DISGUSTING GOP!! TRYING TO STOP PEOPLE FROM VOTEING WHO IS FACEING FORECLOSURE

Barack Obama’s campaign and the Democratic Party filed a lawsuit Tuesday to stop Michigan Republicans from implementing what Democrats called an “ugly” and “horrific” plan to prevent homeowners who face foreclosure from voting.

The suit aims to prevent anyone whose address appears on a list of foreclosed properties from being challenged on their ability to vote for that reason alone.

The legal case stems from comments in an article attributed to the Republican Party chairman of Macomb County. The story, “Lose Your House, Lose Your Vote,” appeared on the liberal Michigan Messenger Web site.

The site quoted Chairman James Carabelli as saying, “We will have a list of foreclosed homes and will make sure people aren’t voting from those addresses,” party chairman James Carabelli told Michigan Messenger in a telephone interview earlier this week. He said the local party wanted to make sure that proper electoral procedures were followed.

State election rules allow parties to assign “election challengers” to polls to monitor the election. In addition to observing the poll workers, these volunteers can challenge the eligibility of any voter provided they “have a good reason to believe” that the person is not eligible to vote. One allowable reason is that the person is not a “true resident of the city or township.”

The Michigan Republicans’ planned use of foreclosure lists is apparently an attempt to challenge ineligible voters as not being “true residents.”

One expert questioned the legality of the tactic.

“You can’t challenge people without a factual basis for doing so,” said J. Gerald Hebert, a former voting rights litigator for the U.S. Justice Department who now runs the Campaign Legal Center, a Washington D.C.-based public-interest law firm. “I don’t think a foreclosure notice is sufficient basis for a challenge, because people often remain in their homes after foreclosure begins and sometimes are able to negotiate and refinance.”

As for the practice of challenging the right to vote of foreclosed property owners, Hebert called it, “mean-spirited.”

(SOURCE Michigan Messenger)

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE AT THE MICHIGAN MESSENGER