Ex-Justice official accused of aiding scheme to scratch minority voters

[deminks]

WASHINGTON _ Four days before the 2004 election, the Justice Department’s civil rights chief sent an unusual letter to a federal judge in Ohio who was weighing whether to let Republicans challenge the credentials of 23,000 mostly African-American voters. The case was triggered by allegations that Republicans had sent a mass mailing to mostly Democratic-leaning minorities and used undeliverable letters to compile a list of voters potentially vulnerable to eligibility challenges.

In his letter to U.S. District Judge Susan Dlott of Cincinnati, Assistant Attorney General Alex Acosta argued that it would "undermine" the enforcement of state and federal election laws if citizens could not challenge voters’ credentials. Former Justice Department civil rights officials and election watchdog groups charge that his letter sided with Republicans engaging in an illegal, racially motivated tactic known as "vote-caging" in a state that would be pivotal in delivering President Bush a second term in the White House. Acosta’s letter is among a host of allegedly partisan Justice Department voting rights positions that could draw scrutiny on Capitol Hill in the coming weeks as congressional Democrats expand investigations sparked by the firing of at least nine U.S. attorneys.

Acosta, now the U.S. attorney in Miami, said in a statement that his letter was aimed at advising the court that a new Ohio law allowing challenges was "permissible," so long as no challenge was based on race. He said it also was intended to make clear that anyone whose eligibility was questioned had a right to file a provisional ballot. Justice Department spokeswoman Cynthia Magnuson said that the Civil Rights Division "does not coordinate actions with any political party" and that any such suggestion would be "entirely unfounded."

But Robert Kengle, former deputy chief of the department’s Voting Rights Section who served under Acosta, said the letter amounted to "cheerleading for the Republican defendants." "It was doubly outrageous," he said, "because the allegation in the litigation was that these were overwhelmingly African-American voters that were on the challenge list."

Joseph Rich, a former chief of the department's Voting Rights Section, called the Ohio scheme "vote caging." Acosta declined during the weekend to say whether Hans von Spakovsky, the division’s voting counsel at the time, had any role in writing the letter.

edited to make paragraphs for clarity. Paragraphs are mine.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/reports/usattorneys/story/17303.html

[IChing]

1. Wow no paragraphs in the whole article-at your link.

Can you edit yours to make it more readable because it does tell a story

[deminks]

2. I know, I wasn't sure what to do with it, but I will try.

[IChing]

3. Thanks nominated

but good grief that site needs an editor.

[bleever]

4. Thus the name "Hans von Spakovsky" becomes part of our story.

Joseph Rich, a former chief of the department's Voting Rights Section, called the Ohio scheme "vote caging." Acosta declined during the weekend to say whether Hans von Spakovsky, the division’s voting counsel at the time, had any role in writing the letter. Von Spakovsky has been besieged with allegations of partisanship as he tries to win Senate confirmation to a full term on the Federal Election Commission.

[bleever]

5. Kick

:kick: