Report Exposes Attempts at Voter Suppression

Common Cause and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law just released a new report Deceptive Election Practices and Voter Intimidation: The Need for Voter Protection.The report describes how our right to vote is breached when voters encounter trickery, fraud, or intimidation during the voting process.

Deceptive election practices occur when misleading or false election information is intentionally disseminated to voters by individuals, political operatives, and organizations to prevent voters from participating in the electoral process. By using automated phone calls and online tools like Facebook and Twitter, overzealous partisans can disseminate thousands of official looking messages directing voters to bogus polling places or misleading them about voting hours and voter identification requirements. In too many states and localities, our election laws and authorities are ill-equipped to respond to this threat.

In the report, we make the case why it is important for Congress, state legislatures and election officials to strengthen regulations against political pillaging and better enforce those already on the books. We also help demonstrate the importance of immediate corrective information by government officials when deceptive voting practices are used.

We hope you find this report useful. Please comment with any feedback!