Diary of a Mad Voter: Joan McCarter

Vote Caging Comes to Montana

By Joan McCarter, 10-07-08

	University of Montana student Tyler Albrethsen protests last week's Republican challenge of more than 6,000 voters outside Congressman Dennis Rehberg's office in Missoula on Tuesday morning. Photo by Anne Medley

As posted here on New West last week, with their gubenatorial candidate lagging far behind and single digit lead for McCain in the state, Montana Republicans are throwing their own version of a hail Mary, taken right out of the Karl Rove playbook. Yup, they’re trying to take away the vote:

The state Republican Party this week challenged the eligibility of 6,000 registered Montana voters in seven counties historically considered Democratic strongholds.

More than half of the people challenged statewide live, or previously lived, in Missoula County....

“The integrity of the voting process is something that has to be above reproach to have faith in the system,” state GOP executive director Jacob Eaton said. “We aren’t trying to prevent anyone from voting. We want people to register properly.”

Right. “Integrity” is the one thing that’s missing from this ploy. For the Montana Republican Party to argue that this is anything but a partisan effort to steal the vote is laughable--they are targeting the six counties that most reliably vote Democratic. Why not the whole state, if they’re so worried about the integrity of the vote?

Nothing proves this more clearly than some of the people who’ve shown up on their challenge list. Consider Army 1st Lt. Kevin Furey of Helena, a former Montana state representative.

Furey got the news just days before he will ship off to Kuwait and then Iraq for his second tour of duty.

“It is ironic that at the same time I am about to return to Iraq to help build a democracy that my own right to vote is being challenged at home for partisan purposes. These challenges are a blatant and offensive attempt to suppress the rights of voters,” Furey said in a telephone interview from Chicago, where he was on leave visiting his ailing grandmother.

Furey submitted a change of address to his post office, so that his mail will go to his parents’ house while he’s deployed. Pretty nefarious stuff, there.

It gets, unbelievably, worse. This is from an op-ed written this weekend by Montana’s lt. governor, John Bohlinger:

Frank St. Pierre, of Anaconda, fought in World War II. He is one of the most decorated living veterans in America. And yet, on Wednesday, my party — the Montana Republican Party — tried to invalidate his voter registration because he lives in a county with a lot of Democrats. Incredible as this may sound to you, it is the truth....

Many [challenged voters] were college students and elderly people. For example, Babe Aspholm, of Anaconda, an elderly man, simply moved across town from his house to a senior living center. The Republicans tried to void his registration. Tom Detonacour, a policeman from Deer Lodge County who simply bought a house in another county, also got targeted.

But worst of all is the legendary Frank St. Pierre, 86, also of Anaconda, who helped save thousands of allied troops at Dunkirk in World War II and has 10 Medals of Honor. St. Pierre, too, moved from one end of town to the other, and the Republicans tried to void his and his wife’s registrations. I have a copy of the signed affidavits from the Republicans, declaring that Frank and Marilyn St. Pierre’s voter registrations must be purged. An utter disgrace.

That’s the stupid part of the move by the Republican, according to Matt Singer, director of Forward Montana, with whom I spoke Monday. “This shows how insane the list is.” He said he likes to give the Republicans the benefit of the doubt and assume that some of the people on this list were included out of sheer stupidity. And it would appear they were, because Matt himself is on that list. Matt, as director of Forward Montana, is just about the worst person a dumb Republican can target in a voter disenfranchisement scheme. Along with a few others, including Matt Gouras an AP reporter covering the presidential race in Montana, Alden Downing, communications director for GOP gubernatorial candidate Roy Brown, and state representative Art Noonan.

But there’s also a high degree of maliciousness driving the move to disenfranchise so many, and most of them from Democratic counties. For example, five percent of all the registered voters in Missoula County--1 in 20 voters--is on the list. That’s primarily college students. I asked Matt how county election officials--the people who will have to determine the eligibility of all these challenged voters--are reacting. He told me that Vickie Zeier, the elections clerk who is normally one of the most unflappable people he knows is “mildly flapped.” At the busiest time in the season (not counting election day) she’s had to put five full time employees on the task of dealing with these challenges. It’s going to take potentially tens of thousands of dollars in staff time and printing and mailing costs, money that a relatively small county with a small tax base like Missoula Co. just doesn’t have.

To put into perspective the scope of what the Republican challenge means for the state, 6,000 voters was just twice the margin in the Tester/Burns race in 2006. In a small state like Montana, 6,000 people is a lot. Which is a double-edge sword for the Republicans there. It means that while the vote could be easily changed, when an effort is blatantly partisan as this one has been, more people will be angered because everyone is going to know someone whose right to vote is being challenged.

Matt and Forward Montana are fighting back, wanting to “make sure that people know that their right to vote is challenged, but the challenge is so weak that they will be able to vote.” Montanans can call his group at 406-542-VOTE to find out more, including whether they are on the list and what to do to be able to vote. They have a full list of targeted voters at MontanaVoterSuppression.org, “a one-stop location for voters to find out what to do if they are challenged, for people looking for updates and news on the suppression efforts, and for Montanans looking to demand an end to voter suppression in our state.” Additionally, the Montana Democratic Party has filed federal suit to stop counties from sending letters challenging these voters.

This effort at voter suppression is a more ham-handed one than we generally see, because it was targeted at such high profile people. Chances are, it’s a small enough state and outrage will be high enough (even among some Montana Republicans) that it won’t work there. But voter suppression efforts are happening all over the country, usually targeting college students and minorities. Luckily, there are organizations like Forward Montana and, on a national level, Election Protection, a non-partisan group headed up by the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, to make sure that the right to vote is protected for everyone who is eligible. 

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