Brad Friedman Byon 10/9/2008, 10:18am PT

U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy spanked the Montana GOP's Executive Director Jake Eaton for his unsubstantiated (and since-withdrawn) challenge to 6,000 voters in Democratic-leaning counties yesterday, solely on the basis that they'd filed change of address forms within the last 18 months.

"In his zeal to protect what he sees as Montana's fragile democracy from these transient hordes," the Judge wrote in his order, in response to state Dems and even the Obama campaign who stepped up to challenge the out-and-out attempt at voter suppression, "Eaton ignored the very law that answers his challenges."

“One can imagine the mischief an immature political operative could inject into an election cycle were he to use the statutes, not for their intended purpose of protecting the integrity of the people's democracy, but rather to execute a tawdry political ploy," Malloy wrote.



"The timing of these challenges is so transparent that it defies common sense to believe the purpose is anything but political chicanery," he added before noting that the challenges clearly violate federal law, since they come so close before an election, and focused only on counties where Democratic-leaning voters live.

When we covered the Montana GOP's waving the white flag of surrender yesterday, in light of actually being challenged (for a change) by Democrats, we also noted that we hoped they would not drop their lawsuit, even as the bully-boy Republicans had decided to cut and run...

The Missoulan reports that the state Dems hope to keep pressing the suit, since so much chaos has already been wrought, just by the scare tactics and headlines the GOP produced with their wholly-bogus challenges:

Art Noonan, executive director of the Montana Democratic Party, told reporters Wednesday he was pressing forward with the lawsuit. “I'm a Butte boy,” he said. “They taught us a long time ago that if you want to stop bullying on the playground, you stand up to the bully.”

Good for you, Noonan! Don't back down! And hey, Obama campaign, it's time for you guys to wake up!

UPDATE: Non-partisan watchdog and voter registration organization, Project Vote, has issued the following statement on the Montana situation this morning...

In Response to Public Outrage, Lawsuit, and Pressure from Voting Rights Groups, GOP Backs Off Its Plans to Challenge Montana Voters FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 9, 2008 Yesterday the Republican Party of Montana announced that it was abandoning its plans to challenge the voting eligibility of at least 6,000 residents of that state-mostly in democratic strongholds-who had filed change-of-address cards with the U.S. Postal Service. In a letter sent to election officials in seven counties, state GOP executive director Jacob Eaton withdrew the party's challenges and said they would be issuing no more. Several hundred letters requesting that individuals confirm their correct addresses had already gone out from overworked election offices before the GOP withdrew its challenge. Voting rights groups, including Project Vote, had previously condemned the plan to challenge the voters as an illegal voter caging operation intended to intimidate and suppress thousands of eligible Montana voters. In a statement released October 3, Project Vote attorney Teresa James, author of the 2007 report Caging Democracy: A 50-Year History of Partisan Challenges to Minority Voters, pointed out that Montana law and the National Voter Registration Act allowed voters who had moved to cast their ballots in their old precincts and change their address at the polls. "In light of these state and federal protections," James said, "challenging voters who have filed a change of address with the U.S. Post Office would serve no purpose other than to interfere with the orderly conduct of the election and intimidate voters. Democracy works best when all eligible citizens participate in the process." "My intent was to ensure that voters are properly registered and that Montanans would have the utmost faith in the integrity of our elections process," Eaton wrote in the letter to election officials. "Nevertheless, because of the unintended consequences that have been reported, I will not file any other elector challenges." Following a story about the challenges that appeared in The Missoulian on October 2, the "unintended consequences" of the GOP challenge included chaos at election boards, condemnation from voting rights groups, protests within Montana, and a lawsuit filed by the Montana Democratic Party on behalf of two challenged voters. In the Montana Standard Lieutenant Governor John Bohlinger, a Republican, called the challenge "an utter disgrace," and said he was "appalled by the leadership of [his] political party." The developments in Montana came just a few weeks after reports of the Michigan GOP's plans to challenge the eligibility of voters whose names appeared on foreclosure lists. Met with similar public outrage and accusations of voter caging, the Michigan GOP recanted those plans as well, according to the Michigan Messenger. "We are pleased to hear that the Montana GOP has decided to withdraw the challenges," James said today. "And we are encouraged that these kinds of partisan caging operations-which have been used in previous years to disenfranchise thousands of eligible voters-are being met this election cycle with the media scrutiny and public outrage they deserve." "The plans to challenge thousands of eligible Montana voters were made, like most such suppression efforts, under the guise of protecting against a mythical threat of 'voter fraud,'" James continued. "But their quick withdrawal in the face of public scrutiny supports our position that partisan challenges are not motivated by genuine concern over alleged 'voter fraud', but by a cynical desire to keep some people from voting at all." ### About Project Vote

Project Vote is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization working to close historic gaps in the electorate by empowering, educating, and mobilizing low-income, minority, youth, and other marginalized and under-represented voters. Since 1982 Project Vote has developed state-of-the-art voter registration and Get-Out-the-Vote programs, and takes a leadership role in nationwide voting rights and election administration issues, working through research, legal services, and advocacy to ensure that our constituencies are not prevented from registering and voting.

For more info: www.projectvote.org



