STORY OF THE WEEK: The GOP’s Stealth War Against Voters – Will an anti-voter-fraud program designed by one of Trump’s advisers deny tens of thousands their right to vote in November [editors note: more likely 1 to 7.2 million, 85% of who will be people of color] Plus 14 links with Crosscheck background information.

Crosscheck – GA, VA, OH, NC, and perhaps 25+ more 8-24-2015 – Rolling Stone – by Greg Palast – The GOP’s Stealth War Against Voters

Will an anti-voter-fraud program designed by one of Trump’s advisers deny tens of thousands their right to vote in November [editors note: more likely 1 to 7.2 million, 85% of who will be people of color]. ? The latest tool: Election officials in more than two dozen states have compiled lists of citizens whom they allege could be registered in more than one state – thus potentially able to cast multiple ballots – and eligible to be purged from the voter rolls. Rolling Stone had Mark Swedlund, a database expert whose clients include eBay and American Express, look at the data from Georgia and Virginia, and he was shocked by Crosscheck’s “childish methodology.” He added, “God forbid your name is Garcia, of which there are 858,000 in the U.S., and your first name is Joseph or Jose. You’re probably suspected of voting in 27 states.” Swedlund’s statistical analysis found that African-American, Latino and Asian names predominate, a simple result of the Crosscheck matching process, which spews out little more than a bunch of common names. No surprise: The U.S. Census data shows that minorities are overrepresented in 85 of 100 of the most common last names. If your name is Washington, there’s an 89 percent chance you’re African-American. If your last name is Hernandez, there’s a 94 percent chance you’re Hispanic. If your name is Kim, there’s a 95 percent chance you’re Asian. 9-2-2016 – Verified Voting – National: Controversial anti-voter fraud program risks disenfranchising voters through racial bias, report finds | Facing South – The Voting News – Back in 2005, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach — who as chair of his state’s Republican Party championed an illegal voter suppression technique called “caging” — launched a program called Interstate Crosscheck to compare voter registration data across states and ferret out evidence of double voting. The program has since expanded to 30 states, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), but it’s been controversial from the start. For one thing, it’s resulted in very few actual cases of fraud being referred for prosecution, as alleged cases of double voting in multiple states turned out to be clerical and other errors. One tally found that while the program has flagged 7.2 million possible double registrants, no more than four have actually been charged with deliberate double registration or double voting. Meanwhile, some states including Florida dropped out of the program due to doubts about the reliability of its data — though others, including the swing state of North Carolina, joined despite those issues.

Other Stories

National Links

8-23-2016 – BradCast – NSA Hacking Tools in the Wild and Hackable Election Systems in the U.S. – Exceedingly powerful hacking tools from the NSA make their way to the black market as concerns about hackable U.S. election systems continue to raise concerns just weeks before our next Presidential Election 7-23-2016- Tech Insider – A hacker is selling a database of all US voters for $7,800 on the dark web – A hacker is trying to sell a database that purportedly contains registration records for voters in all 50 US states, Tech Insider has learned.

AZ links

9-7-2016 – BradBlog – a controversial AZ election – [editors note: make that an election that does not pass the smell test] – We’re reminded today, once again, that every vote counts (or, at least, should), as Helen Purcell, the controversial election chief in Maricopa County (Phoenix), appears to have won her Republican Primary by just over a hundred votes out of more than 300,000 cast, after trailing by just a few hundred votes following last week’s state primary in Arizona. The exact percentage flip (she was reportedly losing the day after the election 49.93% to 50.07% against her challenger Aaron Flannery, before defeating him 50.07% to 49.93% as of today, according to Purcell’s optical-scan computers reported on Purcell’s website) reminds us once again of the need to publicly hand-count paper ballots on Election Night. Purcell, Maricopa’s Republican County Recorder since 1988, was roundly criticized for reducing polling locations from more than 200 in 2012 down to 60 during the Presidential Primary in March. Flannery, her challenger last week, has said he cannot afford to mount a challenge to ask for a hand count, but will consider running again in 2020. If the current results hold, Purcell will face Democrat Adrian Fontes in November.

NC Links

8-17-2016 – Bradblog – NC Files for Emergency Stay of Unlawful, Racially Discriminatory Voter Suppression Law at SCOTUS – North Carolina has now filed a last gasp attempt with the U.S. Supreme Court to keep a racially discriminatory voter suppression law in place for the November general election. The state’s Hail Mary — or, perhaps, Hail Justice Roberts — emergency petition is unlikely to succeed. As we reported late last month, in a sweeping victory for voting rights on July 29, a unanimous panel of the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeal struck down North Carolina’s massive voter suppression law — described as the nation’s worst since the Jim Crow era. In a stinging rebuke, the court found the statute’s provisions were enacted by state Republicans with “racially discriminatory intent” that “target[ed] African-Americans with almost surgical precision.”

TX Links

9-9-2015 – BradBlog – Texas Undermines Court-Ordered Remedies of Its Unlawful Photo ID Voting Restriction – Plaintiffs seek emergency relief after state officials use deception, intimidation against voters. Should AG Ken Paxton be held in contempt?… UPDATE: U.S. District Court Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos issued a one-paragraph order in which she scheduled a hearing on the plaintiffs’ emergency motions for “Monday, September 19, 2016 at 5:00 p.m.”

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