Today’s Must ReadIf there’s one good thing that’s come out of the U.S. attorneys scandal, it’s that it’s shining a bright light on the Justice Department. And as a result, it’s become clear that the most grossly politicized section of the department is the Civil Rights Division.
The reason is plain. As we’ve seen, many Republicans, and Karl Rove in particular, are obsessed with “voter fraud” — the idea that minorities in Democratic strongholds are taking advantage of lax record systems to stuff the ballot. There’s evidence that at least two of the fired U.S. attorneys were let go because they did not pursue such prosecutions. But the obsession is nothing new; it’s one of the defining preoccupations of the Bush administration. The hysterical claims have led Republicans to push voter I.D. laws in several swing states — efforts that have been backed by the White House.
It is the job of the Civil Rights Division to watchdog the voting rights of minorities. And due to the Voting Rights Act, several states cannot even enact such laws without first getting clearance from the division. So to make sure that no career staffers get in the way — with evidence, for instance, that a voter I.D. law would disproportionately impact African Americans — the Civil Rights Division has been gutted.
But, as McClatchy reported in detail late last week, the strategy goes beyond voter fraud. The division has made an effort to purge voter rolls while minimizing actions or programs that help register poor or minority voters, and McClatchy gave a nice rundown of the lowlights. Political appointees in the Civil Rights Division have:
-Issued advisory opinions that overstated a 2002 federal election law by asserting that it required states to disqualify new voting registrants if their identification didn’t match that in computer databases, prompting at least three states to reject tens of thousands of applicants mistakenly.
-Done little to enforce a provision of the 1993 National Voter Registration Act that requires state public assistance agencies to register voters. The inaction has contributed to a 50 percent decline in annual registrations at those agencies, to 1 million from 2 million.
-Sued at least six states on grounds that they had too many people on their voter rolls. Some eligible voters were removed in the resulting purges.
The whole thing is worth a read, especially as a companion piece to The New York Times‘ excellent piece earlier this month on voter fraud.
So that’s the big picture. As more comes out (and more will), keep that in mind.
