Obama Campaign Sues Michigan Repubican Party Over Proposed "Lose Your Home, Lose Your Vote" Tactic
Monday September 22, 2008
Last Tuesday, the Obama campaign filed suit to prevent Michigan Republicans from instituting a controversial voter challenge program:
Such a strategy would unquestionably be beneficial for the GOP in Michigan, a closely divided swing state with a 14% black population. Obama and McCain are statistically tied in most Michigan polls, and the state could very well play the same role this year that Florida played in 2000. African-American voters and low-income voters tend to vote Democratic, and estimates hold that approximately 60% of home foreclosures have been filed against African Americans. While two-thirds of those affected by foreclosures still live in (and may therefore still legally vote from) their foreclosed addresses, use of this policy in targeted areas--say, Detroit--could delay voting for everyone in the relevant precincts, contribute to the long lines that already drive away voters in urban areas, and ultimately tip the scales for McCain in Michigan (which would perhaps be enough to give him the presidency).
The only thing about this scenario that doesn't make sense is the idea that Carabelli would have actually been stupid enough to announce such a controversial policy rather than quietly enacting it on election day, as is generally done by officials seeking to suppress low-income and minority voter turnout.
Related: Crawford v. Marion County (2008) and Voter Disenfranchisement
?We will have a list of foreclosed homes and will make sure people aren't voting from those addresses,? Mr. Carabelli was quoted as saying, according to a Sept. 10 article in the Michigan Messenger.But statements regarding the nonexistence of "programs" and "plans" aside (and one certainly wouldn't need an established "program" or "plan" to institute this proposal), I can find no statement by a Michigan Republican Party official to the effect that lists of foreclosed homes will not be used to challenge voter status.
Since the story first appeared, Mr. Carabelli has repeatedly denied that the party planned to use the lists, and in an interview with The New York Times suggested that he was misquoted.
"I have no voter challenging program here in my county," Mr. Carabelli said late last week.
And in a statement on the Michigan G.O.P. Web site the chairman of the Michigan Republican Party Saul Anuzis called the story "a complete fabrication."
"There has never been a plan to use foreclosure lists to challenge voters. There is no such plan, and there never will be such a plan. Period," Mr. Anuzis said.
Such a strategy would unquestionably be beneficial for the GOP in Michigan, a closely divided swing state with a 14% black population. Obama and McCain are statistically tied in most Michigan polls, and the state could very well play the same role this year that Florida played in 2000. African-American voters and low-income voters tend to vote Democratic, and estimates hold that approximately 60% of home foreclosures have been filed against African Americans. While two-thirds of those affected by foreclosures still live in (and may therefore still legally vote from) their foreclosed addresses, use of this policy in targeted areas--say, Detroit--could delay voting for everyone in the relevant precincts, contribute to the long lines that already drive away voters in urban areas, and ultimately tip the scales for McCain in Michigan (which would perhaps be enough to give him the presidency).
The only thing about this scenario that doesn't make sense is the idea that Carabelli would have actually been stupid enough to announce such a controversial policy rather than quietly enacting it on election day, as is generally done by officials seeking to suppress low-income and minority voter turnout.
Related: Crawford v. Marion County (2008) and Voter Disenfranchisement
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