Voter Suppression bill sent to Brewer; Complaint sent to DOJ

[Coyotl]

Source: steve muratore

Less than 24 hours after the Arizona Legislature passed HB2305, sending it to Gov. Brewer for her signature, former state Assistant Attorney General Vince Rabago filed a 53-page complaint with the Chief, Civil Rights Division, US Department of Justice alleging specific instances of voter suppression from the 2012 general election in Maricopa, Pima and Yuma counties in Arizona.

Rabago's complaint includes affidavits from persons who received robocalls in Spanish with false information about last fall's election; affidavits from a Latino candidate for sheriff in Yuma County, his wife and another relative, detailing troublesome elections practices and officials; copies of the Congressional Record from confirmation hearings for former Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist detailing his participation in voter suppression activities in Arizona prior to being appointed to the court; news reports from last fall of Maricopa County elections officials having released Spanish language documents citing an incorrect date for the general election and other dubious elections practices; and news reports about efforts earlier in the regular legislative session to pass voter suppression legislation.

Of course, as some observers suspected, a highly contentious bill -- HB2305 -- was amended in a conference committee and passed at the eleventh hour, shortly before the session adjourned sine die.

.....

Read more: http://stevemuratore.blogspot.com/2013/06/voter-suppression-bill-sent-to-brewer.html

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MEDIA RELEASE: ARIZONA ATTORNEY DEMANDS FEDERAL INVESTIGATION INTO LATINO VOTER SUPPRESSION IN 2012 ELECTION: PROVIDES EVIDENCE OF MISLEADING CALLS TO SPANISH SPEAKERS, AND ELECTION OFFICE MISCONDUCT IN ARIZONA
Posted on June 14, 2013


Today, Arizona attorney Vince Rabago filed a Complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice requesting that the agency investigate apparent efforts to unlawfully suppress and intimidate Latino voters in Arizona during the 2012 election. Rabago included documentation and affidavits supporting the Complaint.

Rabago, a former state prosecutor, submitted two affidavits signed by voters under penalty of perjury who received misleading “robo calls”. These Spanish speaking calls told voters to bring their identification documents in Spanish with them to the polls in order to exercise their right to vote. Both voters receiving these calls are fluent in Spanish and immediately knew the statements were false and misleading. One voter, William Risner, is an election law attorney with extensive experience. The other voter, Dr. Ted Downing, is a former elected state legislator who participated in legislative election law reform efforts in Arizona.

Rabago also provided documentation about incidents in Maricopa and Yuma Counties. This included three signed affidavits from Latino voters in Yuma County, including a former candidate for Yuma Sheriff, Ricardo Sandoval, noting specific incidents of potential voter suppression. These include:

* Latino Democratic voters improperly issued Republican Party ballots.

* Problems at polling locations serving Latino voters resulting in hundreds of voters not being able to cast their vote.

* Election officials refusing to adequately investigate or take action on complaints ranging from improper local election practices to apparent violations of the Arizona and federal Hatch Act, laws which restrict government employees from political activity in the course of their jobs;

* Armed Sheriff employees allegedly asking for Latino voters to sign the petition of the non-Latino GOP candidate for sheriff.

With regard to Maricopa County, Rabago provided news articles documenting specific instances of two different official Maricopa County documents that were provided to the public with incorrect election date information written in Spanish, but the correct information provided in English.

Rabago said that any “discriminatory efforts to suppress and intimidate Latino voters, or any voters, are illegal, despicable and un-American. The Department of Justice must investigate the evidence and reports of apparent voter suppression in order to preserve the lynchpin of our democracy – the right to vote.”

Arizona has a long a documented history of minority voter discrimination and harassment, which resulted in Arizona being required to pre-clear changes in election laws or procedures with the Department of Justice under Section 5 of the federal Voting Rights Act to protect voting rights of Latinos and other minorities. The U.S. Supreme Court is set to decide whether the federal Voting Rights Act remains federal law, after hearing arguments in March on a constitutional challenge against the law.

www.VinceRabagoLaw.com • 500 N. Tucson Blvd. Ste. 100, Tucson AZ 85716

[Warpy]

1. Expect more of this shit. WASPs are not going to let go gracefully

and are going to pull these tricks in most states as they notice their majority and control starting to slip away from them.

I hate that the Voting Rights Act will be judged by this particular Court. It is unbelievably corrupt and partisan.

[okaawhatever]

4. It's not about being a WASP, as I am one. It's about being a WASP with an i.q. below room temprature

Let's not give the bigots and corporate shills the satisfaction of saying that these laws come from "white people". Even though Romeny won a greater percentage of the white vote, he didn't win it all. Don't push the meme that the gop is the "white" party and the dems are the "minority" party. White folks vote democrat. Just so happens larger numbers of other ethnic and racial minorities do as well. Don't let the gop try and own the white vote. It's another false meme they're trying to put out. Just like how the dem party is the "welfare" party. It's all b.s., we know it and have to stop it. The democrat party is the more educated, less welfare receiving, more tolerant party. The gop is the opposite. 'Nuff said.

[Warpy]

6. Well, it's DemocratIC Party

but point taken, all WASPs are not created equal. Some of them are dumb as stumps and those are the ones who are the most terrified of everybody else.

[Coyotl]

7. You mean below room temperature in an air-conditioned home. In AZ room temperature can be very high

[TrogL]

2. So what does the Bill do?

[maxrandb]

3. It's OK

As quite a few DUer's will tell you; "There's no difference between the parties"

I mean, come on...a 29 year old treasonous High School drop out is now our hero. Let's just stay home in 2014 and give the T-Baggers the reigns of power.

Just like in 2010...What could possibly go wrong...BOTH PARTIES ARE THE SAME

[okaawhatever]

5. The calls announcing that the election date was changed to Wed. is a Rovian tactic. They did that

with black voters in either N Carolina or Virginia. I think NC as that has Art Pope running the show and he's Karl Rove light. They sent letters/postcards instead of calling. I think they sent out stuff that had the wrong addresses for their polling locations too. Our only savior will be if we get a Constitutional amendment for the right to vote, and enact major campaign finance reform.

[Arizona Eagletarian]

8. Proper citation

Thank you for posting this, however proper citation of the source is the Arizona Eagletarian.

I have been writing about Arizona politics for more than two decades and started this blog more than two and a half years ago.

Thank you,

Steve Muratore, publisher
Arizona Eagletarian
http://ArizonaEagletarian.com
Twitter: @AzEagletarian