NPR: Texans Bereaved Over 'Dead' Voter Purge

Like all states, Texas regularly purges its rolls of voters who've died. Normally, this is a routine process where the Texas Secretary of State passes along to the counties a small list of voters who have recently died. County election officials then mail "death notification" letters to voters on the list. The letter tells voters they are presumed dead and have 30 days to notify election authorities, if they are, in fact, alive. Voters who have not died and fail to respond to the letter will have their voter registration canceled.

In the past, a small list of deceased voters is routinely generated as the Secretary of State's office matches new deaths recorded by the Texas Department of Vital Statistics with its statewide voter registration data base. A positive match of voters listed in the voter registration data base and people listed in other state and federal agency data bases can be made only when full social security number, first, last and middle names, plus name suffix, date of birth and address identity information completely match.

Listen to NPR's report on the Texas Secretary of State's program to purge "dead voters" - who aren't dead - from the voter registration data base.

The list of deceased voters the Secretary of State sent to county election officials this month, just two months before the election, includes the names of nearly 80,000 voters.

About 90 percent of those on the Secretary of State's deceased voters list are probably still living because a only very limited match of identity information was made for 90 percent of the names.

Why Obama Is Winning 57% of Registered Voters

By a margin of 57%-35%, registered voters blame George W. Bush and the Republican Party for the poor condition of the economy, according to a new CNN/ORC poll.

In his address at the Democratic National Convention President Clinton said, "In Tampa, [at the Republican National Convention] the Republican argument against the president’s re-election was actually pretty simple — pretty snappy. It went something like this: We left him a total mess. He hasn’t cleaned it up fast enough. So fire him and put us back in." The CNN/ORC poll shows that registered voters are not buying that Republican message.

When George W. Bush took office, the federal government was running an annual surplus of $86 billion. The Bush tax cuts have cost nearly $1.3 trillion in federal debt over 10 years. The legacy of President Bush's eight years in office, with much of that time supported by a Republican controlled congress, should be remembered as a grand and failed experiment of what happens when conservatives are in control of the government.

The failures of Bush's eight year administration cannot be chalked up to Bush alone. The $4 trillion IOU war in Iraq, the home mortgage market bubble, the collapsing economy, the Hurricane Katrina tragedy that befell New Orleans and trickle-down tax cuts (that never trickled down) were all failures of conservative ideology. Those failures are owned by every conservative in Congress who championed and happily rubber-stamped conservative legislation and the conservative philosophy of financial and banking system deregulation and tax cuts for billionaires.

The truly compelling story of the Bush decade is one that conservatives do not want you to remember – the rapid and dramatic failure of conservative government. America learned what life is like under a true conservative government. With near absolute power, conservatives pursued their fiscal and social agenda without compromise.

In a position of virtually unchecked power conservatives failed quickly and utterly at the most basic responsibilities of governing, leaving our nation weaker and deeply in debt, and our people less prosperous, less safe and less free. The Bush years may have been years of political and legislative victories for conservatives, but those years of political and legislative victories had disastrous and long lasting consequences for the nation.

And the American people do remember all those conservative failures.

Record Partisan Gap in Views of Economic News

The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted Sept. 7-9, finds that views of economic news are far more positive than they were in August 2011, when 67% said economic news was mostly bad.

Just 15% of Democrats say recent economic news is mostly bad, down from 31% a month ago and among the lowest percentages over the last four years.

Six-in-ten Republicans (60%) say news about the economy is mostly bad, as do 36% of independents. Opinions among Republicans and independents are largely unchanged from a month ago.

Public perceptions of news about the job situation remain negative, but no more negative than during the past few months. About half (52%) say they are hearing mostly bad news about the job situation. The percentage hearing mostly bad news about jobs has been about at this level since June; in March just 38% said the news about jobs was mostly bad.

More than twice as many Republicans (75%) as Democrats (34%) say news about the job situation has been mostly bad. Democrats’ views of job news are less negative than last month, when 43% said the news was mostly bad. Opinions among Republicans (75% now mostly bad) and independents (now 54%) are largely unchanged over this period.

True the Vote’s Spreading Campaign to Intimidate Minority Voters in 2012

As we approach the 2012 election, every indication is that we will see an unprecedented use of voter challenges in an effort to suppress minority voting. True the Vote is a tea party based organization that aims to recruit one million poll watchers around the country this November, to challenge minority voters under the color of protecting the electoral process against vote impersonation fraud — notwithstanding overwhelming factual evidence showing that in-person voting voter impersonation fraud is all but non-existent.

True the Vote representatives say they want to make the experience of voting “like driving [while black, through a white suburbia neighborhood,] and seeing the police following you.

Organization leaders are allegedly prepared to promote extralegal, but not necessarily illegal, measures to exploit election laws in several 2012 battleground states to challenge minority Democratic voters. (click on the map for details)

Bullies at the Ballot Box, a new report released jointly by Demos and Common Cause, reviews election laws of ten battleground states — Colorado, Florida, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia — that might be exploited to suppress the vote.

Thirty-nine states allow private citizens to challenge voters at the polls. Of the thirty-nine states where anyone can challenge voters' eligibility to vote inside polling places, only fifteen of them require the challengers to prove that the person they’re challenging isn’t an eligible voter. Which means that in twenty-four states poll watchers can wage all kinds of frivolous extralegal, but not necessarily illegal, mischief to exploit election laws, with accusations — that a voter is an “illegal alien,” or that they are using a dead person’s identity to vote — to burden if not intimidate voters and slow traffic flow through buy polling places.

In states with "voter challenge" laws, the poll watcher's intended roll to guarantee fair elections can be abused and used for racial profiling for no other reason than having a Latino surname or dark skin color. In those states, people can make up a reason to challenge a voter’s rights without any evidence backing them up, and do so with impunity. A new report from the Brennan Center for Justice, “Voter Challengers” details that troublesome history while spelling out just how problematic such poll-watching activities can be, especially when administered by hyper-partisan and racially insensitive groups like True the Vote.

True the Vote, and their many allies, often cite voter fraud as the reason for militarizing the polls, but countless studies have shown that their claims of massive in-person voting voter fraud are nothing more than lies, as detailed in this News 21 investigation. That creates a real danger that voters and election officials will face misguided and overzealous True the Vote poll greeter and poll watcher volunteers, who will take the law into their own hands to target minority voters and election officials — outside and inside polling places.

Obama or Romney: A Key Civil and Women's Rights Supreme Court Decision

by Michael Handley

While there are many issues that should be considered when casting a vote for a presidential candidate, perhaps the most important issue is the Supreme Court. A president's term lasts for a maximum of eight years; a Supreme Court justice's term can span more than 30 years.

Three Supreme Court justices — Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy — will reach their 80s during the next presidential administration. Whoever wins in November will likely have the opportunity to appoint at least one and possibly up to three justices. And remember, it is the U.S. Senate that confirms the president's court appointments. So think about that before you skip the U.S. Senate ballot position, when casting your vote.

The average tenure of a Supreme Court justice today is 25 to 35 years — spanning more than six presidential terms. If the newest justice, Elena Kagan, serves for all of her current life expectancy, she will remain on the court until 2045. If extreme conservatives replace Justice Ginsburg and Justice Kennedy, the Supreme Court will have a solid 6-3 conservative to extremely conservative court advantage over progressive justices.

Women in particularly should care whether Obama or Romney make lifetime appointments to the Supreme Court. Your right of privacy to make your own health care and family planning choices is at stake. If Romney wins, he will certainly nominate extremely conservative justices to appeal to the Tea Party elements within his party. President Romney would appoint conservative justices who support Justice Scalia's position that women have no constitutional right of privacy to choose to use contraception or choose to have an abortion, even when her life is at risk from a pregnancy.

And the constitutionally of the Voting Rights Act at the hands of a solid 6-3 conservative to extreme conservative Supreme Court? Forget about it! How about the rights of individual citizens compared to "corporations are people, too," rights? No contest. And that old Brown v. Board of Education court decision? Welcome back "separate but equal."

The 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision turned life upside down in this country as it outlawed segregation in public schools and provided a road map for the civil rights assault on other aspects of the racist status quo. The 1965 Griswold v. Connecticut decision that women have a constitutional right of privacy to choose to learn about and use contraception is a fundamental cornerstone of women's rights.

The decision on whether the bloody battles over social, reproductive and civil rights, fought more than a half century ago, are again thrust upon us hang on this election. President Romney would without doubt appoint Supreme Court Justices who would turn back the clock to 1954!

Ignore A Letter From The Elections Office And Get Purged From Voting

by Michael Handley

I have received a few emails and calls from friends asking my opinion about letters they or a family member recently received from the county election registrar indicating the office had received information that they were deceased. The letter said that [if they are alive,] they should immediately contact the election office, otherwise they will be purged from the voter registration data base. Thankfully, none of my friends had died or suffered a death in the family.

Statewide, more than 1.5 million voter records could be suspended and eventually purged if people fail to vote or update their voter registration records for two consecutive federal elections: One out of every 10 Texas voters' registration is currently suspended. Among voters under 30, the figure is about one in five. More than 300,000 valid voters were notified they could be removed from Texas rolls from November 2008 to November 2010 because they were mistaken for someone else who moved or died and failed to receive or respond to generic election office form letters.

State and federal HAVA laws require the nation's voter rolls be regularly reviewed and cleaned to remove duplicates and eliminate voters who move or die. This clean up cycle occurs every three months in Texas. But across Texas, such "removals" rely on outdated computer programs, faulty procedures and voter responses to generic form letters, often resulting in the wrong people being sent election status inquiry letters, including new homeowners, college students, Texans who work abroad and folks with common names.

The Secretary of State's office says it contacts counties to purge voters only when there is a "strong match" - such as full name, Social Security number and/or date of birth - between a U.S Post Office, Vital Records Dept. or other agency data feed record and an existing voter registration record. However, each year thousands of voters receive letters to verify voter information or be cancelled only because they share the same first name, last name and middle initial as a voter who died or was convicted of a crime.

Texas Secretary of State Hope Andrade, recently sent lists of possible deceased voters to county elections administrators, totaling almost 77,000 names. The lists contain both “strong matches” and “weak matches” between the Social Security Administration's or Bureau of Vital Statistics' death records and the the Secretary of State's statewide TEAM data base of registered voters. Less than 9,000 of the nearly 77,000 names on list were considered strong record matches. Record matches where social security numbers and some combination of first, last and middle names, plus name suffix, date of birth and possibly other information match, are considered “strong record matches.” "Weak record matches" are where first and last names, plus middle name or initial and some other piece of information, like last Soc. Sec. number digits or county, match.

County election officials across Texas have been mailing "death notification" letters to nearly 80,000 voters on the list. The letters tells voters that they are presumed dead and have 30 days to notify election authorities, if they are alive. Voters who fail to respond will have their registration canceled.

Houston Chronicle - Monday, September 10, 2012:

Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector Don Sumners said Monday that he would not purge from the voter roll before the November election any of the 9,018 citizens who received letters from his office in recent days notifying them that they may be dead and are at risk of having their registrations canceled. However, a spokesman for the Texas secretary of state, the office that generated the statewide list of about 80,000 voters, said Sumners’ move contradicts legislative directives. ”Our office has federal and state requirements to maintain an accurate and secure voter registration list. If any of those people are deceased, the law requires that they be removed from the voter registration list ,” Rich Parsons said. “Mr. Sumners’ decision would prevent that.” The letters, many of which were delivered Friday and Saturday, asked recipients to verify within 30 days that they are alive or be cut from the roll.

Sumners, who also is the county’s voter registrar, said conversations with the Secretary of State’s Office convinced him the list of possible dead was too unreliable to act on until after the Nov. 6 election. ”We’re not even going to process any of the cancellations until after the election,” Sumners said. “Because we’ve gotten such a response from people that say that they are still alive.”

Full Article: Voter purge canceled in wake of faulty death data – Houston Chronicle.

If you have not already received your new yellow 2012-13 voter registration card, you may not be registered to vote in the county where you currently reside. You should immediately check your registration status and take action to properly register, if you find you are not registered to vote in the county where you reside. To check your Collin Co. registration status - click here. To check your registration status in another Texas county - click here. If you find you are not registered to vote, you can find the Voter's Registration application by clicking here.

More details available at Your 2012 Collin Co. Voter Registration Card.

The Courage Of United Flight 93 Passengers And Crew

by Michael Handley

The 40 passengers and crew who fought back against their hijackers aboard United Flight 93 on September 11, 2001 performed a courageous act. The hijackers of Flight 93 intended to crash the plane in Washington DC, likely the Capitol Building or the White House, but never made it because of the determination and valor of the passengers and crew.

President Bill Clinton said at a 2011 ceremony dedicating the first phase of a memorial at the nation's newest national park near Shanksville, Pa., where Flight 93 crashed, "With almost no time to decide, they gave the entire country an incalculable gift. They saved the capitol from attack. They saved God knows how many lives. They saved the terrorists from claiming the symbolic victory of smashing the center of American government. And they did it as citizens."

Ed Felt, my colleague at the Internet infrastructure start up software company BEA Systems, was one of the passengers on Flight 93 that day. Ed was traveling on Flight 93 from BEA's east coast office to the company's headquarters office in San Jose, CA - a flight other BEA employees, and I, frequented.  Ed was one of the top five software engineers at our billion-dollar start up company having just received a U.S. patent in August 2001 for software he designed for BEA.

Flight 93 became an American profile in courage on that day that claimed almost 5,000 lives, toppled buildings that stood like a twin Colossus on the New York shore, took down one side of the Pentagon, and ushered in two wars.

What made Flight 93 different was a decision reached somewhere over the skies of Western Pennsylvania, after passengers learned on cell phones that their hijackers planned to crash their Boeing 757 plane into a building as the fourth in a quartet of suicide attacks.
Here is the story of Ed and the other 39 passengers and crew members of United Flight 93.

Democratic Convention Wrap Up

by Inga VanWagoner, Democratic National Convention Delegate from SD8

Fired Up! Ready to Go! The Texas delegation is headed home, armed with this go to phrase that embodied the final night of the DNC. We experienced a night of high energy speakers, Hollywood A-listers and music stars as diverse as the national delegation gathered to support President Obama. And most inspiring of all, we heard President Obama's acceptance speech!

The DNC reconvened with Marc Anthony singing the National Anthem and James Taylor performed the classic "Going to Carolina" prompting an arena wide sing along. Shortly after, Representatives Barney Frank, Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaragiosa addressed the crowd. Wasserman Schultz gave tearful testimony as a survivor of breast cancer and the significance of the Affordable Healthcare Act.

Beau Biden, Attorney General of Delaware made the hearty motion to nominate his father, Vice President Joe Biden, to which the delegation gave a boisterous second and verbal vote to pass the motion. Actresses Kerry Washington and Scarlett Johansson followed a Rock the Vote style showing by the Foo Fighters.

Veterans like myself noted the failure to recite the Pledge of Allegiance at the opening of the night's agenda. We were amazed at the appearance of former Representative Gabrielle Giffords assisted by Debbie Wasserman Schultz to center stage. Giffords led the arena in a joyful recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, which brought many to tears. Also featured were Caroline Kennedy, native Texan actress Eva Longoria, Senator John Kerry and former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, whose rowdy no holds barred speech whipped the crowd into a frenzied Democratic fervor.

Dr. Jill Biden introduced Vice President Joe Biden, who accepted the nomination for VP. And of course the surprise second appearance of the First Lady Michelle Obama brought another chant of "We love Michelle" as she introduced our President Barrack Obama. The crowd shifted to chants of "Four More Years" as he stood, taking in the view of assembled supporters. We stood more than we sat for the duration of his speech as the President listed the numerous points of success in the last four years. A humble moment was felt when Obama quoted Abraham Lincoln saying "I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go,” promising to continue to do the work to lead our country.

We returned to the host hotel enthralled and emboldened to return home fired up and ready to go, the mantra of Obama supporter Edith Childs. Even as I stand waiting to board my flight home, chants in the airport of Yes We Can abound.

Editor's note: The picture right is of a group of about 60 people gathered for a Convention Watch Celebration at Rugby House Pub, in north west Plano, to hear President Obama's acceptance speech.

2012 Democratic National Convention On Thursday

President Barack Obama at the 2012 Democratic National Convention

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Vice President Joe Biden at the 2012 Democratic National Convention

Federal Court Stays Injuction That Blocked Restrictive Voter Registrar Laws

A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans ruled 2-1 on Thursday to stay an injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Gregg Costa early last month that blocked enforcement of parts of Texas' new deputy voter registrar laws.

Judge Costa in Galveston had blocked the state from enforcing the new laws rules until their legality can be determined in a court hearing scheduled for next month. But yesterday's 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling allows Texas to enforce new deputy voter registrar laws passed by the 2011 Texas Legislature. Those laws limit who can hand out voter registration cards and who can collect completed registration forms:

1. No one can work in voter registration drives who doesn’t live in Texas;
   
2. No one can work outside any one particular county;
   
3. Payment to registration drive workers must be an hourly wage and compensation cannot be based on the worker’s productivity;
   
4. No completed voter registration forms can be photocopied by the registration drive workers or the registration drive organization; and
   
5. All completed voter registrations must be delivered to county elections officials in person by the deputy registrar.
   

Texas Volunteer Deputy Registrar Guide on the Texas Secretary of State website.

The last day to register to vote in the November 6, 2012 General Election is Tuesday October 9, 2012.

If you have not already received your new yellow 2012-13 voter registration card, you may not be registered to vote in the county where you currently reside.

You should immediately check your registration status and take action to properly register, if you find you are not registered to vote in the county where you reside.

To check your Collin Co. registration status - click here. To check your registration status in another Texas county - click here. If you find you are not registered to vote, you can find the Voter's Registration application by clicking here.

More details available at Your 2012 Collin Co. Voter Registration Card.

Early voting for the Nov. 6, 2012 General Election will run from Monday, Oct 22, 2012 to Friday, Nov 2, 2012 at your usual county early polling locations.

2012 Democratic National Convention On Wednesday

President Bill Clinton at the 2012 Democratic National Convention

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Elizabeth Warren at the 2012 Democratic National Convention

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Cecile Richards at the 2012 Democratic National Convention

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Sandra Fluke at the 2012 Democratic National Convention

Notes From The Democratic National Convention, Tuesday

By Inga VanWagoner, Democratic National Convention Delegate from SD8 ~ pictures by Cindi Koehn, Democratic National Convention Volunteer & SD30 Committeewoman

By Monday September 3rd the Texas Delegation had arrived in arrived Charlotte North Carolina! Despite some travel delays and occasional rain showers courtesy of Hurricane Isaac, we received a warm and enthusiastic welcome from the DNC volunteers. Shortly after landing, we were settled on buses and en route to the Texas Delegation host hotel, Great Wolf Lodge.

Charlotte is on full display this week with art, banners and billboards touting the DNC.

There is a palpable energy in the city as the festivities get underway. This evening's activity for Texas delegates included a welcome reception at the Discovery Place, an interactive science museum noted as one of the nation's best.

Other welcome events were held across the city at 12 notable Charlotte venues including the NASCAR Hall of Fame, where Mayor Anthony Foxx addressed delegates and guests.

Special thanks to Democratic National Committeeman Glen Maxey for diligently posting schedules and updates for us!

Monday morning, your SD8 delegates were up early, checking in to sign our daily credentials and selecting caucuses to attend. Then came uplifting and stirring speeches were delivered by Rev. Jesse Jackson in the African American caucus and Christine Pelosi in the Veterans and Military Families caucus.

We had numerous opportunities to hear from our dynamic DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz. I personally was able to meet the oldest delegate in attendance, Mr. Steven Sherman, a decorated disabled WWI veteran, age 91.

A conference call was held for all national delegates, nearly 6,000 in total, more delegates than any national convention in history. Our topic of conversation--answering the question "are we better off today than we were four years ago." Our reply--a resounding "YES!"

Monday evening wrapped with a Texas delegation beach themed party in our host hotel and excited conversations about the convention's call to order.

TDP Chairman Gilberto Hinajosa spoke at Tuesday's delegation breakfast as we prepared to sign our names--one by one--to nominate President Obama to four more years!

The Women's Caucus was an impressive and inspiring collection of voices for the continued advancement of women. Actress Ashley Judd and correspondent Donna Brazille rallied us on after a special recognition of Congresswoman Gabby Giffords.

The afternoon led up to the gavel in by DNC Chair Wasserman Schultz and it began......a evening of spirited, memorable speakers.

Cheers erupted time and time again at the remarks of Mayor Corey Booker of New Jersey, Assistant Secretary Tammy Duckworth and our own San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro. Cheers from our Texas delegation brought Castro's speeches to a pause, as did chants of "USA" and "Four More Years."

The perfect ending to the night was the shining moment of First Lady Michelle Obama. Her emotionally stirring words of family, faith and the foundation she and President Obama built for their own family.

The adoration and respect of Mrs. Obama was never more evident as she waited for the applause and chants of "We love Michelle," to settle. Mrs. Obama led the charge to work these next 7 weeks to work for the re-election of President Barack Obama.

Tuesday evening, the mass of delegates filtered out of Time Warner Arena reveling in the high points of the night's message of "Moving Forward, Not Back."

After stopping at the MSNBC outdoor broadcast to gear DNC Chair Wasserman Schultz review the evening, we, the Texas delegates were gathered again at Whiskey River Restaurant and rehashed our favorite sound bites of the night before turning in for the night.