Voter Deception Bill Passes House
Democrats cited cases from the last election where naturalized citizens in California with the right to vote were sent letters in Spanish saying it was a crime for immigrants to vote, and voters in Virginia receiving calls falsely telling them they were ineligible to vote.
WASHINGTON (AP) Those who knowingly convey false information with the intent to keep others from voting would face up to five years in prison under voter deception legislation that passed the House on Monday.
The legislation, passed by voice vote, was spearheaded by Democrats who cited alleged incidents during the 2006 elections of minorities, immigrants and other legal voters being misled about election dates, guided to the wrong polling sites or told they were ineligible to vote.
"This reform will put an end to campaign practices that disenfranchise thousands of American voters and will give citizens the right to cast a ballot free from intimidation and misinformation," said Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., a chief sponsor of the bill.
The bill would make it a federal crime, subject to five years in prison and fines of up to $250,000, to knowingly provide false information with the intent to disenfranchise another person in a federal election.
It would increase from one year to five years the maximum prison term for voter intimidation, which is already a crime.
The measure also would require the attorney general to provide voters with accurate election information when allegations of deceptive practices are confirmed, and to report to Congress on allegations of deceptions after each federal election.
Democrats cited cases from the last election where naturalized citizens in California with the right to vote were sent letters in Spanish saying it was a crime for immigrants to vote, and voters in Virginia receiving calls falsely telling them they were ineligible to vote.
Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., has introduced similar legislation in the Senate.
Republicans unsuccessfully tried to broaden the bill to address the problem of non-citizen voting when it was being considered by the House Judiciary Committee, and committee member Randy Forbes, R-Va., argued on the floor Monday that illegal voting was in fact an act of defrauding those with voting rights.
"It is illegal for non-citzens to vote in federal elections and that raises an important issue of interpretation," Forbes said. "We have to ensure that the courts give this bill its full intended scope to protect our elections from all fraud, all denial of people's right to vote."
Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., said he planned to hold hearings on illegal voting but insisted that this bill "is not a measure that deals with prosecuting ineligible voters unless they try to deceive eligible voters."
1 comment:
Another Bradley lie . . .
In his letter to Mo Oxford Bradley stated: "We are seriously behind in receiving the draft minutes/notes from the service provider, AppleOne and are constantly working with them to update our website."
I used to do minutes for Glassell Park Neighborhood Council and had no problem getting the minutes finished in a timely manner. They were usually needed within one to two weeks from the date of the meeting. I spoke with Apple One rep Xochitl Morales on Friday about Bradley's claims and she told me that there had been no problems with the new minutes taker or Apple One providing minutes in a timely manner. In fact, the minutes taker provides the minutes directly to the NC President, not via Apple One.
It seems, once again, that there are unscrupulous individuals who wish to cast the blame on minutes takers, who merely provide an account of what transpired at a meeting. If you don't want your misbehavior reflected in the minutes, you should not misbehave! Bradley is not alone in this regard. During my tenure doing minutes for the Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council it was Mo Oxford herself who constantly harassed me, demanding that I be fired for being "biased" although she was unable to provide a single example of my alleged bias. And one night in late September 2006 I was harassed in a dark parking lot by none other than Mo Oxford, Mary Moon and Board member Everett Sarabia, with Oxford demanding that I hand over my tape of the August 29, 2006 meeting. I was not obligated to hand over such tape so Oxford stepped up the harrassment, even falsely accusing me of "destroying government property." Also, at an Eagle Rock NC November 2, 2006 meeting ERNC President Brian Heckmann illegally ordered me to stop videotaping the meeting (I was observing as a stakeholder that evening). I soon knew why he wanted no video records of that meeting: within minutes both Mo Oxford and Mary Moon stood up and began screaming and shouting at minutes taker Pat Kramer. The meeting had to be adjourned. Mo Oxford could also be heard shouting, "Who do I sue? Just tell me, who do I sue?" Schlockmeister Tom Topping, in his tabloid rag The Boulevard Sentinel, lied and wrote that he had heard a tape recording of that meeting and claimed that the minutes taker was the offending party. Of course he can indulge himself in such tabloid lies. He claims to have heard a tape that nobody else heard. He can write all the lies he wants. So can Mo Oxford.
Ken Camp, Los Angeles
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