Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Talking Points Memo reports that "a representative of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division declined to say Monday whether federal authorities were considering taking action in Maricopa County, Ariz., where Latino voters were allegedly steered towards provisional ballots on election day. DOJ Stays Mum On Arizona Ballot Counting:
Civil rights organizations have said the number of uncounted early ballots was unusually high and that a large number of Latino voters were given provisional ballots when they showed up to vote. A DOJ spokeswoman would only say that the agency would continue to review complaints from any of the locations it was monitoring, including in Maricopa County.
"The Department will review voting hotline calls, election monitoring reports and reports from other sources for potential federal law violations that warrant further investigation," spokeswoman Dena Iverson said in a statement to TPM. "If in the process of an investigation the Department finds a violation occurred, we will take steps, potentially including legal action, to ensure compliance with federal laws."
TPM earlier reported Arizona Still Counting Ballots Nearly A Week After Election:
The American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona sent a letter to county and state elections officials on Friday suggesting that Arizona’s voter identification law may have had a disproportionate impact on minority voters. Under the law, voters can show photo identification or provide two forms of non-photo identification such as bank statements or utility bills. Voters who did not provide such forms of identification would be forced to cast conditional provisional ballots, which require them to provide identification to elections officials by this Wednesday to have their ballot count.
“The ACLU of Arizona is deeply concerned by continuing reports of hundreds of thousands of uncounted ballots, expressed concerns about lack of transparency and clarity in the process, and disproportionately high numbers of provisional ballots issued to minority voters,” ACLU Arizona Executive Director Alessandra Soler wrote in the letter.
The New York Times reported that many of those who had to cast provisional ballots were first time minority voters who signed up to receive their ballots in the mail but never did. The group One Arizona is calling on the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division to investigate. DOJ had sent federal observers to Maricopa County to monitor polling place activity on Election Day.
Election officials and many in the media have tried to blame this problem on voters. But if a voter requested an early ballot (PEVL) and never received it, as the Times reports, that voter was left with no choice but to go to the polls -- where he or she would have been on the rolls with an "E" for early voting, and been given a provisional ballot by poll workers.
If any of you cast a "conditional provisional" ballot, you only have until Wednesday to take proper ID to your County Recorder Office so that your ballot will be counted. Don't delay.
Recent Comments