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NATIONAL

VOTING RIGHTS

TOOLKIT

Defending and Expanding the Vote

NAACP Voting Rights Initiative 2012-2013

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The NAACP is the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights

organization. Our mission is to ensure the political,

educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all

persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination. Our

vision is to ensure a society in which all individuals have

equal rights without discrimination based on race.

______________________________________________________

NAACP 21ST CENTURY GAME CHANGERS

1. ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY

A chance to live the American Dream for all.

2. EDUCATION A free, high-quality, public education for all.

3. HEALTH Health equality for all Americans including healthy life and high- quality health care.

4. PUBLIC SAFETY and CRIMINAL JUSTICE Equitable dispensation of justice for all.

5. VOTING RIGHTS and POLITICAL REPRESENTATION

Equal voting rights and fair representation for all.

_______________________________________________________

National Headquarters: 4805 Mt. Hope Drive, Baltimore Maryland 21215 410-580-5777

www.naacp.org

NAACP

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Greetings

Roslyn M. Brock, Chairman, NAACP National Board of Directors

Benjamin Todd Jealous, President & CEO, NAACP

Foreword

Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, Chair, Legislative & Political Action Committee, National Board of Directors

Introduction

Jotaka Eaddy, Special Assistant to the President & CEO and Sr. Director, Voting Rights Initiative

M. Aurora Vásquez, Senior Manager, Voting Rights Initiative

Part I: The NAACP Voting Rights Strategy

Passing Progressive Reforms

Stop expansion of voter suppression laws through advocacy and targeted public education

Challenging and reversing the 2011 voting rights attacks

Engaging the United Nations and other human rights forums

Educating voters on the new requirements and rules for voter registration and voting

Part 2: Then & Now

2011 Voter Suppression Tactics

2011 Voter Suppression Facts

2012 Voter Suppression Tactics

2012 Voter Suppression Facts

Part 3: Take Action!

Make the Conflict Visible

Engage in Voter Education

Press Ahead in 2012

Prepare for 2013

Table of Contents

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Part 4: Action Resources

Section A: one-page fact sheets/handouts

Fast Facts:

Mass Voter Fraud

Felony Disenfranchisement

Voter Participation in the 2008 Presidential Election

Tell it Like it Is:

Voter Photo ID

Proof of Citizenship

Restrictions on Voter Registration & Early Voting

Constitutional Amendments

Limits on Providing Assistance at the Polls

Community Bulletin (sample flyer)

Section B: public speaking resources

Talking Points

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Section C: media resources

Sample Press Release

Tips for Writing a Letter to the Editor

Tips for Writing an Op-ed

Tips for Using New Media

Section D: NAACP Washington Bureau Resources

Voter Empowerment Act Democracy Restoration Act Voting Rights for Residents of the District of Columbia Voter Access Protection Act

Section E: This is My Vote

Section F: campaign-builder resources

Basic Prepare Yourself Template Design & Implement a Successful Voting Rights Initiative

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Part 5: National Staff Resource List

Voting Rights Initiative

Field and Membership

Civic Engagement

Washington Bureau

Communications

New Media

Legal Department

Appendix A

Connecting the Voter Suppression Dots: A Historical Perspective Radical Reconstruction Jim Crow Fusion Politics Women’s Suffrage Civil Rights Era & the Voting Rights Act New Millennium Voter Suppression

Appendix B

Voting Rights PowerPoint

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Dear NAACP Family and Supporters: It is with great pleasure that I share with you our newly released Voting Rights Advocacy Toolkit. Designed

specifically for our State Conferences and units, it is a thorough guide and overview of the NAACP’s voting

rights strategy and programmatic approach to defending and expanding the right to vote. Our right to voter

registration processes that are free of barriers that permit us to cast an unfettered ballot that gets counted

on Election Day are the cornerstone of democracy. These gatekeepers of a participatory democracy must

be protected, modernized, and expanded.

In four short years, the nation has turned two important corners: we elected the first African-American

President and the 2010 census confirmed we are on the brink of becoming a majority minority nation.

History has taught us however that when voter participation shifts power to a diverse electorate, those

accustomed to holding that power recoil. In the past two years, we have seen the aggressive emergence of

national efforts to create permanent barriers to voting.

A testament to the NAACP’s fortitude in the face of challenging times and our enduring responsibility to

leave an unobstructed path for future generations, our voting rights Game Changer is clear: “Every

American will have free, open, equal, and protected access to the vote and fair representation at all levels

of the political process.” To that end, this toolkit contains updated information, advocacy tools, guidelines

for communication, and ways the National NAACP can best support you as you engage in this work. It is

designed as a dynamic set of strategies and information to support advocacy for best practices and sound

policies at the local, state, and national level.

Please take a moment to read through this critical advocacy guide. Our nation is at a crossroads; together

we will work to ensure that democracy and access to the ballot box is a reality for all Americans.

.

The future is calling and, with your help, the NAACP will answer!

Sincerely,

Roslyn M. Brock, Chairman

NAACP National Board of Directors

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Dear NAACP Family and Friends:

As the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization, the NAACP stands firm in its pursuit of a just

democracy. Our unwavering commitment to ensuring unfettered access to the ballot box remains steadfast

and as necessary today as it was more than 100 years ago.

More than 130 million people voted in the 2008 Presidential election, including an estimated 5 million new

voters: 2 million Black, 2 million Latino, and nearly 1 million Asian. While participation was the most diverse

in recent history, it was far from perfect as more than 70 million voting-eligible people failed to participate.

Increased participation however, brought the nation one step closer to fulfilling a crucial unmet promise of

democracy: a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

Now, we are experiencing the biggest assault on voting rights. Not since the rise of Jim Crow have we seen

the number of retrogressive election law changes we saw in 2011. In place in states across the country,

they create barriers to successful voter registration and voter participation on Election Day and show little

sign of slowing. With deep-rooted causes intended to have far-reaching effects, the attack goes against the

very beliefs and values set out in the NAACP Game Changers. The attack on voting rights – including

attacks on early and Sunday voting, photo ID and proof of citizenship requirements and racially motivated

restrictions on the right to vote for people with felony convictions – is the gateway to attacking other

important rights such as the right to organize, workers’ rights, reproductive rights, immigrant rights, and

education rights. If we allow suppression of our vote, which results in the stripping of our power, our ability

to defend all of our rights will get tougher.

The NAACP however, will not retreat; we are a people committed to a vision marked by courage. Through

our Voting Rights Initiative, we will make the conflict visible, shift the public narrative, reclaim the voting

rights which have been lost, while expanding the electorate to ensure civil and human rights for all

Americans.

Thank you for your continued support of the mission and goals of the NAACP. I salute you for your

unwavering dedication.

Benjamin Todd Jealous President and CEO NAACP

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE

4805 MT. HOPE DRIVE • BALTIMORE, MD 21215-3297 • (410) 580-5777

BENJAMIN TODD JEALOUS President & Chief Executive Officer

ROSLYN M. BROCK Chairman, Board of Directors

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“If we understand what happened then (in the 19th century) to stop the power of the black vote we will know what’s happening now (in the 21st century) to stop the power of the black vote and why we must, with the greatest urgency and singleness of focus, fight back and push forward”! - Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, Chair,

Legislative and Political Action Committee, National Board of Directors

Woe to those who make unjust laws, To those who issue oppressive decrees,

To deprive the poor of their rights

And withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, Making widows their prey

And robbing the fatherless. -Isaiah 10: 1-2

Almost a century before the Voting Rights Act

sixteen African Americans won seats in the U.S.

Congress and more than six hundred black men

took the oath of office in Southern state

legislatures between 1865 and 1880.1 While

they never held office in proportion to their

numbers, African Americans wielded significant

power in every statehouse. In North Carolina

more African Americans served in the

legislature than today. Though Southern white

terrorism and Northern white indifference

destroyed Reconstruction, the NAACP’s 20th

century redefinition of American citizenship is

unimaginable without the framework of rights

won by these black and white pioneers.2

Between 1865 and 1900, black-majority

interracial alliances in every Southern state rose

to push public education, protect the right to

vote, and curb corporate power by reaching

1Eric Foner and John A. Garrity, eds., The Readers

Companion to American History, (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1991), 917-923. 2 Eric Foner, A Short History of Reconstruction, 1863-

1877, (New York: Harper and Row, 1990), 254-255.

across the color line. They outraged white

Conservatives by raising taxes for public

education. They attacked the divisive rhetoric

of white solidarity and pointed to the common

interests of most black and white Southerners.

These “fusion” coalitions took power; during

that decade, more than a quarter of white

voters in the region cast their ballots for black-

majority coalitions. For instance in the 1890s, a

“Fusion” of Republicans and Populists in North

Carolina swept the state legislature, won both

U.S. Senate seats and the governorship. These

“fusion” coalitions of blacks and whites in the

South passed some of the most progressive

educational and labor laws in our nation’s

history.3 The radical and racist Dixiecrats of this

3 Foner, A Short History of Reconstruction, op. cit.

For the interracial Readjusters movement, see Jane Dailey, Before Jim Crow: A History of Race in Postemancipation Virginia, (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2000), especially 1-14. See also J. Morgan Kousser, The Shaping of Southern Politics: Suffrage Restriction and the Establishment of the One-Party South, 1880-1910, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1974), 171-175. For the

FOREWORD: Rev. Dr. William J. Barber

II

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period could not stand for this. Near and

around 1870, they started a campaign to

“redeem” America from the influence of black

political power and progress. They launched a

frontal attack. These radical Dixiecrats found

means to deny the vote to blacks through

violence, intimidation, and Jim Crow. From

1890 to 1908, ten Southern states wrote new

constitutions with provisions that included

literacy tests, poll taxes, and grandfather

clauses. State provisions applied to all voters,

and were upheld by an ultraconservative,

radical Supreme Court beginning in 1875. In the

twentieth century, when the Supreme Court

began to find a few of the provisions

unconstitutional, states reacted rapidly in

devising new legislation to continue the

disenfranchisement of most blacks.

Declaring their intention to “redeem” America,

the white Conservatives of the South organized

the Ku Klux Klan and the Red Shirts to create

what one editor termed “permanent good

government by the party of the White Man.”4

Everywhere and always, Conservatives howled

about the use of tax money to support public

education, especially for black children, and

sought to suppress the African American vote.

“Race riots” in New Orleans, Wilmington,

Atlanta, Springfield, and other cities destroyed

interracial democracy and created a Jim Crow

political economy rooted in low taxes, low

wages, and fewer and fewer voters.5 These

“Fusion” movement in North Carolina, see Helen G. Edmonds, The Negro and Fusion Politics in North Carolina, 1894-1901, (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1951). 4 Timothy B. Tyson, “Ghosts of 1898: Wilmington’s

Race Riot and the Rise of White Supremacy,” Raleigh News & Observer, November 17, 2006. 5 David S. Cecelski and Timothy B. Tyson, Democracy

Betrayed: The Wilmington Race Riot and Its Legacy, (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press 1998); H. Leon Prather, “We Have Taken a City”; The

backlash brigades were the political ancestors

of the “Dixiecrats,” the Strom Thurmond and

Jesse Helms genre, the paranoid right-wing of

the John Birch Society, and in many ways they

were precursors of today’s Tea Party.

In the early 1900s George White, a North

Carolinian who was the last African American

congressperson of the Reconstruction era, was

effectively driven out of office because he saw

the tactics being implemented to prevent his

reelection. The strategy to stop any effort at

Reconstruction has always consisted of four

direct actions: Attacking voting rights; attacking

tax revenue along with government programs

and agencies designed to promote social uplift;

attacking public educational policy, labor rights,

and the principle of equal protection under the

law; and attacking or assassinating white and

black progressive leaders.

In 1909, the NAACP was founded and created

by whites and blacks with the mission to fight

back using a strategy to promote civil rights,

including securing “impartial suffrage” or

voting. We must declare in the 21st century that

the NAACP must still lead the effort to protect

the power, necessity, and potential of our vote.

Today our role is to still fight for the impartial,

unabridged right to vote. The truth is If we

understand what happened then (in the 19th

century) to stop the power of the black

Wilmington Racial Massacre and Coup of 1898, (Cranbury, New Jersey: Associated University Presses, 1984). For Atlanta, see David Fort Godshalk, Veiled Visions: The 1906 Atlanta Race Riot and the Remaking of American Race Relations, (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2005); see also Gregory Mixon, The Atlanta Riot: Race, Class and Violence in a New South City, (Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 2005. For Springfield, see Roberta Senechal, The Sociogenesis of a Race Riot: Springfield, Illinois in 1908, (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1990).

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vote we will know what’s happening now (in

the 21st Century) to stop the power of the black

vote and why we must, with the greatest

urgency and singleness of focus, fight back and

push forward!

Because of the power, necessity, and potential

of the black, brown, and progressive vote, we

must fight any attempts to suppress, segregate,

isolate, or steal this right. Everything we fight

for – equal protection under the law, education

equality, economic justice, and access to

healthcare – are all directly impacted by voting.

We must fight all attempts to suppress,

segregate, isolate, or steal the power, necessity,

and potential of our vote!

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Welcome to your 2012 – 2013 Voting Rights toolkit! This resource is an action kit designed to help you, our members, new and experienced voting rights advocates, and all people of conscious respond to and prevent attacks on our right to participate in the nation’s political processes. In its entirety however, this toolkit will serve as a roadmap to guide you through the NAACP strategy to stop the national attack on voting rights while defending and expanding the electorate.

Because the right to vote is the cornerstone of our democracy and inextricable from what the

NAACP stands for and what we seek to achieve, we are eager to facilitate your interest and

skills as the gatekeepers of the right to vote at the state and local level.

Through this lens, you are a critical component of the NAACP’s national voting rights agenda in

which we seek to protect and expand unfettered access to the ballot box for all qualified voters

– without regard to race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, age, class, or socioeconomic status,

for instance.

Together we can build a national movement to get our voting rights back and preserve them for

future generations. Together we will:

1. Expose the attack on our voting rights; we will make the conflict visible.

2. Defend voting rights in states that are under attack in 2012.

3. Engage in mass voter education to ensure everyone who is entitled to vote, can vote.

4. Continue defending our rights and expanding the electorate into 2013.

ONWARD!

-- Jotaka Eaddy Special Assistant to the President & CEO and Sr. Director, Voting Rights Initiative

-- M. Aurora Vásquez Senior Manager, Voting Rights Initiative

INTRODUCTION

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NAACP Voting Rights

Strategy

part 1

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Equipped with a powerful brand, proven field capacity, and a strong network of stakeholders,

the NAACP is uniquely positioned to play a leading role in the next wave of efforts to advance

and protect voting rights in America. The Stand for Freedom March and Mobilization in

December 2011 launched a series of high-profile events focused on ensuring that the attack on

voting rights and its impact on citizens wholly eligible to cast a ballot remain visible.

Core to our history is the ability to engage in mass public education, grassroots mobilizations,

and removing barriers to the ballot box. This expertise will be incorporated into a five part

strategy:

o Passing progressive reforms; o Stopping expansion of voter suppression laws through advocacy and targeted public

education; o Challenging and reversing the 2011 attack on voting rights; o Engaging the United Nations and other human rights forums; and o Educating voters on the new requirements and rules for voter registration and voting.

In implementing this strategy the NAACP will equip our leaders and members to: (1) Speak to

the facts by framing the attack on voting rights as an attack on minority participation and

democracy; (2) Make the conflict visible in order to increase public discussion and stimulate

citizen engagement; (3) Design and implement aggressive ‘fight back’ campaigns; (4) Educate

voters on voting law changes in order to increase the public’s preparedness to participate in

future elections; (5) Begin setting a progressive agenda through coordinated mobilization of our

constituents; and (6) Encourage key allies operating outside traditional civil rights circles to

make voting rights a top priority in 2012 and 2013.

Passing Progressive Reforms

We will work to promote a model of what

American democracy should be at the

beginning of the 21st century by advocating

for unfettered access to the ballot box and

amplification of the voice of citizens within

the body politic. We will promote laws that

create universal voter registration that

moves with individuals across county and

state lines. We will advocate for early voting

and weekend voting to better

accommodate participation by the nation’s

more than 200 million voting-eligible

citizens and make it easier for working class

persons to participate in the process of

selecting their local, state, and national

leaders. We will push for the use of the

national popular vote--which represents the

voices of people of color beyond the scope

of the electoral college--in determining the

winner of presidential elections. We will

also begin a public campaign focused on

adding an affirmative right to vote to the

United States Constitution, similar to that

appearing in some state constitutions. In

part 1: NAACP Voting Rights Strategy

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pursuing this goal, we will be on the

offensive and not merely defensive. We

will lay claim to a more robust view of

American democracy that will allow us to

counter efforts to repress the vote and,

because of its framing, have a broad appeal

to the public.

Stop expansion of voter suppression laws through advocacy and targeted public education

In 2012, we will focus on key states facing

serious efforts to pass voter suppression

laws. In these states, we will place

organizers and provide resources to our

state conferences to fight against the

passage of these laws. We will also

disseminate state reports that address the

negative impact that passage of the voter

suppression laws would have on specific

communities. Further, we will engage in

strategic communications, working with

allies to hone messages that resonate with

the public and we will use media in multi-

forms (advertisements, film, internet,

billboards) to push the messages out.

We will also begin preparing for the

onslaught of voter suppression legislation

we expect in 2013, when all state

legislatures are in session. We expect there

to be activity in virtually every state. We will

prepare reports on our key states in order

to arm our state conferences and local units

with information on the history of racist

voter suppression laws in their states and

the detrimental impact such measures can

have. We will also focus on the impact of

denying the vote to the formerly

incarcerated. Key to our strategy will also

be strategic communication campaigns.

Challenging and reversing the 2011 voting rights attacks

There are several states that require

preclearance from the Department of

Justice under Section 5 of the Voting Rights

Act before they can implement changes to

their voting rights laws. Active at this time

are South Carolina, Texas, Florida,

Mississippi and Alabama. In these states,

we will work to collect and disseminate

information on the impact of these laws to

the public and other interested parties,

such as DOJ. We will also encourage

Congressional hearings so that local persons

can testify as to hardships they will endure

as a result of repressive laws. Of particular

focus in Florida will be the impact of these

laws on the voting rights of formerly

incarcerated persons. In states that are not

subject to Section 5 pre-clearance, such as

Wisconsin, Indiana, Kansas and Tennessee,

we will seek to intervene in litigation

challenging the legality of their election law

changes. We will also-- as is happening now

with our state leadership in North Carolina -

-work to build a grassroots base that will

lead to the repeal of these laws through

legislative action.

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Engaging the United Nations and other human rights forums

The United Nations is an important element

in our strategy because it is a tremendous

platform for demonstrating why and how

these repressive laws are an attack on

minority voting rights. We will begin

exposing the national attack on voting

rights through a series of reporting

opportunities before the U.N. In addition to

taking a delegation to the meeting of the

Human Rights Council in Geneva, we will

challenge the voter suppression measures

when the United States delivers its country

report in fall 2012 under the review process

of the International Covenant on Civil and

Political Rights.

Additionally, the NAACP will intervene

when the United States releases its report

on compliance with the Convention on the

Elimination of Racial Discrimination. In

addressing the Council, we will have

formerly incarcerated persons discuss the

denial of their right to vote through felon

disenfranchisement laws. We will use this

opportunity to build relationships with

other nations, such as South Africa, where

there are no such impingements on voting

rights. Finally, we will petition the UN

Special Rappateur on race discrimination

and other independent experts to visit the

United States and examine the laws’ impact

on the ability of persons of color, students,

low-income individuals, and the elderly to

exercise their voting rights without undue

burdens.

Educating voters on the new requirements and rules for voter registration and voting

The effect of voting restrictions can be

minimized if affected communities are

educated about the new voting

requirements and if the NAACP and other

allies organize to ensure voters have

assistance in overcoming the various

obstacles to meeting new requirements.

For instance, to secure photo ID needed to

vote and in some states to register, some

people may first have to obtain and submit

copies of birth certificates and other official

documents. For many, this will require

significant advance preparation as the

records may not be readily available and

the issuing agencies may be overwhelmed

with requests. There will also be substantial

investment in communications, working

with African American radio and other

media outlets, disseminating information

through mobile applications that appeal to

a younger voting population, use of

electronic town halls and other such

devices. Lastly, we will position our units to

engage in strategic advocacy at the

administrative level, forcing election

officials in those states that have adopted

photo ID requirements and placed other

burdens on voting to use their offices to

reduce the harm caused by these new rules.

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Then & Now

part 2

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In 2011, we witnessed the most aggressive

attack on voting rights in more than a

century, with more than thirty states

introducing legislation intended to restrict

access to the franchise. As a result of this

attack the voting rights of formerly

incarcerated individuals, persons of color,

college students and the elderly were

sharply curtailed.

The genesis of these voter suppression

efforts however, date back nearly 150 years

to the time when black men began

sweeping political office (after ratification

of the 15th Amendment). In response to

that surge, the nation began adopting voter

suppression measures that appeared

neutral on their face but which were

designed to disenfranchise black voters.

These measures included: 1) Barriers to

Successful Voter Registration; 2) Barriers to

Voting (such as poll taxes), and 3) Measures

to Prevent People with Felony Convictions

from Voting. Today, in response to yet

another first – the election of the nation’s

first black President – coupled with U.S.

Census numbers indicating minorities are

rapidly becoming the majority, the country

is taking a similar approach.

Approaches are being reintroduced under

different guises in an effort to thwart

participation by a broad range of voters

including: racial and ethnic minorities,

women, students, people of limited and

low-income, members of the disability

community, transgendered individuals,

homeless voters, and senior citizens.

Successful Legislative Attacks in 2011

included:

Photo ID requirements (KS, SC, TN, TX, WI, RI, AL)

Proof of citizenship for registration (KS, TN, AL, GA)

Reduction in early and absentee voting (FL, GA, OH, TN, WV)

Permanent disenfranchisement of citizens with felony convictions leaving only an individual appeal process (FL, IA)

Disqualification of registration based on movement within the state (FL, WI)

Severe penalties for registration irregularities (FL)

In part 2, we examine the key retrogressive

measures from 2011 and 2012 more closely

before turning our attention to part 3,

where we delve into the affirmative steps

we can take to respond to existing attacks

and future attacks.

_________________________________

part 2: Then & Now

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SUMMARY: 2011 VOTER SUPPRESSION TACTICS

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2011 VOTER SUPPRESSION FACTS FELONY CONVICTIONS 2011

In 2011, Florida and Iowa reinstated policies that strip people convicted of a felony of their voting rights for life – even when a person is no longer incarcerated.6 Florida also now requires people to wait 5 to 7 years after release before applying to restore their rights.

VOTER REGISTRATION BARRIERS 2011

Restrictions on Voter Registration Drives: Nearly 9 million citizens reported registering at a “registration booth” in 2008. Additionally, over 9 million registered at a “school, hospital, [or] campus,” suggesting the presence of a voter registration drive.7

Proof of Citizenship: More than 13 million voting-age citizens lack ready access to proof of citizenship documents. Many women lack documents bearing their current legal last name.8 Additionally, most people do not carry citizenship documents with them; meaning, they will not be able to register through a community-based registration drive. VOTING BARRIERS 2011

Mandatory Photo ID: More than 21 million voting-eligible citizens are estimated to lack photo ID suitable for voting purposes, including 6 million senior citizens.9 In states where photo ID is mandatory, those without it will have to cast a provisional ballot.

o 5 Million. The number of voters who stand to be disenfranchised in 2012 as a result of voter photo ID measures passed in 2011.10

o Thirty-four. The number of states that considered mandatory photo ID requirements. Twenty sought to adopt new voter ID requirements altogether.11

o Eight States. In 2011, AL, KS, MS, RI, SC, TN, TX & WI passed mandatory voter photo ID requirements.12

o Zero. The number of Provisional Ballots expected to be counted in voter photo ID states if a voter does not have, or forgets to bring their ID to the polls and also fails to submit a copy of their photo ID before the state’s deadline.

Limiting or Eliminating Early Voting: In 2008, 33.2% and 23.6% of Floridians who voted on the Sunday before Election Day were black and Latino respectively; in North Carolina, nearly one-third of voters during the first week of early voting were African American.13

6 NAACP and NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., Defending Democracy: Confronting Modern Day

Barriers to Voting Rights in America (December 2011). 7 2008 Current Population Survey (United States Census Bureau).

8 Brennan Center for Justice at New York School of Law, Citizens without Proof (November 2006).

9 Id.

10 Brennan Center for Justice at New York School of Law, Voting Changes in 2012.

11 National Conference of State Legislatures available at: http://www.ncsl.org/legislatures-

elections/elections/voter-id-2012-legislation.aspx (last visited 3.11.12). 12

States in bold type are subject to Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act which freezes proposed election law changes until the state establishes they do not deny or abridge the right to vote based on race, color, or membership in a language minority group. 13

Brennan Center, Citizens without Proof and Voting Law Changes in 2012 & The Early Voting Information Center, Demographic Breakdowns of North Carolina Early Voting.

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SUMMARY: 2012 VOTER SUPPRESSION TACTICS Overall, 34 states introduced a form of retrogressive voting-related measures in 2011. The trend, however, continued in 2012. Less than three months into 2012, 32 states had introduced voter suppression measures and in May North Carolina started attempts to revive a previously vetoed voter suppression bill. Overall, the 2012 tactics included all measures appearing in 2011 and additional measures not previously seen. Below we examine the additional voter suppression measures used to attack voting rights in 2012:

LOCAL RESOLUTIONS: These measures are adopted by local decision-makers (like County Commissioners) & are used to call (very publically) on state legislatures to adopt a particular voter suppression measure. They do not have the force of law but rather, are used to confuse voters as to whether local requirements have changed.

REPLACEMENT BILLS: These bills have emerged in response to successful efforts to stop newly passed voter suppression legislation through referendum. First, legislatures try to revoke omnibus suppression measures they have already passed, then they try to push through a series of smaller bills, which also suppress.

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS: Also known as 'Ballot Measures,' this approach tries to make voter suppression permanent by putting it in the state constitution. If successful, the suppressive measure will become part of the fabric of the state's democratic processes (similar to felony disenfranchisement).

INCREASED USE OF PROVISIONAL BALLOTS COUPLED WITH LESS TRANSPARENCY : Sometimes, buried within election law changes are small amendments expanding the circumstances in which voters must cast a Provisional Ballot coupled with decreased opportunity to observe the ballot-counting process.

LIMITS ON PROVIDING ASSISTANCE AT THE POLLS: These measures criminalize individuals for helping too many people at the polls. Emerging limits prevent volunteers from assisting more than 2 voters.

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2012 VOTER SUPPRESSION FACTS

LOCAL RESOLUTIONS.

Newly emerging in the south; in particular, in North Carolina.

While they do not have the force of law (i.e. election law can rarely be changed at the local level), they are used to saturate the public conversation (like local media) with the idea that voting-related requirements have changed.

In turn, mass confusion is a tried and true voter suppression tactic. REPLACEMENT BILLS.

Particularly ripe for action in states where referendum is possible.

A referendum is a proposal placed on the ballot by the citizens of the state (after petition) for the purpose of repealing a previously enacted law.

Twenty-four states offer the referendum option: AK, AR, AZ, CA, CO, ID, KY, MA, MD, ME, MI, MO, MT, ND, NE, NM, NV, OH, OK, OR, SD, UT, WA and WY.14

To prevent the people from voting a new law up or down, some legislators try to revoke their own law and then replace it with a series of smaller bills that have the same cumulative effect.

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS.

Also known as Ballot Measures, they seek to imbed voter suppression into the fabric of local democratic processes through constitutional changes.

They are particularly dangerous because, if successful, they allow suppressive measures to remain indefinitely. Felony disenfranchisement for instance, was added to Virginia’s constitution in 1902 and remains there today.

Several states have recently pursued constitutional amendments including MS, MN, and MO.

INCREASED USE OF PROVISIONAL BALLOTS COUPLED WITH LESS TRANSPARENCY.

Provisional Ballots were meant to be a failsafe measure to allow people whose names did not appear on the rolls to cast a ballot on the spot, have their voting eligibility confirmed later and once confirmed, have their ballot counted.

Today, election law changes require people whose name is on the rolls to cast a Provisional Ballot (for instance, if they lack photo ID). These ballots will not be counted if the voter does not take steps to ensure the ballot.

In turn, this is being coupled with other changes limiting the public’s ability to be present during the Provisional Ballot counting process.

LIMITS ON PROVIDING ASSISTANCE AT THE POLLS.

These measures severely limit voters’ ability to choose who will help them at the polls as they restrict individuals’ ability to provide assistance.

MS and VA for instance, have pursued this approach already.

14

Initiative & Referendum Institute, University of Southern California School of Law.

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Take Action!

part 3

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The national attack on voting rights is

particularly hostile to minority voters. It is

our responsibility therefore to speak loudly

and boldly on what is taking place so that

together we can protect the gains we have

achieved and ensure similar voting

opportunities for future generations. This is

the case even if you can personally comply

with the requirements of new restrictive

measures.

The NAACP will work to promote a model of

what American democracy should be at the

beginning of the 21st century by advocating

for unfettered access to the ballot box and

amplification of the voice of citizens within

the body politic. We will promote laws that

would create universal voter registration

that moves with the citizen from county to

county, and from state to state. We will

advocate for early voting and weekend

voting to make it easier for working class

persons to vote and help decide who are

their political representations and elected

leaders. We will push for the use of the

national popular vote – which represents

the voices of people of color beyond the

scope of the electoral college – in

determining the winner of presidential

elections. We will also begin a public

campaign about making voting an actual

constitutional right, as recognized in the

constitutions of some states but not in the

national charter.

In pursuing this goal, we will be on the

offensive and not merely seeking to be

defensive. We will be laying claim to a

more robust view of American democracy

that will counter efforts to repress the vote

and have greater appeal to the public. This

will include deliberate focus on 2013 as in

addition to addressing the 2012 attacks we

will also prepare for the inevitable activity

we see coming down the pike and take

proactive steps to build a firm, unbreakable,

and unfettered bridge directing current and

future voters directly to the ballot box.

The information in this section will help put

you ahead of the voter suppression curve so

that when you couple your emerging

expertise on voter suppression measures

with these action steps and the resources in

this toolkit, you will be able to design an

effective voting rights campaign in which

you are not only reactive to existing attacks

but also proactive in preventing them.

_________________________________________________

part 3: Take Action!

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MAKE THE CONFLICT VISIBLE. Keep the attack on voting rights on everybody’s radar!

ENGAGE OTHER ORGANIZATIONS. Unfettered access to the ballot box is common ground for membership

organizations – including those not considered ‘traditional’ voting rights groups –

who want to be sure members can vote on their issues. Some suggested pairings

include:

o Youth-centered service providers (particularly those serving youth turning 18), as restrictions could prevent their constituents from registering;

o Membership organizations who regularly activate their membership around issues that matter to them such as environmental justice groups, labor/unions, women’s health and reproductive rights organizations, and agencies providing re-entry services to the formerly incarcerated.

o Groups serving college students (as college IDs can be explicitly removed from the list of acceptable ID or do not meet the new photo ID standards);

o Groups serving the disability community, senior citizens, homeless, or temporarily displaced individuals (consider the foreclosure crisis);

o Groups serving the transgender community (as the gender marker on the official documents of transgender voters may not match their current gender identity thereby making it difficult – if not impossible – to obtain a photo ID for instance, or to produce acceptable proof of citizenship documents).

JOIN COALITIONS.

Participate in coalitions or working groups that are prepared to speak frankly to the

true nature of election law changes and challenge voter suppression measures

vigorously.

IMPACT THE PUBLIC CONVERSATION.

Speak publically about the suppressive nature of the election law changes taking

place in your state. Be strategic and frank. Provide facts! Below are some suggestions

for how to do this:

o Letters to the Editor & Opinion Pieces. Respond to negative articles with your own Letters to the Editor and address compelling voter suppression issues with opinion pieces (see part 4 for sample).

o Open Letters. Use open letters to speak publically, frankly, and strategically to your elected officials and other decision makers. These

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letters are good mechanisms for coalescing the perspective of numerous groups around an issue.

o Use local Media (newspapers and radio). The attack on voting rights is

local. Therefore, while national media coverage of what is taking place in your state is great, do not overlook local media opportunities including minority and ethnic outlets as they can be very effective in impacting local audiences. Additionally, an informed media can be a powerful ally.

o Statewide Call-in Days. Express yourself directly to elected officials! The

State Conference can designate a day for members and the public to make mass phone calls to decision-makers. Provide talking points to members in advance so that everyone can convey the same or similar message.

o Proactive Meetings. Don’t wait until your state is under attack to meet

with your legislators to emphasize the importance of ensuring unfettered access for all eligible voters. At those meetings, give your legislators a packet of fact sheets on the true impact of voter suppression measures (fact sheets can be found in part 4).

ESTABLISH THE RECORD. Ensure your local decision-makers have the clearest and strongest facts regarding

the retrogressive impact of proposed election law changes. Coordinate with your State Conference, Legislative and Political Action Chair, and the Washington Bureau to provide public testimony at every opportunity, regarding the local impact of the national attack on voting rights.

UPDATE THE COUNTRY.

Provide the Voting Rights Initiative team with timely updates on what is happening locally. This will facilitate our collective ability to lift local struggles, efforts, and victories up nationally.

New Media: Incorporate New Media – such as Facebook and Twitter – into your advocacy efforts. These communication options can share information across your state, the country, and the world in seconds. For this reason they go hand-in-hand with the call to ‘make the conflict visible.’

o You can link to your press releases or press statements on your Facebook page.

o State Conferences and branches can connect-up anything they say on an issue by adding a Twitter hashtag to the end of every Twitter post (known as a ‘tweet’). The hashtag remains the same throughout the effort. A hashtag for an effort opposing voter suppression measures could be: #LetMeVote or #FreeMyVote.

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ENGAGE IN VOTER EDUCATION. An informed electorate is more likely to support your local efforts and vote.

BRING VOTING RIGHTS TO THE FOREFRONT. Incorporate Voting Rights workshops, roundtables, town halls, or dialogues

into your public outreach, community-empowerment, and civic engagement efforts.

Use these opportunities to expose the national attack on voting rights and to

let members and the public know how the NAACP is responding. We must make the conflict visible!

HELP VOTERS PREPARE.

Where voter suppression measures have passed, educate voters on the new rules

even if the changes are not yet in effect. It is better to help people get beyond the

obstructions than to leave them behind the barriers.

Community Clinics: Community-based clinics are a good way to both provide education materials on recent election law changes and assess voters’ needs – such as by identifying people who do not have documents to meet the new requirements and developing strategies to facilitate their ability to obtain those documents.

Meet Voters Where They Are: We can’t always get voters and voting-eligible people to come to us. Consider distributing Know Your Rights information – such as the one-page fact sheets and handouts in Part 4 – to churches (to be used as bulletin inserts) and local businesses such as beauty salons and barbershops.

Use the campaign-builder resources in Part 4 to help you plan a strong voter education or voter preparation campaign. You may need to start planning now to help voters get beyond any new barriers.

PRESS AHEAD IN 2012. Voter suppression anywhere is a threat to voters everywhere.

KNOW THE FACTS. By March 2012, 32 states had taken up voter suppression measures (in 2011,

it was 34).15 By far, most of the measures involved photo ID but that was not the case in every state.

15

National Conference of State Legislatures available at: http://www.ncsl.org/legislatures-elections/elections/voter-id-2012-legislation.aspx (last visited 3.11.12).

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Use the one-page fact sheets in part 4 Section A to help build your base of facts.

COLLECT DATA.

The attack is local. The fight must be local. The victories will be local. Whether or not your state is subject to a suppressive measure, the stories of real people who are (or will be) negatively impacted are important.

If your state has a retrogressive measure already, consider surveying members or the public regarding their ability to comply.

If your state has not yet passed such a measure but has tried before, you too

can conduct a survey to expose the impact should retrogressive legislation return.

COLLECT STORIES.

Local elections and primary elections as much as general elections are great

opportunities to collect voters’ experiences. Create a database to store the

information.

Community Hearings. Coordinate a community hearing (or various hearings in a variety of locations) soon after voting has taken place in order to collect voters’ stories and experiences at the polls.

Field Hearings. If you have a sense voters in your state experienced or will

experience barriers to voting, coordinate with the Washington Bureau to host a field hearing through which stories can also be collected.

PREPARE FOR 2013. And beyond.

STAY ACTIVE. While the most active voter registration efforts may end in 2012, the attack

on voting rights will surely not. What we are experiencing today is not organic. Rather, it is well-planned, strategic, and coordinated. For this reason, your voter registration, education, and engagement efforts should remain well-planned, strategic and coordinated into 2013.

Get to know what races are taking place in 2013 (e.g. gubernatorial, state legislature, municipal, school or county board).

Continue engaging the public on the importance of participation in the ‘off years’ – after all, it was the power shifts that took place in 2010 that opened the door to the current attack on voting rights.

28

Take some time to examine who among your elected officials (at all levels) supported or opposed voter suppression measures as it is important to have a firm understanding of everyone’s position.

KEEP AN EYE (AND AN EAR) OUT.

Planning – including deliberate efforts to saturate the public conversation with

tailored messaging – often takes place during the ‘off years.’

Keep any eye out for repetitive themes about problems with our election system (e.g. ‘mass voter fraud’) in local media messages as they will be an indicator of what is coming down the pike.

o The Pattern: Always missing from assertions that our elections are plagued with problems, is evidence of mass fraud. Always ask you’re your decision-makers for their voter fraud facts!

o A Better Way: While the NAACP supports integrity measures, the absence of mass voter fraud means the nation has plenty of time to design thoughtful measures that strengthen the integrity of our elections without having to resort to drastic measures that push wholly eligible voters into the margins of democracy.

Miner’s Canary: One indicator of a looming attack on voting rights is anti-

immigrant legislation at the local or state level as voter suppression proponents often claim non-citizens are voting (however, there is no evidence of mass voter fraud). In turn, they use this false claim as cover for passing election law changes that will disenfranchise people who are wholly voting-eligible. States that have adopted both anti-immigrant positions and voter suppression measures include: AZ, GA, AL, PA, and SC.

DEVELOP & IMPLEMENT A PLAN.

Get to know what races are taking place in 2013 (e.g. gubernatorial, state legislature, or municipal).

Take some time to examine who among your elected officials (at all levels) supported or opposed voter suppression measures in previous years as it is important to have a firm understanding of everyone’s position.

Coordinate with the Voting Rights Initiative team and the Washington Bureau to develop a strategy for expanding the electorate to include all eligible voters, but which also takes into consideration state activity and the elects’ perspective on voting rights and voter access.

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ACTION RESOURCES

part 4

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To help weave a national voting rights movement, this section contains resources to help you

plan and implement a successful voting rights/anti-voter suppression campaign. Feel free to

use these resources as they are or as the basis for creating resources that are more closely

tailored to your local needs.

SECTION A: one-page fact sheets/handouts

Fast Facts: Mass Voter Fraud

Fast Facts: Felony Disenfranchisement

Fast Facts: Voter Participation in the 2008 Presidential Election

Tell it Like it Is: Voter Photo ID

Tell it Like it Is: Proof of Citizenship

Tell it Like it Is: Restrictions on Voter Registration & Early Voting

Tell it Like it Is: Constitutional Amendments

Tell it Like it Is: Limits on Providing Assistance at the Polls

Community Bulletin (sample flyer)

SECTION B: public speaking resources Talking Points

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

SECTION C: media resources Sample Press Release

Tips for Writing a Letter to the Editor

Tips for Writing an Op-ed

Tips for Using New Media

Section D: Washington Bureau resources Voter Empowerment Act Democracy Restoration Act Voting Rights for Residents of the District of Columbia Voter Access Protection Act

Section E: This is My Vote information

Section F: campaign-builder resources Engaging Allies

Basic Prepare Yourself Template

Design & Implement a Successful Voting Rights Initiative

part 4: Action Resources

31

SECTION A:

One-page Fact Sheets & Handouts

32

Since voter participation increased after the 2000 election debacle in Florida, claims that U.S.

elections are plagued by voter fraud have bubbled to the surface with increased frequency.

Evidence of mass voter fraud however, has not kept pace.

24 People. A 2005 U.S. Senate Republican Policy Committee report asserted the vast majority of American votes are being diluted and cancelled out by mass voter fraud. The voter fraud data produced by Attorney General John Ashcroft’s 2002 “Ballot Access and Voting Integrity Initiative” between 2002 and 2005 however, established only 24 people plead guilty to casting a ballot unlawfully in a federal election – an average of 8 people per year.16

30 People. The Ashcroft initiative also uncovered 30 people who had engaged in vote-buying schemes. Most of these people however, were not ordinary voters. Rather, they were candidates for public office, elected officials, and party or elections officials which means that alleged ‘integrity’ measures – such as voter photo ID – would not have prevented the problem.

953 = Zero. Recently, South Carolina officials claimed at least 953 deceased people had voted. The South Carolina Election Commission examined more than 200 cases related to the 2010 election only to find ¼ of the cases were not cases at all but rather bad data-matching (which identified the wrong person as having voted) and more than 50% of the alleged cases were the result of human error (e.g. poll workers marking the wrong person’s name in the poll book).17

117 = 19…Maybe. The New Mexico Secretary of State claimed to have identified 117 ineligible registrants in her state. Subsequently, she refined her statement to note that only 19 non-citizens had voted. However, it was also the case that many of those 19 were believed to have naturalized before casting their ballot.

High Price, Low Benefit. Casting a ballot unlawfully comes with fines and imprisonment (up to 5 years in jail and $10,000 for those who cast a ballot unlawfully in a federal election) – a very steep price to pay for the chance to cast a solitary ballot among the more than 400 million votes cast in general elections since the year 2000.18

0.000002%. In person voter fraud (which is the sort of fraud photo ID would prevent) occurs at a rate of 0.000002%, which means you are more likely to be struck by lightning than to have someone try to impersonate you at the polls.19

www.thisismyvote.org 16

Lorraine C. Minnite, PhD, Project Vote, The Politics of Voter Fraud. 17

South Carolina Election Commission, report to Attorney General Alan Wilson (February 22, 2012). 18

NAACP and NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc., Defending Democracy: Confronting Modern Barriers to Voting Rights in America. 19

Id.

FAST FACTS:

Mass Voter Fraud

33

Strengthened during the Jim Crow era, felony disenfranchisement grew in the late

1890s in direct response to the political participation of black men after passage of

the 15th Amendment. Today, all but two states continue using felony

disenfranchisement in one form or another (e.g. some states take voting rights from

those on probation or parole, others only from those on parole). Four states however

– Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, and Virginia – disenfranchise people for life.20

Florida: Over 1.5 million Floridians are disenfranchised; an estimated 1.3

million have completed all the terms of their sentence. In 2007, the governor

issued an Executive Order that moved as many as 100,000 people onto the rolls

before the 2008 Presidential election. The sitting governor repealed the order.

Florida’s disenfranchisement scheme is in the state constitution.

Kentucky: An estimated 243,842 people are disenfranchised; approximately 74%

have completed all the terms of their sentence. The state disenfranchises nearly

1 in 5 African Americans. Kentucky’s disenfranchisement scheme is in the state

constitution.

Iowa: More than 120,000 individuals are estimated to be disenfranchised.

Approximately 34% are African American. In 2005 the governor issued an

Executive Order restoring voting rights to approximately 80,000 people. The

sitting governor rescinded the order. Iowa’s disenfranchisement scheme is in the

state constitution.

Virginia: More than 450,000 individuals are disenfranchised; an estimated 78%

have completed all the terms of their sentence. Over 20 percent are African

American; Virginia disenfranchises nearly 1 in every 5 African Americans.

Virginia’s disenfranchisement scheme is in the state constitution.

www.thisismyvote.org

20

For online resources on felony disenfranchisement see: The Sentencing Project at: http://www.sentencingproject.org/template/index.cfm.

On any given day more than 2 million people are behind bars;

more than 60 percent are racial or ethnic minorities.

An estimated 1 in 8 African American men in their 20s are

incarcerated on any given day.

Nationally, felony disenfranchisement pushes more than 5.8

million citizens into the margins of democracy even when no

longer incarcerated. More than 2 million are African American.

FAST FACTS:

FELONY DISENFRANCHISEMENT

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Arguably, the Presidential Election of 2008 bore witness to

reemergence of the Fusion politics of the 1890s as a diverse

sector of voters – across lines of race, gender, age, socio-

economic status, region of residence, and political party –

coalesced around the same candidate in the hope of

protecting voting rights and expanding labor and education

rights. However, they also moved in the name of equalizing

racial, ethnic, social, and economic disparities as well as in

pursuit of health, gender, and immigrant justice. Today,

while not perfect participation as more than 60 million

voting-eligible people went unregistered, participation in

the 2008 Presidential Election is nevertheless recognized as

the “most diverse in U.S. history.”21

Minority Voters. Participation among African American voters was 15.1% higher than in 2004 and for Latinos, 28.4% higher.22 Overall however, 131 million people voted (64% of voting-eligible people) of which 5 million were new voters; of these, nearly 2 million were Black, 2 million Latino, and 600,000 were Asian.23

Women and College-aged Voters. At 68.8%, African American women had the highest voter turnout rate, while at 49% college-aged voters (18 to 24) were the only age group with a statistically significant increase in participation (amounting to more than 15 million voters).24

Region. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, southern states had the highest voter participation rates in the country. In particular, Mississippi, Georgia, North Carolina, Louisiana, Virginia, and Washington DC.25

Unregistered. Today an estimated 60 million eligible voters remain unregistered (amounting to approximately 29% of the voting-eligible population) of which nearly 55 million are voting-eligible minorities.26 Conversely, 70% of all voting-eligible black citizens are registered, 60% of Latinos, and 55% of Asians.27

www.thisismyvote.org

21

Defending Democracy at 7 (citing to Mark Hugo Lopez & Paul Taylor, Pew Research Center, Dissecting the 2008 Electorate: Most Diverse in U.S. History (2009)). 22

Id. 23

Id. at 2. 24

Id. See also: Voting and Registration in the Election of November 2008 at 4, Table 2, U.S. Census Bureau (May 2010). 25

Id. at 7. 26

Id. at 2 (Table 1) & at 4 (Table 2). 27

Id. at 2 (Table 1).

FAST FACTS:

PARTICIPATION IN THE 2008 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

As reported in the

NAACP’s Defending

Democracy: Confronting

Modern Barriers to

Voting Rights in America,

the 2008 voter turnout

nearly eliminated the

historical gap in turnout

between eligible white

voters and their African

American counterparts.

35

What they’re saying. Those supporting voter photo ID as a reasonable Election Day

requirement assert it is needed in order to combat voter fraud. They commonly couple that

argument with the following rhetoric: (1) Everybody has an ID because you need it to open a

bank account, drive, to pay by credit card, and to board a plane; and (2) A photo ID is easy to

get in particular, because some states will offer it for free.

What they’re not saying. First, the facts show the nation is not plagued by voter fraud making

voter photo ID unnecessary. Second, studies show many Americans do not have a photo ID that

would qualify them as voting-eligible. Moreover, the rhetoric behind voter ID subjugates the

critical importance of voting to non-essential acts (e.g. shopping by credit card or flying). While

great conveniences, unlike voting not one of those acts is the cornerstone of democracy.

In the millions. More than 21 million voting-age citizens do not have a photo ID that would meet the requirements of many photo ID measures (e.g. a government-issued photo ID that has an expiration date and is unexpired). This number includes many college students whose only ID may be their school ID and some 6 million senior citizens, for instance.28

Far-reaching Impact. An analysis of voter photo ID laws in 14 states established they alone will disenfranchise 5 million otherwise eligible voters. Interestingly, in 2008 there were 5 million new voters across the country: 2 million were African American, 2 million Latino, and nearly 1 million Asian.29 These 14 states will wipe out those gains.

Barriers. A national survey of service providers to the homeless (and temporarily displaced)

found nearly 11 percent of individuals served did not have photo ID. Economic class, ability to secure housing, and the foreclosure crisis however, should not be used as measures for determining which citizens should be able to cast a ballot.

The Unbanked. A 2009 survey by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation showed an

estimated 17 million adults are unbanked including 21.7 percent of Black households, 19.3% of Latino households, and 15.6% of American Indian/Alaskans.30

Free isn’t Really Free. “Free” photo voter IDs are not really free for at least two reasons: (1)

taxpayers commonly foot the bill (Indiana spent over $10 million between 2007 and 2010); and (2) to get an ID, you may have to provide a proof of identity document first- such as a certified copy of your birth certificate or a U.S. passport. In turn, if you do not have these documents you must expend money to get them. For this reason, the ‘free’ voter ID is not free at all but rather, a poll tax.

www.thisismyvote.org

28

Brennan Center for Justice at New York School of Law, Citizens without Proof (November 2006). 29

U.S. Census Bureau, Voting and Registration in the Election of November 2008 (May 2010). 30

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households (Dec. 2009).

TELL IT LIKE IT IS:

VOTER PHOTO ID

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What they’re saying. The proponents of proof of citizenship requirements claim it is necessary

to require people to establish their citizenship at the time they register because only United

States citizens should be voting. Moreover, they claim proof of citizenship requirements will

prevent voter fraud.

What they’re not saying. While it is true that only U.S. citizens are entitled to become

registered voters, what the proponents of these measures fail to state is that there is scant

evidence indicating non-citizens are registering to vote and even less evidence showing they are

casting a ballot. Additionally, they are also exceedingly silent on the fact that very few

documents establish citizenship in and of themselves. Moreover, those that do – such as a birth

certificate, U.S. passport, or a Naturalization Certificate – are not free and obtaining a copy can

be cost prohibitive for many voters. Despite the silence, the true impact of proof of citizenship

measures is clear:

A national survey established more than 13 million voting-age citizens do

not have ready access to proof of citizenship documents; in particular

high numbers of women do not have access to these or other proof of

identity documents bearing their current legal last name (such as a birth

certificate or passport, for instance).31 This problem is unique to women

because they may take on their spouse’s last name when they get

married or may revert to using their maiden name after dissolution of

marriage.

Not surprisingly, a 2010 report by the United States Census Bureau showed women had a very

high turnout rate in the 2008 election.32 Moreover, a 2009 report by the Pew Research Center

showed that in 2008, African American women had the highest turnout rate in the nation.33

Additionally, data shows people of color are twice as likely to register to

vote through community-based voter registration drives.34 However, it is

also the case that few people – if any – carry proof of citizenship

documents with them in public such as when they go to the grocery store,

church, or when walking from point A to point B.

www.thisismyvote.org 31

Brennan Center for Justice, Citizens without Proof at 3 (November 2006). 32

U.S. Census Bureau, Voting and Registration in the Election of November 2008 (May 2010). 33

Mark Hugo Lopez and Paul Taylor, Dissecting the 2008 Electorate: Most Diverse in U.S. History, Pew Research Center (2009). See also: NAACP and NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc., Defending Democracy: Confronting Modern Day Barriers to Voting Rights in America (December 2011). 34

Id. at 15.

TELL IT LIKE IT IS:

PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP

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What they’re saying. The proponents of measures that impose cumbersome registration rules

and fines on organizations and individuals seeking to facilitate mass voter registration claim

voter registration processes must be tightened because non-qualifying people (such as cartoon

characters) and in some instances pets, are registering to vote. Those who support restrictions

on early voting opportunities (such as narrowing the hours of early voting) and in some

instances eliminating voting on the Sunday before Election Day altogether, claim early voting is

too costly to the state.

What they’re not saying. Those who support placing barriers on the public’s ability to register

and vote with convenience fail to mention who makes most use of these mechanisms:

Between 2000 and 2008 voter registration groups registered tens of millions voters – including nearly 9 million in 2008 alone.35 Moreover, according to the U.S. census bureau there were 5 million new voters in 2008: 1 million African American, 1 million Latino, and nearly 1 million Asian.36

People of color are more likely than white voters, to register through community-based voter registration drives.

In 2004, 7.4% of white voters registered through drives compared to 12.7% and 12.9% of African Americans and Latinos respectively;

In 2008, the percentages were 5.0%, 11.0%, and 9.6% respectively;

In 2010, 6% of white voters registered through drives, 12% of African Americans and 14% of Latinos.37

People of color represent a high percentage of those who cast ballots early. In

Florida, 33.2 % and 23.6% of those who voted on the Sunday before Election Day were African American and Latino, respectively, in 2008. While in North Carolina, in the first week of early voting alone 674,755 voters cast ballots of which 214,158 were black.38

www.thisismyvote.org

35

NAACP and NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc., Defending Democracy: Confronting Modern Day Barriers to Voting Rights in America at 15 (December 2011). 36

U.S. Census Bureau, Voting and Registration in the Election of November 2008 (May 2010). 37

Id. 38

Brenan Center for Justice at New York School of Law, Voting Law Changes in 2012 (October, 2011) and The Early Voting Information Center, Demographic Breakdowns of North Carolina Early Voting (October, 2008).

TELL IT LIKE IT IS:

RESTRICTIONS ON VOTER REGISTRATION & EARLY VOTING

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What they’re saying. The supporters of efforts to amend state Constitutions so as to

incorporate language giving the legislature the authority to mandate strict voter registration

and/or voter participation measures commonly claim the people of the state want permanent

measures that can safeguard the outcome of our elections.

What they’re not saying. What they fail to mention however, is that while the integrity of our

elections is not presently at risk the outcome of our elections will surely come into question

when many millions of otherwise voting-eligible people are unable to cast a ballot as a result of

insurmountable barriers created by voter suppression measures. In short, the rush to

institutionalize voter suppression measures is not about election integrity but rather, about

participation elitism.

What is more, in many instances these amendments do not necessarily give every legislature

the authority to weigh in on voter integrity measures (such as future elected leaders) but

rather, give the existing legislature the right to institutionalize voter suppression measures.

Moreover, many of these constitutional amendments seek to institutionalize photo ID in

particular, even though evidence shows that nationally, mandatory photo ID requirements will

disenfranchise more than 21 million otherwise voting-eligible people.

Voter suppression measures that get incorporated into state constitutions can be exceedingly difficult to remove.

Felony disenfranchisement for instance, was added to Virginia’s constitution in 1902 and remains there today.

These constitutional amendments (e.g. Ballot Measures) sometimes appear under names that do not at all reflect the true and extensive impact of the measure.

In 2012, for instance, Missouri attempted to place a constitutional amendment institutionalizing photo ID on the ballot called the Voter Protection Act.

Because constitutional amendments can outlive us all, they are one of the surest

methods for slowing participation by up-and-coming youth of color and in fact, for shutting future generations of voters out of the ballot box altogether.

This is especially significant now. In 2012 alone it is estimated more African American youth will turn 18 than in any time period in recent memory. Additionally, the U.S. born children of immigrants – which the U.S. Census shows is a growing population – are voting-eligible too.

www.thisismyvote.org

TELL IT LIKE IT IS:

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS

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What they’re saying. Under the guise of trying to prevent voter fraud and coercion of voters, some states have moved to limit how many voters any one person can assist at the polls. What they’re not saying. Many community-based organizations have been very successful at

moving large groups of voters from a central location to the polls (such as from churches,

assisted living facilities, senior centers, or community centers). These approaches have served

to facilitate maximum participation in many communities.

Limiting how many voters any one person can help will have a chilling effect on coordinated efforts to move large groups of voters to the polls at once, as under this particular voter suppression measure, such grouping would require multiple assistance-providers rather than simply one.

Church-based efforts to move voters to the polls in mass have been very successful (e.g. Souls to the Polls). In particular, these efforts have been very successful in facilitating voter participation among minority voters. Senior voters, members of the disability community, persons with limited reading ability, and others who may require assistance at the polls are also likely to be part of these efforts.

With people living longer, more and more seniors are moving into assisted or community living facilities. In turn, these voters may require assistance at the polls and should be able to freely select the person who will assist them (versus being obligated to receive assistance from an election official).

Nationally, an estimated 1.2 million people live in domiciliary care, congregate housing, residential care or assisted living facilities.39

Because these measures are being written into the state’s election code, a violation is

examined according to the parameters set forth in the code. In turn, in many states violations of election laws are criminal offenses.

www.thisismyvote.org

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See: National Caregivers Library at: http://www.caregiverslibrary.org/caregivers-resources/grp-care-facilities/hsgrp-assisted-living-facilities/the-basics-of-assisted-living-article.aspx.

TELL IT LIKE IT IS:

LIMITS ON PROVIDING ASSISTANCE AT THE POLLS

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ATTACKING VOTING RIGHTS IS THE GATEWAY TO ATTACKING OTHER

IMPORTANT RIGHTS – LIKE THE RIGHT TO ORGANIZE, WORKERS’ RIGHTS,

REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS, IMMIGRANT RIGHTS, & EDUCATION RIGHTS.

There’s mass voter fraud. False. Two administrations have investigated it as has the Republican party, and it remains unsubstantiated.

Immigrants are registering to vote. Not likely. For immigration purposes, falsely asserting citizenship can prevent one from adjusting status in the future (e.g. obtaining legal permanent residency or naturalizing).

Immigrants are voting and others are voting twice. Even less likely. Casting an ineligible ballot comes with steep repercussions and very few benefits in particular, because it would take mass coordination to change the outcome of a federal election through individually cast ballots. The penalty for engaging in voter fraud includes imprisonment and a $10,000 fine.

Dead people are voting. Nope. This is an age-old claim that has been unsubstantiated for equally as long. In South Carolina for instance, the Attorney General recently asserted deceased people were casting ballots in his state and therefore, it needed a voter photo ID law. Turns out however, the DMV mistakenly identified some voters as deceased and poll workers sometimes marked the wrong person as voting in the poll book.

THE TRUTH: The recent surge of election law changes are voter suppression measures that

mean to disenfranchise otherwise eligible voters.

Voter ID: Not everyone has one. In fact, more than 21 million voting-eligible people don’t (including 6 million senior citizens).

5 Million Voters in 14 States: The number of otherwise eligible voters who stand to be disenfranchised by new voter photo ID measures.

Proof of Citizenship: More than 13 million voting-eligible people don’t have documents that establish their citizenship (like a U.S. passport which costs more than $200) and most women lack a proof of identity document bearing their current legal name.

Restrictions on Voter Registration Drives: More minorities register through community-based voter registration drives than white voters.

Eliminating Early Voting: Early voting – especially on the Sunday before Election Day – has proven very popular among minority voters, especially in states like Florida and North Carolina.

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SECTION B:

Public Speaking Resources

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TALKING POINTS: STOPPING VOTER SUPPRESSION

The country is in the midst of the most aggressive attack on voting rights since the odious Jim Crow era. In 2011, 34 states introduced voter suppression legislation. While only 14 succeeded, in 2012, 32 states were at it again with Pennsylvania passing a voter ID law that, along with South Carolina’s voter photo ID law, is slated to take effect in 2013.

This coordinated attack disenfranchises those who demonstrated the most zealous participation in the 2008 Presidential Election: people of color, women, blue-collar workers, students, seniors, and naturalized immigrants.

Attacking the right to vote is the gateway to attacking many of our other rights –immigrant rights, right to organize, and reproductive rights.

Under the guise of preventing voter fraud, the attack has emerged in several ways: (1) Requiring voters to present government-issued photo ID before voting; (2) Shortening or eliminating early voting periods; (3) Eliminating Election Day voter registration; (4) Rules which prevent formerly convicted people from readily reengaging the voting

process; (5) Rules which make it difficult, if not impossible, to engage in community-based voter

registration drives; and (6) Efforts to require would-be voters to jump through extra hoops before they can be

added to the rolls.

Widespread voter fraud however is a myth. You are more likely to be struck by lightning or see an UFO than to see someone impersonate someone else at the ballot box.

Voting is a fundamental right, and registration and participation must be simple, accessible and efficient. To ensure election integrity we must modernize our registration system for the 21st century and have meaningful coordination between states and voters.

The NAACP supports people identifying themselves at the polling place, but there are dozens of ways to identify oneself that will not require a person to spend their resources and time to obtain a conforming photo ID.

The Department of Justice has already rejected South Carolina and Texas’s voter ID laws because of their significant negative impact on minority communities and a judge in Wisconsin has found its voter ID law unconstitutional for the same reason.

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Voter Suppression FAQs

Why are you against photo ID when it can only increase the integrity of our elections?

The NAACP supports integrity measures.

In the pursuit of increased integrity however, we must be mindful not to adopt measures that will exclude entire groups of eligible citizens.

Establishing ones identity at the polls is a good idea however, it can be done – and has in fact been successfully done for years in many states – through options other than a photo ID.

Across the country, more than 21 million voting-eligible people do not have a photo ID.

Everyone has a photo ID – you need it to open a bank account, drive, when you pay by credit card, and to board a plane – what’s the problem with requiring people to bring it to the polls?

Voting is the cornerstone of our democracy. Shopping by credit card or flying for instance, is not.

Moreover, a 2009 FDIC study showed an estimated 17 million adults are unbanked. This includes 21.7 percent of Black households.

Additionally, a survey of American households has shown as many as 21 million voting-eligible people do not have an unexpired government-issued photo ID.

Also, the TSA itself has acknowledged that while a photo ID is the preferred identity tool, it is not the only option for establishing identity; they accept non-photo IDs too.

To ensure unfettered access to the ballot box for all eligible citizens, we must allow voters to establish their identity using proven measures – signature attestation, social security card, or a copy of a recent utility bill, bank statement, or government check bearing the voter’s name and address, for instance.

Scant attempts at voter fraud prove these measures work.

States are willing to offer photo IDs for free, what’s the problem?

Free IDs are not really free. They are more akin to a poll tax.

First, they are not free to the voter. To get an ID people will first have to present certain documents – like a birth certificate, social security card, or naturalization certificate. Many people do not have official copies of these documents however, and would have to spend money to get them.

That makes voter photo ID a poll tax.

Second, they are not free to the state’s residents as taxpayers commonly foot the bill. Across the country, implementation costs have been in the millions. Between 2007 and 2010 for instance, Indiana spent over $10 million issuing “free” IDs.

The NAACP believes in sustaining and strengthening the integrity of our elections. Narrow photo ID requirements are not a mechanism for doing so.

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It sounds like you want to wait until our elections are compromised before we act, wouldn’t it be too late at that point?

The NAACP believes in sustaining and strengthening the integrity of our elections.

What better way to do that, than to make sure every eligible citizen is able to get onto the rolls and to cast a ballot that gets counted on Election Day.

Measures which limit voters to establishing their identity via photo ID or requiring voters to establish their citizenship before they can register, will push otherwise eligible people into the margins of our democracy.

The outcome of our elections will surely be questionable if we knowingly adopt measures that shut certain groups of eligible citizens out.

An analysis of election law changes in 14 states show these states alone stand to disenfranchise 5 million voters.

Dead people vote all the time plus, there’s proof that in some states people have voted twice. How can you say fraud does not exist?

No system is perfect. That is why the NAACP supports integrity measures.

In any system however, there are those who will attempt to circumvent the rules.

The fact that we can point to people who have done so means the current system is working.

Ignoring the fact that the current system is working is not how we build the public’s confidence in our electoral processes. Rather, the best way to achieve that outcome is by ensuring all eligible citizens can vote.

In turn, the best way to ensure participation is to: (1) ensure voter registrars have the technology they need to keep their rolls up to date; (2) ensure voters can readily update their registration information; and (3) expand voting opportunities through early voting, for instance.

There is evidence non-citizens have registered to vote. How can you oppose measures that would prevent these people from registering?

The NAACP does not support voter registration of unqualified persons. Rather, we support measures that will increase integrity.

Efforts to create insurmountable barriers to voter registration however – such as mandatory photo ID requirements – should not be confused with integrity measures.

For instance, the fact that unqualified registrants have been identified means the current system is working.

Ignoring this fact however, for the chance to institutionalize permanent barriers to participation is contrary to our democratic principles.

People who do not have proof of citizenship documents or government-issued photo ID readily available – such as seniors, the disability community, homeless persons, and low-income voters – should not have to be the sacrificial lambs for a mythical voter fraud monster.

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There is evidence people with felony convictions are voting. However, they can’t vote. Why would you oppose measures that would prevent this from happening?

The NAACP does not support voter registration of unqualified persons.

However, not all people with felony convictions lose their right to vote. The rules governing whether or not a person in that situation can vote vary by state.

These rules however, are confusing and not enough resources are dedicated to ensuring people with felony convictions understand them.

Moreover, voter ID measures would not settle this concern. Offering automatic restoration of voting rights would.

It is not surprising however, that a person who was previously convicted but is now on the straight and narrow – working, raising family, and paying taxes for

instance – would believe they have a right to vote.

After all, voting is what we expect from all of our citizens.

Even if voter fraud is not a huge problem, if the American people believe it is, wouldn’t a photo ID requirement restore their confidence in our elections?

Voter fraud is nearly non-existent.

In many cases, where officials have claimed voter fraud – e.g. dead voters casting ballots – their claims have proven premature.

Rather, upon closer examination, it has been shown that human error created the false impression that deceased people voted.

In South Carolina for instance, the State Election Commission determined that 91 of 197 cases of alleged voting by deceased persons were attributable to election officials recording participation by the wrong person; e.g. indicating John Doe Sr. voted when it was really John Doe Jr.

The remaining cases were also attributable to various forms of human error.

The NAACP supports measures to strengthen the integrity of our elections. Making up problems in order to scare the public into accepting alleged safety measures that push eligible voters into the margins of our democracy, will not build confidence.

Everyone is talking about mass voter fraud, why do you say it doesn’t exist?

True, a lot of people are talking about mass voter fraud but none have evidence.

In PA, when debating the voter ID bill, supporters could not identify a single case of voter fraud yet used voter fraud as the impetus for the law.

In Texas, only 100 federal and 50 state convictions for election fraud have occurred in 10 years but there are over 13 million registered voters in the state. Isolated cases in Texas do not amount to a national voter fraud epidemic.

The NAACP supports people identifying themselves at the polling place, but there are dozens of ways to identify oneself that will not require a person to spend their resources and time to obtain a conforming photo ID.

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SECTION C:

Media Resources

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SAMPLE PRESS RELEASE

NAACP CONCERNED BY PENNSYLVANIA SENATE’S PASSAGE OF VOTER ID LEGISLATION

March 07, 2012 (Washington, DC) – The NAACP expressed deep concern over today’s decision by the Pennsylvania state Senate to approve legislation requiring photo ID for voting. The measure passed the state chamber by a vote of 26-23. Pending state House action, the bill may soon be on Gov. Tom Corbett's desk for signature and implementation. “Voting is a fundamental right, and registration and participation must be simple, accessible and efficient. Ensuring election integrity for the 21st century requires meaningful coordination between states and voters, not against them,” said NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous. “This coordinated attack would disenfranchise those who demonstrated the most

zealous participation in the 2008 Presidential Election: people of color, women, blue-collar workers, students, seniors, and naturalized immigrants.

Voter ID bills have a disparate impact on larger concentrations of senior citizens, the poor, racial minorities and women who may not possess identification cards now. Unlike many states throughout the country Pennsylvania does not require the approval of the state’s Department of Justice to sign the bill into law. Pending House approval and the governor’s signature, the new law would be in effect for the upcoming November elections. During his tenure as Pennsylvania’s Attorney General, Corbett had been explicit in his plans to suppress votes in Philadelphia, asking supporters to “keep (voter turnout) down.” By signing this bill into law, he would take his suppression plans statewide. Pennsylvania would join 15

states nationwide requiring photo ID to vote. “Attacking the right to vote is the gateway to attacking many of our other rights –from workers’ rights, immigrant rights, and the right to organize,” said Jerry Mondesire, president of the Pennsylvania NAACP. “Governor Corbett’s support of photo voter ID is similar to Governor George Wallace’s attempts to restrict the integration of Alabama schools years ago. In both instances, the state’s chief official attempted to deprive citizens of the basic tools they need to succeed in society.” Voter ID laws have typically been introduced under the guise of protecting against voter fraud, while in reality they have excluded otherwise eligible voters from exercising their Constitutional rights, and undermined public confidence in the electoral processes.

Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization. Its members throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities, conducting voter mobilization and monitoring equal opportunity in the public and private sectors.

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TIPS FOR WRITING A LETTER TO THE EDITOR + SAMPLE

Letters to the Editor are one way decision-makers (at all levels) keep their finger on the pulse of community’s views on an issue. As a result, they are a good way to impact the public conversation around your issue.

Your letter can speak directly to a recent article or to a recent event. The trick is to make it relevant in the now.

Be short and concise. Most newspapers have a word limit. A safe bet is to keep it under 200 words.

Come out strong. Your letter is an opinion piece so your first sentence should make your opinion clear.

Mention organizations and individuals by name (such as the author of the article you are responding to or an elected official who introduced a voter suppression measure). Their media team likely does regular media scans and will pick up on your LTE accordingly.

Be sure to include the personal identifying information specified by the newspaper. They use this information to verify the letter is genuine before they will publish it (i.e. they may call you).

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To the Editor:

Re “Voter Rolls Are Rife With Inaccuracies, Report Finds” (news article, Feb.

14):

The release of the Pew Center report serves as a bold reminder that outdated

voter registration systems across the country have become barriers to voter

registration and election participation.

As the report shows, millions of votes were lost in 2008 because of

registration problems, and millions of voters, like military personnel and their

families, faced registration-related problems that had to be resolved before

casting a ballot.

Voting is a fundamental constitutional right, and registration must be simple,

accessible and efficient. Resolving this problem requires modernizing our

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registration system for the 21st century and meaningful coordination between states and

voters.

This includes fully carrying out and financing the Election Assistance Commission, created

by the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to find solutions to election problems.

These steps will enhance election integrity and make it easier for the estimated 51 million

unregistered voters to participate.

What we do not need are additional obstacles and limits to the process, like mandatory

photo ID requirements and cuts to early voting pushed in some states, that serve only as

additional obstacles for the millions of voters who already face barriers as a result of

outdated voter registration.

HILARY SHELTON

Washington, Feb. 16, 2012

The writer is senior vice president for advocacy and Washington bureau director of the

N.A.A.C.P.40

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New York Times (February 28, 2012). Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/29/opinion/from-the-naacp-voter-registration.html?_r=2.

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TIPS FOR WRITING AN Op-ed

Most op-eds range from 500-750 words, depending on the newspaper.

Visualize your audience - If you talked to them directly, how would you present the argument?

Include a suggested headline, by-line (signer names) and a two sentence identification of the author(s). There should be no more than two authors. Include any biographical information including residency and relevant experience.

Opening two sentences should grab attention, i.e. a vignette illustrating how the issue affects an individual or a group of individuals or it could be a reiteration of a statement by a major policy maker that you agree/disagree with.

Sentences and paragraphs should be short.

Avoid technical phrases or jargon such as medical or legal terms which may confuse the reader.

Article should provoke discussion and be informative.

Back up assertions with facts.

Stay focused. Make your case.

SUBMITTING AN Op-ed

Major national newspapers (Los Angeles Times, New York Times, The Washington Post) typically demand exclusivity.

Some major dailies also demand exclusivity, check first. o For these publications, draft one op-ed that you submit to many regional dailies

around the country. For each, however, regionalize the lead by focusing on a local statistic or a statement about the region where the op-ed is being placed.

The most effective way to submit an op-ed is at an editorial board meeting where you can directly hand it to the board and ask that they consider it.

Op-eds can also be submitted by mail or email. To identify who to submit the article to call the Op-ed Editor.

Follow-up with a phone call to ensure receipt and to share the reasons why the article should be published.

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TIPS FOR USING DIGITAL MEDIA

Knowledge is power. Here are some quick and easy ways to inform your social networks about the attack on voting rights and what we plan to do to stop them.

Use This is My vote (thisismyvote.org) to learn about what is happening around the country. The website is a central clearinghouse of voting rights resources designed to seamlessly connect the NAACP’s voting rights and civic engagement efforts. State Conference Presidents and branch leaders in particular, are strongly encouraged to provide the Voting Rights Initiative team with regular state updates so we can post to the site.

Text the word PLEDGE to 62227 on your mobile phone to take the voting rights pledge: Pledge to uphold the voting rights of you and your loved ones in this year’s election.

Like NAACP on Facebook: Join the discussion on voting rights and learn how you can get involved at www.facebook.com/NAACP. Also, visit www.thisismyvote.org for updates and info.

Use Twitter! Tweet about voting rights on Twitter using the hashtag #TIMV: Get breaking news about voter ID laws, requirements, and what you can do about it. Also, tweet your thoughts. When you and your networks use a Twitter hashtag everything you and your networks say about voting rights can be readily accessed by anyone who clicks on the hashtag.

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SECTION D:

Washington Bureau Resources

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ACTION ALERT

DATE: October 25, 2012

TO: Concerned Parties

FROM: Hilary O. Shelton, Director, NAACP Washington Bureau

NAACP SUPPORTS LEGISLATION TO EXPAND ACCESS TO VOTING PROCESSES AND PROTECT VOTERS FROM SUPPRESSION,

DECEPTION, AND OTHER FORMS OF DISENFRANCHISEMENT

H.R. 5799, THE VOTER EMPOWERMENT ACT, WOULD ALSO EXPAND ELIGIBILITY

TO EX-FELONY OFFENDERS TO VOTE ONCE THEY LEAVE PRISON

THE ISSUE:

In a time when numerous states are considering or have already enacted legislation to restrict or suppress

voter participation, Congressman John Lewis (GA) and over 125 of his colleagues in the U.S. House of

Representatives have introduced H.R. 5799, the Voter Empowerment Act. This important legislation

would expand and protect voters’ access to the polls and would increase accountability and integrity among

election officials and poll workers. It also would expand eligibility to allow all ex-offenders who have been

released from prison (even those who may still be on probation or parole) to register and vote in federal

elections.

Specifically, the Voter Empowerment Act would:

guarantee early voting – require that every state establish early voting sites that are open at least 15 days prior to a general election day;

require automatic registration – the bill would use modern technology to automatically and permanently register all eligible voters;

allow same-day registration throughout the country – H.R. 5799 would ensure allow voters to register to vote on election day at their polling place;

ensure on-line voter registration – the Voter Empowerment Act would ensure that on-line voter registration is a viable option nationally;

outlaw “voter caging” – makes illegal a practice by which mail is sent to a registered voter's address and, if the mail is returned as "undeliverable" or if it is delivered and the voter does not respond, his or her registration is challenged;

clarify and strengthen the use of provisional ballots – ensures that provisional ballots are counted;

make voter intimidation and deception punishable by law – with strong and tough penalties so that people who commit these crimes suffer more than just a slap on the wrist, and establish a process for reaching out to misinformed voters with accurate information so they can cast their votes in time;

re-enfranchise ex-offenders – H.R. 5799 incorporates the provisions of the NAACP–supported “Democracy Restoration Act” by allowing ex-offenders, once they are out of prison, the opportunity to register and vote in federal elections without challenges or complication;

encourage youth voters – the Voter Empowerment Act requires colleges and universities to offer and encourage voter registration to all students;

assure voting by overseas residents – H.R. 5799 increases assurances that Americans who may be living overseas, especially those serving our country in the armed services, can cast a valid vote and be assured that their vote was counted.

THE NAACP STRONGLY SUPPORTS H.R. 5799, THE VOTER EMPOWERMENT ACT, AND URGES ITS IMMEDIATE ENACTMENT INTO LAW.

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THE ACTION WE NEED YOU TO TAKE:

Contact your Representative and both your Senators and URGE THEM TO CO-SPONSOR AND

ACTIVELY SUPPORT H.R. 5799, THE VOTER EMPOWERMENT ACT. To contact your Senators and

Representative, you may:

Make a Phone Call: Call your Senators and your Representative in Washington by dialing the Capitol Switchboard and asking to be transferred to your Senators'/Congressman’s offices. The switchboard phone number is (202) 224-3121 (see message section, below).

Write a Letter To write letters to your Senators, send them to:

The Honorable (name of Senator) U.S. Senate

Washington, D.C. 20510 To write a letter to your Representative, send it to: The Honorable (name of Representative) U.S. House of Representatives Washington, D.C. 20515

Send a Fax If you would like to send a fax, call your Senators’ or Representative’s offices (through the Capitol switchboard) and ask for their fax numbers (you can use either the attached sample letter or the message box, below).

Send an E-Mail To send an e-mail to your Senators, go to www.senate.gov; click on “Find Your Senators”. Look up your Senators by state; go to their web sites for e-mail addresses. To send an e-mail to your Representative, go to www.house.gov, and click on “Write Your Representative” (on the left hand side, just under “find your Representative). This will help you identify who your congressman is and how to contact him/her.

REMEMBER TO CONTACT BOTH YOUR SENATORS!!!!!

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS IMPORTANT MATTER!!!

If you have any questions, call Hilary Shelton at the Washington Bureau at (202) 463-2940.

A SAMPLE LETTER IS

ATTACHED

THE MESSAGE The right of all eligible citizens to vote and to have their vote count is the

cornerstone of our democracy, and it is a fundamental civil right guaranteed by our Constitution.

It is the obligation of Congress to guarantee that everything that can be done will be done to ensure that every eligible American is allowed to vote and to be sure that his or her vote has been counted.

We need to ensure that that every eligible voter is registered and votes, and that eligibility is opened to all Americans age 18 or over, regardless of their race, ethnicity, gender, age, economic status, geographical location, disability or other characteristic which may place them in a minority status.

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(date)

The Honorable ___________________________ United States Senate / House of Representatives Washington, D.C. 20510 / 20515

RE: SUPPORT FOR H.R. 5799, THE VOTER EMPOWERMENT ACT Dear Senator / Representative _______________________________; As your constituent, I strongly urge you to co-sponsor and support, H.R. 5799, the Voter Empowerment Act. The

right of all eligible citizens to vote and to have their vote count is the cornerstone of our democracy, and it is a

fundamental civil right guaranteed by our Constitution. Furthermore, it is the obligation of Congress to ensure that

everything that can be done will be done to ensure that every eligible American is allowed to vote and to be sure

that his or her vote has been counted.

HR. 5799, the Voter Empowerment Act, mandates many of the very issues that the NAACP has determined as

being vital to increasing voter participation throughout our nation. In addition to guaranteed early voting throughout

the country with no excuse required, H.R. 5799 would use modern technology to automatically and permanently

register all eligible voters; allow same-day registration nationally; ensure secure on-line voter registration; outlaw

“voter caging”; clarify and strengthen the use of provisional ballots; make voter intimidation and deception

punishable by law, with strong and tough penalties so that people who commit these crimes suffer more than just a

slap on the wrist, and establish a process for reaching out to misinformed voters with accurate information so they

can cast their votes in time; allow ex-offenders, once they are out of prison, the opportunity to register and vote in

federal elections without challenges or complication; encourage youth voters; and increase assurances that

Americans who may be living overseas, especially those serving our country in the armed services, can cast a

valid vote and be assured that their vote was counted.

I would again urge you, in the strongest terms possible, to co-sponsor and support H.R. 5799, the Voter

Empowerment Act as introduced by Congressman John Lewis (GA). I look forward to working with you to see that

every eligible voter is registered and votes, and that eligibility is opened to all Americans age 18 or over,

regardless of their race, ethnicity, gender, age, economic status, geographic location, disability or other quality

which may place them in a minority. Please contact me in the near future to let me know what you are doing to

promote the important goal of increased voter participation and what I can do to help.

Sincerely,

(sign and print your name and remember to include your address)

Sample Letter

Remember to contact your

Representative and BOTH

your Senators.

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ACTION ALERT

DATE: October 25, 2012

TO: Concerned Parties

FROM: Hilary O. Shelton, Director, Washington Bureau

NAACP SUPPORTS VOTER RE-ENFRANCHISEMENT FOR EX-FELONY OFFENDERS

THE “DEMOCRACY RESTORATION ACT” WOULD CLEAR A PATH TO ALLOW EX-FELONY OFFENDERS TO VOTE IN FEDERAL ELECTIONS ONCE THEY ARE OUT OF PRISON

THE ISSUE:

Almost 4 million Americans, or 1 in 50 American adults, are not allowed to vote because they have been convicted of a felony, regardless of the nature or seriousness of the offense. Three fourths of these Americans are no longer in jail. As such, 13% of African American males – 1.4 million – are prohibited from voting. Furthermore, state laws vary when it comes to defining which felony offenses are disenfranchising offenses and in determining how and if people who are no longer incarcerated can regain their right to vote. Thus it is possible that in some states a person can functionally lose their right to vote forever if he or she writes one bad check. Furthermore, the process to regain one’s right to vote in any state is often difficult and cumbersome. Most states require specific gubernatorial action, and in 16 states federal ex-felons need a presidential pardon to regain their voting rights. The “war on drugs” has had a disproportionate impact on African Americans; between 1985 and 1995, there was a 707% increase in the number of African Americans in state prison for a drug offense, compared to a 306% increase for whites over the same period. Thus African Americans are disproportionately losing their right to vote, and having greater difficulty in reclaiming it, even after they have paid their debt to society. Because voting is such an integral part of being a productive member of American society, the NAACP has worked closely with other like-minded groups to develop legislation that would allow felons who are no longer incarcerated to reintegrate themselves into society and vote in federal elections. The NAACP supports the “Democracy Restoration Act, “ H.R. 2212, introduced by Congressman Conyers (MI) in the House and S. 2017, introduced by Senator Ben Cardin (MD) in the Senate, which re-enfranchises ex-felony offenders once they are released from prison.

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THE ACTION WE NEED YOU TO TAKE:

Call, fax, write or e-mail your Representative and BOTH your Senators and URGE THEM TO SUPPORT THE “DEMOCRACY RESTORATION ACT”. To contact your elected federal representatives, you may: Make a Phone Call:

Call your Senator and your Representative in Washington by dialing the Capitol Switchboard and asking to

be transferred to your Senator/Congressman’s office. The switchboard phone number is (202) 224-3121

(see message section, below).

Write a Letter To write a letter to your senator, send it to:

The Honorable (name of Senator) U.S. Senate Washington, DC 20510

To write a letter to your Representative, send it to: The Honorable (name of Representative) U.S. House of Representatives Washington, D.C. 20515

Send a Fax If you would like to send a fax, call your Senator or Representative’s office (through the Capitol

switchboard) and ask for his/her fax number (you can use either the attached sample letter or the

message box, below).

Send an E-Mail To send an e-mail to your senator, simply go to www.senate.gov, click on Senators, then click on Contacting Senators (by name or by state). This selection will also help you to identify who your two senators are.

To send an e-mail to your Representative, go to www.house.gov, and click on “write your

representative.” This will help you identify who your congressman is and how to contact him/her.

Unfortunately, not all Members of Congress have e-mail addresses.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS IMPORTANT MATTER!!!

If you have any questions, call Hilary Shelton at the Washington Bureau at (202) 463-2940.

THE MESSAGE:

Felony voting disenfranchisement laws currently disqualify almost 4 million Americans, or 1 in every 50 adult American.

The “war on drugs” has resulted in a disproportionate number of African Americans, specifically African American men, being convicted of felony offenses. As a result, 13%, or 1.4 million, of African American males are prohibited from voting.

Because the definition of a felony varies from state to state, as do felony disenfranchisement laws, there is a vast disparity in which ex-offenders may vote, based on where they live. In some states, writing one bad check may result in you losing your voting privileges for life!

Felony voting restrictions are the last vestige of voting prohibitions; when the U.S. was founded only wealthy white men were allowed to vote. Women, minorities, illiterates and the poor were excluded. These restrictions have all been eliminated over time, often with much debate and rancor. People who have served their time and been released from prison are the last Americans to be denied their basic right to vote.

With voting such an integral part of becoming a productive member of American society, we should be encouraging ex-felons to vote, not prohibiting them.

58

ACTION ALERT

DATE: October 25, 2012

TO: Concerned Parties

FROM: Hilary O. Shelton, Director, Washington Bureau

NAACP-SUPPORTS VOTING RIGHTS FOR THE RESIDENTS OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

LEGISLATION WOULD GIVE D.C. RESIDENTS FULL VOTING RIGHTS IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

THE ISSUE:

Despite the fact that they pay federal taxes, serve on juries and defend our Nation in times of war like most other Americans, the residents of the District of Columbia are barred from having voting representation on the floor of the U.S. House or Senate. This classic example of “taxation without representation” is contrary to everything that this nation is founded on. This means that more than half a million people, more than 57% of whom are African American (with Caucasians making up just over 30% of the population and 8.5% of the residents claiming Hispanic background), are paying money to and dying for a government in which they have no say. It also means that the federal government is receiving and spending $4 billion without having to account for it. In fact, the residents of the District of Columbia pay more federal taxes per capita than all but one other state. To begin to correct this gross injustice, Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC) has introduced H.R.

265, the New Columbia Admission Act and H.R. 266, the District of Columbia House Voting Rights

Act. H.R. 265 makes the District of Columbia the 51st state in the Union. H.R. 266, which the

NAACP considers a good first step toward the goal of full democratic voting representation in

Congress for DC residents, mandates a voting Member of the U.S. House of Representatives to

represent the residents of the District of Columbia. We are hoping companion legislation will be

introduced in the Senate soon.

The NAACP strongly supports full representation for all the residents of the District of Columbia, and we further consistently oppose efforts by some members of Congress to impose their legislative priorities or programs on the residents of D.C. The democratically elected government of the District of Columbia should decide what is best on local issues, and we need to make it clear that the residents of the District of Columbia should not be used as test subjects for questionable programs.

59

THE ACTION WE NEED YOU TO TAKE:

Contact your Representative and both your Senators and URGE THEM TO SUPPORT FULL REPRESENTATION

FOR THE RESIDENTS OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. To contact your Senators and Representative, you

may:

Make a Phone Call: Call your Senators and your Representative in Washington by dialing the Capitol Switchboard and asking to

be transferred to your Senators'/Congressman’s offices. The switchboard phone number is (202) 224-3121

(see message section, below).

Write a Letter To write letters to your Senators, send them to:

The Honorable (name of Senator) U.S. Senate Washington, D.C. 20510

To write a letter to your Representative, send it to:

The Honorable (name of Representative) U.S. House of Representatives Washington, D.C. 20515

Send a Fax If you would like to send a fax, call your Senators’ or Representative’s offices (through the Capitol

switchboard) and ask for their fax numbers (you can use either the attached sample letter or the message

box, below).

Send an E-Mail To send an e-mail to your Senators, go to www.senate.gov; click on “Find Your Senators”. Look up your Senators by state; go to their web sites for e-mail addresses. To send an e-mail to your Representative, go to www.house.gov, and click on “Write Your Representative” (on the left hand side, just under “find your Representative). This will help you identify who your congressman is and how to contact him/her.

REMEMBER TO CONTACT BOTH YOUR SENATORS!!!!!

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS IMPORTANT MATTER!!! If you have any questions, call Hilary Shelton at the Washington Bureau at (202) 463-2940.

THE MESSAGE

Despite the fact that they pay federal taxes, serve on juries and defend our Nation in times of war like most other Americans, the residents of the District of Columbia are barred from having voting representation on the floor of the U.S. House or Senate. This classic example of “taxation without representation” is contrary to everything that this nation is founded on.

This means that more than half a million people, more than 57% of whom are African American (with Caucasians making up just over 30% of the population and 8.5% of the residents claiming Hispanic background), are paying money to and dying for a government in which they have no say.

The NAACP supports full Congressional representation for the residents of the District of Columbia.

60

ACTION ALERT

DATE: October 25, 2012

TO: Concerned Parties

FROM: Hilary O. Shelton, Director, Washington Bureau

NAACP SUPPORTS LEGISLATION TO PROHIBIT STATES FROM REQUIRING GOVERNMENT-APPROVED PHOTO ID BEFORE REGISTERING AND VOTING IN FEDERAL ELECTIONS

PHOTO ID REQUIREMENTS WOULD DISPROPORTIONATELY CAUSE RACIAL

AND ETHNIC MINORITIES, LOW-INCOME AMERICANS AND THE ELDERLY TO LOSE THEIR RIGHT TO VOTE

THE ISSUE:

There are racially discriminatory and disenfranchising proposals, at the federal, state and local levels, which

would require all voters to show some form of federally or state-approved photo identification before being

able to cast their vote. These proposals fly in the face of our right, guaranteed by the Constitution, to cast a

free and unfettered ballot, as well as the recently reauthorized 1965 Voting Rights Act, which mandates that

no state or municipality shall in any way infringe on our right to vote.

While supporters of these initiatives purport to be combating “voter fraud,” (a “problem” which, as numerous

studies have shown, is not really a problem), what these laws are in fact doing is creating a barrier to keep the

up to 21 million Americans, or 11% of the entire voting-eligible population, who do not have government-

issued photo IDs, out of the ballot booth. Sadly, a disproportionate number of these people who do not have

government-issued IDs are racial and ethnic minorities, the elderly or low-income Americans. A full 25% of

African Americans who would otherwise be eligible to vote do not have a qualified photo ID. According to one

study, state photo ID laws and other efforts to suppress voting rights could result in as many as five million

eligible voters not being able to register and vote in 2012.

These proposals re-create new obstacles in voting akin to a modern day “poll-tax” by forcing Americans to

pay for government approved ID. Many of our most vulnerable citizens do not have or cannot easily obtain

the paperwork needed to obtain a photo ID, such as passports, birth certificates or naturalization papers.

Furthermore, obtaining a photo ID may require taking as much as a day off of work or traveling far distances,

both of which may prove to be almost insurmountable chores. The requirement that all voters present a photo

ID before being able to cast a regular ballot will disproportionately disenfranchise African Americans and other

racial and ethnic minority Americans, as well as the elderly, individuals with disabilities, Americans living in

rural areas, students, Native American voters, the homeless, and low-income people who are less likely to

have or carry a photo ID.

Congressman Keith Ellison (MN) has introduced H.R. 3316, the Voter Access Protection Act of 2011. This

vital legislation would prohibit election officials from requiring individuals to provide photo identification as a

condition of obtaining or casting a ballot in an election for Federal office or registering to vote in elections for

Federal office. The NAACP strongly supports H.R. 3316 as sadly it is sorely needed to once again set

our nation on the road to a true democracy with full participation by all its citizens.

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SECTION E:

ThisIsMyVote.org

62

_____________________________________________

This Is My Vote is a central clearinghouse of voting rights resources designed to

seamlessly connect the NAACP’s voting rights and civic engagement efforts in

order to promote and sustain an informed voting rights movement. Here, you will

find a variety of resources, such as:

- Information on voter suppression measures by state; - State updates/blog posts from State Conference Presidents; - Press statements from our State Conferences and the National office; - Voter registration and civic engagement efforts in your state; - Voting rights news stories.

thisismyvote.org

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SECTION F:

Campaign-builder Resources

64

BASIC PREPARE YOURSELF TEMPLATE

GOAL:

THE BIG DATE (e.g. final release date or public action date):

Steps Needed to Accomplish Goal

Responsible Person

Helper/Contributor Date due Status

65

BASIC PREPARE YOURSELF TEMPLATE - sample

GOAL: To help voters in my city learn about the negative impacts of proof of citizenship requirements.

THE BIG DATE (e.g. final release date or public action date): Legislature convenes on 2nd Tuesday of January and recesses 10 weeks later. We want to present our position by XXX.

Steps Needed to Accomplish Goal

Responsible Person

Helper/Contributor Date due Status

Determine how many voting-eligible people there are in my city who are not yet registered.

Research the various populations negatively impacted by citizenship requirements.

For each population, determine what the corollary numbers are within the state.

If legislation has been introduced, what type of proof will be accepted? Will people have to pay to get these documents?

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DESIGN & IMPLEMENT A SUCCESSFUL VOTING RIGHTS INITIATIVE {campaign-

builder template}

While every voting rights initiative or campaign should be uniquely tailored (such as its

focus and approach) to the state and city in which it takes place, there are some basic

considerations common to every such effort. While you should feel free to expand the

list of considerations, the questions that follow will go a long way toward helping you

design and implement a successful, strategic, community-led campaign.

WHAT DOES THE PROPOSED MEASURE SAY ON ITS FACE?

WHAT IS IT NOT SAYING (e.g. what are the hidden impacts?)

WHAT ARE ITS IMMEDIATE & LONG TERM IMPACTS?

WHAT OUTCOME ARE YOU SEEKING?

HOW FAR ARE YOU FROM ACHIEVING THAT OUTCOME (i.e. is your position popular or unpopular)?

WHO ARE THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE TO BE ON YOUR SIDE IN ORDER FOR YOU TO ‘WIN’ (e.g. decision-makers, individuals & groups whose opinions matter to decision-makers)?

ON A SCALE OF 1 TO 10 (1 being closest), HOW CLOSE/SUPPORTIVE TO YOUR POSITION ARE EACH OF THEM?

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WHAT IS THE PUBLIC CONVERSATION ON OR AROUND YOUR ISSUE (e.g. does community support or oppose voter photo ID measures)?

HOW WILL YOU MESSAGE YOUR POSITION SO AS TO ELEVATE THE FACES & STORIES OF THOSE MOST HEAVILY IMPACTED?

AS YOU DEVELOP YOUR MESSAGES, HOW WILL YOU HAVE A POSITIVE INFLUENCE THE PUBLIC CONVERSATION ON OR AROUND YOUR ISSUE & IN SO DOING, BUILD YOUR BASE (e.g. what resonates but also meets your needs & conforms to your ethical boundaries)?

WHAT IS YOUR TIMELINE (e.g. are you being proactive or reactive; has a measure already been introduce & if so, what is the process for moving it through the ranks; how long will the legislature be in session, etc)?

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NATIONAL STAFF RESOURCE LIST

VOTING RIGHTS INITIATIVE

Jotaka Eaddy: Special Assistant to the President & CEO and Sr. Director, Voting Rights Initiative [email protected]. Aurora Vásquez: Senior Manager, Voting Rights Initiative [email protected]

FIELD AND MEMBERSHIP DEPARTMENT

Rev. Charles L. White, Jr.: National Field Director [email protected] CIVIC ENGAGEMENT CAMPAIGN

Marvin Randolph: Senior Vice President for Campaigns [email protected] Jessica Pierce: National Training Director [email protected]

WASHINGTON BUREAU

Hilary O. Shelton: Director, Washington Bureau and Senior Vice President for Advocacy & Policy [email protected] Brandon Johns: Policy Analyst [email protected]

COMMUNICATIONS

Derek Turner: Director of Communications [email protected]

NEW MEDIA

Jamiah Adams: Director, Web Campaigns and New Media [email protected] LEGAL DEPARTMENT Kendra R. Glover: Paralegal

[email protected]

part 5 www.thisismyvote.org

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APPENDIX A

CONNECTING THE VOTER SUPPRESSION DOTS:

A historical perspective

70

Radical Reconstruction (1866 – 1877)

Radical Reconstruction (1866 – 1877) opened the door to mass civic participation by

Black men, in particular after ratification of the 15th Amendment in 1870.

In a little over a decade, some 2,000 African American men – including some born

into slavery – were elected to public office.41 An achievement never before seen, the

nation – especially the South – responded with an aggressive attack to thwart black

voters’ access to the franchise. This was not surprising however, as voting is the

first step to equalizing racial, social, and economic disparities, giving it the unique

ability to bridge access to civil and human rights including the right to live in

dignity, affordable and livable housing, workers’ rights, and equality in education.

Jim Crow (1890s)

The political success of Black men after ratification of the 15th Amendment, gave

rise to Jim Crow – a series of coordinated and strategic changes to state election

laws which, while made in the name of election integrity, had the purpose of

reserving the franchise for white men. A testament to the nation’s resolve to ensure

second class citizenry, some of these barriers – convoluted registration processes,

literacy tests, and poll taxes – remained intact into the mid-1960s.42

41

See e.g. African American Leaders during Reconstruction at: http://www.history.com/topics/african-american-leaders-during-reconstruction. 42

Poll taxes for instance, were lawful until 1964 when banned in Federal elections by the 24th

Amendment.

“The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall

not be denied or abridged by the United States or by

any state on account of race, color, or previous

condition of servitude.” (ratified February 3, 1870)

Anyone who, in

the year 2012 is

at least 68

years old,

would have

paid a poll tax

in Mississippi in

1965

CONNECTING THE VOTER SUPPRESSION DOTS

A Historical Perspective

71

Another popular Jim Crow suppression scheme was felony disenfranchisement,

guided by the belief that newly emancipated African Americans were more likely to

commit property crimes due to the economic barriers they faced after the Civil

War.43 In Mississippi for instance, the 1890 Constitution disenfranchised

individuals for the crimes of burglary and theft but not for robbery or murder, as it

was believed that the more ‘robust’ crimes were likely to be committed by white

offenders.44 A testament to white leaders’ clear intent to keep the franchise and the

potential it embodies for themselves, when speaking of felony disenfranchisement a

delegate to Virginia’s 1901 – 1902 Constitutional Convention stated:

Fusion Politics (1890s)

In the midst of Jim Crow, fusion politics brought progressive leaders and thinkers

together across lines of race and political party. Through what were often

clandestine meetings, people of conscious designed a strategy to elect like-minded

thinkers capable of shifting the nation’s racial, social, and economic trajectory.

Particularly effective in the South, by 1894 the multi-racial force behind this

approach elected multiple candidates who pushed a powerfully progressive reform

agenda that included increased funding for public education, stronger labor laws,

and increased access to the ballot box for instance, including accommodations for

voters who were unable to read.45 Fusion politics however, did not resolve

everything. In Mississippi for instance, only six percent of voting-eligible black men

made it onto the rolls after 1890 while in Louisiana, nearly 130,000 previously

registered voters disappeared from the rolls by the early 1900s.46 Similarly, only 90

days after Virginia wrote felony disenfranchisement into its constitution, registered

black voters dropped from more than 140,000 to less than 22,000.

43

NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Defending Democracy: Confronting Modern Barriers to Voting Rights in America at 25 (December, 2011). 44

Id. 45

For instance, in North Carolina Fusion candidates instituted requirements that ballots be color-coded and marked with party insignia to protect illiterate voters’ political choice and voice. See e.g., North Carolina History Project at: http://www.northcarolinahistory.org/commentary/58/entry (last visited on 3. 3.12). 46

For online resources, see e.g. Separate is Not Equal, Smithsonian National Museum of American History at: http://americanhistory.si.edu/brown/history/1-segregated/white-only-1.html (last visited on 3.3.12).

“This plan….will eliminate the darkey as a political factor in this State in less than 5

years, so that in no single county….will there be the least concern felt for the

complete supremacy of the white race in the affairs of government.” – Delegate

Carter Glass, Virginia Constitutional Convention (1901-1902)

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Women’s Suffrage (1920)

Fifty years after the right to vote was extended to all men without regard to race,

color, or previous condition of servitude, the franchise was also extended to

women.47 In line with ongoing efforts to block racial minorities’ access to the

franchise, access for women did not come easy either. In particular, while

proponents of women’s suffrage began seeking the right to vote in the late 1840s

and the National American Woman Suffrage Association formed in 1890,48 the 19th

Amendment was not ratified until 1920 – some 70 years after the initial push.

Civil Rights Era (1960s) & the Voting Rights Act (1965)

With the right of suffrage available to all

minorities (without regard to race or gender),

“ballot integrity” measures designed to stand

squarely between minority voters and the

franchise’s unique ability to equalize racial,

social, and economic disparities, remained

robust well into the 1960s.49

In Selma Alabama for instance, where a mere

242 of 15,000 eligible black voters were on the

rolls, over a 9 month period in 1963 Sherriff

Joe Clark openly thwarted efforts to register

black voters with intimidation and violence. 50

The following year, Mississippi responded to Freedom Summer – a multi-racial

effort to increase voter registration and education in the Black community – with

violence and murder. The country’s staunch commitment to standing between

minorities and the franchise – and thereby their ability to equalize racial, social,

and economic disparities – did not begin to stand down until 1965. Through passage

of the 1965 Voting Rights Act the nation declared , yet again, that barriers to the

ballot box were untenable. The VRA however, came 95 years after the 15th

Amendment extended the right of suffrage to Black men and subsequently hurling

them into the throngs of voter suppression efforts; 45 years after the 19th

47

The 19h Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified on August 18, 1920.

48 For online resources, see e.g., Memorial to Congress from the American Woman Suffrage Association, The

National Archives at: http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/woman-suffrage/awsa-memorial.html (last visited on 3.3.12). 49

This included poll taxes for instance, which were not outlawed (in federal elections) until 1964. 50

For online resources, see e.g., The Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at: http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/encyclopedia/enc_clark_james_gardner_1922_2007/ (last visited on 3.3.12).

The country’s staunch

commitment to standing

between minorities and the

franchise – and thereby, their

ability to equalize racial,

social, and economic

disparities – did not begin to

stand down until 1965.

73

Amendment did the same for women; and only after many were beaten and others

lost their lives in the South for daring to use the power of political participation to

pursue their human right to live in dignity.

New Millennium Suppression

Fraudulent Notice: In 2004, the Chairman of the Federal Election Assistance

Commission met with NAACP leaders in Florida to examine a flyer distributed in

mostly African American precincts in Volusia County. The flyer, purporting to be

connected to the local NAACP, directed voters to the wrong polling place.51

Fraudulent Letters: Similarly, in 2004 voters in Lake County, Ohio reported

receiving a letter allegedly from the registrar’s office informing them if they

registered through certain third-party groups, they would not be able to vote.52

Vote Caging53: In 2004, an estimated 35,000 Ohio voters – many minorities –

appeared on the Republican state party’s Election Day challenge list. They were

added to the list after a letter sent by the party was returned as undeliverable (i.e.

they were “caged”).54 As the election of 2004 grew nearer, the party publically

asserted it would place 3,600 challengers at the polls. In 2008, there were also

reports of home foreclosure lists being used to cage voters.

Deceptive Practices: In Baltimore City and Prince George’s County, MD, 112,000

voters in mostly African-American neighborhoods received automated calls during

the 2010 gubernatorial election informing them the Democratic candidate had

secured enough votes to win; it also encouraged them to stay home and watch the

election on television. In 2011, however, those responsible for the robocalls were

convicted of trying to influence votes through fraud. 55

Return of Jim Crow

Similar to country’s reaction to the mass election of black men during the era of

Radical Reconstruction, in response to the multi-racial alliances that helped

produce yet another first – the election of the nation’s first African American

51

See e.g. Eli Lake, Charges of Voter Intimidation, Shenanigans Fly on Eve of Election, The Sun Newspaper (Nov. 2, 2004) 52

See e.g. Kate Zernike and William Yardley, Charges of Fraud and Voter Suppression Already Flying, The New York Times (Nov. 1, 2004). 53

Taken from the Direct Mail industry in which returned mail is used to update mailing lists, in the voting context caging involves collecting undeliverable mail to create Election Day challenge lists. 54

Voters in Philadelphia also received letters from the state party, even though it was not their party of record. 55

See e.g. Defending Democracy at 37 (December, 2011) and John Wagner, Ex-Ehrlich campaign manager Schurick convicted in robocall case (Dec. 6, 2011) available at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/ex-ehrlich-campaign-manager-schurick-convicted-in-robocall-case/2011/12/06/gIQA6rNsaO_story.html.

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President – the country let loose the Jim Crow of the new millennium: James Crow,

Esquire. While James Crow, Esquire relies on modern conveniences and

technologies to advance its attack on voting rights, the agenda remains firmly

rooted in Jim Crow’s opposition to the nation’s evolution toward a truly

participatory democracy. In short, new voter suppression efforts are not new at all

as they too are grounded in the 1890s approach to institutionalizing convoluted

registration processes, poll taxes, and felony disenfranchisement.

Convoluted Registration Processes: Today convoluted registration processes

include: Restrictions on Voter Registration Drives, Limiting or Eliminating

Early Voting, and Proof of Citizenship requirements at the time of

registering.

Poll Taxes: Today, poll taxes are disguised as voter photo ID requirements, by

which all voters are required to present a government-issued photo ID before

voting. Because no voter photo ID is actually free however (e.g. in order to get

one you must first provide underlying proof of identity documents – such as a

certified copy of your birth certificate or marriage license or a copy of your

U.S. passport and each of these documents costs money to obtain), requiring

voters to obtain an ID if they want to cast a ballot that gets counted on

Election Day, amounts to a poll tax.

Felony Disenfranchisement: While first emerging in response to the

successful political participation of black men after ratification of the 15th

Amendment, all but two states have some form of felony disenfranchisement.

Four states in particular – Virginia, Kentucky, Florida, and Iowa – continue

to disenfranchise persons with felony convictions for life. In fact, in 2011 the

sitting Governors of Florida and Iowa rescinded Executive Orders issued by

the predecessors which made restoration of rights easier for individuals

convicted of felonies.

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APPENDIX B

Voting Rights Power Point

76

A RESPONSE TO THE ATTACK ON VOTING RIGHTS IN AMERICA

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

Spring, 2012

Our nation is in the midst of the most aggressive attempt to roll back voting rights

in more than a century.

This effort is unprecedented, it is coordinated, it is well funded, and it is targeted.

We Are Under Attack

2

77

2011 Voter Suppression States: 173 electoral votes –64% of the 270 needed to win the presidency

Of the 13 likely (presidential) battleground states:8 states have already cut back on voting rights and

more are considering new restrictions.

ATTEMPT toSHIFT POLITICAL POWER

Right Wing STRATEGY

• Shrink the Electorate•Confuse Voters• Restrict Access to the Ballot– Early

Voting and Same Day Registration• Stop Progressive Voter Registration

Efforts• SCARE Tactics- Proof of Citizenship

3

TO BE CLEAR,THIS RESPONSE EMERGED…

4

After the massive, multi-racial, cross-generational surge to the polls in 2008;

AND

After the 2010 Census data showed the nation is moving toward becoming majority-minority

78

IT HAS EMBOLDENED VOTER SUPPRESSION GROUPS…

5

ALEC

AMERICAN LEGISLATIVE EXCHANGE COUNCIL

- Voter Suppression

- Immigration Attacks

- Stand Your Ground

-Anti-Union Measures

BUT ALEC IS NOT THE ONLY CONCERN …

National Center for Public Policy and Research

Project Veritas

Attacks by the Number

Voting Rights Under Attack

• Photo Voter ID laws•Felony Disenfranchisement•Cuts to early voting and same day

registration•Proof of Citizenship laws•Restrictions on Voter Registration•Ballot Initiatives

•21 million +: Citizens who lack “approved” Photo ID

•500,000: People disenfranchised in Florida which has

reinstated “ex-felon” ban

•5 million: Estimated number of voters facing extreme

difficulties or who will be unable to vote, under new laws.

•Hundreds of thousands: Voters dramatically affected through

cuts to early voting; despite early voting’s success in

increasing voter turnout. 6

7

Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law

79

25 Laws (+) 2 Executive Actions =

2011 Attack on Voting Rights

More than 30 States Introduced Voter Suppression Legislation

8

KS, SC, TN, TX, WI, RI, AL

Increased photo ID

KS, TN, AL

Proof of Citizenship at Registration

FL, GA, OH, TN, WV

Reduced Early or Absentee voting

FL, IA

Harder for persons with felony convictions to

restore their rights

FL, WI

Harder for people who move within a state to

stay registered

MASSIVE BARRIERS TO PARTICIPATION

9

80

10

2012 Attack on Voting Rights

More than 30 States Introduced Voter Suppression Legislation –

Again!

Increase requirements for photo ID

(IA, MD, MO, NH*, NM, NY, WV, VA, PA, CO, ME)

Proof of citizenship at time of registration

(SC, VA, KS, MO)

Restrict 3rd

Party voter registration (SC, MO)

Ballot Initiatives (MN, MO, OH)

Veto Override Attempts (NC)

2012 ATTACK ON VOTING RIGHTS

11

81

More than 21 Million: voting-age citizens do not have

photo ID (including 6 million seniors)

Five Million: An analysis of voter photo ID laws in 14

states established they alone will disenfranchise 5

million

Eleven Percent: National survey of service providers

to the homeless & temporarily displaced found nearly

11% did not have a photo ID

Four of Five: MS, GA, VA, LA, & NC – All but NC now

require photo ID. Southern region had the highest

turnout rate in 2008.

What they WON’T say about Photo ID

12

Arizona*, Texas, Alabama,

South Carolina, Tennessee, & Virginia

NOT ONLY ABOUT VOTER ID…. PROOF of CITIZENSHIP REQUIREMENTS

13

Most women lack a proof of identity document

bearing their current legal name.

[Source: Brennan Center]

When viewed through a gender lens, African

American women had the highest participation rate

among all voters in 2008.

[Source: Defending Democracy]

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RESTRICTIONS on VOTER REGISTRATION DRIVES

Florida is the leader

Also South Carolina, Mississippi, Missouri

IT’S ALSO….

14

Minority voters register more

frequently through community-based

voter registration drives than white

voters

Eliminating Early Voting:

Florida, North Carolina, Ohio

Continued…

15

•In FL, 33.2% & 23.6% who voted on

Sunday before Election Day were African

American & Latinos, respectively

•In NC, first week of early voting = 674,755

of which 214,158 were African American

83

Retrogressive Felony Disenfranchisement Rules:

NATIONALLY, 5 MILLION CITIZENS PUSHED INTO THE MARGINS OF DEMOCRACY

MORE THAN 2 MILLION ARE AFRICAN AMERICAN

AND…

16

RESOLUTION at National Convention (July)

Ratified by National Board (October)

NAACP LAUNCHES National VOTING RIGHTS INITIATIVE

FOCUS ON NATIONAL ATTACK ON VOTING RIGHTS

DEDICATED STAFF TEAM

FRAME & SHAPE THE PUBLIC NARRATIVE

OUR RESPONSE: NAACP Voting Rights Initiative

17

84

NATIONAL TOOLKIT

CO-DEVELOP STRATEGIES: help you respond to existing &

emerging attacks

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE: strengthen local impact

STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS

RESEARCH: track & disseminate

DEDICATED WEBSITE: This is My Vote.ORG

IMPACT FUNDS TO SUPPORT YOUR WORK

RESOURCING STATE CONFERENCES & UNITS

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WHAT WE MUST DO

Expand the Electorate

Shift the Narrative

Get Our Rights Back/Expand Our Rights19

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WEAVE TOGETHER

NAACP VOTING RIGHTS INITIATIVE(+) Civic Engagement Strategy

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MAKE THE CONFLICT VISIBLE

WIN MUST WIN VOTER SUPPRESSION

BATTLES IN 2012 (WIN AND DEFEND)

EDUCATE VOTERS

CHANGE THE GAME: Prepare for 2013

and Beyond

OUR VOTING RIGHTS ADVOCACY GAMEPLAN

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Expose the Truth

Respond to False Accusations

Lift UP our Stories and Stories of Real People

Affected by these Laws

Launch Public Messaging (STATE and LOCAL)

Promote National Website

MAKE THE CONFLICT VISIBLE

Beat Back Voter Suppression Efforts in States

in State Legislators

Create Groundswell for DOJ Action

Support Messaging around Litigation Efforts

WIN & DEFEND IN 2012

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TIMELY LOCAL AND NATIONAL MEDIA

SPEAK PUBLICALLY TO THE PEOPLES’

OPPOSITION

SPEAK PUBLICALLY TO NAACP COURT

CHALLENGES

PUBLICIZE ALL VICTORIES

INCORPORTATE VOTE EDUCTATION IN YOUR GOTV

PROGRAMS

Mass Education of Voters

STRATEGIC SOLUTIONS

Ex. PA Student ID Campaign

VOTER ENGAGEMENT STRATEGIES

Direct Mail

Direct Phones

EDUCATE VOTERS

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LOOK AHEAD TO 2013– Look for Trends

INTENSE OFFENSE, MORE FOCUSED DEFENSE

CONTINUE TO BUILD COALITIONS

IDENTIFY ALLIES

ADVANCE OUR PROGRESSIVE REFORMS

ANTICIPATE & PREPARE

WHAT YOU CAN DO:Make Voting Rights National Priority,

Lift up State Attacks

MAKE THE CONFLICT VISIBLE: Tell the Stories of People

Affected by Voter Suppression Laws to Help Change The

Narrative

EDUCATE: Members & Community on New Voting Laws

ACTIVATE: Your Membership in 2012 in VR priority states

but also prepare to keep it up into 2013. Also, activate

online activists & members.

TRACK & ADVOCATE: Stay on top of pending Voter

Suppression Measures in your State. Visit

www.thisismyvote.org 22

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FOR MORE INFORMATION

CONTACT:

Jotaka Eaddy: Special Assistant to the President and CEO/ Sr. Director NAACP Voting Rights Initiative

[email protected]

M. Aurora Vasquez: Sr. Manager, NAACP Voting Rights [email protected]

Visit :www.NAACP.org

www.ThisIsMyVote.org23

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