(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



Correcting an Error Wrapup: We Checked, the NCOA was WRONG in Georgia and Voters got Screwed [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags']

Date: 2022-10-11

In the middle of June, 2021, the Georgia Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, announced he removed 101,789 people from Georgia's voter files, a majority (67,286) of them based upon the USPS National Change of Address database. Obama alums in Wisconsin (and Illinois) had experience with voters being wrongfully removed from voter rolls using NCOA back in 2012 and so Hope Springs from Field PAC immediately started included adding those addresses in with our regular weekly voter targets when we were knocking on doors in their neighborhoods. Right off the bat we found issues.

But we had a plan that complimented our canvassing efforts. A major element of that plan was to include our search for wrongly excluded voters in our messaging at the door. “We are asking these questions because we know that Georgia Republicans have tossed people off the rolls — primarily African-Americans.” We let everyone know about the search, and why. For example, in our very first outing in Albany, Georgia we found someone who had been removed from the rolls because he didn’t own a motor vehicle.

States participating in ERIC (like Georgia) can compare voter list data, motor vehicle data, change of address data, and death records to keep voter rolls more accurate and up-to-date.

So, because he had been through a divorce, changed her address and they couldn’t find a registered vehicle still at that address, ERIC assumed that no one by that name still lived at that address. You should be able to understand that this voter wasn’t too pleased, not only to be removed from the voter file but also because of the reason it happened.

But we also discovered other reasons, as well. Older Georgians who never moved apparently got removed because they had never provided the Registrar’s office with “the last four digits of the voter’s Social Security Number.” They had never been asked (presumably, this was before records went digital). Fail safes were blown past because they didn’t apply to voters went they had registered to vote there. The final fail safe, of course, is the post card that is supposed to be sent to voters before they are actually removed. Direct mail pieces that many people discard without any thought.

We had a plan in 2021, knocking on the doors of those in Georgia’s exclusion list when we canvassed in their neighborhoods. We ended up registering a lot more people who either needed to update their voting address or had never registered than finding voter wrongly included on the Raffensperger purge list. But when we did find voters who could no longer vote, we not only registered them but we also created a “Wrongly Included” Report, documenting their residence at where Raffensperger claimed they no longer resided. These reports were defensive in nature, not only for the voter but also lawyers who might be able to use this documentation to defend voter rights and protections in the state.

Just as importantly, we found volunteers liked the idea of chasing down people who had been removed from the voter rolls, at least in the manner in which we conduct the search. Because we are telling everyone we talk to that we know that there are people in their neighborhood that have been callously removed, Georgians tend to be willing to share what they know. In one apartment complex, a voter was removed because his apartment number was not included in the database. More to the point, his number was included on his voting registration card, but just not on the state’s voter database. And it was hard for the voter and the volunteer not to jump to the conclusion that “It’s because I’m Black, isn’t it?”

Hope Springs Voter Protection observation table w/ NGE list

Hope Springs from Field also included these addresses in our Spring and Summer canvassing in 2022. Furthermore, we made these lists available (which were public) to our Black Church partners as well as our Voter Protection observation tables that we set up outside of polling locations (some of whom had our poll watchers inside of them). More than a few of these churches had Elections Committees established and some of these went the extra mile to reach out of these addresses to determine for themselves that they were correctly or incorrectly included on Georgia’s voter exclusion list.

But the taking of ownership of wrongly included voters has meant that in almost every case in these 22 counties, we could assign a mentor to these voters. In 2021, we had been trying to place a mentor who lived in the area for every new voter we registered at the door or through the churches. But, in these cases, we were not only encouraging them to vote, but also endeavoring to protect them from being (successfully) challenged. In the Georgia primaries, we asked those voters who had been incorrectly removed before we re-registered them to let us know when they would be voting so that we could have Voter Protection teams ready to respond if they were challenged before voting. As weird as that sounds, people who had a reaction to this offer felt reassured. Granted, this sounds weird to old white guy but i had imagined that people who felt insecure about going into the polls would use it as an excuse not to go.

We aren’t really finding that. By telling people that their state bureaucrats removed them from the voter lists seems to have made them more determined. We had voters who we re-added to the rolls come and vote in the (Democratic) primaries who had never voted in a primary before, ostensibly because of this kind of repeated contact and followup.

Hope Springs from Field PAC is knocking on doors in a grassroots-led effort to increase awareness of the fact that Democrats care about our voters and are working to protect their rights. We are thinking how to mitigate Voter Suppression efforts, get around them and make sure we have "super compliance," helping our voters meet the requirements and get out and vote. We are taking those efforts to the doors of the communities most effected (the intended targets or victims) of these new voter suppression laws.

Obviously, we rely on grassroots support, so if you support field/grassroots organizing and our efforts to protect our voters, we would certainly appreciate your support:

https://secure.actblue.com/donate/2022electionprotection

Hope Springs from Field PAC was started by former Obama Field Organizers because field was the cornerstone of our success. The approach we adopted was focused on listening, on connecting voters and their story to the candidate. Repeated face to face interactions are critical. And we are among those who believe that Democrats didn’t do as well in the 2020 Congressional races as expected because we didn’t knock on doors. We are returning to the old school basics: repeated contacts, repeated efforts to remind them of protocols, meeting them were they are. Mentoring those who need it (like first time and newly registered voters).

In all, we found 319 people who have been removed from Georgia’s voter rolls who still lived at the same address. Many admitted that they never returned the postcards that would have kept them on the voting rolls — but many also swore “they never missed a presidential election” (which was generally untrue). To activists like us, it’s hard to imagine that people could be unaware that there’s an election during the even years, but people do. But the message that we were trying to help those who might have been wrongfully removed from the voter rolls was well received by their neighbors and helped encourage another 1,871 voters to update their voter registrations (primarily by updating their addresses).

We have specifically targeted southern Georgia counties that have a lower propensity African-American voter registration. And it is important to note that the volunteers canvassing in this regard predominately “look and feel” like those voters who were removed. There is a natural affinity between voter (or purged voter) and volunteer. However, many of these volunteers are products of an HBCU or Divine Nine member. I think this is a huge factor in the success of this project.

As hinted above, the plan included increased voter contact with those we had re-registered. While we did not include them in our New Voter Postcards, they were included in our auxiliary contacts with those New Voters.

These “Wrongly Included” reports and documentation will also be included in our visits to local District, State and County Attorneys as well as the Dep’t of Justice Civil Rights Division where we will also deliver the Incident Reports we have collected. We want to make everyone aware that we suspect Republican poll watchers, especially of the Election Denier persuasion, might try to make an issue of this. Like with our efforts at Voter Protection in the primaries, we want our legal eagle teams to be aware of those voters who had to be re-registered because they had been on the Raffensperger purge list.

And because these names have been on Raffensperger’s cut list, we fully expect them to be on challenge lists for poll watchers, especially those trained by True the Vote. This requires a response, and we take it as a responsibility to protect these voters who we can reasonably expect to be challenged should they decide to vote on election day. This is one of the reasons behind our efforts to ensure there are poll watchers — Democratic poll watchers — at the precincts where these previously purged voters will be voting next month. It is also why we will continue to host Voter Protection observation tables in front of these precincts and other precincts with historical patterns of voter intimidation and suppression.

So we want to register poll watchers, and get them trained for this specific situation, in the precincts where these voters reside. Finally, if any of them are forced to vote provisionally, to follow up and help them cure their ballot — just as we did in the runoffs in January.

The Obama campaign dealt with a very similar situation like this in 2011-2012 in Wisconsin. These are all tried and true techniques, tactics we would hope others would have followed. But what we are hearing about is millions of dollars being spent on digital organizing and advertising with the hope of educating the public and possibly reaching those affected by these new laws. As you can see, that is not our approach. We are touching this voters (figuratively), helping them to navigate their special circumstances. We shouldn’t have to do this, but, alas, we do.

In addition to tracking down purged voters, we have also been working towards getting the voters we talk to ready to vote. Last year, Georgia changed their voter ID requirements in a way that severely, disproportionately, affected African-American voters. Thence, the Georgia Voter ID card became a special emphasis for Hope Springs from Field’s canvasses and we married our canvassing with our work with Black Churches in the state around it. From the beginning of our work in Georgia last summer, we have been advocating and organizing efforts for voters we find without Photo IDs to obtain the FREE Georgia Voter ID Card available through their county’s Registrar’s office.

Hope Springs from Field was able to organize Voter ID days, largely in conjunction with our partnership with Black Churches in southern Georgia, that completed 56 Voter ID days in the last 15 months and helped 18,478 voters get photo ID cards so they can vote. These efforts at Deep Organizing in largely neglected minority communities, mostly within the Black Belt of Georgia, coincides with our message that Democrats Care! and want to protect the right of every American to be able to cast a vote and to have their vote counted.

Finally, i need to acknowledge the efforts, persistence and utter determination, as well as leadership, of our young organizers out of Albany State University and Ft. Valley State University, as well as the absolutely inspired efforts and dedication by numerous Divine Nine chapters and volunteers. We may have relied upon Obama-era tactics, but the inspiration here was all them. Truly a grassroots-led effort that simply needs to be applauded.

If you are able to support our efforts to protect Democratic voters, especially in minority communities, expand the electorate, and believe in grassroots efforts to increase voter participation and election protection, please donate:

https://secure.actblue.com/donate/2022electionprotection

Thank you for your support! This work depends on you!

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/10/11/2128254/-Correcting-an-Error

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/