New Report Finds Millions of Eligible Votes Could Be Illegally Purged on Election Day

New Report Finds Millions of Eligible Votes Could Be Illegally Purged on Election Day

10/18/2004 2:27:00 PM

To: Assignment Desk, Daybook Editor

Contact: Tracy Zimmerman, 202-518-8047; Paul Silva of the ACLU, 212-549-2689; Tim Rusch of Demos, 212-389-1407; Rashad Robinson of Right to Vote, 212-965-0400

News Advisory:

WHAT: Teleconference Press Briefing on Key Findings

WEHN: Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2 p.m. EST

Dial-in Number: 1-800-762-4717

Millions of eligible voters may be prevented from casting their ballots on November 2nd due to non-existent or flawed procedures used by state election officials to purge felons from voter rolls, according to a new report to be released October 19th by the American Civil Liberties Union, Demos and the national Right to Vote campaign.

The report, "Purged -- How a patchwork of flawed and inconsistent voting systems could deprive millions of Americans of the right to vote," shows that states, even those with identical disfranchisement policies, conduct purges very unevenly because of flawed or nonexistent legislative guidance. As a result, legal voters, including voters who share similar names with felons, are mistakenly taken off of voter rolls.

Questions covered will include:

-- What systems, if any, have been put in place to prevent the purge problems in Florida from happening again?

-- How do Arizona, California, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas and Virginia compile their purge lists?

-- How do different states match individuals convicted of felonies with the voter rolls?

-- What do states do to notify individuals that they will be purged or that they have already been purged?

-- Which states do the best/worst job in each of these categories?

Speakers:

-- Laleh Ispahani, lead author, voting rights fellow -- ACLU

-- Nick Williams, co-author, policy analyst -- Demos

-- Rashad Robinson, media coordinator -- Right to Vote Campaign

THE AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION is the nation's premier guardian of liberty, working daily in courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution and the laws of the United States. http://www.aclu.org

DEMOS: A Network for Ideas & Action is a public policy organization that seeks to strengthen US democracy and to seek a broadly shared prosperity characterized by greater opportunity. Founded in 1999, Demos' work combines research with advocacy -- melding the commitment to ideas of a think tank with the organizing strategies of an advocacy group. http://www.demos-usa.org

RIGHT TO VOTE is a coalition of eight national civil rights and public interest organizations that work collaboratively to end felony disfranchisement through research, public education, voter registration and litigation. Coalition members include the American Civil Liberties Union, Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, Demos, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the People for the American Way Foundation and The Sentencing Project. http://www.righttovote.org