A mass-mailer from the Republican National Committee to registered Democrats has voting rights advocates scrambling to determine it’s purpose
BY DAVID ROSENFELD
Thousands of Florida Democrats received a mass-mailer from the Republican National Committee this week that bore a striking resemblance to the kind of mail used to mount mass-challenges of voters in years past, known as voter caging.
It appears, however, based on a Media Methadone investigation, that the mailer might not be used to challenge voters and instead represents a misinformation campaign in the category of dirty tricks. While certainly confusing to voters, some have speculated that the mass-mailer was sent to distract Democratic party officials and civil rights lawyers weary of a caging campaign in Florida like those mounted in 2004.
Caging works by compiling lists of voters based on non-deliverable mail. Partisan poll watchers can then use that list to challenge voter eligibility on Election Day – or in the case of Florida within 30 days of the election – the assumption being that the voter is registered under the wrong address.
The letters sent by the Republican Party this week can’t be used for caging because they were sent by non-profit postage without a return service endorsement, such as “return service requested.”
If nothing else, the recent RNC letters have thoroughly confused many registered Democrats. The envelopes include a two-page letter from John McCain as well as a 3-by-5 inch index card that looks to be a voter registration card with the party affiliation listed as “Republican.” The letter asks for a political contribution and to correct any errors in the enclosed voter registration card. It provides a self-addressed stamped envelope with a PO Box in Washington D.C. for such purposes.
“We have a large elderly population,” said Steve Hemping, chair of the Collier County Democratic Executive Committee, who received the letter personally. Hemping answered more than a dozen phone calls from other Democrats who too received the mailer this week. “These folks, when they get a letter like this, it’s very confusing at the very least. The Republican Party is very good at throwing up these types of road blocks so the country doesn’t look at the real issues.”
Media Methadone was able to confirm that Democrats had received the same mailer in at least five Florida counties from the south to the northeast: Miami-Dade, Collier, Lee, Duval and Nassau.
Travis Bridges, chair of the Duval County Democratic Executive Committee said he spoke to a representative of the Obama Florida campaign who told him they had reports of Democrats who’d received the RNC letters in nearly every Florida County. Requests for comment from the Obama campaign were not immediately returned.
“Most of the ones I spoke to were in their 60s or above,” Bridges said. “For some of the elderly people it becomes very confusing. It’s unbelievable. Well, it’s not unbelievable. When they don’t have a platform to run on they have to stoop to other things.”
Calls to the Republican National Committee, the Republican Party of Florida and the McCain/Palin campaign in Florida were not returned.
Mark Herron, an attorney for the Florida Democratic Party, said he was aware of the mailers and was working to determine whether there was a pattern to who received them. So far, none had emerged.
Ira Sharp, chairman of the Democratic Club of Collier County, said he fielded about 100 calls from Democrats who received the mailer. He said the first calls he got came primarily from a less affluent area, but further calls failed to reveal a consistent pattern.
“The calls that I took from the office were from people who were confused by this,” Sharp said. “They were also outraged. They are lifelong registered Democrats. They asked if they had to go to the Supervisor of Elections to re-register. I think it would lead people to have enough confusion to stay away from the polls.”
The letters had originally looked like a caging effort because they were stamped “do not forward,” causing civil rights lawyers and Democratic Party officials to mobilize voter protection plans.
Since the presidential election in 2004 when reporter Greg Palast uncovered a Republican caging list of 1,886 names based on returned mail in Florida, voter rights groups have been vigilantly watching for a renewed campaign this year.
“We are kind of waiting for the shoe to fall in Florida,” said Elizabeth Westfall, an attorney with the non-profit Advancement Project.
The Florida caging lists in 2004 disproportionately included African Americans. It also included homeless shelters and addresses of US service personnel on duty in Iraq. Republicans challenged 36,000 voters in Ohio in 2004 and a combined 77,000 voters nationwide between 2004 and 2007, based on analysis by Project Vote.
Changes made to Florida law in 2005 make it easier to challenge voters. Poll watchers must merely sign an oath, stating they have “reason to believe” that the voter is ineligible to vote. They can submit their challenge no earlier than 30 days prior to the election, and at no time do they have to present any evidence. The burden is immediately on the voter. Challengers are subject to a first-degree misdemeanor conviction if the challenge is “frivolous.”
Voters who are challenged must cast a provisional ballot, and they have just two-days to prove their voting eligibility before an election board. If a voter attempts to vote in the wrong precinct or is registered under the improper address, that voter can change his or her registration on election day and will be allowed to cast a regular ballot at the appropriate location even if it’s in a different county, said Sharon Harrington, election director in Lee County Florida.
For voting rights advocates, casting a provisional ballot, or driving across town to a different precinct, are barriers to the ballot box that inevitably discourage people from voting.
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