October 9, 2008
Lawsuit: Georgia Illegally Purges Votes
Complaint Claims Voters Being Dropped From Registration Rolls Because Of Challenges To Citizenship
-
Play CBS Video Video It's Always Sunny In Florida? Both Democrats and Republicans have inundated Florida with hundreds of thousands of new voter registration applications. But many worry those votes could be thrown out. Kelly Cobiella explains why.
-
Video Vanishing Voters A new report raises questions about a little known, yet problem-ridden process known as voter purging that could cost some Americans their right to vote. Armen Keteyian reports.
-
Video Voter Purging Michael Waldman, director of the Brennan Center for Justice, explains what "voter purging" is, why it needs to be reformed, and how the problem might be solved.
A lawsuit was filed late Thursday against Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel claiming her office is breaking at least two federal laws by illegally purging voters from registration rolls based on challenges to citizenship.
The complaint, filed by several civil rights groups on behalf of a single plaintiff, claims the state is violating the Voting Rights Act and the National Voter Registration Act by purging possibly thousands of voters less than 90 days before the election and relying on a flawed database to question the citizenship of registered voters.
“It appears as though Georgia is going out of its way to look to purge voters. They are going beyond what’s allowed for by federal law,” Jon Greenbaum, an attorney with the Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights told CBS News. “In our view it is a clear violation of federal law.”
The lead plaintiff in the suit is 29-year-old Jose Morales, a recently naturalized US citizen living in Cherokee County, GA. Morales, who studies international relations at Kennesaw University, has been a citizen since 2006. After registering to vote at school in September he received this letter in the mail telling him, “you may not be a US citizen.” That began a trip through a confusing county bureaucracy that continued to insist he was not a citizen. “I began to be upset about the letter and the fact that I was being asked to prove my citizenship even though I am already a citizen,” Morales said in an affidavit.
In March 2007 Georgia officials launched a statewide database that required voter registrations to be matched with the database at the motor vehicles department to check citizenship. Georgia is considered a section 5 state under the Voting Rights Act. Because of a history of discouraging minorities from voting, the state is required to check with the Department of Justice before it started using the database. But it never did.Read The Complaint Civil Rights Groups Filed
On Wednesday, the Department of Justice sent a letter to the state Attorney General raising questions about the legality of the 2 million queries the state has made about resident social security numbers and citizenship in the past year.
Greenbaum said actions by the state could affect the voter registrations of “thousands” of residents in all 159 counties of the state. “The benefit of purging voters is if you can control who is registered to vote you can control who votes. That’s one of the things we’re trying to find out through the lawsuit is…who is responsible.”
The Secretary of State's office told CBS News they would not be making a statement Thursday.
By Michael Rey
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
More From CBS News Investigates
Add a Comment See all 155 Comments
- Acorn was the victim of their own stupid quota system. They paid the inner city poor by the hour and "suggested" (quota) that about 14 new registrants per day would be acceptable.
If you''''ve ever registered voters in districts that are being combed by many political organizations at once, during a hectic political season, you see that the region quickly becomes saturated. They should''''ve known that once their cash paid, low income, workers were striking out they would resort to fudging the forms.
The fact that the Acorn employees registered fictitious names like Zooopy Zooopster And John Q. Public, in no way comes close to voter fraud! The Irony is that Acorn, in a way, is the one who was defrauded. But, by being that stupid, they deserve it.
The worst part of the Acorn affair is that the disgusting, Anti-American, Voter suppressing, Civil Rights destroying GOP is able to lie and use this to their advantage.
After Kathleen Harris & Co. purged tens of thousands of legitimately registered voters in Florida In 2000 (An election Gore "lost" by less than 270 votes), the GOP will try to claim that this is the reason McCain is going to loose in a landslide election. Sick Irony... - Reply to this comment
- Voting rights are guaranteed by the government. We want all who can legally vote to vote. Republicans don''t think that way. They are shaking in their boots because the best man for the job is winning. So republicans have to get busy to make sure in doesn''t happen. That is what I am sick and tired of. Republicans should be looking at themselves. What has happened to you? You are so hateful and corrupt.
- Reply to this comment
- This has to be resolved before the election. If there are illegal acts by ACORN, then they should be punished. Also if there is illegal activity by the state election boards, they should be punished as well.
- Reply to this comment
- Obama did a couple of hours of training for ACORN
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/11/us/politics/11acorn.html?ref=us
but I wish he would have done much more. This organization has 400,000 volanteers that work to register voters. It would be good for them to get the best voter participation training from the master - Obama who ran ProjectVote in 1992 rather than having a few hundred over-eager volanteers get in trouble for putting their quotas ahead of a solid application. Even so, ACORN usually wins the vast majority of legal challenges.
Conservatives orgs hate orgs like ACORN because the voter participation drives are mostly in poor or minority communities that tend to vote Democratic. - Reply to this comment
- Why is the MSM not reporting on the criminal fiasco with ACORN? That would be the same ACORN that is a huge Obama supporter. It''''s all about voter fraud but bodes poorly for the Dems.
I guess I answered my own question.
Posted by middleclass3 at 12:02 PM : Oct 10, 2008
A couple of things ACORN pays individual contractors to collect voter registrations , they get paid by the card in some cases , Does this mean a lot of bogus voter registration cards get turned in , in some cases yes it does . These individual contractors take their money and run for bogus cards . Now having shown that show me a correlation in bogus voters showing up .. show me one good case of significant voter fraud in the last 4 elections .. just one .. untiol then its registration fraud , not voter fraud . and about contractors taking advantage of ACORN .. I await your verifiable account of voter fraud , ie : phantom voters etc in an election, and no I won''t hold my breath - Reply to this comment
- Why is the MSM not reporting on the criminal fiasco with ACORN? That would be the same ACORN that is a huge Obama supporter. It''s all about voter fraud but bodes poorly for the Dems.
I guess I answered my own question. - Reply to this comment
- Posted by middleclass3 at 11:48 AM : Oct 10, 2008
Do YOU LIVE IN A CAVE??? The ACORN BS is ALL OVER the MSM!
Now HERE"S MY QUESTION.
WHY isn''t the MSM talking about ILLEGAL VOTER SUPPRESSION!
Culling people''s names form the VOTER LISTS LESS than 90 days out based on ILLEGALLY USED lists, keying in on potential minority names, "mis-keying" over 600,000 names so they get dropped in Nevada, using Social Security lists that WERE NOT meant for that purpose, running the ELECTION RESULTS through REPUBLICAN (PARTISAN) DATABASES BEFORE RELEASE, BROKEN SEALS on voter counts, MISSING DATA TAPES on vote counts, using PARTISAN OWNED voting machines that are EASILY HACKED, BELOW cost machines that are "offered" to selected districts, etc.
ALL OF WHICH ARE ILLEGAL and WILL REALLY SKEW VOTES!
Sorry folks I would REALLY be surprised if it doesn''t turn out after the election that some "young Republicans" aren''t "discovered" to have "volunteered" at ACORN simply to CREATE and then PUBLICIZE these OBVIOUSLY FALSE registrations to SUPPRESS that organization.
It happened in OHIO after the 2004 election!
LET''S ACTUALLY FIND AND PROSECUTE the INDIVIDUAL FALSIFIERS!!
That would be REAL reporting! - Reply to this comment
- There is not ONE CREDIBLE shred of evidence that Obama EVER had anything to do with ACORN!!!!
Posted by hungry1968-2 at 11:36 AM : Oct 10, 2008
That''s my take too. There is no reputable news reporting service or outlet that has put their name on the story. None. - Reply to this comment
- Why is the MSM not reporting on the criminal fiasco with ACORN? That would be the same ACORN that is a huge Obama supporter. It''s all about voter fraud but bodes poorly for the Dems.
I guess I answered my own question. - Reply to this comment
- For REAL information on REAL VOTE FRAUD I usually check with Blackboxvoting.ORG
They have an EXCELLENT film called "Hacking Democracy", several RESOURCES on what an HONEST ELECTION should look like and articles on the latest tricks, scams and manipulations that are happening.
The SURPRISING THING is that what THEY are MOST concerned about IS NOT BEING TALKED ABOUT in the MSM!
They also have a grassroots movement to help KEEP THE ELECTIONS HONEST that could REALLY use some volunteers and help with EDUCATION and watching to INSURE HONESTY.
Some of the HIDDEN GAMES with the ACTUAL VOTE COUNTS that are being played are MUCH MORE DAMAGING than some FOOL filling out a "registration for Daffy Duck" that WILL NEVER BE USED TO VOTE because they actually DO ALTER ELECTION RESULTS!! - Reply to this comment
- Posted by amrt5016 at 11:28 AM
I just provided 6-7 other non-conservative sources about Obama''''s close association and support of ACORN and now they are accused of Election Fraud !
Posted by Minuteman-8 at 11:30 AM : Oct 10, 2008
You''re citing sources I''ve never heard of. In the past, I might have tried to check out the these stories but the research has always turned out to be a waste of time. So if something doesn''t surface in the mainstream media we are all exposed to night and day, I don''t think it has any serious claim of being true. - Reply to this comment
- These aren''''t rumors or smears, it''''s the fact jack !
Obama has had an intimate and long-term association with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), the largest radical group in America.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q
=NDZiMjkwMDczZWI5ODdjOWYxZTIzZGIyNzEyMjE
0ODI=
Posted by Minuteman-8 at 11:11 AM : Oct 10, 2008
I''ve never thought National Review could be called reliable and factual journalism. That misgivings aside, any facts about Obama that cast doubts on his integrity and fitness for office of president should be widely circulated in the media, and I don''t mean NR and Faux News. The mainstream media tend to support one another with the kind of redundancy that ensures a robust system of filtering the facts. I''m fairly attuned to what stories are making the rounds about the candidates and this ACORN business hasn''t risen to the level of well-substantiated reporting. At this point, it has to be called just what it seems to be, part of the lies and propaganda by the McCain campaign. - Reply to this comment
- JOHN MCCAIN IS A MUSLIM TERRORIST!
- Reply to this comment
- mcwarmonger = I''''''''M JOHN MCWHITEY AND I APPROVE OF THIS!
W. ILL
A. MERIKKKANS
R. EALLY
H. ELP
E. LDERLY
R. E.D.N.E.C.K.S
O. VERCOME?
OBAMA 08! - Reply to this comment
- mcwarmonger = I''''''''M JOHN MCWHITEY AND I APPROVE OF THIS!
W. ILL
A. MERIKKKANS
R. EALLY
H. ELP
E. LDERLY
R. E.D.N.E.C.K.S
O. VERCOME?
OBAMA 08! - Reply to this comment
- who are todd & unfit sarah palin? radical seperatist?
obama 08! - Reply to this comment
- who are todd & unfit sarah palin? radical seperatist?
obama 08! - Reply to this comment
- mcwarmonger = I''''M JOHN MCWHITEY AND I APPROVE OF THIS!
W. ILL
A. MERIKKKANS
R. EALLY
H. ELP
E. LDERLY
R. E.D.N.E.C.K.S
O. VERCOME?
OBAMA 08! - Reply to this comment
- mcwarmonger = I''''M JOHN MCWHITEY AND I APPROVE OF THIS!
W. ILL
A. MERIKKKANS
R. EALLY
H. ELP
E. LDERLY
R. E.D.N.E.C.K.S
O. VERCOME?
OBAMA 08! - Reply to this comment
- who are todd & unfit sarah palin? radical seperatist?
obama 08! - Reply to this comment
How gold pays for 
