2008 VIP BRIEF

June 24, 2008

VIP Brief - June

V.I.P. Brief – Issue 25
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Election reform updates from EFF’s Voter Integrity Project - http://www.effwa.org/vip


Election Views

Underage Voters
On June 13, 2008, EFF filed an administrative complaint against Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed. The complain, filed under the provisions of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), providing evidence that Washington is knowingly in violation of the Act by allowing ineligible underage voters to be registered to vote.
 
Washington law allows otherwise-eligible 17-year-olds to register to vote if they will turn 18 prior to the next election. Voter Integrity Project researcher Robert Edelman found more than 16,000 registrations by people who would not have met this legal requirement. These registrations occurred between January 2000 and March 2008. Voter records show that 108 people unlawfully voted 127 times during that period.
 
Elections officials in Thurston, King, Stevens, and Whitman Counties have confirmed that each of their jurisdictions counted ballots sent to and returned by underage voters during the February 19 presidential primary.
 
According to emails from staff, the Secretary of State knows that some counties accept registration applications from underage voters. But Secretary Reed has not modified the statewide voter database to not accept underage applications, nor has he acted to keep the counties from entering them in the first place. The Help America Vote Act requires states to only enter eligible voters onto their voter rolls.
 
EFF’s HAVA complaint also challenges a violation of federal law in the content of the Secretary of State’s mail-in registration forms. Secretary Reed has 30 days to resolve the complaint.
 

• HAVA Complaint
• Complaint Exhibit 1
• Complaint Exhibit 2-7

King County and Seattle pursue taxpayer-funded politics
As reported previously in the VIP Brief, King County is considering a plan to use tax money to fund political campaigns. Now the City of Seattle becomes the second jurisdiction to consider such an action, which requires a vote of the people to take effect. One problem common to both proposals is the cost, particularly in a time of declining tax revenues. One Seattle proposal is price tagged at up to $13 million every four years.
 
The Seattle office of the Institute for Justice released a commentary on King County’s proposal. “The dirty secret of taxpayer funded campaigns is that they are specifically designed to limit speech…. The government controls the purse strings and decides when voters hear ‘enough.’ They coerce independent groups to limit their speech persuading others about their issues. And they create another layer of government bureaucracy regulating our ability to engage in political discourse.”
 
Double ballot trouble in Oregon
Oregon’s May 20 presidential primary exposed one risk of voting by mail. The Oregonian reported that more than 33,000 Oregon voters received two primary ballots in the mail after making last-minute changes to their party registration. (In Oregon, as in many states but unlike Washington, voters indicate a party preference in their public voter registration information.) Because election officials quickly realized their mistake, they were able to notify voters who received two ballots that they could only use one and to scrutinize returns from those voters.
 
Oregon’s troubles were reminiscent of King County’s in 2004 when they accidentally sent double ballots to 3,500 voters .
 
Election News

Washington State
Group cites underage voting, Spokesman-Review, June 17, 2008
Getting Kitsap's Homeless to Register — to Vote , The Kitsap Sun, June 14, 2008
Four 17-year-olds illegally voted in the primary, Evergreen Freedom Foundation, June 13, 2008
Supreme Court justices should know by now -- money is not speech, Seattle P-I, June 6, 2008
Washington's campaign openness mandate gets tacit approval, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, 6 June 2008
BLOG: Top Two primary rules try to prevent candidate deception, The News Tribune, June 3, 2008
EDITORIAL: Court supports public disclosure of campaign donors, Yakima Herald-Republic, June 4, 2008
EDITORIAL: Judicial races: Cut the blarney, Seattle Times, June 2, 2008
 
National
California is branded among a 'Dirty Dozen' on gerrymandering, Los Angeles Times, June 19, 2008
Indiana Sec. Rokita Wants Voter IDs Used More Widely, Election Law Blog, June 19, 2008
Carcieri proposes photo ID requirement for voters, The Boston Globe, June 18, 2008
Groups Push to Restore Va. Felons' Voting Rights, Washington Post, June 17, 2008
Researchers: Underage teens voted in primary, The Election Law Blog, June 17, 2008
Newspaper: more votes cast than voters in Bridgeport primary, Associated Press, June 16, 2008
Democrats’ Vote Drive in Louisiana Stirs Concern, The New York Times, June 15, 2008
John Baer: It's time to rethink primaries and let democracy rise, Philadelphia Daily News, June 11, 2008
Lessons from Voting Rights Activists' Big Win in Missouri, AlterNet, June 10, 2008
Group says petition sponsors defy signature gathering ban , The Oregonian, 6 June 2008
Portland City Council adds first member elected under its fledgling publicly-financed elections, The Oregonian, 6 June 2008
Diebold unit Premier Election Solutions sues Cuyahoga County in voting-machine dispute, The Cleveland Plain-Dealer, June 04, 2008
Thomas Brunell: When competition is bad for voters and democracy, The Dallas News, June 3, 2008
The Carter-Baker Commission on Voter I.D.: Bauer and Gerken Respond, Election Law Blog, 2 June 2008
What’s the matter with Los Angeles When It Comes to Elections? California Progress Report, 1 June 2008
Return to paper ballots? Not so fast, Christian Science Monitor, 30 May 2008
Feinstein wants limits on automated phoning, San Diego Union-Tribune, 30 May 2008
Brunner gets few changes by panel, The Columbus Dispatch, 28 May 2008
Cost of voter database rising, Rocky Mountain News, 28 May 2008
Electoral College bias probe, The Hill, 27 May 2008
AZ to seek dismissal of challenge to voter ID law, KSTAR, 26 May 2008
Public financing for campaigns? Who foots the bill?, Seattle PI, 25 May 2008
Disarming Our Demons, Slate, 24 May 2008
The Constitutionality of Requiring Photo Identification for Voting: An Analysis of Crawford v. Marion County Election Board, Congressional Research Service, May 19, 2008
 
International
Zimbabwe election: Your stories, BBC NEWS, 20 June 2008
Bangladesh to hold local election, BBC NEWS, 20 June 2008
Mugabe challenger 'may quit poll', BBC NEWS, 20 June 2008
 
  For the latest on election reform and other hot issues and breaking stories, visit www.LibertyLive.org.
 
The Evergreen Freedom Foundation (EFF) is funded entirely by voluntary donations from private individuals and foundations. If you’d like to contribute, go online or call 360-956-3482.
 
To subscribe or unsubscribe to the VIP Brief, email rbedford@effwa.org.
 
VIP Brief is a publication of EFF’s Citizenship & Governance Center. For more information on EFF and the Center, visit our website at www.effwa.org . Nothing in this email is or should be construed as an attempt to support or oppose legislation.

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