Conservative groups are rallying to purge voter lists, intimidate voters with poll watchers, and institute voter ID laws in as many states as possible.
As the New York Times reported Monday, one of the largest such groups is True the Vote, a Tea Party-backed group that has sued states to purge voter lists and plans to train at least 1 million poll watchers this year. The group says it plans to hold summits in 17 states in the lead-up to the election.
At a recent True the Vote summit, Tom Fitton of Judicial Watch said he feared the “Obama gang” would try and “steal the election,” particularly through the use of registering the “food stamps army.” Still others point to urban areas and minorities as the culprits of voter fraud.
And as Lean Forward reported Monday, True the Vote recently teamed up with Fitton’s group to sue Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted—no friend to voting rights advocates—trying to force him to conduct a purge of the voter rolls.
Rep. Karen Bass of California decried the anti-voter fraud efforts on Politics Nation on Monday. "It's a version of the 1950s poll tax," said Bass, a Democrat, referring to the bills outlawed by the 24th amendment that aimed to prevent African Americans from voting. “We’ve got to have the same amount of energy we had in the 1960s with voting rights acts and the civil rights movement,” she said.
Stephen Spaulding, an activist from voter rights group’s Common Cause, also encouraged people to respond with their vote. “These politicians are trying to manipulate the process and make it harder for eligible citizens to have their vote heard,” he said. “Let your voice be heard at the ballot box; that’s the best way to fight against this rampant effort to suppress the vote."