Election 2006

---

Democrats Say Abbott's Prosecutions Biased, Vote Fraud Law Overreaching

Four months ago, a pro-Democrat political action committee named the Lone Star Project accused Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott of singling out seniors, minorities, and Democrats in his much-heralded campaign to prosecute voter fraud. This week, the LSP and another Democrat-aligned group are planning to take those charges into court as they try to overturn a law that's at the heart of those prosecutions.

The Lone Star Project attacked Abbott for dipping into federal funds to stamp out "an epidemic of voter fraud" and then producing only 13 indictments involving 50 ballots – or about 0.001% of the 5.5 million cast in a typical statewide election. Of those indicted, 12 were minorities and all had histories of voting Democratic. "Most of these cases involve very elderly or disabled voters who depend on trusted friends to help them vote, and without whose assistance, they would have no way to cast a ballot at all," the Lone Star Project Web site says.

The dispute centers around a state law authored by former state Rep. Steve Wolens, a Democrat, that made it illegal if a person "knowingly possesses an official ballot … provided … to another." However, the law provides exceptions for relatives, housemates, or if the envelope containing the ballot has been properly signed and sealed.

The Houston Chronicle reported on Tuesday that the Washington-based Campaign Legal Center, which plans to file the federal suit, will attack that law as being too broad. "Now, merely possessing the mail-in ballot of another person is a misdemeanor. If you do it for several voters, it becomes a felony. It is my view that this is unconstitutional," the Campaign Legal Center's J. Gerald Hebert told the Houston Chronicle. Hebert was head of U.S. Justice Department's voting section of the civil rights division until 1994.

The LSP report says, "In only one instance is Abbott charging that a ballot was cast by a person other than the voter themselves. In every other instance, the ballot was marked by a qualified voter, and there is no claim that the person assisting the elderly voter did not reflect the wishes of the voter. … Under Abbott's interpretation election fraud would occur when a person simply gives help to elderly or disabled voters."

A PowerPoint demonstration used by the AG's office for voter fraud detection training was also attacked in the LSP report as evidence of racial bias. The 71-page demo contains only a handful of photos, but among those few is a picture of black voters standing in line to vote and another of a stamp asking people to test their babies for sickle-cell anemia – on a page titled "Examine Documents for Fraud" that warns vote handlers to watch out for "unique stamps." (Another page, not mentioned in the LSP report, warns that it's a Class C misdemeanor to operate a sound truck within 1,000 feet of a polling place – however, the accompanying photo shows no such sound truck but rather a motorcycle rider whose bike and clothing are covered with "Kerry/Edwards" signs.) – L.N.