I dont know if all the facts on the Florida voter purge (and other recent questionable voter suppresion tactics in other states) will ever be resolved through the legal process. Too much plausible deniability by those at the top. At best, rank and file staff will take the hit.
In the meantime, Congress can focus on prevention of future voter intimidation and suppression. The Senate is starting this week with a hearing in a Judiciary subcommittee on on
“Prevention of Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation in Federal Elections” to explore ways to prevent occurenced like these in the past:
* Shortly before the 1990 midterm Federal elections, 125,000 voters in North Carolina received postcards providing false information about voter eligibility and a warning about criminal penalties for voter fraud. Ninety-seven percent of the voters who received postcards were African American.
* In 2004, Native American voters in South Dakota were prevented from voting after they did not provide photographic identification upon request, despite the fact that they were not required to present such identification in order to vote under State or Federal law.
* In the 2006 midterm election, 14,000 Latino voters in Orange County, California received mailings from the California Coalition for Immigration Reform, warning them in Spanish that `if you are an immigrant, voting in a federal election is a crime that can result in incarceration...'. In fact, an immigrant who is a naturalized citizen of the United States has the same right to vote as any other citizen.
* In the same 2006 election, some Virginia voters received automated phone messages falsely warning them that the `Virginia Elections Commission' had determined they were ineligible to vote and that they would face severe criminal penalties if they tried to cast a ballot.
* In 2006 in Maryland, certain candidates for Governor and United States Senator distributed fliers in predominantly African-American neighborhoods falsely claiming that the candidates had been endorsed by their opponents' party and by prominent figures who had actually endorsed the opponents of the candidates.
In both the Senate and the House, the
Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act of 2007 has been introduced to address these types of voter suppression tactics.
Both Houses are also considering legisation to require uniformty in voting standards for federal elections.... the
Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2007.
Both the "Deceptive Practices" bills and the "Voter Confidence" bills already have majority Dem support and should have floor votes before the fall.
We'll see where the Republicans stand on these bills.