Welcome Senator Cardin, what an honor to have you here at Firedoglake!

Glad to join you today.

Senator Cardin,

I wonder if Obama will discuss this issue in one of his paid 30 minute television appearances.

What a treat! Thanks, Christy

Welcome to FDL, Sen. Cardin. So happy to have you here today to discuss these issues. As everyone can tell from the breaking news announcement above, this issue is a hot one today.

And, in that vein, Sen. Cardin, what can be done to make certain that the DOJ is not, once again, pushing politicized investigations and prosecutions aimed at voter suppression just like Bradley Schlozman, Hans Von Spakovsky, and all the other politicized folks at the Civil Rights division were trying to push when the several USAttys were fired for refusing to go along with this and other politicized prosecutorial leanings? In short, how do we best ensure a fair election for the American public and to restore the DOJ to a nonpartisan, rule of law enforcing agency?

I mean alert the voters as to possible problems, not the Dept of Injustice issue.

It’s a pleasure to be with you. The voter protection issue is one of the most ctritically important civil rights issues of our time. It is important that steps be taken BEFORE an election so that no one who is elegible to participate is initimidated from casting his or her vote.

Senator Cardin, thank you for joining us this afternoon.

How do your Republican party peers look you in the eye when they push these voter suppression schemes then come to floor debates and hearings and make pronouncements about “the voters have mandated…”?

Do they understand at all how corrupt it makes them look and sound? Or do they just not care?

Welcome Sen. Cardin

Can we rely on the results of the November election?

How bad is it?

One of the more troubling aspects of voter suppression tactics that you mention above are the fliers which get placed on windshields in neighborhoods all over the country alleging possible arrests if people vote or other intimidating tactics or announcing a false change of date for the election, etc. We’ve already seen those this year in the Philadelphia/Drexel University area and elsewhere.

What should citizens do if they see something like this occur in their neighborhood? Any advice on how something like that can be best handled? And what can we do nationwide to change things so that people who try these dirty tactics get seriously punished?

With less than three weeks before the election, it is important that we concentrate our efforts on making it clear that all eligible voters have the absolute right to vote on November 4. We will continue to monitor the activities we see in the states and rely on state and federal officials to enforce our laws. the Department of Justice, during the Bush years, has politicized so many issues that it is likely that that will not change during its last few months. However, the independent investigations that are taking place should focus on what the department is doing in regards to this election. an independent report should be made available to the publicand those who violated our laws should be held accountable

There is a limit as to what is acceptable, partisan election strategies. When a candidate or a party puts out information which is known to be false, with the intent of diminishing voter participation (usually aimed at minorities), this is unacceptable and those who participate in this activity should be held accountable. No one can justify those tactics.

In that regard, sitting on the Judiciary Committee as you do, has there been any discussion of accountability for these issues once the Bush Administration is out of office? In terms of culture within the DOJ and other governmental law enforcement agencies, how does one — for example — distinguish between qualified career hires and politicized career hires? It seems to me that is going to be a huge problem for any incoming AG and other agency heads.

What can be done when someone shows up to vote who has been purged or thought that he/she had properly registered.

This happened on the Drexel Campus in Philadelphia, the local media did cover it, including the ABC affiliate’s Sunday Talking Heads roundtable.

What more can we do to suppress the suppression?

Welcome, Senator Cardin!

When you say “we will continue to monitor . . .” who do you mean by “we” and what do you mean by “monitor”? Are you speaking of the SJC holding after-the-fact hearings, or is there some kind of plan to have SJC members, staffers, and others watching things as they unfold between now and Nov 4, holding the DOJ’s feet to the fire before election day?

Senator Cardin — This is just by way of information. Two days ago Minnesota Public Radio had a piece on how we have dealt with the ACORN matter locally — I think it might interest you.

Apparently we have a major drop in “bad” voter registration cards this year compared with past years, and the Hennepin County Elections people credit that to a very minor piece of legislation that was carried by State Senator Linda Berglin (DFL — in office since 1972) last session. What her legislation did was make it illegal to pay personnel working on voter registration on a piece work basis. It eliminated the incentive to fake registrations, and ended the problem. Could we do that on a national basis? Linda would, I am sure, send you the record on passage of her bill, and a copy if requested from her Senate Office.

I would recommend that the literature be turned over to local law enforcement. I would prefer the Department of Justice prosectute these cases, but under the Bush Adminsitration, they have shown little interest. Along with Senator Oabama, I have co-sponsored legislation to make it clear that these activities violate federal law.

What does be held accountable mean these days. Many of us are extremely frustrated by a lack of accountability

How will we deal with too few voting machines in precincts? This happened here in Ohio in 2004 in urban areas. There were plenty of machines, but some were just not used.
Long lines resulted, some people waited hours, some eventually left without voting. Is there a plan to stop this from happening again?

Monitoring is being done by representatives of candidates, poltiical parties and interst groups who are concerned about a fair election. Material is being made available to local law enforcement that has the interest and capacity to prosecute such actions. I am confident that the Judiciary Committee will continue to have further hearings on this subject after the election that will supplement hearings held recently by the committee.

And, just to be clear, I know there is no ready or easy answer on that. It’s a topic that has engaged a lot of attorneys, federal judges, former DOJ and USAttys around the country quite a bit in the last couple of years especially. I hear about it a LOT from people with whom I’ve been speaking in law enforcement and the judiciary — and there is a substantial amoutn of worry on how we go about really restoring faith in a depoliticized DOJ.

When we had David Iglesias on for a book salon earlier this year, it was a huge topic of conversation for us then as well. That officials at the DOJ, after all of that mess, would again jump into the fray as “anonymous leaking officials” on a sensitive subject like this so close to this election cycle tells me they have learned nothing at all and feel utterly unaccountable for their actions in the past. Which makes me worry all the more about what it will take to wholly restore the DOJ over the long run.

One great thing folks can do is to immediately report problems to the Election Protection hotline: 1-866-OUR-VOTE.

One other thing that I heard recently that Bradblog was talking about was to take a cell phone with video capacity or a video camera with you to vote if you live in an area where voting problems are anticipated. That way you have a way to record a problem and get a copy of that video to authorities if need be.

Thanks Sen. Cardin for joining and for Christy for setting this up!

I just wanted to remind everyone that if they experience any problems voting or have any basic questions about voting that they can call the non-partisan Election Protection’s 866-Our-Vote hotline, from now through Election Day.

For everyone that does not enjoy hotlines, you can also report problems to their Twitter account, 866OurVote.

The tradition in the Department of the Justice, prior to the current administration, was to allow career attorneys to be responsible for the recruitment and selection of new career attorneys. It was only the political appointees that were selected in a partisan manner. It is critically important that the next administration establish a clear directive in this regard. Attorney General Mukasey has testified before the Judiciary Committee that the selection and promotion of career attorneys will be done without any political consideration.

Ah, Christy, beat me to it!

Just so everyone is aware, the bill Sen. Cardin is talking about is the Prevention of Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation in Federal Elections Act

That person should insist upon a provisional ballot, in order that their vote can be counted.

During the 2004 election we were not allowed to bring cell phones into the polling places. As an Obama poll monitor I am interested to see how this plays out.

Sara — that’s really a fantastic idea. One of the problems with election laws is that, at the moment, everything is piecemeal state by state because of the way elections have always been set up in this country. But something like that which works very effectively in one jurisdiction can be spread pretty rapidly to other states when the word gets out.

If it’s okay with you, I’m going to forward that information to one of my contacts at the Democratic Governor’s Association — that’s really a common sense solution on that! Thanks much!

No one condones the practices of inappropriate completions of voter registration forms. However, the major problem that we confront in the United States is that too many of our eligible voters do not register. our efforts should be concentrated on getting people who are qualified to register to voter so that we have a higher percentage of Americans participating in electing their representatives.

Good advice, I don’t expect a whit of trouble at my little precinct; but Pennsylvania has a raft of interpretations on electioneering TeeShirts across the state. My conservative county is not going to press instances of simple T-shirt wearing as long as it isn’t accompanied by blatant electioneering, but Montgomery County — just outside Philadelphia — is going to crack down on TeeShirts. This strikes me as unfair to voters just expressing their enthusiasm by wearing a tee shit to the polls. It being inconsistent across the state seems so unfair to me.

That’s all well and good, but as Monica Goodling testified, she and others improperly used political considerations to put suitably loyal people in career attorney positions. To say that these same Goodling-approved career attorneys will be “responsible for recruitment and selection of new career attorneys” does not fill me with confidence.

Beyond his testimony, are you aware of any verifiable and specific steps that AG Mukasey is taking to make sure that political considerations are not being considered?

so in the last election we had “more votes then voters” and where there was no paper trail we miraculously had results that were differant then exit polls, exit polls which were never wrong in the past were “somehow” wrong where was no paper trail

so how do we protect against electronic machines flipping votes?

and what about those exit polls…they are really the only tool we have that might document stolen or flipped votes, will there be trust worthy exit polling this season?

and here is the big question;

we already know there were ballots sent out spelling obama’s name as “osama”

can we PLEASE have a ruling that INSISTS if the voter correct the spelling, that ballot counts, if they DON’T correct the spelling the ballot STILL counts

please

Digg It folks.

I am very concerned about whether there will be adequate numbers of machines that will be working properly and eletion judges that are capable of allowing people to vote in a timely manner. I believe that the number of voters will exceed all projections and that many voters could be discouraged from voting because of the long lines. In Maryland, I have actively worked with our state election officials to minimize this risk. I believe we are going to need to make similar efforts in every state of this nation.

If you have a pool of new hires that was completely hired using a political litmus – how do you promote out of this pool without picking someone who has “passed the litmus test”

There have been reports already in NC early voting of lines up to two hours long. With all of the increases in voter registration from the Democratic primary, one of the pieces of advice I keep passing out to folks is to vote early if you can. Election day lines may be tough in some areas this year because the presidential election is so hotly contested, but also because we have so many down-ticket races that are close in so many states — for US Senate, the House, and all the way down to county elections.

So vote early if at all possible this year.

Honestly, I don’t expect much difficulty in my little town in WV, either. Mainly because everyone pretty much knows everyone’s business here, anyway. *G* But you never know, which is why I always take my voter registration card with me to the polls along with ID…just in case.

Sen Cardin — what upcoming hearings are scheduled on voting issues that we can look forward to — anything in the near future, or will there be some upcoming after the election?

AG Mukasey has shared with the committee copies of the memos that he has sent to staff and has made it clear that he would personally dismiss any member of his staff that violated this policy. I do believe that it will be important for the next Attorney General to personally participate in the selection process that ensures that the selection of career attorneys returns to its historical reputation of selecting the best people without regard to partisan politics.

Clearly we will be looking at the new administration, its appointments to key positions, including the civil rights division and those responsible for election laws. I would anticipate that there would be specific hearings before the Judiciary Committee on these issues. During the confirmation hearings of the NEXT attorney general, the groundwork will be laid for those other hearings.

That’s good to know — I know there were a lot of questions about that at previous hearings at which AG Mukasey appeared in terms of accountability within the DOJ for past problems. His attitude in terms of that was less than promising when he didn’t seem keen on holding anyone to account, but it sounds like internally he’s made it quite clear that further problems will be disciplined. That’s a good step at least.

Senator Cardin — Minnesota has had same day registration at the polls since 1974 and I believe the only “problems” have been less than ten cases of people registering and voting in the wrong precinct.

The person who “reformed” our processes in the 70’s and 80’s was our Secretary of State, Joan Growe, who in retirement works with Carter and Mondale consulting on foreign elections. (she did Romania and South Africa). I think most “tweaks and bright ideas” still come from Joan.

We had a very major effort by Mary Kiffmeyer, former Republican Secretary of State, defeated in 2006, to mess up our lovely system — she even brought Kathleen Harris in to “consult.” In fact, one reason USA Heffelfinger ended up on the “to Fire” list had to do with his refusal to prosecute some of the stupid cases Kiffmeyer tried to push.

Our ACORN problem involved one of their workers leaving 900 filled out cards in a rental car which was left at the Airport. Turned out, they traced the credit cards, and the guy worked for a Republican Operation in VA that was all about discrediting ACORN. But since we have same day registration, there was no harm, no foul in not turning the cards in — they just notified the precincts in question and the voters — that they had to go through the re-registration process at the polls.

We are according to Mark Richie our current Sec of State on line to get 90% of our voters registered this year. We are always first or second in the country in turnout.

I’m glad to hear about AG Mukasey’s memos. Still, threatening to dismiss staffers whose jobs end on Jan 20, 2009 with the change in administration does not seem like much of a threat. Your suggestion for the next AG makes a great deal of sense, and I hope it is heeded.

Senator Cardin,
This may not be appropriate but has Senator Schumer apologized to the SJC for his support of AG Mukasey in light of his failures to follow through on the law?

I clearly disagree with the Bush Adminstration’s priorities in the Department of Justice. The politicizing of the Department of Justice is inexcusable and may very well have violated federal law. I opposed the confirmation of AG Mukasey, primarily of his position on torture. I do believe that AG Mukasey has been forthcoming on ending the practice of partisan politics in the hiring and pormotion of career attorneys.

The allegations lobbed at ACORN yet again this year seem awfully disingenuous to me, considering that the complaints about inappropriate registration cards are cards that ACORN, themselves, flagged for country registrars when they turned them in…by law in most areas, they are required to turn in ever filled out card, so they had to turn in questionable ones in most places but segregated those for the registrars offices.

Which, again by law, is what they are supposed to do. I’m not certain where that allegation of fraud can be made with a straight face if that is, in fact, what is being done?

I think we should make it as easy as people to register. For those jurisdictions that have same-day registration, it appears to be working well.

Thank you Senator Cardin.

I am concerned by the silence about the issues of election fraud and vote caging in the corporate media.

I remember when some of these laws were being passed. Partisans who were going around to register people would collect the forms, but then before submitting them, they threw out the registration forms of anyone who checked the little box next to the “wrong” party. These people then went to the polls, only to discover that the registrar had never received their registration forms.

That’s voter registration fraud at its worst, and it’s why the law was passed that compels ACORN to turn in what appear to be fraudulent voter registrations.

The fraud is not being committed by ACORN, but by those filling out the forms.

Vote caging reports have been awfully quiet this year, haven’t they? You’d think after all the testimony from the USAtty firings earlier in the year, this would be an issue that investigative journalists would be watching much more closely going into this election cycle, wouldn’t you? And yet…

The selective use of challenges at the polls by campaigns can very well be an effort to reduce minority participation. When that is the strategy, it is clearly wrong and should have no part in American politics. There have been some indications that candidates have used challenges to create longer lines at a polling place in which it was likely that the fewer voters that cast their votes would help that particular candidate. Once again, that type of strategy should be illegal.

Media coverage has clearly been inadequate to these problems.

The USAtty in the SD of WV tried to allege that folks had done that in 2004 in what, in retrospect, seems like one of the many partisan attempts to gin up that issue going into the election. Nothing ever happened in terms of prosecution and that USatty (who also happened to be the brother of the state GOP party chairman and brother of the state GOP candidate for governor that year — just a conincidence, I’m sure) was later forced to resign over some other problems, including allegations of another politicized prosecution.

It’s made law enforcement very difficult on the folks who do take their obligation to justice seriously, because the taint of a few bad apples then spreads across the entire system. Having been an assistant prosecutor, I can tell you that is the last thing you want to have to contend with on top of evidence presentation in a jury trial — a jury panel that suspects you of cheating or politicizing your job will have a tougher time taking you at your word. And that’s a huge problem for all of us.

I had occasion to go to the County Board of Elections to request an absentee ballot for my brother. They were most helpful and accommodating. Happy to assist, and never asked for any IDs. I came away feeling that my county had just the right attitude to get the vote out, no attempt to discourage legitimate voters. They had the registration online and it was easy as pie to match up the voter with the ballot. I felt a healthy pride when I left.

The most fun thing about the ordeal into the city (for me) was the young kid I encountered in the office, his first presidential election, but he was going to be away over voting day. His mom so wanted him to delay his trip so he could vote; but he assured her that he could vote absentee and so could do both, go on his trip and vote in the election. She must be very proud of the solid citizen she raised. He was sweetheart.

I am so stoked for this election!

If local law enforcement is not responsive, I would work up to county and federal officials, the press, interest groups and all of the above until someone is prepared to take action.

Sen. Cardin, I just want to take a moment to thank you so much for participating here today. We know your time is at a premium this close to an election, and your efforts on voter protection issues are very much appreciated.

If there are issues on which we can help push needed reforms or sunlight, please let us know — especially in terms of helping whip legislation to ensure a more accurate and fair vote.

It’s always nice when we can share good things.

Senator Cardin

I’m wondering if you have followed Tan Nguyen’s indictment in Southern California. He’s the guy who sent Spanish fliers designed to scare Latinos out of voting during his campaign against Loretta Sanchez in 2006.

It took two years for DOJ to indict him on a very simple obstruction case.

It sure seems like the case got held up either locally or at the national level.

I can’t speak to all jurisdictions, but I can say that in WV, someone who is a cheat in an election isn’t a favorite among most folks. And it is something that law enforcement folks try to look at closely when there is an allegation of wrongdoing. We still consider our elections to be a solemn responsibility here for the most part — and folks who try to cheat the vote, somehow, are substantially frowned upon. I’d like to think that holds true most places, actually…

yes, thank you for coming Senator. and don’t be going barefoot on those Chesapeake beaches, might catch your toe on a ancient sharktooth ;)

Senator Cardin,

Do you ever forsee a time when the states will have more uniform laws regarding registration and voting. It seems that each state has its own unique ways of doing things such as same day registration and voting, recounts, and early voting. It can get mighty confusing to voters, especially those relocating from one state to another.

Let me thank firedoglake and Christy for making this opportunity available to take up the critical issue of voter integrity. Because of your concern, and activism, I am more optimistic that the voters’ choice on November 4th will be our next president.

I vote at a small precinct. 6 old lady poll workers for 10 old lady voters, or at least that’s my impression.
But I took a friend to her polling place in a traditionally African-American part of town, and wow, there were signs there saying that it was illegal for people to intimidate you so you wouldn’t vote, and you should report it. Inside was a challenger, a lady looking officious with a clipboard, walking around and then sitting and watching.
I wasn’t even voting there but I found it intimidating.

Greetings, Senator, and thank you for being here.
Senator, it seems to me the core problem is a macro-issue: Why do all these dirty, underhanded tactics that “have no place in American politics” have a place in American politics? Who is responsible? Why have they been allowed to get away with it for so long? Why does the sanctity of the democratic process mean so little to these people?

What a huge contrast, Margot. That’s jarring…

In light of the fact that ACORN offices have been vandalized and people have received death threats due to the most probably false accuzations leveled at ACORN for the umpteenth time, is it possible that the trumped up charges and vitrol have incited a crime?

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/54360.html

Christy, as I noted in an earlier thread, look in the lists that are available on spotlight. Do you see any “investigative journalists”? What you have are reporters whose job is to report what they are fed.

Yes, and we try to feed them regularly. *g*

The “lady looking officious with a clipboard” might think twice about getting too officious if there was a person wearing a “poll watcher watcher” button who kept a video camera pointed at her while she was walking, sitting, and watching.

Sen Cardin, I have to admit that I did not vote for you in the ‘06 primary, but did in the general. While I supported you strongly, it was my partner who persuaded me to touch Mfume instead.

In the ‘06 primary in my county, Prince Georges, there were many reports of former Green party voters who re-registered as Democrats that were never re-registered in the system. When they showed up, they were only allowed to vote for the school board. Watching the results come in at the Baker rally that night, it was very disturbing to me that results in the Northern parts of the county (Baker strongholds) were not being reported. Add to this reports that Baker as well as other anti-Johnson candidates didn’t show up on some voters screens.

In the days following the vote, none other than the Washington Post reported (a newspaper which never has anything good to say about PG) that machines were found in a parking lot in what is now (but not in THAT vote) Donna Edwards district. Nothing was done about this.

My question is, what can we do to make sure that these kind of things don’t happen again? When I voted in this primary, after my canvassing work for Obama, I was told by an election official to cover up my Obama teeshirt. It was only recently that I found out that this was a violation of our law. She ain’t gonna do it it to me on November 4th, I can tell you that.

In our vote, I worry much more about the fairness of down ballot issues, like the slots vote. Are our machines being properly tested in every county in order to ensure a proper vote? Can the GEMS system still be hacked by anyone with a little knowledge of Microsoft Access? Will the DRE’s be secured and not turn up in some parking lot this time? Will the ExpressPoll have current data and not turn away voters?

New post upstairs