bankrollers Lobbysts Payments - Public Citizen's Congress Watch Report on Lobbyists Payments -includes 2006 election cycle Verified Voting Foundation - Advocates verifiable paper ballots; collects and data bases election incident reports; helps organize election reform at state levels Vote Trust USA - A national network of state-based organizations working for secure, accurate and transparent elections Washstenaw County GOP - Washtenaw County GOP home page Washtenaw Democrats - Washtenaw Democratic party home page Cost of the War in Iraq
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