MUCK IT!
By Sofia Saiyed, Resident Political Muckraker
Yes, the pun was fully intended. “Muck it!” is a forum I created for venting about blatant abuses of the public’s rights, guaranteed to us in the Constitution. It usually consists of the rich or power-hungry making pathetic attempts at the public’s political power. The things they do sometimes, I tell ya, they drive me mucking mad.
The Right to Vote?
Shouldn’t be taken for granted, that’s for sure. Especially since it’s been threatened recently by partisan interests.
According to David Iglesias, a former government lawyer, the Justice Department higher ups pressured him and other attorneys to prosecute so-called cases of voter fraud:
They singled out ACORN [Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now] as an entity that they thought was engaging in this systemic election fraud. Specifically, they believed there to be a plan to register individuals who were not legally entitled to vote. Under-aged people, people who perhaps were felons, people who perhaps were not American citizens. But it was generally that there were people voting who did not have the legal right to vote. And that may skew the result. And I believe this to be as a direct result of Al Gore's razor thin victory over George Bush in 2000.
In addition to the Justice Department, Iglesias was also getting e-mails and calls from the State Republican Party and the partisan voter rights group, American Center for Voting Rights to start suing for voter fraud. But the only problem was that Iglesias and his task force of FBI agents and Justice Department members didn't actually find any evidence of voter fraud:
We looked at well over 100 cases ... Upon reviewing the evidence and looking at the FBI reports, and actually talking to the FBI agent in charge of this, I concluded, as did the public integrity section at main Justice [Department] and at the local FBI office, that we didn't have any prosecutable cases.
Iglesias was only working within the state of New Mexico, but thinks that this has been happening in other parts of the country as well:
They were clearly partisan. I can't reach into their minds and tell you what they were thinking but I am very disturbed to read accounts of what appears to be "voter caging" in Arkansas and other parts of the country. There appears to be a growing body of evidence that suggests that there's voter suppression going on throughout the country.
Two reasons why this is unacceptable:
#1. Pushing for voter fraud cases RIGHT before an election seems a little suspicious doesn't it?
#2. The Justice Department is NOT SUPPOSED TO BE PARTISAN.
Links:
Source Watch page on American Center for Voting Rights http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Center_for_Voting_Rights_Legislative_Fund
PBS’ NOW with David Brancaccio interview with David Iglesias
http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/330/david-iglesias.html
For More Information:
“The Myth of Voter Fraud” from the Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/28/AR2007032801969.html
“In 5-Year Effort, Scant Evidence of Voter Fraud” from the New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/washington/12fraud.html?ei=5088&en=277feccfa099c7d0&ex=1334030400&pagewanted=print
Note: Sofia Saiyed has left the Active Citizen Project to return to school -- look for her awesome programming in radio at Swarthmore College! Staff at ACP (the exact culprits to be determined) will take up her Muckraker mantle in the near future.