Posted on 09/19/2006 6:18:58 AM PDT by Dubya
AUSTIN — Willie Ray, 69, said she thought she was teaching her granddaughter civic lessons in democracy, but instead the two black women in Texarkana ended up with criminal records for voter fraud.
Gloria Meeks of Fort Worth, also 69, said she stepped out of her morning bath last month and screamed.
Two voter fraud investigators from Attorney General Greg Abbott's office were peeking in her bathroom window, Meeks said in a sworn statement. Abbott's office declined to discuss specifics but said its investigation of Meeks has been "conducted professionally and properly, to the full extent allowed by law."
At issue for the women and others investigated by Abbott is a 2003 Texas law that makes it a crime to put other voters' absentee ballots in the mail or deliver them to election officials.
Backers of the law say it's needed to prevent election fraud by paid political operatives who take advantage of the elderly or even steal their votes. Detractors say the law is overly broad, goes too far in criminalizing legitimate political activity and infringes on voters' rights to assistance.
Suit alleges intimidation This week a Washington-based voting rights attorney aligned with Texas Democrats plans to challenge the state law in federal court, arguing it violates the Voting Rights Act and the U.S. Constitution's guarantees of free speech, free association and equal protection.
Democrats complain, and the suit will argue, that Abbott is selectively enforcing the law against Hispanics and blacks to intimidate minority voters and dilute their strength at the polls.
Abbott, a Republican, said he's enforcing state law to root out an "epidemic" of fraud and to prevent "cheaters" from abusing or intimidating the elderly or disabled. For too long, he argues, Texas officials have failed to hold accountable those who undermine the electoral process.
"This has to do with breaking state law, falsifying state documents, registering illegal people to vote, casting votes for people who are dead, casting votes for other people," he said.
Abbott announced in August the indictment of a Hispanic Port Lavaca city councilwoman on allegations she falsely registered and encouraged noncitizens to vote and told one voter how to mark a ballot. Last month a Corpus Christi woman pleaded guilty to marking ballots for other voters without their consent, a third-degree felony. And, in July 2005, another woman pleaded guilty to mailing in a ballot for her dead mother.
Legal until 2003 law Yet, of the 13 individuals indicted on charges of voter fraud by Abbott, 10 are accused of simply possessing another's absentee ballot for delivery to election officials or to a mailbox, Democrats say. Such activities had been legal until the 2003 law turned them into crimes.
Both Democratic and Republican political activists have traditionally assisted elderly or home-bound voters who need help in voting, said attorney J. Gerald Hebert, executive director of the Washington-based Campaign Legal Center, who plans to file the lawsuit on behalf of Democrats.
"Now, merely possessing the mail-in ballot of another person is a misdemeanor. If you do it for several voters, it becomes a felony. It is my view that this is unconstitutional," said Hebert, who headed the U.S. Justice Department's voting section of the civil rights division until 1994.
Democrats also complain that of the 13 individuals indicted by Abbott for voter fraud, 12 are minority women while one is a white male. Moreover, Abbott's voter fraud indictments include no Republicans.
"I think it's evident that Abbott's practice of singling out minorities and seniors is a shallow political effort to suppress the votes," said Texas Democratic Party spokeswoman Amber Moon. "It's being done disingenuously. The majority of these cases are well-meaning folks who are simply trying to help their neighbors to vote."
Stop underhanded tactics Former state Rep. Steve Wolens, a Democrat from Dallas, authored the 2003 law creating criminal penalties for individuals who knowingly possess or transport another voter's ballot.
It is an affirmative defense to prosecution, however, if the person assisting the voter is a relative, a registered voter living at the same address or if the individual provides his or her printed name, signature and address on the outside of the envelope carrying the ballot.
Wolens said he wrote the law to stop underhanded tactics used against him and against his wife in her first Dallas mayoral race.
"The problem I had seen was where these vote harvesters would go to old folks homes and bring empty ballots — and vote for the actual voter — and then deliver them in these sacks just like piles of stolen money," he said.
Lawyers from the Texas NAACP and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund testified against the law.
Nina Perales, an attorney for MALDEF, said many elderly Latinos vote absentee because they fear intimidation at the polls. It is common, she said, for trusted women in the community known as politiqueras (political women) or comadres (co-mothers) to help the elderly apply for absentee ballots and return to pick them up. The women sometimes are paid by campaigns, but Perales said she sees nothing wrong with helping homebound people vote.
State Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Fort Worth, said blacks and Hispanics could fear voting in the future, especially if investigators visit their homes and ask questions about how they cast their ballots.
"You're sending a bad message to people who have already had to go through quite a bit as far as their voting rights are concerned," he said.
Agreed to plead Abbott's PowerPoint primer on voter fraud, "Investigating Election Code Violations," illustrates the discriminatory nature of his enforcement, Hebert argues, because it cues law enforcement to link voter fraud with black voters.
One slide alerts authorities to look for evidence of fraud on documents, especially specialty stamps. It depicts a sickle cell anemia stamp of a black woman holding a black baby, a stamp often used by blacks.
Another slide shows five black people in line for early voting, noting "all laws apply," while no white or Caucasian people are shown voting in the 71-slide presentation.
Abbot spokesman Tom Kelley said the stamp depicted was among evidence gathered in one investigation, but there was "absolutely no reason whatsoever" that the presentation only portrays blacks voting.
Willie Ray, a Texarkana city councilwoman, said she had hoped during the general election of 2004 to teach her granddaughter, Jamillah Johnson, 30, how to help the homebound.
The two agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor charges of handling absentee ballots, but Ray wonders what effect Abbott's prosecutions will have on absentee voting this fall.
"A lot of blood has been shed for the rights of people to vote," she said. "I just hope those rights are not taken away or people are frightened so bad they won't vote."
polly.hughes@chron.com
"Some say" is reporter think for "I think". When the "Some" is identified, the rest of the article is superfluous.
That's right lady. That's why it really pisses me off when people so cavalierly commit VOTE FRAUD. Does ANYBODY wonder why it is that the democrats ALWAYS oppose any measure to prevent vote fraud?
What a relief! I didn't know that ignorance of the law was an excuse for breaking it...
My husband was in the military for 20 years. I can't tell you how many times I've put his ballots in the mail for him.
But laws dealing with voter fraud on the part of the state and enforcement of them should be better thought out and incorporate more common sense than this. If the instance cited in the article of peeping Tom government agents looking into a suspect's bathroom is true (and that's a big IF), that would seem like overkill, giving the opponents of anti-fraud enforcement better legal ammunition.
"Surprise! the Democratic state attorney general didn't care to investigate, inspite of the 100 signed affidavits that the locals produced. The Democrat candidate won, still pale from being released after serving time for his felony."
I live in West Texas and would really like to know of which county you speak.
You're also not much for providing some basis for what is, to this point, a wild and unfounded accusation.
But laws dealing with voter fraud on the part of the state and enforcement of them should be better thought out and incorporate more common sense than this. If the instance cited in the article of peeping Tom government agents looking into a suspect's bathroom is true (and that's a big IF), that would seem like overkill, giving the opponents of anti-fraud enforcement better legal ammunition.
Not to worry, a lot of us have your number.
Thank you! I hope everyone will take note.
You have correctly pointed out the problem.
On the other hand, if they were flushing "stuffed" illegally-obtained ballots with forged signatures down the toilet ...
ooooh!
The college was "Prairie View A&M" in Waller County.
Ok, I am pushing the definition of West. I lived further west than that, in Austin County. Nearly "Mudfoot" Texas.
The corrupt counties who gave LBJ amazingly large majorites are
Starr (93 percent)
Jim Hogg (85 percent)
Webb (84 percent)
Haskell (76 percent)
All the seniors have to do is put their assisting person's name on the envelop.
If they can't do that, they will vote for the Democrats anyways.
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