Chair Webster Persists in Illegal Voter Intimidation Campaign, Despite Putative Apology
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 16, 2012
Contact: Zachary Heiden or Shenna Bellows, ACLU of Maine, 774-5444
PORTLAND—Charles Webster, the Chair of the Maine Republican Party, still plans to engage in an illegal “voter caging” operation in January, aimed at harassing and intimidating newly registered voters. In an interview on Thursday,Webster reiterated that he still plans to mail postcards to newly registered voters in January. The ACLU of Maine is concerned that Webster’s plan violates the federal Voting Rights Act and National Voter Registration Act, and it plans to bring the matter to the attention of the Department of Justice.
“Mr. Webster committed a classic political gaffe—he accidentally said what he really means,” said Zachary Heiden, Legal Director of the ACLU of Maine. “Webster claims to have apologized, but if you listen closely it is clear that he is only sorry that he got caught.”
In an interview with WCSH Thursday night, Webster still insists that he is going to engage in a self-funded vigilante “voter caging” operation designed to harass and intimidate newly registered voters. “I’ll buy a thousand postcards, I’ll mail them out, and we’ll find out whether any come back.”
“Voter caging”—the practice of attempting to use undeliverable mail as evidence of improper voter registration—is not new, and courts across the country have declared it to be illegal, especially when (as here) the practice is racially-motivated.
“Voter intimidation, by a political party or a private individual, is illegal,” said Shenna Bellows, Executive Director of the ACLU of Maine. “Using postcards or the mail in an attempt to trap or eliminate voters is harassment and a violation of federal law.”
For example, in 1986 a party official in Louisiana described the likely effects of a voter caging operation on an election: “I would guess that this program will eliminate at least 60-80,000 folks from the rolls . . . If it’s a close race, which I’m assuming it is, this could keep the black vote down considerably.” Two federal lawsuits have resulted in consent decrees against the Republican National Committee prohibiting racially-motivated voter caging efforts. In United States Student Ass’n Foundation v. Land, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that using undeliverable mail as a tool for un-enrolling voters violates the National Voter Registration Act.
Voter caging is not only illegal—it is also unreliable, because voter rolls often have typographical errors, individuals change addresses, individuals register to vote with physical addresses not mailing addresses, individuals may live at non-traditional addresses, voters may be temporarily away from their residence, the postal service may make mistakes, and street names may have changed. These reasons led to the prohibition on the use of unreturned mail to challenge voter registrations under the National Voter Registration Act.
In addition, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibits actual and attempted intimidation, threats, and coercion aimed at interfering with the right to vote. That law was passed specifically to protect against racially-motivated voter intimidation, though it has been applied to other forms of voter harassment as well.
“Even if Mr. Webster funds his vigilante campaign against new voters himself, it is still illegal,” said Zachary Heiden, Legal Director of the ACLU of Maine. “The Voting Rights Act applies to government officials and private individuals with equal force, and part of the purpose of the Act was to stamp out vigilante campaigns of voter harassment and intimidation.”
The controversy began with an interview by WCSH television’s Don Carrigan, posted online on Tuesday November 13, 2012, in which Webster made the following statement: “In some parts of rural Maine, there were dozens, dozens of black people who came in and voted on Election Day. Everybody has a right to vote, but nobody in the towns knows anyone who's black. How did that happen? I don't know. We're going to find out." The story became national news.
In 2011, Mr. Webster was instrumental in pressuring the Maine Secretary of State to investigate student voters. Though that investigation uncovered no wrongdoing, the students involved never received an apology. This time, the Secretary of State’s office has distanced itself from Webster, noting that it had not heard any complaints about problems on election day.
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