ACLU Sues Michigan Over Voter Purge Program, Saying It Hurts College Students

U.S. News & World Report ^ | September 18, 2008 | Liz Halloran

[Baladas]

The American Civil Liberties Union announced today that it has filed a federal lawsuit against Michigan electoral officials over what the organization characterizes as two "statewide voter purge programs" that it claims would "disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of Michigan voters"—many of them college students—in advance of the fall presidential election.

The legal action comes two days after Democratic nominee Barack Obama's campaign and the Democratic National Committee filed a lawsuit against Michigan over another voter-exclusion practice—using home foreclosure lists to challenge a person's right to vote.

The lawsuits suggest that ballot battles in the key battleground state have just started to heat up.

The ACLU suit, which targets Michigan's Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land, a Republican, as well as the state's elections director and the city of Ypsilanti's clerk, charges that two practices by the state are illegal: one in which the state immediately cancels the voter registrations for individuals who obtain a driver's license in another state, and one in which local clerks nullify new voter registration applications if mailed voter cards are returned by the post office as undeliverable.

[Baladas]

Applied ACORN tactics - don't make it too hard for them to cheat.

[xcamel]

Dems and dead people hardest hit...

[combat_boots]

Hogwash. Register where you live and vote absentee.

[pieceofthepuzzle]

There needs to be an AACLUU (anti-ACLU-union).

[weegee]

So why don’t the college students vote from home by absentee? Why must they cast their votes in the battleground state they live in for only part of the year?

[KarlInOhio]

"Students and young adults generally are much more transient than older adults, are much more likely to have driver's licenses from different states than their college, and are much more likely to live in multi-unit housing, such as dormitories and apartments," says Jonathan Doster, field organizer for the United States Student Association, a plaintiff in the ACLU complaint. "It's just not fair to deny someone the right to vote just because they are an out-of-state student or they don't get a piece of mail."

WTF? If the student is an out-of-state student, that means that his permanent residence is .... anyone? anyone? ... out of state. He shouldn't be voting there if his permanent residence is somewhere else. If you get a drivers license from another state, that means that state is your permanent residence. I do have a little problem with one undeliverable piece of mail meaning you lose your registration because too often mailmen think that in the neighborhood is close enough for deliveries. I say make it at least two attempts.

[Question Liberal Authority]

So now all of a sudden, Obama cares about disenfranchisement in Michigan.

[AndyJackson]

using home foreclosure lists to challenge a person's right to vote

There is no evidence that these folks do not maintain a lawful residence in the foreclosed homes as illegal squatters.

[Baladas]

There seems to be a big push to win Michigan by whatever means necessary by the Barack Hussein Obama campaign over the last two days.

[John Robie]

The ACLU was founded as a communist front group, so it is no surprise they want to get their fellow communists elected.

[republicangel]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2086063/posts

check this out...sounds eerily familiar to what is happening here.

[Melchior]

A Ph.D. awaits the University of Oregon grad student who does an analysis of voter patterns by university students. It is generally estimated that half are registerd in Tucson and half either in their home state or in more than one county in Arizona.

[Jack Wilson]

I suspect college students are voting twice - once by absentee ballot and once in the town where the college is located. And guess who 99% are voting for?

[wbill]

I suspect college students are voting twice

While I've no doubt that happens, I'd be surprised if the number is very high. At least where I went to school, we called it a victory if we went to a party and found, erm....female companionship all in the same weekend. Didn't have time for longwinded political conspiracies.

Maybe Dems are different now. Or, maybe if they ran a party bus from polling place to polling place. I dunno. I just don't see it happening all that much.

I will say that if it does happen, the perps need to be prosecuted (hee hee) to the fullest (snicker) extent (chuckle) of the law (BUAhahahahahaha). Like that's ever going to happen, in a liberal college town.

[yldstrk]

We no longer need you ACLU

[olezip]

The American Civil Liberties Union announced today that it has filed a federal lawsuit against Michigan electoral officials over what the organization characterizes as two "statewide voter purge programs" that it claims would "disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of Michigan voters"—many of them college students—in advance of the fall presidential election.

You would think after more than 200 years this country would have figured out how to ensure that we have one person, one vote. Photo IDs and SS numbers or a national registry would work I would think.

If the ACLU is involved I would be suspicious because they are a bunch of communists trying to force their version of the world on all of us. And, by the way, using our money to do it. They are racketeers IMO, and vulnerable to the RICO statute, if we had an administration with intestinal fortitude, instead of empty suits and skirts.

[supercat]

I can somewhat see the ACLU's point here. Certain policies do need clarification at the very least.

Under some circumstances, a person who goes to school in state X but last had a permanent residence in state Y should be regarded as a resident of state X; in some other cases, the person should be considered a resident of state Y. The proper thing to do would be to make people choose which state is their 'home'.

If the person going to school in state X obtains or renews a driver's license from state Y, I would consider that a sign that the person should request an absentee ballot from state Y and vote in that state's elections. If the person wants to be declared a resident of state X, he should affirm his residency there, and should not get a license elsewhere.

Perhaps the best thing to do would be for the federal government to specify a standard procedure for states to exchange voter-registration information. Registration changes should be processed in such fashion as to ensure continuity of people's right to vote.

For example, if Joe Green moves to a state which requires registration 30 days prior to an election, and residency 30 days prior to registration, he should retain the right to vote in his old state (absentee if necessary) for something over 60 days. Probably either 67 days or the date his registration would become effective, whichever comes first.

In cases where different states have elections on different days, it may be hard to formulate totally sensible rules (e.g. if Joe Green had voted in the primaries for both national and local candidates prior to his move, and his destination state had later primaries, to what extent should he be entitled to vote there?)

[SunkenCiv]

Michigan AFL-CIO selling Obama to 1.4M voters
Associated Press via WSJM | September 19, 2008 | AP
Posted on 09/19/2008 1:04:36 PM PDT by Baladas
Edited on 09/19/2008 1:10:07 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2086080/posts

[SunkenCiv]

Conyers Calls Out McCain Over Voter Suppression
The Hill | 9/19/08 | Andy Barr
Posted on 09/19/2008 1:39:19 PM PDT by steve-b
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2086107/posts

New Mayor Takes Over In Detroit; Kilpatrick Goes On Vacation Before Prison Time
All Headline News | September 19, 2008 | Staff Writer
Posted on 09/19/2008 2:17:23 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2086124/posts

[SunkenCiv]

McCain-Palin 2008 Launches New TV Ad: “Michigan Jobs”
johnmccain.com | 9/18/08
Posted on 09/18/2008 12:49:39 PM PDT by paudio
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2085276/posts

McCain battleground ads: Michigan, Ohio
hotair.com | September 18, 2008 | Ed Morrissey
Posted on 09/18/2008 2:40:43 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2085349/posts

McCain-Palin 2008 Launches New TV Ad: “Overseas”
johnmccain
Posted on 09/19/2008 3:07:40 PM PDT by flyfree
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2086155/posts