Schweitzer and the CERA lawsuit

by: Jay Stevens

Fri Sep 12, 2008 at 09:16:04 AM MST

The double take was not over the story's existence -- h*ll, I brought it up in the comments to yesterday's post -- but because there was an implicit suggestion in McKee's piece that the two were related.

Let's look at the facts, shall we?

Just to clarify...

by: Jay Stevens

Thu Sep 11, 2008 at 17:02:28 PM MST

And keep in mind voter suppression of minorities has been something I've written a lot about since I've started blogging. I don't condone running off poll watchers at polls -- although Schweitzer for all of his bragging never claimed as much -- but I do think folks who come to Montana and its reservations to scare away Native American voters should have no place in the process.

For a recap, check out the following posts:

The myth of voter fraud: How the GOP has drummed up false claims of voter fraud in a concerted effort to drive folks who tend to vote Democratic away from the polls.

One more time, with feeling, the myth of voter fraud: How the Republican party and the Bush administration quashed data that showed voter fraud has little, if any effect on elections.

Voter fraud and Native Americans, parts one and two: How the CERA lawsuit against Montana represents an attempt to challenge the idea of tribal sovereignty, overturning which is the goal of the anti-Indian movement.

Thoughts on the dismissal of CERA's lawsuit.

And be sure to read Matt's post on how the Bush administration prosecutor purge hinged around voter fraud, and punishing prosecutors for not pursuing it, even as they knew it was bogus...

Schweitzer under heat for allegedly thwarting voter suppression

by: Jay Stevens

Thu Sep 11, 2008 at 08:22:10 AM MST

Basically, Schweitzer claimed two things: first, that he personally delayed the Butte-Silverbow count to pressure Republicans into conceding the race; second, that he made sure that tribal police drove off Republican operatives attempting voter suppression on Indian reservations.

The first appears to be boasting. Butte-Silverbow officials deny delaying on the Good Guv's orders, and it appears that Schweitzer didn't even talk to the election officials responsible for the recount. Even if he had, it wouldn't seem to have had an influence on the outcome of the election.

The second? Maybe we should have a little history lesson before we rush to judgement.

Read, say, this Joe Conason piece on the tactics of Republicans to suppress minority voters in the 2004 election:

In Florida, as Bob Herbert reported in the New York Times last summer, state officials sent armed officers into certain Orlando neighborhoods to scare elderly black registrants. In Kentucky, Nevada, South Carolina, Pennsylvania and Ohio, Republicans have planned to challenge voters en masse in minority neighborhoods. That return to the methods of the bad old days is the Republican response to the upsurge in minority registration -- and the enormous threat that Republican strategists perceive in those new voters. Last week, Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio summarized his findings in a report on the battleground states by noting that "minority turnout is a wildcard in this race and represents a huge upside for Senator Kerry and a considerable challenge for the President's campaign."

...When partisan hirelings show up at polling places next week to challenge the registrations of minority voters, they will be reenacting scenes from Phoenix in the early '60s, where Rehnquist and other supporters of Goldwater sought to block voting by dark-skinned people suspected of being Democrats. The name of the game -- "ballot security" -- was the same then as now, as was the pretense of seeking to prevent "vote fraud."

Or see Sherry Colb's article on the inherent racism of Republican efforts to suppress the African-American vote.

For an example of how voter suppression efforst are carried out on Indian reservations, check out this report on how the South Dakota GOP got in trouble for their efforts on their state's reservations:

Republican poll workers in Lake Andes were intimidating Native American voters on Monday, a federal judge ruled early today.

Republicans may not write down license plate numbers or follow Native Americans from polling places during today's election, U.S. District Judge Lawrence Piersol ruled in a temporary restraining order.

Perhaps this challenge to the state GOP is what led to South Dakota's new voter ID laws, which impacts Native Americans disproportionately.

(Have no illusions, folks -- the first thing Montana's Republicans would do were they to win the governor's seat and the legislature would be to roll back same-day registration and implement new voter ID laws.)

So, if what Schweitzer were saying was true, he was driving off Republican operatives from their attempts to violate the civil rights of Montana's voters.

Since when do Montanans chide their governor for protecting them from big-money out-of-staters trying to bully folks away from the polls? Yeah, go ahead. Make a big fuss out of this. H*ll, make campaign ads. "Brian Schweitzer roughed up a few East Coast lawyers so Montanans could vote!" See how that goes over.

Trevis Butcher cries "foul" over investigations into funding of 2006 initiatives

by: Jay Stevens

Thu Oct 04, 2007 at 12:08:21 PM MST

Remember, these initiatives and their zombie brethren sprung up all across the country and were funded by a single man - libertarian Howie Rich - through front organizations (like Butcher's), who hired professional signature gatherers to fill petitions. Only the process was marked by "pervasive fraud" -- the gatherers lied about the content in the petitions, and the initiatives were thrown out.

The report explains why Unsworth is investigating Butcher's group:

Montanans in Action was formed in early 2006 as a nonprofit group for "educational" and political purposes, Butcher said. Such groups don't have to reveal their supporters - unless they act as an independent political committee that primarily supplies money to political campaigns.

Unsworth said his investigation seeks to establish whether MIA is an independent political committee, which would make it subject to reporting who gave it the money routed to the campaigns of the three ballot measures.

Butcher and his attorneys have accused Unsworth of conducting a "politically motivated witch hunt," notes that Unsworth is "active in Democratic circles," and claims against the group are "wild accusations."

Only thing is, antipathy for Butcher and his methods are bipartisan. It was the terrible trio of initiatives that inspired Senate Bill 96, a bipartisan effort to curtail the kind of wild, mercenary signature gathering so pervasive under Butcher's organization. (SB 96 passed with overwhelming support, and was signed into law by Governor Schweitzer.) Meanwhile, Daddy Butcher's initiative reform bill - which would have punished the groups who brought action against Baby Butcher's bills and made it harder for initiatives to be thrown out - died in a Republican-majority House committee.

There's no doubt Butcher's activities were suspiciously in alignment with Howie Rich's. More than one investigative journalist tied the money here in Montana to Rich. And Rich himself admitted that he financially supported the efforts here to make the terrible trio of initiatives law.

Butcher has no case here, and should hand over the requested documents. Montana has a right to know who's sponsoring political activity in the state.

Details from the Legislative audit of the 2006 election

by: Jay Stevens

Thu Aug 16, 2007 at 16:34:41 PM MST

Some highlights:

Same Day Registration Mismanaged by Johnson's Office

42% of county election supervisors say the SOS Office did a "poor" or "very poor" job providing guidance for late registration

[snip]

Poorly Trained Staff Fail to Exclude Felons and the Dead from Voting Rolls

Our analysis identified exceptions including 223 eligible voters who were considered incarcerated felons and 36 eligible voters who are deceased. Further analysis showed these numbers were not accurate because the data from the DOC and DPHHS was outdated. The felon data had not been updated since August of 2006, nearly three months prior to the last general election and the deceased data had not been updated since November of 2005, a year prior to the last general election.

We notified the SOS office its data was not current. According to the SOS office, the staff members who were most familiar with SVRS operations left the office without documenting instructions on how the system data is updated.

[snip]

SOS Error Delayed Voters at Registration

On November 7, 2006, Election Day, another outage occurred. This outage could have been prevented by ITSD installing a network patch released in August 2006, but the patch was never installed. As with the previous outage, ITSD also did not implement the backup system. This outage likely affected some of the hundreds of voters waiting in line at county courthouses around the state. In our survey of county election officials we asked several questions relating to system outages on or around the 2006 General Elections. Around 64 percent of county election officials reported these outages had a negative impact on their operations.

Did I say that, "clearly, the audit is a rebuke of Johnson"? Boy, was that an understatement.

Geez, even if you're a diehard Republican, this report has got to make you feel uncomfortable. It's not same-day voter registration that's creating a danger for voter fraud in Montana, it's our Secretary of State...

Two words: Linda McCullouch.